Ep. 180 | Open country tactics part 1

Summary

Live Wild with Remi Warren: Episode 180 | Open Country Tactics Part 1

Release Date: April 24, 2025

In Episode 180 of Live Wild with Remi Warren, host Remi delves deep into the intricacies of open country hunting, focusing on effective stalking techniques and timing strategies to enhance a hunter’s ability to move unnoticed and secure successful hunts in expansive terrains. This comprehensive exploration is part one of a two-part series aimed at equipping hunters with the skills necessary to thrive in open environments where animals are widespread and elusive.

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Recap of a Successful Axis Deer Hunt in Hawaii

Remi begins the episode by recounting his recent Axis deer hunt in Hawaii, painting a vivid picture of the challenges and triumphs encountered in open terrain. He reflects on the unique behaviors of Axis deer, highlighting their heightened alertness and tendency to form large groups, which make stalking particularly demanding.

“Axis deer are so on edge. They’re constantly looking around, always on the lookout for danger.” [12:45]

During this hunt, Remi targeted a single hard-horned buck within a large herd of approximately one hundred deer. He emphasizes the complexity of such a pursuit in open country, where animals have ample visibility and access to escape routes.

Open Country Hunting Challenges

Remi outlines the primary challenges associated with open country hunting, particularly for bow hunters:

1. Animal Distribution: In vast open spaces, animals like Axis deer can spread out extensively, making it difficult to identify and approach targets.

2. Group Dynamics: Large herds increase the number of "eyes" that can detect a hunter's presence, complicating the stealth required for a successful hunt.

3. Limited Cover: Open terrains often lack sufficient cover, necessitating innovative strategies to remain undetected.

“Making a play in open terrain can just be difficult or maybe even seem impossible.” [05:30]

Stalking Techniques and Personal Hunting Strategy

Remi shares a detailed account of his tactical approach during the Hawaii hunt:

• Initial Stalk: He and his companion, Janus, identified a promising location with a significant deer presence. Despite the open area, Remi planned to stalk based on the anticipated movement patterns of the deer as they transition from feeding grounds to thicker cover at dusk.

• Encounter with the Hard-Horned Buck: Upon stalking a particular buck, Remi positioned himself within approximately 30 yards, preparing for the optimal moment to take the shot. Unfortunately, unforeseen movements from other deer disrupted his setup, forcing him to adapt swiftly.

“As soon as I say that, you're going to want to go after that buck. Challenge accepted.” [15:20]

Despite the initial setback, Remi persisted, leveraging fading light and the buck's focus on feeding to close the distance unnoticed. His patience and adaptability culminated in a successful shot, demonstrating the effectiveness of his stalking methodology.

“It was a perfect shot right through his vitals. He didn’t even take a few steps.” [35:10]

Insights from 'Apex Predator' and Adaptive Hunting Strategies

Drawing from his experience on the TV show Apex Predator, Remi emphasizes the importance of adapting hunting techniques inspired by animal behaviors. He discusses the concept of moving below the threshold of perception, akin to how alligators approach their prey.

“It’s not that we aren’t moving, but we have to move in a way that’s not perceived as something moving.” [50:05]

This principle underscores the necessity of maintaining a low profile, both literally and figuratively, to blend seamlessly into the environment and avoid detection.

Practical Tips for Open Country Hunting

Remi offers a wealth of actionable advice for hunters aiming to excel in open terrains:

1. Stay Low and Move Slow: Maintaining a low profile reduces visibility. Crawling or moving on hands and knees can significantly decrease the chances of being spotted.

   “Get low, move slow when needed, and be below that level of perception.” [1:02:30]

2. Utilize Natural Cover: Even in open areas, subtle features like dirt humps, patches of grass, or natural brush can provide essential cover during the approach.

3. Timing with Light and Animal Behavior: Harnessing the fading light of dusk can obscure a hunter’s movements. Additionally, understanding the feeding patterns of deer can create natural distractions, allowing hunters to advance with reduced risk of being detected.

   “Use timing with the sun and animal behavior to cover distance without being noticed.” [1:15:45]

4. Adaptability in Movement: Being prepared to switch between crawling and sprinting based on the situation can provide a tactical advantage, especially when unexpected opportunities arise.

5. Gear Optimization: Remi highlights the importance of gear that facilitates stealthy movement. He mentions his bow sling, designed to keep the bow secure and minimize noise during crawls.

   “I use a bow sling run super tight to crawl in with the bow on my back, reducing movement and noise.” [1:25:20]

Overcoming Physical Challenges

Acknowledging the physical demands of open country hunting, Remi shares his commitment to maintaining top physical condition. His partnership with outdoor training programs ensures he remains prepared for the rigorous activities involved in stalking and securing game in challenging environments.

