Remy Warren (0:00)

Foreign I'm Remy Warren and I've lived my life in the wild as a professional guide and hunter. I've spent thousands of days perfecting my craft. I want to give that knowledge to you. In this podcast we relive some of my past adventures as I give you practical hunting tips to make you more successful. Whether you're just getting started or a lifelong hunter, this podcast will bring you along on the hunt and teach you how to live wild. This podcast is brought to you by Mountain Tough and Yeti. A lot of the tactics I talk about here require you to be in top physical shape. So I partnered with Mountain Tough to help get you ready for the mountain with their science based hunter specific training app. You'll get in shape and mentally tough able to tackle any hunt. Because we really believe this will help you be more successful. As a listener to this podcast, we're giving you six free weeks to get you started. Just use code livewild Foreign Podcast everyone. This week we're going to be diving into some of the latest gear and we're going to talk about the next evolution in rifle cartridges. So over the past few years I was actually looped into a project for a new caliber. This technology is absolutely game changing, so we're going to look at the new 7 millimeter backcountry that was just released and what makes it different. We're going to look at what makes it special and the benefits to this new caliber. Having been behind the scenes, I think it'll be awesome to kind of take you through that journey of the development, some of the range testing and other stuff and then we'll do things in a little bit of reverse style today. So we'll talk about this new caliber and then we'll share. I'll share the story of the 7mm back country's first elk hunt. You know, I kind of like to think of myself as a early adopter of calibers when it comes to hunting rifles. When something new and innovative comes out, I really jump on it. A lot of you guys know like for a long time I was a big proponent of the.300 WSM. Like that was my caliber. And when that I remember reading, I was about 16 years old and I was reading articles about it when it came out and I'm like, this just makes so much sense. Shorter bolt throw, steeper angle, more pressure, better velocity, you know, kind of moderate reduced felt recoil. I was like this, this is it. And for me I was about 16 and I was like, I saved up money to get a Truck, like my first vehicle. And I was like, I'm going to wait and get a 300 WSM instead of a vehicle, a truck, you know, so. And you know, I ended up, I shot that caliber for a long time and you know, it became fairly popular. But it never really, I don't know if it really took off. Like it took off. It's always kind of mid level popularity. It's not like a 6, 5 Creedmoor or something like. And then it kind of became hard to find ammo for. But I really enjoyed that caliber and then a lot of others along the way. You see it come out and you're like, okay, well there's a lot of benefit to this. And so one of the things that I also like to talk about is gear and new gear, especially when I get to be a part of the behind the scenes kind of development, testing process of it. And so the 7 millimeter backcountry was one that I was, I was kind of brought into and looped in on what was going on probably almost two years ago and became really excited about it. You know, as somebody that's like a self proclaimed gear nerd, gear junkie, there's a lot of things that I really liked about this for western hunting applications. And we'll kind of go into that because it's kind of fun to talk about that behind the scenes stuff and why something came about. And so, you know, like with my friends, my friends are asking like, well, what caliber should I get for elk and deer? I'm thinking about buying a new gun. And a lot of them I was like, hold off, like wait one more year because I think something's coming that is absolutely, you know, they're like, should I go 7 PRC? Should I go 7 REM mag? Like, you know guys, especially guys that are like that 7 mil or Jago, like 6, 5 PRC. And I'm like, just hold off. Because if what's coming out works, like, I think it's going to, it's going to be awesome. And so what essentially 7 millimeter backcountry is brand new, just released. And in some ways it's kind of like an evolution of a hunting round because there's some technologies in it that I don't necessarily know if it's like brand new technology because there's been a lot of studies, military applications, but there's definitely been an advancement in the alloy casing which kind of makes it more beneficial for hunters. So kind of like a little bit of the backstory of the 7 mil backcountry, it's like, why do we need another 7 millimeter? Well, for me, I really enjoy hunting. You know, suppressed it for a lot of reasons. I like running a suppressor on my rifle because I can. I don't have to wear ear protection. You know, as a guy that's shoots a lot and has been guiding and hunting his whole life, like, a lot of people in my field can't hear anymore, and I don't want to be that person. So I've always been pretty good about throwing in my ear pro. And even when I'm guiding you, like, you'll see old videos. I mean, I always have that around my neck. It was something that I, you know, I shot a lot of shotguns with no ear protection and started to get a little bit of hearing loss and was like, I, you know, I'm pretty young. I don't want to be having a hearing aid when I'm 25. So I've been pretty adamant about wearing the ear protection also for a long time. I shot a lot of braked rifles with muzzle brakes. And that increases the volume of the gun going off and a lot higher decibel levels and when you're