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 welcome back to Live Wild podcast. Now this week we're going to be diving into our final part of E Scouting. So we've been going through this series, if you've missed it, about E scouting, looking at specific types of terrain features and how to hone in on those, and then kind of taking this grading approach where we look at an entire area that says, hey, it's got all kinds of travel routes, got all kinds of feeding areas, well, which ones are going to be the most productive? So we looked at ways to compare and contrast different areas to say these ones are probably the most likely to be productive. So when we're E scouting before we even get into the field, we can highlight areas that are just going to be more successful, more productive for whatever we're going to hunt. And we looked at kind of correlating that with the species that we're hunting and really understanding the species. Now this week we're going to do our final part in what I consider the secret sauce to any Western big game hunt. We're going to be looking at bedding areas and for that I'm going to break down why bedding areas are just so high on my list for targeting and identifying. And then we're going to look at ways to identify those bedding areas on a map and we're going to look at some of the tools available for hunters to really dive into that. And then we're also going to look at that way of grading those various areas when you're looking at a map to really highlight those most productive place. Just a few key Pieces of information. So let's dive in now and talk bedding. If I think back to many of my successful hunts, whether it's elk hunts, deer hunts, you know, mostly elk and deer hunts, but you can even. You could even throw pronghorn on here. I mean, it doesn't really matter what it is. Bedding areas are kind of a way that a thing that I pinpoint where I actually contribute a lot of success to. Now, I might not be hunting the actual bedding area, and sometimes I actually am, but what it does is it allows me to kind of pinpoint and hone in on where the animals are the majority of the day. Okay. And I think about like, especially with meal deer. And I've talked about this in the past, but I think most of my successful early season mule deer archery hunting is going in on bedded bucks. Oftentimes I'm seeing them in feeding areas waiting for them to bed. But then if I don't find anything, I'm actually targeting bedding areas and hunting those bedding areas. Same goes for elk. A lot of my archery elk success comes from not necessarily in the morning or the evening, but kind of pinpointing those bedding areas and then making the right plays, whether it's waiting, whether it's moving in and calling and pulling a bull out of his bed. You guys might remember a story of in the past, my best bull ever literally called him in the middle of the day. He just got up from his bed, came bugling in, and I shot a 390 bull with my bow. It happens. Mule deer. Like, I just released a video on my YouTube channel today. If you guys haven't checked it out, you got to watch. It is from last season. My wife and I were hunting mule deer early season in Nevada. Ended up being like the last morning. Uh, we're actually supposed to be on our way home. We decided to do that, like last minute glass. She spots this big buck. I think I've told the story on the podcast before. Hopefully I told the story. If not, I'll have to go back and tell the story, the full story. But you can watch the video now. So I end up like, getting into position and this buck just has all day shade. I end up tossing a rock and the rest is history. Stupid move. Like, even in the video, I'm like, that was dumb. But it just seemed like the right move at the time. It worked out. It almost didn't work out. Is one of those where he stopped. I had this slim opening for a shot. Made the shot count and, and took a really great buck. Like if you guys haven't seen that video after this podcast or now or whenever you get a chance, go check it out. I think you guys will really enjoy it all. Still filmed and everything, but just a really fun, fun hunt. But it really focuses on bedding areas. Right. We were in an area where we were glassing where deer would be moving to bed. And so by focusing in on bedding areas, I mean with mule deer that's like, I've talked about this. You can check out those outdoor classes again where I really dive into this on the archery side. But bedding areas are, are so key especially for me for, for finding stalks, especially in the middle of the day or mid morning. Great way to, to locate animals, but they're very important for even just identifying where animals might be in a particular area. Let's say you're going into a new area and just like the podcast in the past few weeks, we are going to really look at why these particular areas and which ones of the bedding areas might get me more excited. But if we're looking at it through the lens of E scouting, okay, you're at home, you've never been in this area. We still have to equate each of these tactics to animal behavior and what we're hunting. And it's going to be specific for every type of species. Okay. But there are going to be some consistent things that we can identify within bedding areas to really hone in on the productive ones. So I guess the first thing here, let's just start at the basics of what is a bedding area. So a bedding area is where animals choose to bed. Okay. Is like what are they doing? They're bedding down. And this can be at night. It can also be during the day. We're