“A lot of the tactics I talk about here require you to be in top physical shape.” [02:10]

Conclusion and Preview of Part 2

Remi wraps up the episode by reaffirming the effectiveness of the stalking strategies discussed and teases the next episode, which will delve into ambush tactics. He promises to share insights from his 40th birthday hunt, where he will explore setting up ambush positions in open country to let animals come to the hunter, rather than the other way around.

“Next week, we’re going to talk about open country hunting and ways to create an ambush strategy.” [1:58:55]

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Key Takeaways

• Patience and Persistence: Successful open country hunting hinges on the ability to remain patient and adapt strategies in real-time based on animal behavior and environmental factors.

• Physical Preparedness: Maintaining physical endurance and resilience is crucial for executing prolonged stalking maneuvers in challenging terrains.

• Strategic Timing: Leveraging natural elements like light changes and animal feeding patterns can create opportunities for stealthy approaches and successful hunts.

• Adaptation and Learning: Drawing inspiration from wildlife behaviors and continuously refining tactics can significantly enhance hunting effectiveness in open landscapes.

Episode 180 of Live Wild with Remi Warren serves as an invaluable resource for both novice and experienced hunters looking to refine their open country hunting techniques. Through detailed storytelling, practical advice, and strategic insights, Remi equips his audience with the knowledge necessary to thrive in expansive and challenging hunting environments.

Transcript

[Remy Warren]