guiding. And a lot of, like, muzzle brakes became the norm, it's actually even louder for the person off to the side. Like, I've been in that position where I forgot to put the ear plugs in or something, and you're slightly ahead and off to the side. And, like, you just. You almost get concussed. Like, your vision goes black. And so hunting with a suppressor has a lot of benefits. It has the benefit of the reduced sound, but also the reduced recoil like you get from a muzzle brake. Now, I doing a lot of solo hunting and hunting alone. I like that reduced recoil because it allows me to, if I'm by myself, see the impact. And it allows me to shoot a little bit, allows me to get back on target faster. There's just so many benefits to it. And now suppressors, Like, I remember when I first started using suppressors when I was working in New Zealand, because it was just, they're a dime a dozen. You could just walk into the store and buy one. It wasn't. There's no tax stamps and wait periods and all this other stuff. And the first suppressor I got ended up, you know, it took me a while, like, figuring out. It was kind of just this process. Like, I get to get a lawyer. Do I get. How do I do this? And now there's companies like Silencer Central which literally, you go online, you purchase it, and they walk you through the entire thing. Like it's the, it's the coolest thing. I, I now get all my suppressors from them because it's so easy. Like, my dad just, he's like, I want to suppress. We went on, okay. And even he's not very technologically savvy, you know. And I'm like, here you go. And it's like they mail you a fingerprint card and do this or go to the shows. Like, I would just go, I did the first one, I think through them at one of the, like sheep week. They've got their booth there. Boom. Did all my fingerprint stuff, set up all my trust stuff. They call you. It's so easy. Like incredible customer service. That's a good plug for them because, I mean, it is, it just takes the pain out of purchasing a suppressor. So it makes it like easy for anyone to do. Your normal hunter can just say, hey, I'd like to get a suppressor and make it happen. And because of that trend, right? And he's like, okay, I want to hunt with a suppressor. Well, you put a suppressor on a long barrel and it just adds to the length of that barrel. It messes up the balance and everything like that. So in order to compensate for that, you use a shorter barrel. And you know, I like, like, you know, in that 18 to 20 inch barrel range. And then you've got the suppressor on and the, the rifle shoulders. Nice. It's nice because it's a lighter rifle with that shorter barrel, but when you barrel down or you have a shorter barrel, you're losing velocity out of your rifle. And so it's like this catch 22, right? So the, the trend is now a lot of people hunt with suppressors or own suppressors, so they're getting rifles with shorter barrels. Everybody wants more speed and out of their bullet, but yet you're cutting your barrel down. And so there's like this give and take. And with barrel, big game hunting, Western big game hunting, right. A lot of that performance comes from a heavy bullet going fast, especially with elk. Now, I'm the type of person that when I'm hunting, I really do like to get as close as possible, but I also really like to shoot at the range. And it's boring shooting close. I mean, to be 100% honest, like, I enjoy the process of shooting a rifle, getting my dopes shooting in the wind, shooting at targets at 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9,000 yards. You know, I, I like shooting and knowing my rifle out to those distances. I don't personally like shooting animals far. I like getting close because that's for me, like the point of the hunt and the stock and all that stuff, right? There's, there's something to be said for getting as close as possible and that's my personal preference. But I do like, I do like a rifle that I can shoot out as far as I really need to and know that I'm gonna be hitting really good and even just at the range being able to shoot and then also knowing like, if I had to, having that extra distance ability, like let's say something happened or whatever and you need to take a further shot. Okay, I can, and I can make an ethical clean kill at that other distance because I've got a bullet that's going fast enough, it has enough energy downrange and it's gonna take the animal out quickly. Especially elk sized animal. You know, I mean, I've said this before, but almost, I think like a bow kills an elk. They're just such a big bodied animal that cutting is actually almost more efficient than a bullet hitting sometimes because they're just such a big bodied animal. I have seen some elk soak up 300 wind mags. Like it's going out of style. And like, how is this even happening? They can be big animals and you really do want to make a good shot and, and have them go down quickly and efficiently. So you're kind of always balancing this speed, bullet weight, accuracy, and then that barrel length. And so kind of the goal of. Well, when they first introduced this to me, they were like, well, if you could like invent, like if you know this was. They have already had what they were doing, but they're just kind of testing the waters. They're like, hey, Remy, like if you could create something, what would it be? And I'd be like, I'd make a faster heavy bowl it out of a short barrel. That's what I said. And they're like, okay, cool. That's what we're doing. It's like, what? Okay, now I'm interested. And so how are they doing that? So essentially what they've got going on is, you know, a lot of there's like Sammy specs for, you know, the pressures that a case can hold. And so what