talking about in this particular instance, primarily bedding areas in the daytime. Think about elk and deer. Like they're moving a lot in the mornings and the evenings, but they aren't really moving much in the daytime. They're bedded. They're in these areas where they're laying down. So that would be considered a bedding area. Now maybe where the exact place that they bed might change every day. Sometimes they kind of go to the same general area and there's a lot of factors that kind of play into where they might bed. But a bedding area is just exactly that. An area where animals are betting this can be white tail deer, like they might go to their feed, maybe they're feeding in agriculture. They Move, and they've got, like, this little thick patch that they go bed in. So why do I get excited about bedding areas? Like, I could probably, if I think about it, I could probably deep dive into bedding areas so far for every individual species. And all the little things I think about probably just do a year's worth of podcasts on them. But we're. We're going cover the main points and then look at that east through that e scouting lens here. But the reason that I get so excited about bedding areas is it tells us where the animals are most of the time. Right. And the other thing that gets me excited about bedding areas is there's a place where they aren't generally, like, once they're bedded, they aren't moving from it as much. So feeding area. They could be in that feeding area, and then they could be anywhere in that feeding area. And they're kind of continually moving around travel routes. They're like, moving through it. And it's a very small bl entire day when they might cross through this travel route, a bedding area. They're spending a lot of time in those areas, and they're often stationary. They're often there, and it gives the hunter either time to make a move. It gives you maybe an idea of where the animals are spending the majority of their day, so you can plan your before and after ambushes around it. But it's. It's exciting because it's saying, here's where they are in that, like, largest chunk of. Of daytime. So now we're going to look at, like, well, what makes a bedding area? Well, why is anywhere there could be shade a potential bedding area? Yes, that. I mean, it could be early in the season. Not. It's not always about staying cool. Sometimes it's about staying warm as well, which a lot of hunters maybe don't think about. So you think about a bedding area. There's a couple of things that are factored in. Climate control for their bodies is one. And then the second thing, and maybe the most important thing is actually security. Okay. So you think about if this is where they're spending most of their day. They're prey animals, and they're designed to evade predators and not be eaten. So where they're spending most of their time, okay. Is going to be somewhere where they feel very safe. They bed in places that are safe. That's why, you know, identifying bedding areas is good, because it tells you where the animals are. It's not often always a Opportunity to maybe make a play on them, though, because there is that security aspect. They pick places where they feel the most secure. So what we can do is we can take those two things. Body heat regulation, hot or cold, and security. And we can overlay those two things and we have ideal betting. So what we're going to do now is I'm going to go through a few of the tools, actually that we can use when we're e scouting. And then we're gonna kind of dive back into, like, talking very specifically about these particular types of spots. And then we're gonna go into that grading of figuring out, well, what places might look the most beneficial for bedding, depending on the time of year, the species and all those things. So let's dive in now. I'm gonna. I'm gonna do like I did in the past few episodes. I'm just gonna pull up my onyx maps, just essentially help explain a lot of this. There's some tools on here that I think are very helpful when we're looking at new areas that, that might be helpful for you. They're just ways that we can kind of identify certain things. So I guess the first thing maybe before we even get into the maps, is identifying maybe what we're looking at when it comes to betting. So not all betting is created equal. And we're. We're gonna, I guess, well, let's just dive into the weeds a little bit, I guess, before we even get into our maps, about some of the things that we might want to look for as far as like prime betting. So early in the season. That mule deer hunt that just. I just have on my YouTube video, it's August. They're in velvet. What do you think the elk and deer are looking for then? It's shade. It's body temperature regulation. It's hot in the sun, and they need shade to stay cool. They don't want to overheat. They've got big, thick fur coats. And so getting out of the sun is very important. And for the most part, they might be doing that first thing in the morning. Like probably, let's say the sun comes up at 5:30 in the morning and they're like, or 6 or something like that. They're in bed by 8. Like they're at least bedded down, trying to get out of that sun by the morning. And then they're continually moving to different places based on a few factors of that safety, shade, breeze and wind and other stuff to just stay comfortable. And they might get up, they might feed they might move a little bit. I've even seen areas where, hey, the bedding's good on this particular part of the mountain in the morning. And then they, they get like, they'll