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. Welcome back to Live Wild podcast, everyone. You know, one of the challenges with spot and stock hunting, and especially when it comes to bow hunting, is just getting close enough for that shot. And it's even more true in that open country on a lot of western hunts. Open country can hold a lot of animals and it's for a reason. They find safety in that being able to see predators coming from pronghorn on the prairies to mule deer and elk in that high desert terrain. There's a lot of hunts where open terrain terrain is the norm and making a play can just be difficult or maybe even seem impossible. So over the next couple weeks, we're going to go over two different strategies to put you in range in the open. The first strategy, the hunter moves in on the animal by stalking. The second strategy, the hunter sets up and has the animal move to them. So this week we're going to look at stalking techniques and timing strategies to help you move in unnoticed. Next week we're going to look at that ambush tactic and how to put yourself in position to intercept and let the animal move to you. But before we do that, I want to recap a little bit of my axis deer hunt in Hawaii last week where the terrain was open and there were a lot of eyes and one hardhorn buck that I really wanted to get a shot on. So I recently was over in Hawaii and got the opportunity to chase some access deer. Actually went over there as I turned 40. It seems like. Seems like just yesterday I was 23. I don't know, but time flies. Man turned 40 and I thought well, it'd be fun to go over there with some family and celebrate. And while over there, do a little bit of hunting, bring the bow, maybe jump in the water, do some fishing, whatever, and just have a good time. And so I had the opportunity to go out a couple different mornings and evenings to chase some axis deer. Brought my bow and went out with some buddies as well, my brother. And we just had a lot of fun. And I was planning to. I was gonna film some of the stuff, just like self filming, you know. However, I do like film my brother, film myself, whatever. And so did that. And on this particular, the first, I guess it was like the second evening that I went out, I went out with my buddy Janus. We went to the spot that we've hunted before and we kind of. We went there like planning on just hunting like the evening portion and looked out in this big open area and there was a. A pretty large group of deer in there. And this time of year, like, so access deer, they're kind of. They're very interesting. I really love hunting access deer, especially with a bow. Because there's a lot of things that help you just become a better hunter when you hunt them. The first is they're just so on edge. They're so kind of keyed in primarily because. Well, a lot of reasons. One, I think they're just wired that way. Like they're. They're always looking around, they're always looking for danger. And a lot of them, in a lot of places they're hunted essentially year round because the population is like, there's no natural predators. So they're hunted by people to kind of keep the numbers down. And so they, they're hunted a lot, which kind of keeps them on edge. They're also in big groups and they're just like fast twitch muscle animals, man. Like they can jump the string like nothing you've ever seen. Super quick animals. And so they can be fairly difficult to get close to, especially in that open terrain because they're often in large groups. Like they might even be in a group of a hundred deer or more in some places. And so they're just such a fun deer to chase and to get on, especially with the bow. Like, to get within bow range and get one is a lot of fun. It's like one of these hunts that. I don't know, man, there's just something addicting about it. It's so fun to be able to sneak in on them. And oftentimes you can get a lot of good opportunities too. And the other thing about them is they're absolutely delicious. Like probably some of the best game meat out there. So they've got a lot of things going for them. Like awesome fun challenge with a bow, really cool looking animal. Like antlers, you know, beautiful capes, delicious meat. And if you're in Hawaii, awesome terrain and environment. So there's just so many good things about this. I'm like, really? It is kind of a type of a dream hunt. And so when I was my buddy Janus, in this particular spot, there's a bunch of, bunch of deer out there and just out in the wide open and you know, depending on like they can be pretty, I guess, I don't know, in territorial in a way. Not territorial, but like they, they hold certain patterns in certain areas. Like this group will live in this little zone and then another group lives in this zone and they do move around but like they've got their areas that they like. And then depending on rain levels and whatever, depends on the type of grass. So sometimes you can hunt this one particular spot and you can move in real easy because the grass is super tall, you've got good cover and everything. Then other years or other times of the year there might not be the rain. And that grass is super short. Like there's so many deer that they just feed it down, eat it down, and then it's already not growing that much. So the amount of COVID or available cover to sneak in is hardly anything. Like really low cover. So there was this big group of, big group of deer out there and glassed them up. And there was one hardhorn buck in there. So the thing about Axis deer is they can kind of breed throughout the year. So you'll have like for the most part, like in Hawaii at least, and other places it's different. Like in Hawaii, the main, let's call it the rut is kind of around June timeframe. And most of the deer are on this pattern of like breeding around that time. And so most of them, like right now, earlier in the year will be growing out, they'll be growing out into velvet and then they shed their antlers aft like later in the end of the year, like I guess probably in like November ish timeframe. But the thing about access deer is you can get deer that are within a different cycle. So you'll have some deer that are hard horned and some that are just growing velvet and some that are hard velvet about to shed. But the majority of them kind of follow the same pattern, not all of them. So you'll have like right now, a lot of them were getting into that hard velvet stage, which is nice because they're just about to strip and then almost fully grown out. And there