happens is when you exceed those pressures, increase that chamber pressure, it puts a lot of stress on the bolt and it can be dangerous for the shooter, like if the pressures are way too high. And so when you're loading, you got to stay within certain specifications because you don't want to have too much pressure. Well, what the seven mil backcountry, what it kind of brings is it's able to make that short barrel performance with kind of a lighter, faster rifle because it's lighter, because the shorter barrel using kind of some advanced case materials and then obviously some geometry as well. And so it's doing that instead of it's replacing like a black, a brass case with this alloy case. So it's a steel alloy. You know, I, I mean I've, I've like run through all the specs and everything in this is like the first use of this peak alloy. And so what this is, this peak alloy is cool because it's just allowing a lot higher increased chamber pressure without that additional bolt stress. So with that higher chamber pressure, what you're getting is you're getting more velocity, more energy, flatter shooting. One of my favorites of this is less wind drift, which is definitely noticeable with a 170 grain bullet going at those speeds. And so like 170 grain bullet out of a 24 inch barrel, you're getting about 3,150. With the backcountry with my 20 inch barrel with the suppressor on, I was over 3,000ft per second. So that's faster than 7 millimeter REM mag. 7 PRC 280 Ackley, 7 SOMS 6.5PRC. I mean that's faster than that out of a. Those are all. That's faster than those with a 24 inch barrel. I'm getting higher speeds out of a 20 inch barrel, which is awesome, especially for you know, mountain hunting and that kind of shooting with, with a suppressor. So you know, it's not necessarily like this is new in, in the hunting space for sure. But the military has been using this kind of stuff for a long time. So all the testing and data came from military applications, but it's using like military grade. I think it's boron alloy construction. And then you know, it's not, it's the performance compared to the recoil. I don't notice a significant amount. I didn't notice a significant amount of recoil, you know, but also I am shooting it suppress. I did shoot it unsuppressed and I was like, it's. It felt like a 7 rem mag. It wasn't perceivable to me. It seemed like it had a lot of pop. But I don't necessarily know if the recoil was any more or less with it. You're getting a little bit lighter than a brass case. Just the alloy is lighter, but I mean, that's negligible when you're talking about carrying ammunition. The thing about this is I think steel ammunition never would take off for hunting because it's not reloadable. But this alloy is reloadable. And on just standard equipment, you can go up to four times. I've heard that potentially, I mean, this is just a rumor now because it's new. I mean, I know. I mean, I've heard that you could probably reload it up to six times or more. But I mean, I don't think that anybody's. Don't quote me on that. I know that on standard equipment, up to four times is what they're saying, which is, you know, a lot of the, the stuff that would be. I'm not, you know, like saying I don't really. I'll just keep using brass, which. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of, you know, I've still got brass calibers and cartridges. Right. But I just think that this alloy will probably be the new development standard going forward in the future because really you're able to get higher pressures safely. Why not, right? It's like it's the speed race between all these. Why are all these new sevens coming out? Six 5s coming out, just the speed race. Whose is faster, whose is faster? Changing the geometry a little bit, changing the case length a little bit, changing this and that, and then here, just by changing the case itself, what it's made out of, bam, you're already up in those higher pressures, which is in many ways kind of game changing and really exciting for those that just like to nerd out on this kind of stuff. And for me, I always talk about gear in the form of hunting, right? There's guys that will talk guns and specs and everything and just that's what they dive into. What I dive into is gear for a specific task of hunting. And my specific task of hunting is big game and often mountain hunting. So I like those shorter barrel rifles because they're lighter. I like a lighter rifle, but I also really like a rifle that shoots really well. I would probably carry a heavier rifle that shoots well over a light rifle that doesn't shoot well. But the best is a light rifle that shoots well. I always say that, like when someone says slow and steady wins the race, I'm always like, well, fast and steady wins the race. Right. If you can have both things, that's the best. And so that was the one thing kind of going into this, I was like, okay, is it, is it going to have that accuracy out of that shorter barrel with those speeds? What's, you know, how's it going to perform? And so, you know, kind of stage one was getting it and, and testing it. And so Weatherby actually built one for me as like the tester. And it was in my Live Wild Edition Weatherby. And so because that was kind of going to be the test rifle, they are actually available like you could order a 7 mil back country in the live wild edition mark 5 now. So those are like out now. You can find them on my, I've got some links on my website to it and then Weatherby has them on their websites as well. Which is cool because I, I've put a lot of time in with this and it's just fun to be kind of on that forefront of like, okay, this is something new, this is something different. And getting to test it. You know, for everyone else it's, it's, it seems like untested at this point because you're like, okay, how is it going to be adopted? And I think that's the biggest thing about new calibers, new cartridges, new casing, whatever. How's it gonna be adopted? Is it gonna be something that's gonna stick around? And I actually really think it will because it checks all the boxes of what people are looking for and everything else. And then it also has that, I just think like it is something that's a little bit different, which is cool. Like, I think that the, the main factor though is for me is it meets a need within the hunting space for me. So I like being able to have that shorter barrel. I like shooting a heavier bullet because I like hunting larger big game animals like elk, moose, mule, deer, things that are in the mountains. And often in the mountains you encounter windy conditions. And so in those windy conditions, it's nice to have a heavy bullet that's going fast. And when you have that, there's less wind drift and more, you know, downrange accuracy. Especially on like cross canyon shots where it's hard to call the wind or angled winds or like, you know, you aren't in the wind but the target is and, and all that kind of stuff. So anytime you can get a little bit more velocity with that weight, you just have, you know, it just keeps everything your groups tighter. And so that was the kind of, the first thing that I, that kind of really took me by. I don't know if it took me by surprise, but the first thing I Noticed because the day that I, one of the first days that I got the rifle, took it to the range, I'm like, ah, it's windy. So I went to like a hundred yard range. It was pretty protected and sighted in. It was like, I mean probably I took like a five shot group that was like, it looked like three bullets all touching and there was five shots in there. It was just like, all right, sub MOA for sure, great grouping. And then started to take that out and I was like, okay, I'm gonna just test this out and kind of start develop a dope chart. And started shooting out at ranges like two, three, kind of walking it out. And it was pretty windy. I had like a pretty good crosswind, about 8 to 8 mile an hour crosswind with like 12, 13 mile an hour gusts. And I mean like the, you know, I was shooting and not really doing any wind hold, just like shooting to kind of get used to it. And I was surprised at how like initially because I didn't run like any, I didn't look at any charts for like wind or what it should be. And I was like, just based off of other similar calibers that I own, I have, I have, I have a lot of different calibers, which is awesome. Like, just like everyone else, right? I have ones that I like to hunt with and then I've got, I've got a 7 PRC. I've got a 300 PRC. I've got a 6.5PRC. I've got a six point five Creedmoor I've got, you know, and I like to just shoot them all. Shoot them all. And so just compared to other calibers that I was like, wow, that's noticeably left less wind drift. Like my, my wind hold, I'm still holding. I think I shot out to 900 yards with the wind and was holding the left edge of the plate and hitting the center which you know, with that wind and a lot of other rifles that I have, I'd be holding, you know, quite a bit further off. And so that was like the, just the initial like feel of it for me, but also thinking about, okay, this is, this has everything checks right in the rifle side. Now I think for the hunting. It also checks on the, the hunting side of like how I like to hunt mountains, what I like to hunt for. This seems like a pretty solid, solid choice in caliber. It's definitely like, it's you know, a 7 millimeter, but you know, the fastest, most advanced 7 millimeter out there as of right now. And I just thought that that was, that was pretty cool. So it's, you know, it's able to deliver that real extreme long range accuracy and it's got that kind of, you know, magnum performance in a light compact rifle, which is exactly what I would want. You know, 170 grain bullet, a 7 millimeter going over 3,000ft per second out of a short barreled rifle is pretty awesome. And so that was kind of my initial impressions of this and, and I thought it'd be kind of fun to talk about on the podcast because being one of the kind of first people to, to get in there, these are, these are my kind of first impressions of it. And then going from range, you know, shooting it at the range and getting it dialed and then, you know, getting familiar with it and man, I just, it was, it was one of probably the best shooting rifles that I've had. Just, you know, straight out of the, out of the box. It's been tested a lot. So it was like, it was one that's been shot a lot, which I, you know, it was. I think the rifle has probably passed its break in fate. Well, definitely passed its break in phase when I got it because it was kind of a, you know, the prototype sampler rifle. And so then it was kind of, you know, got my gears turning like, okay, I'd really like to take this on a hunt and hunt elk with it. And so that's what he did. And so I'll kind of go into the hunt story too. But I thought it was, it'd be kind of fun to just, you know, look at this new cartridge kind of from the horse's mouth. Somebody that got to try it early because it is pretty interesting when new stuff like that comes out. You know, it's just cool to see kind of the backstory. I'm really impressed with it. I mean, that's just my personal opinion on it. I think one of the things with new ammunition, new calibers is like, it has to be adopted, right? So it just kind of depends on what people out there are going to think about it. I know what I think about it. I hope that it stays around for