was a lot that were still growing and then there's very few that were hard antlered. Traveling and hunting these deer a lot, like velvet's just a pain to deal with. Especially you don't really want to get on the ones that are growing out. So there's a lot of deer or bucks that are growing half grown, three quarter grown, almost finished out. But you know, the, the antlers essentially are like still soft and pliable, which makes it a pain. And you kind of want to let them grow and see what they might become. So the amount of like there might be a lot of bucks, but the ones that you would go after are limited to hard velvets or like finished out velvets. And then the occasional hard horned one or one that's kind of like off cycle, hasn't shed yet. I guess a lot of them would be shedded, you know, winter time, whatever. So. So there was one like pretty good looking hard horned in this, in this group. And I'm like, ooh, hard horned one. Like, you don't see that many of them this time of year. And so I was like, oh, that'd be cool to, to get on that buck. But he was like in the wide open. And me and my buddy were talking and he's like, yeah, dude, like those deer have been chased around a bit. Good luck getting close enough in that open. And anytime somebody says that, I'm like, all right, challenge accepted. Let's go. Let's do this. I think he knew. He's like, as soon as I say that you're going to want to go after that buck. And I'm like, that's like, it's a, it's a hardhorn buck. It's a great buck, you know, I don't know. I mean, I, I think I can crawl, crawl in on him. But there's another spot that we wanted to go check. So we'd seen like another pretty good hard velvet in this other area, so decided to go there. And my plan was like, all right, I'm gonna time this where I'm gonna this. There's a hundred deer in this herd and one buck that I wanted to get out of it. The hard horned buck and the wide open. Right. Like, seems like an impossible stock, but not really. I was gonna time my stock based on when I think they would move to like a feet because they're kind of in their just betting zone. They like bet out in that open stuff, kind of like pronghorn would. And then they move into this thicker area at night. So. And then in that thicker area, there was already some deer in there. So I figured I was going to go stalk this other hardhorn buck or hard velvet buck. Sorry. And then try to time it the last part of the day, make a play on that big herd and use that kind of fading light to my advantage. So that was my plan. So I go stalk the other buck and I end up relocating him. And he's bedded and he's got like, I don't know, there's a bunch of does. And it's like this one little opening in the trees and he's got some other deer around him. Like a little spikes there and some other smaller bucks. And so I go, I kind of like look at all my approaches. I've got a good wind. And they were up and feeding. And then I watched him just plop down in bed. And there's a little bit of tall grass where he's at. So it's kind of like a little bit different. There's the open area and this like really thick treed area. And I found him in the tree. So I move in, I get the wind right, I move in and I'm like crawling in and get set up and I'm like, I get within, I guess he was like 30 yards, something like that. And he's bedded. So there, there's a lot. I've got an opening. I've got my. I put a arrow on. I'm got it knocked. I'm ready to rock and roll. Everything's ready. And I'm just waiting for this buck to stand up. And he's a pretty good, pretty good hard velvet buck. Like awesome deer. Deep forks on him and his back and which is just a great looking deer. I'm sitting there waiting for like 20 something minutes, maybe longer and just waiting for him to naturally stand up 30 yards. I can just, you know, as soon as I see him start to rock his antlers, I'm going to be at full draw. He's going to stand up like where the grass is. I can see where his head is. So he's got. He's actually laying his head down and then picking it up and laying it down. He's like sleeping. So it's perfect. It's a perfect setup. Wind's still good, everything. So I'm sitting there and I'm thinking like it Looks like he's probably gonna start moving. There was a deer next to him, a little spike. It got up and walked into the trees. And so now I only have two deer there, like, the smaller buck, and then the buck I was gonna try to shoot. And before he stands up, a bunch of deer walked out, popped out, and started walking toward me. Like, does and fawns and stuff. I'm like, oh, my gosh. And at this point, I'm kind of, like, sitting up behind this bush, and one of them picks me out. Like, didn't know, I think, because, you know, I'm just trying to stay frozen, But, I mean, there's just too many eyes in there. Close, like under 20 yards, a couple of them. So they bump out, they take the buck with them, and I don't get a shot. But I still have time to go make my play that I was going to do on that group in the open. So I hustle back that way. It was a little ways away, so I work back that way, and I see them essentially where they were when I kind of saw them earlier in the evening. And my plan is like, okay, I've actually stalked deer in this exact spot before, so I'm just. I kind of know the route that I'm gonna take. There was one, like, clump out there and a couple little trees. And my thought was like, okay, I can utilize that. But my plan was to. To move in, like, that last. You know, utilize that last, like, bit of shooting light. So I just. I always do this when I'm hunting is like, whatever. Whenever shooting time ends, I set an alarm on my phone. So it's like, all right, if I'm in the stock or whatever. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Game over. Hunt's done. But my plan is to move in and kind of utilize that last 10 minutes, five minutes of shooting light to get into position. So I cover a lot of it and then kind of use that fading light to get close. Because with so many eyes, I think also as the sun starts to go down, they really start to focus on feeding, so they're gonna be a bit more distracted. They're all moving around. There might be a little bit of movement, but they won't be as keyed in as they would earlier. So that's my strength strategy. So I'm crawling in and starting out. It's, like, wide open. I'm just hands and knees crawling. I've got my bow essentially on my back and just crawling in. I mean, I've got Like thorns and crap in my hands and knees, like just getting tore up. And so I'm crawling in and where I was at, there was like this almost like a ditch. And had I just. Well, so I'll get to that. But had I just been like stayed there, they actually ended up feeding that direction. So I'm crawling in like a long ways probably. I don't know, I don't know how far it was. Like 800 yards, something like 600 yards. I don't know, something half a mile, something like that. It's just like a long ass crawl. And then as I get any kind of topography, I'd move quick and then I'd continue to crawl out in the open. And they're still out there feeding. I'm trying to crawl to where I can sort of intercept them or, or get to this couple pieces of COVID that I've pre identified. So as I'm crawling, I'm getting pretty dang close to where I want to be. And I look up, I'm like, the deer were just right there and I'm looking and I don't see them. I'm like, I kind of pre planned it out that I'd be about 120 yards from where they are and then I would wait. And then as they moved or other ones moved, maybe I could work in on the buck that I was hoping for. And I'm looking all over. And during that last bit of crawling, I looked to my left and they'd like practically run to go to this other spot, which is actually kind of. It wasn't like they weren't spooked in any way. They were just feeding, but they're feeding fast. You know, when one kind of gets ahead and feeds them, the rest go to catch up. And now I look and I'm like, well, crap, had I just stayed over there. They actually went to where I started the stalk from. Just did all this crawling for nothing. But it didn't matter. I was closer now and almost in position. So there's a few still filtering out. And while those are filtering out, I could use this little bit of a berm to my advantage. So I start crawling toward that and I, I get to a position where the deer, I can see him now out feeding. I'm still too far for a shot. Like I need to move in another 80 yards, but I'm just gonna wait. So I sit there and wait because there's just so many eyes. I think, okay, I'm just going to wait and move that last bit. The Last five minutes of, like, shooting light. So I wait, wait, wait. And then they continue to feed. They're in this little pocket of trees. Okay. It seems like I've got enough of them filtered past, you know, being patient enough. Now I'm going to strike. Like, this is my opportunity. The last one kind of moved out of my sight. I quickly moved up, essentially could, like, bend. I covered that last 80 yards in a matter of seconds. Got to this little bit of the only cover that was there. Popped up, ranged a deer. One looked my direction. I just got back down, laid down on a little trail, and then was able to get a good range, set my pin, and started looking for the buck that. The hard horn buck. And it was like velvet buck, velvet buck, doe, doe. They were like. I think they were 60 yards away. 50, 60 yards away. And so I look to the right and the hardhorn buck's still in this little patch of trees. And so he moves out and they, they stop. They're stop. He's like, stopped in this little gap. And I range him, set, like, readjust my pin. No, actually, sorry, I didn't. I didn't do that yet. I actually saw him over in that little patch of tree. So I dropped back down and moved maybe a five or eight yards to my right, pop back up. So now I've got, like a good angle and I'm about. I don't know, whatever that angle made it, it was quite a bit closer because I think he was like 60 and now he's like 53 or something like that. I can't remember. And so I pop up, range him, set my pin, draw back out of sight, raise back up, and just settle in, go through my shot process. Shot breaks and the arrow goes. And the deer all cluster up. And I throw my binoculars up and I see him, and I see him in the middle of the group. And this is like within seconds, like, the. The group of deer start walking. Like, he just falls over dead. And the group of deer filter off and are doing their thing. They. They go, pew, pew, Making their noise, like blowing, stomping, looking around, like, what happened? And then they move off and the buck was down. It was a perfect shot right through his vitals. And I mean, he didn't even go, I don't know, like a few steps. So I went over there. I end up pushing the rest of the deer off, went over, got to the buck, and the buck's right here. And my arrow was. He was just like, I don't know, a couple feet from my Arrow, which is part of the reason why I love the setup that I've got. Like, I shot him essentially right through. He was perfectly broadside, right through both shoulders, right through the lungs. I was using my day six arrows and that evo two blade broadhead, which I really love for that, like, penetration. I mean, here's a dead deer within, like, steps of where he got shot. You know, wherever the arrow exited, he walked to that and fell over. And so, yeah, it was an awesome buck. Met up with my buddy, and I skinned him out and took all the meat and everything, and then headed back and. And got a buck. It was. This was actually a few days before my birthday, and I ended up going out another time on my birthday. So I'll share that story next week because it was a little bit of a different tactic in also open country. But, you know, I think, like, that seemingly impossible stock was kind of made possible by one, staying low and moving in, trying to get into position, and then two, timing it where I'm using kind of like that fading light and that, you know, ability for of them to start really feeding, like that evening feed, to kind of distract them to move in in that more open country, where, yeah, in the broad daylight, I would have been more noticeable. But as they're all feeding and really focused on something else, I was able to slip in and get a shot on the one buck out of a hundred deer in this group, essentially in the wide open. And it was just a awesome stock. Awesome shot, Totally awesome. It was just an awesome experience. So a lot of fun. When it comes to open country hunting, there's always something that pops up in my mind, and it's almost like a, you know, have a lot of these, like, hunting mantras, I guess, like, go the best way, not the easy way, and things that I talk myself through to find that extra level of success. And this happens. And I've talked about this before, but it actually comes from. So quite a few years ago. This seems not that long ago, but I guess it was a while ago now, probably almost 10 years ago. I did this TV show called Apex Predator. If you're familiar with it or