a long time because I really like it. I mean it's probably, I would say it's going to be my go to hunting caliber. Like it to me is like how the.300 short mag was to me in, in a way. I don't know if like other people will understand that comparison, but if you know me, you know, I, I really liked that, that cartridge and caliber. And then, you know, I kind of got away from it because there's just other stuff out there that kind of was similar, better. And those of you that are like, I'm a.300 short mag guy, you're like, nothing is better, right? That's the hard part about talking about new calibers. Like, everybody's got their thing. There's still a guy that's going to be like, the 36 has never been beat. It's the best thing. And I'm like, okay, whatever, you know, everybody. Different strokes for different blokes. But I don't know, I really like this. Checked a lot of boxes for me and I think that the, the increased velocity out of that short barrel was sufficient enough for me to think that it's better and, or different than what's out there right now. And primarily it just really matched well with the style of rifle that I like to shoot. Shorter barrel, suppressor on it, high velocity, heavy bullet for the caliber, perfect. Like, that's everything I want. And so for me, I mean this is, this is my kind of like, you know, review on it. And I think, like, honestly, I think it's, it's a home run now. People are going to point to, oh, well, this does this and that does that. Okay. You know, there's a lot of different stuff out there, but I don't think that anything out there does this in that short of a barrel with that weight of a bullet at that velocity. Because you can't really get the pressures out of a standard 7 millimeter that you can with this peak alloy casing, which changes the game. And you know, my thought is I actually think that a lot of cartridge development in the future is going to be out of this kind of case. Like this is going to be probably what you start to see come out. It's like this is the first of many, in my opinion probably and the first of like a new trend of where things will probably go, which that's my take on it. Having got in the field with it, got on the range with it and got to kind of see some behind the scenes stuff and seeing how it shoots and seeing how it works. That's kind of my review of this new caliber. So. Well, I'll, I'll share that story with you guys too because it was a, it was an awesome, fun hunt. And yeah, it was just like when it comes to hunting, I mean, elk hunting is hard to beat. And it's been a while since I've done a good late season, like rifle hunt. So it was a lot of fun to just take this one out and, and kind of test it out. So on this hunt, I had a bull tag and it was. It's more of a late season elk tag. It's more of a late season elk tag. Kind of a migration type on. And kind of went into it with the thought of, like, let's find a good bull. And you know, I think with any late season hunt, it can be like, this is especially true with mule deer, but elk is not as much. But it can be pretty hit or miss as far as like, if it. If there is an area that they migrate into, they're either there or they aren't. And I think that the, like, a lot of elk were here, were there. But you know, I think the hard part is like, then sifting through good bulls to find that exceptional wool. And, and I did want to be a little bit picky. I was like, I just want to. I want a good bull. Late season, though, is tough because, like, a lot of bulls are busted up from the rut. So kind of went to. Went into it with the mindset of, I want to find a good bull, I want a clean bull. It's not all snapped in half. And that, that can be a hard. A hard thing to find. So went out the first day and from like this first glassing vantage, you know, you can kind of hunt late season. You can hunt elk two places. You can hunt them low or you can hunt them high. It seems like, like they're in the bottom or. And so I actually, I'm trying to think the first day. Well, the first day I went, I was like, we're going high. And so there was some. There was quite a bit of snow. Went to a place that I've hunted before and seen quite a few elk and few bulls and, and turned up elk and it was just like raghorns, small bulls. I don't even know if I turned up any cows. I'm trying to think, yeah, there was some groups of cows and then bulls with groups of cows. So just kind of a lot of long range glassing. Hike to a nice little vantage point about midday. It's a late season, so the days are super short, but hike to a. It's like by the time it gets noontime, your hunt's over. Like, you better have a real good plan by the morning because when the, by the time it comes evening time, you don't really have time to go somewhere else. So it was like midday. I was glassing and I'm glassing this real Thing, thick face, like, real thick timber, and pick out a bull, two bulls. And I'm like, this one bull's body is just dwarfs this other bull. And I could not see the antlers of the bigger bull's body. Like, the. The one bull behind it. I mean, his body was twice as big. I'm like, okay, it's got to be a mature bull. And it's in that spot where when you're looking in there and you're like, if I find an elk in here, it's gonna be a giant, right? Like, you're just, wow. I was. I was like, okay. And I. It was windy. Weather's moving in, snow's moving. And I just could not see its head. And it was too far away. I mean, it was probably five, six miles away and running out of time. And to get there was like, go down. Go up is just not easy to get to. And so I made the decision. I'm like, I think I can drive a little bit closer if I hike, like, a mile back to the truck, drive