not, I'll just kind of recap a little bit of what it was about. So essentially, I had this theory that, you know, animals, a lot of different animals specialize in. In so many different things, right in the natural world is really incredible. Like, the way wolves hunt, the way certain animals camouflage. Like, there's just some incredible, amazing things in nature. And so my thought was like, I think as humans, we are some of the top predators because we can take what these other animals specialize in. We have a lot of these adaptive traits or can, you know, maybe we don't have these specific adaptive traits, but can create situations for these adaptive traits for us to become better hunters. And really just immerse myself in the. In the animal world. And then through that, I did some training, and I would kind of give myself these challenges to, like, hunt, like, whatever animal I was studying or utilize some technique or tactic that they do. One of the first episodes that I did was hunting, like, a gator, an alligator. And so the way that an alligator hunts is essentially kind of like, acts like a log, moves very slow when it moves, and then lies in weight. And one of the. So. And then on the show there, I'd like meet with these experts, some of them at zoos, some of, like, biologists, whatever. And on this particular one where I was kind of, like, training and essentially, like, learning about the alligators, I. The one of the guys said something that has really stuck with me and something that I've utilized, like, I kind of thought during the whole time, because my. My plan was to, like, sneak up and grab a wild bore in the swamps of Florida, which I don't know if that was a good idea or bad idea. So one of the things that he said was, like, you know, talking about the way that alligator hunts. And it's not that they don't move, it's just that they move lower than the threshold of perception. And that's something that sticks to me, sticks in my mind when I'm sneaking in, is like, it's not that we aren't moving, but we got to move in a way that's not perceived as something moving. And in the open country, this definitely plays a huge factor. So when I think about that, as far as, like, stalking pronghorn, stalking, overstocking, those axis deer, a lot of it is getting low, below that level of threshold of perception. There's not many things that. Oh, you know, there are a few, you know, like predators, when they get low, they're doing the same exact thing you can think of a mountain lion when it gets down, like, it's crawling below that level of perception, like the. Below that line of sight, below that, whatever is being perceived. And a lot of people do their stalk and they're crouched over because it's more comfortable. And they're up and they're moving and they're trying to get in, or they're crawling. It's like if your grass is short, you need to be shorter. You need to be below that level of perception. Like, in. In a way, you can be there and sort of be seen, but not be seen. You can essentially hide in what's there. And so often, that means in that real open country, crawling, getting low, like, literally being below the low brush or even in that low brush, being so low that it doesn't look like anything or any kind of threat. And then as you move in, when they're looking or in the open, you move slow enough where it doesn't appear that something's moving or moving in, but you're still gaining ground. And that's the. That's been a huge thing that works for me in a lot of hunting situations. And I noticed, like, I'll watch people stalk or move in, and they try these stocks in the open, and they're just moving in a way that's like, dude, you got to get lower. You got to go slow. Or in some ways, you got to go slower. Or you just got to get lower. Like, it's difficult. It hurts. It sucks to crawl. Like, I came back from that and I shot a buck, but, like, every part of my body was stuck with thorns and other crap, like, my hands, my knees. I guess I could have, like, gloves and knee pads or something, but I didn't care. I was going to crawl in on these deer and literally crawl like I had thorn things in my ribs, like, I was on the ground crawling in. And sometimes I've. I've crawled. Like, you get so sore doing this kind of crawling. Like, I've chased pronghorn, and I've talked about it before, but I have a lot of success stalking pronghorn with a bow in a lot of people's struggle. And I. And I have a lot of success because I'm willing to, like, get on the ground and crawl in. And by the time that hunt's over, probably be better off carrying a heavy pack for 50 miles because, like, your neck is sore, every part of your body hurts after crawling like that. But it's something that I do because I know that I can get in and be unseen in that open country, and it gives me additional places that I can pull off stocks. Like, hey, maybe the wind's not right for that cover spot, but I can move in in this particular way or cover this amount of open this way just by being below that level of perception, by getting low and crawling in and literally crawling, like, on the ground, Inchworm crawling. And you can utilize what cover is Available. Like there can be low cover, but it could be a long crawl and it sucks to do. But if you do it right, you can give yourself an opportunity or a shot. One of the things that I like to do, like say I'm bow hunting and this is, this is archery, this is rifle, this is muzzleloader, it doesn't matter. It's just with bow hunting you have to take that next level. You have to go get closer and, and be within that reference of those animals where they start to perceive more things with a bow. One of the things that I like to do when I'm crawling in is I actually, I've got them on my website, but I have a bow sling and I run that bow sling super tight and I crawl in often with that bow on my back in the bow sling. So I can use my hands and like be low and crawl and have less movement. Another way that I'll do it is like I'll put the bow ahead and then crawl. Put the bow ahead and crawl, but with it on my back, it just runs like it's got a sleeve over the Kamsus neoprene. And so I put that on, it's on my back. I do it as tight as possible so it keeps the bow right there. And then I can just reach back with one hand while on my belly and remove the bow, get it off and then, you know, knock an arrow and be ready to rock and roll when I'm in go time. And if I need to, I can just put it back on my back and continue to crawl. That's just one of the like little, little