around, like, come up over the mountain from the other side. I think I can look in there if I can find it. Like, it's a. It's a pocket a long ways away. So I do that. I head. I make this. I was like, I could go straight at it, but I just don't. I think I'm gonna run out of time and not be able to see it. And I'm like, I probably might run out of time the other way, too. It's, like, a lot more vertical the other way. But I just thought, man, this is a bowl worth looking at. And so move around, get over there, climb up. And I'm just kind of racing against the clock at this point. It's like, I know they're gonna get up from their bed. They're gonna move. I don't know where they're gonna go because, you know, I hadn't. Like, I'm just looking in this giant sea of timber. And so I get up onto I and look on my onyx map and find a good vantage across from them, where I'm, like, close enough that I think I could see in there and high enough. And it looked like I could see that there was no trees on that. There's, like, this knob. So I decided, okay, that's going to be my. My play. So I hike over there, rush up the mountain, get up to the top, start glassing, and pick up the bulls. I see the one bull, and he's actually still bedded in where he was the smaller bull and the bigger bull's not there. And so he must have got up and gone behind the tree. So I just keep watching and I'm thinking, oh, here, here it comes, man, this is it. Because I, I could now see like part of his body behind the tree. This, this elk is way bigger than this, this smaller bull. The smaller bull is like a, I don't know, like a decent five point, you know, nothing crazy, just like bull. And the bull, the big bodied bull that comes out was like a 4x4. I was, I was blown away. I couldn't tell based, like, based on the body size. I didn't know if they were both young elk and the one elk was like the smaller elk was just abnormally small or if the larger elk was abnormally large. I don't know if I've seen that in. I mean it was like the smaller elk I think was like a dwarf. I think you're both like three year old bulls. And the smaller bull was like a legitimately dwarfed bull. Like it was a miniature elk. It was crazy. I don't. It like blew me away because it wasn't. I mean just everything proportionally was so much smaller. I don't know if I've ever encountered that before. Whereas like the back half of this one elk was probably the size of the full size of that other elk. It was just like a miniature elk. And I was kind of deflated. That one like, dang it. Like it was just a. I spent an entire day of hunting essentially on this miniature, like this large bodied four pointer, this miniature five point. And so next day decided to kind of switch it up and go, go low because I didn't see any, not. I didn't see a lot of sign of elk moving. I did pick up a couple bachelor groups of bulls, but all just kind of younger bulls and so went lower the next day, got on a glassing knob and immediately turned up like a bachelor group of like 13 bulls out in the flat. And there was some nice decent six points in there, but kind of that like that top and bottom level kind of bull where it's like, yeah, it's a nice bull, but it's just a nice bull. They're younger bulls, I think probably all like four or five year old bulls. And I just like, it just wasn't. We got to look around more. It's, you know. And so kind of went to. Oh, a buddy was out there too and so met up with him about midday and he'd seen some Better bull, he thought. He's like what looked like some pretty good bulls. Go into some cover. So we decided to make a play for the evening, wait for those ones to come back out. So we stocked in, stocked in and got to the trees, like made a big two or three mile stalk, got into position and from the angle where we were glassing, it looked like, okay, if we get to this knob, we should be able to see into where they're at. But. But the way that it laid out, because it's kind of this like rolling like sagey country, it was a lot further and like no visibility. So I decided as it got late in the day to move into the timber kind of where they were. Because I figured they're actually coming out on the other side, which they ended up doing. Moved in, spotted them, crawled in about 180, 200 yards and all. There's like four or five bulls in there. And it was like they were great bulls, like solid 320 type bulls, but just not heavy. They were actually not broken. They started sparring each other and stuff. It was pretty cool. And just laid there and decided, man, you know, these are great elk, but it's still early in the hunt, you know, pass them up. And then it was one of those where you go, okay, am I passing these up? I'm going to kick myself later because they're pretty solid bulls or are we going to find, you know, the one that we're looking for? And so then as it goes, you know, you kind of kick yourself because the next few days you don't see anything. Right? I'm trying to think like I saw. There's one group that had like a small five point, some other smaller bulls. Saw a lot of pronghorn. Don't know if I saw many. Saw a couple mule deer and not a lot of like nothing that intrigued me, you know, it was like, dang it. And then you start thinking about those other elk that you saw. And so I don't know how many days, I guess it was five or six days later or in total. Like I decide gonna make a. There's a. There's a place that I'd hunted before and actually took. My buddy, took a good bull like long time ago, toward the end of the season. And it's just, it's just a place that I really like to hunt. So I decided we're gonna make a. We're gonna make a big run and go up on the big mountain, go high. It's like when they. That's just it's like, all right, if we aren't finding what we're looking for, just go higher, go deeper, I guess. And that was the plan. So we went, we went high. And I mean, just the, the view and the vantage from there was incredible. It was a pretty windy day, so it was tough glassing. Like, I probably could have covered thousands of miles. You know, this is what I mean. Not really literally a thousand miles, but just a 360 view from a tall point. You can see forever, seems like, and just glass and glass and glass and glass and glassing. And spotted a few elk in different places. And there was this, this one spot that, you know, I was on one side looking and had seen some elk. And actually, guys with me. Zach looks over toward this cliff. He's like, I see some. I see a bull, and it looks like a good bull. So I get the scope and, and I'm. I look and I'm like, it's like there's these two bulls. It's like this snowy face and just like these vertical cliffs. And there's these two bulls, like, walking between these cliffs. It's like the coolest. And the wind's blowing, the snow flurries are going, and you're like, this is, that is a badass spot for an elk to be. Like, that's exactly where you'd expect the good bull to be. And this, this bottom bull is a perfect bull. Great build, fully intact. Like, pretty much like, I don't know how far we were. Probably like three miles we go. Okay, that's our boy. Like, that's our bull. Let's, let's move in. Because they, they, they bedded right on. We dropped down off the top of the mountain. I don't know. We dropped down quite a ways, like they were. There was a, you know, had to drop down a ways and then climb back up. I think it was about three, two or three miles from where we spotted them. And it was more like a. A run to get over there because I wanted to get into position before they got out of where they were because they were in a perfect spot. They were across. Like, we could come up from this, the ridge across and pop out at like 200 yards, 300 yards and have a perfect shot on these bedded bulls. There's two bulls in there. One of the bulls was also a good bull, but he's just. I think he busted his main beam off or busted a lot of his tines off. We did see another bull that had broken main beam, but this bull buses Tines off. So, you know, the one bull, I'm like, that's a shooter. We get halfway, look at him, just to verify, and go, yep, shooter all day. So we dropped down, and it's just like, I wanted to be there now. And so we pretty much just jogged and to get into position, get at least cover that. That ground while they're still bedding. And as we're moving in, there's a group. I spot a group of mule. There's actually a pretty good buck. And earlier that day, I forgot to mention, we ran into a mule deer hunter that was kind of hunting in the same area and which I think kind of jumping ahead, But I think they actually ended up killing this buck a couple days later. So there's this buck, and I'm like, all right, that buck's got to kind of feed around the mountain before we move up. Because I didn't want to blow those deer into the elk. So they moved around. And now we're climbing up to the spot where we're going to look across and crawl up, get in position. The bull's still better because I wanted to be there before he got up and moved around. And he's like, just get there. So everything's right, Lay down, be set up, and wait for him to stand up. And those mule deer had actually. I was like, oh, they might get these elk up. They actually crossed and walked, like, within 5, 10 yards of these elk, like, right through their bedding zone. And so I'm set up and laying there, and I decide make the executive decision. I'm like, I've got a good rest. We're Fairly close, like, 300 yards. I've got the 7 mil backcountry. It's plenty of. Plenty of punch for this range, for sure. I think I'm gonna. It was kind of open. Like, it was a burn. You know, they could definitely disappear in there. But I thought instead of laying here all day in the snow, I'm gonna get them up. So I. I get my cow call out and wrench on that call a little bit, and then let out a few, like, lip bugles. Just that noise. That kind of like, what is going on? That top bull stood up. When that top bull stood up, oftentimes I'll stand up and look. He stood up and started walking up the hill, like, oh, no. So I was like, maybe that wasn't a good idea. But my bull ended up standing up, and I was like, he's going to take the same pass. So he stand. I went quiet. For a while. So I made the calls, went quiet, and then kind of that curiosity got him up. Then the bull gets up, and there's a stick in the way, and he starts to walk. I let out one more call to stop him. He stops, and he got this perfect opening between the sticks. I decided, you know, I decided I'm gonna give him a high shoulder shot, put it exactly where I wanted shot, and the bull just dropped in his tracks and essentially fell right where he was standing and died right by his bed that he was in earlier. So hike over there and, you know, awesome bull and a bullet worked great. I. I mean, I shot right through both shoulders and recovered the. The bullet on the, like, offside, right in the hide. And, I mean, perfect. Like, perfect mushroom. I was using the terminal ascent bullets, which I've talked about before as being my favorite hunting bullet. Actually, the reason that I started working with Federal, because I. I really like that the way that bullet performs on game and shoots at long range. Like, that's my favorite bullet. And so, yeah, I mean, it performed perfect. And I mean, one. It was like. Bull went down right away, and it was awesome. Like, great hunt. Packed the bull out. And, yeah, it was. It was a. It was cool. And