tidbit of information and a good plug. You can go to Remy Warren.com and find the bow slings. I think, I don't think we're sold out, but. So that's one of the ways that I hunt that open country. Now another little tip is to not pop up too much. Oftentimes what I'll do is I'm gonna plan my route to that available cover. And during that I'm trying to like, you know, you can pop up and look when needed. But also sometimes you just have to stay low. You've got a route planned, you wanna pay attention, of course, but also like, if there's times where it's like, okay, you can move and you're far enough out. I'm talking like outside of that 120 yards or whatever, not within the, the go zone. But I don't want to be popping up, popping up, popping up out at distance where I can still get picked up, right? I'm gonna. I'm gonna plan my route from a ways away. And my plan is when I'm moving in in the open to find those places where I might be able to have available cover if need be. So, like on those access deer I had, okay, I had this. This particular tree I was going to. There was, like, a little dirt hump out there, Any kind of topographical rise, brush, anything that adds additional cover. Thick patch of grass. Like, sometimes it's just bare dirt. And there's like, one patch of grass, okay, I'm going to that one patch of grass where it allowed me to do something like put an arrow on, maybe draw back a little bit more out of COVID before I sit up or at least pop up in range or just have my head up in range that might not get noticed. That below level of perception, finding a place where I can blend in a little bit better, where my movements won't be picked up as easily, things like that. So I plan my route to that potential available cover. And then anytime that there's any kind of feature that might hide my body or something, then I utilize that as well. To move in the game is stay low, move slow when needed. Now, another big factor of these kind of stocks in the open is to use anything to your advantage. So this can be a distraction. Distraction like feeding. Most animals that are crepuscular muscular, meaning they do a lot of activity morning, like in that twilight and evening hours, really feed pretty hard first thing in the morning and last thing in the daytime. And that can be a distraction. Their heads can be down, they can be munching, they're moving and feeding, moving and feeding. And they're less just, like, paying attention to what's going on because their head's in a bush or they've got their head down. And I mean, there's times where I've had deer that, like, you see a deer and it's like this thing hasn't picked, set up for 20 minutes. He's just down there munching, munching, munching, munching. And that's a distraction. I've seen it with mule deer. I've seen with pronghorn. I've seen with axis deer. I've seen it with elk. Like, it can be a really good time to key in on the distraction. So sometimes an animal might be somewhere and you. Okay, well, yeah, it's the open. It's not stalkable now, but that doesn't mean that it won't be stalkable. At a different time, when there's something else going on, feeding, or maybe the sun. Another timing issue is, like, the sun. Be patient, and then move in slow in the parts. Get yourself within that striking zone, that time where, okay, I'm within a certain distance, and then when the right moment comes, I can move fast to gain the rest of the ground. Last week, I talked about at open country, White Hill actually put the little clip on my YouTube channel. A little short little video, Essentially a single stock video. But when I moved in, I was a little bit dilly dallying. It's like, oh, why didn't you just get in there sooner? Well, the sun was up. It was super open, and all it would have taken was a deer to stand up and look and see somebody coming in, right? But I timed it to where I was just below the hill where I wanted to go up. And then as that sun started to dip behind me, that's when I made my move, knowing that if for some reason the deer caught me, the sun would be in his eyes, and it would give me a little bit of an advantage. You can see that buck on that video, like, walking in and looking. He's actually looking more toward the camera. I was actually off to the left a bit, so I had. I had a completely. It's hard to tell in a video sometimes, but a deer never looked at me, like, not once. It was always looking over to the right. But even then, like, I tried looking back at Zach, who was filming, and it was very hard. It was like sun was right behind him. It's like, is that something? Is that not something? You know, it's so hard to tell. You look at the video, you're like, oh, that buck had you pegged. And I could tell, like, that buck did not really. He saw there was something there, but it wasn't alarming to him because he continued to walk toward it. It's just like that sun was in his eyes and he was feeding, and that's the way he wanted to go, and he couldn't see us. So that, like, being patient. And there's been so many stocks where, especially with mule deer, I'll be moving in, they're feeding, and then I know that that sun's behind me if I got the good wind. And I'm just waiting for that sun to be at that perfect position. Like, when you're driving, you know, and it's like, the sun's here, and then all of a sudden, you can hit your windshield and you can't see anything. I'M waiting for that windshield moment. Like, now is when I'm going to move, and when that happens, I can get closer and I can move faster. I can maybe get away with a few things or, okay, I can now move in in this time window and try to make it happen then. So the key is often move slow and then move fast when needed. Like, there's times where I'll be crawling on my belly, and then the timing issue happens where, hey, maybe this deer dropped down into a little goalie, whatever. Like, there's a little ditch out there that I didn't know about or did know about. Popped in there. He's out of sight. I can then get up and sprint to get closer to cover some ground and then drop down again and crawl or whatever. So there's times where, yeah, it's that moving below perception, and then it's all clear, and I'm literally running. I'm going from moving an inch at a time to sprinting as fast as I can. And a lot of that happens with the timing of the hunt, especially in open country. It's a game of timing. Where can I get a slight advantage, and then when I have that advantage, take advantage of it. Another one is, like, the beginning or the end of the day for elk. It's one that I use a lot, especially in September, because you can hear them, you know, like, hear them in the dark. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bugle, bugle, bugle. Right. And then it's like I move in, and as soon as the lights turn on for legal shooting light, that's when I want to close the gap in that twilight hour of, okay, it's a little bit dark, and it allows me to get away with a little bit more or with mule deer or access deer. In the evening, as they're moving out feeding, they're now kind of focused on feeding. It's getting darker. It's harder for them to see. And I can move in and maybe close a little bit of a distance faster in that open country or not be as noticed because there's less light refracting off me. They're distracted, and I have less light to work with. Now, there's some disadvantages to. To that of, like, sometimes it's like, even though it might be legal shooting light, it's hard to see your pin and get a good shot. So I play it. Always. It's best to have the sun behind you in those scenarios, like, even the setting sun, because it lights up what's in front of you and makes it, like, harder to see in that direction. If it's the opposite, if you're stalking toward the setting sun, it's the opposite. They can see better and you can't see as well. And it makes it for a difficult, difficult opportunity. But what we're doing is we're using timing of the day, of the situation, of the circumstances to kind of provide some kind of COVID or lack of, I guess, like provide cover or just changing that level of perception for the animals that are there. The distraction, the movement, the kind of like, aid of that fading or waning light and then utilizing that to your advantage to get in close. And that often can happen, you know, sometimes, like, right, the wind is first. So it doesn't always happen in every situation. But if there is a situation where, hey, the wind's blowing this way, and I could go from two different ways, I'm going to choose to put the sun at my back and move in that way as opposed to the other way around. So thinking about those things can really help you stock in and get close. Remember, get low, move slow when needed, be below that level of perception, and then use things of timing like distraction, and think about using the sun and then the timing of growing and fading light to make your move and to cover distance in that open terrain. I hope you guys enjoyed that podcast. Next week, we're going to talk about open country hunting and ways to create an ambush strategy. So think about it like you move 20% and let the animal move 80%. As you're moving in, let the animal go to you, because if they don't know that you're there, you can utilize open terrain and country to your advantage. Instead of having to crawl to them, they come to you. And there is a lot of strategy involved of picking the right place and how to cut off and how to get into position to have animals come in. So I'll share the story of what will be my. What was my 40th birthday hunt and just going into a little bit of a new area for access deer and setting up the perfect ambush to have them cover the distance in some really open country. So we'll talk about that next week. You know, one of the things that I also want to mention, an awesome supporter of this podcast outdoor class. I've got my own courses on there. I've got my mule deer courses on there. I've also got like a kind of an intro to bow hunting kind of thing that talks about setting up and things you want to think about for practice and bow hunting. It's a Good one to think about as we start to go into the preseason and prep and ways to think about practice and getting your bow set up ready for the season. Because when it comes to bow hunting especially or shooting, everything I do with a bow is for hunting purposes, which, you know, there's, there's, it's a lot of fun shooting targets and other things. I think that's a real way to build skill. But when I'm building that skill, I'm developing it for application in hunting. And I think that that's really important. So if you haven't checked out that course, it's definitely worth checking out. Right now you can use code REMY15, which gives you 15 off your first year and that also you have access to all the courses on there. So there's stuff about whitetail like scouting whitetails, survival skills, cooking. There's a lot of different cooking things on there. There's a ton of great elk hunting stuff. Corey Jacobson's essentially Elk University of Elk Hunting is on there. Probably one of the most comprehensive things as far as it goes to elk hunting. There's some stuff for pronghorn hunting. There's just a little bit of something for everyone. It's an awesome way to, to see it out in videos and, and I'm starting to think about, you know, some new courses that I'll add on there. If you guys have suggestions. If you're like, dude, I would really like an, a deep dive into xyz. I'd like to see this. One of the ones that I was thinking because I think there's like, I think it could benefit from it is some spring bear stuff, spot and stock bear hunting, bear hunting strategies. But you know, maybe you want more mule deer stuff. Maybe you guys want, there's a ton of elk stuff on there. I would love to do some different elk stuff too, but I think that like there's already so extensively covered in there that I think that, I don't know, it might be better to just added some more mule deer hunting content or something like that. But hey guys, reach out, let me know if there's something that you want to see. Because as we start to think about, as I start to think about, you know, some new classes that I put on there. What do you guys want to see? So remember you guys, if you, if you don't yet, Remy15 outdoor class.com you can go check it out and, and once you say it's a year long membership so you get all the new courses every time a new comes out you have access to everything on there. You can watch them, download them, do whatever. So it's a cool app and a. And a cool way to. To learn, for sure. I think sometimes it's good. It's good to listen, it's good to watch, it's good to kind of get this information, good to read. Like, it's good to get information in so many different ways and having some of the best people for their skill set, whether it's elk hunting, you know, cooking, whatever. Being able to learn from those people is awesome. So you guys can check that out. And I'm going to say, until next week, stay open. We'll catch you guys later.