it's cool to, you know, be able to take this rifle from, you know, hearing about it and being, like, very interested in it, going, ooh, that sounds like something I'd like to. Testing it in the field and at the range a lot, and then taking it for what I would use it for in elk hunt and going, okay, yeah, this checks all the boxes. It performs on game. You know, it has on paper. Performs really well. And it was just cool to kind of be a part of the story of this. This new caliber. Like, I think that's the first time I've ever got to do something like that. And that was. It was really cool for me. You know, you never know, like, if something's gonna take. Is this gonna be the. I mean, I personally think it is kind of the. The beginning of where cartridge development's gonna go with these casings. But also, you know, it's just cool to, like, take this thing on a. On an elk hunt and be like, yeah, I was one of the first people to be able to hunt with this. Like, that was. Was. It was really cool for me, like, as somebody that loves hunting and. And loves new gear and. And being a part of that process, to take it from, like, hearing about it and its conception to then going out on an elk hunt with it and and getting to be one of the first people to go hunting with it was, was awesome. Like that, that was cool for me. It's definitely a highlight for me of things that I've got to do because, you know, there's a lot of like you think like if this is something that I end up using for the, you know, like rest of my life or people use it a lot, it's like, oh yeah, I could tell my grandkids one day, like I, I shot one of the first elk with that 7 millimeter backcountry. You know, you never know, it might become the new 30 out 6. Right. So that part to me was really cool and really special and you know, it just capped off an awesome hunt and, and was fun to be able to take that out. And then I actually shortly after that, took my buddy out cow elk hunting and he used it as well. And I mean, just like the performance is exactly what you'd expect from 170 grain bullet going 3,000ft per second out of an accurate rifle. You get good results. So yeah, that's my story of the 7 millimeter back country. And I thought it was kind of fun to be able to bring that to you guys and, and kind of talk about my experience with it. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that little deep dive into the new 7 backcountry. Like I said, I mean it's just fun to be a part of the kind of process of this caliber and just something to think about. They are, I will mention they are available in my live wild rifle. So that was one thing that I was like, if we can make these. Because it was one of the rifles that got tested and there's other manufacturers in other, I think even other, whether it be rifles that will have it. But this was one of the ones that definitely got tested with it. So it's cool that that will be one that's available, you know, as, as an order or whatever. If you guys are interested. If someone's like, hey, I'm looking for a new 7 millimeter and this thing sounds cool, awesome, like it's available. The other thing I, I topped mine with a vortex. The lht, that's like my favorite scope. And I did, I did the, the. What is it? 42. I guess it's a 42 objective. The 3 to 15 by 42, I think it is. I like that one because I'm like here I've got this light rifle. I might as well put on just a mountain hunting type scope. And I mean like the combination is just so accurate. I, I, that scope to me is hands down like the light hunter tact. Razor lht is, is my favorite hunting rifle scope that I've used. There's a lot of things that I like about it. I mean it's got an adjustable turret but it's also got like locking elevation and windage. What's got locking elevation and then the wind had just capped. But I mean I also like the reticle in it. And then it's got, you know, you can light up the reticle as well. It's got great clarity, great magnification. I don't know, it's just like perfect. It's so light for the kind of what you get out of it. It's like perfect for putting on a short barreled backcountry rifle. Really. So that's a, that's an awesome one to look at if you guys are interested. You know I've got those Vortex scopes on my website now. Remy warren.com Selling those or you can get them kind of wherever. I mean pretty much any sporting goods store would have them as well. So I think we've got some more of those in stock now. But you know, Vortex optics, awesome supporter of this podcast. So gotta gotta mention, you know some of that stuff is, is awesome. And then you know what I did do too. So I actually just, I ran it on their Geo Ballistics rangefinder. I've got one of those Garmin chronographs. So you know, I think getting that speed and then putting it in there with that bullet weight and everything it was on like I didn't have to, I didn't have to do any velocity adjustments or anything with that Geo Ballistic range finder. And I tested it out to a thousand yards and I mean I was, you know, I didn't need to shoot any further than that because I wasn't, I mean even hunting I wouldn't have shot it past, I don't know, probably 500 yards. But you know, it was dead nuts on which was awesome because sometimes you'll have to do like a little bit of a velocity adjustment or something like that and everything lined up really well. So it was a pretty smooth process which I like. But you know, pairing that range finder with that scope is awesome because it just takes a lot of the time and guesswork out of it. I can range can get my dope for where I'm at and make the adjustment which is, which is sweet. So I'm going to say until next week, back country on, Go fast. Catch you guys later.