do an initial bed for mule deer. They often do this where they, they go, they feed, they hit like the first bit of shade, they lay down, they're like, this is comfortable, but you look at it and they're just gonna run out of shade. It's not great bedding. And then they get up, the sun hits them a little bit. Maybe they're there for 30 minutes, 20 minutes, an hour and 20 minutes, whatever. And they get up and they move to like a more productive shade pocket where there's good wind, good shade, good breeze, they stay cool, it's nice. They take a nap, they lay down, they're looking out for danger. And then maybe as the sun moves across the sky, that kind of gets heated up, starts to do the exact opposite effect of staying cool, gets hot, and then they move around the mountain to another side where they, they bed. But either way, they're kind of continually following that shade in the winter. It could be the exact actual opposite where it's freezing cold and they just need to stay warm. Maybe it's something where they're like, hey, we're out in the sun, we're gonna, we're gonna bed in the sun to gain body heat. When it's really cold, maybe it's mid range temperatures where they're bedded down, but they want those pockets that kind of hold and insulate them from that cold winter chill. They want something that blocks the wind, they want something that keeps them warm. And so they've got that plus that security. Now when you think about security, you know, every animal species has its own little kind of like superpower, if you will, of staying safe. So what an elk relies on and a mule deer rely on might be two different things all. Well, for the most part, all species rely on their nose, okay? That's one of their main senses to detect danger. And imagine being able to like, have super smell and know, hey, mountain lions coming from that direction, 250 yards away, right? It's like, it's like having radar, really. Mule deer, on the other hand, like, they're designed. You just look at their physical adaptations and they've got these big ears. What are those big ears used for? Hearing. Okay. So they've got this adaptation where they can hear really well from a long ways away. So what do you think that they're going to do when it comes to security, they're going to put themselves in places where they can hear threats coming. Elk, they travel in herds, so they have the safety and numbers thing and often use their eyes a lot as well. They've got good, decent hearing. But you know, when you got a bunch of friends walking around anything, like maybe that's not their immediate first response to danger, but they might put themselves in an area where we can bed in multiple locations and everybody can watch a different thing in combination with their nose. Now, pronghorn have incredible eyesight, so when they're thinking about security, it's the opposite of other animals. Elk or deer might find security in that cover. They actually aren't really looking for shade. They're just looking for more security. And that probably means bedding out in the wide open where they can see for a hundred miles. Perfect. They've got it covered. They're sitting there, they've got security in their bedding, and they're in there picking those big wide open spots for bedding because they can see for miles. And that's the kind of their physical adaptations to staying safe during those times that they're bedded. So that's what's going to make up these bedding areas. Now we can kind of take that and we're going to say, okay, well, maybe it will even take it a step further with mule deer. I've talked about this and with elk as well. And let's just kind of focus on mule deer now because I think that they're fun. Well, whitetails, you know, if you're a whitetail hunter, whitetails also have that kind of, you know, they're very flighty and they then they often put themselves. Bed themselves in places for security purposes that have that wind good, but then also noise around them. So they, they kind of tuck themselves in those real thick places where it's, it's hard for a predator to, to enter into those zones. Quiet, they hear it, they're out. So those are just some of the things keep in the back of your mind of like how animals bed. Now, another way that they bed is, is to kind of combine as many natural defenses as possible. So let's take a mule deer, for instance, because mule deer, I think are some, the, the most clever bedding, like one of the species that uses bedding to its advantage. And it's funny that we, we actually target them in the bed, in their beds. But it's, it's more predictable in a way because they do try to set. Stack the odds in their favor. So prime mule deer bedding would be where they can bed, where they're comfortable. So if you're laying on a hill, the most comfortable way to look when you're on a steep slope is looking down. So if they're looking down, they generally want the wind at their back. They want to be in the shade. They want to be able to see what's coming from below. And they probably are in an area where there's some noisy stuff, maybe like a whitetail would do, around them. Maybe that's a scree slide. Maybe that's, you know, some real dry brush on the edges of it, some open that maybe they can see. And. Or maybe it's like some real thick, short stuff around where it would make more noise. But they've got good vision and good wind. Elk can do something similar right where they're. They. They want that herd to be able to split up and use their eyes. Or if there's a. Maybe it's a bull by itself. Bull by itself can be sometimes the easiest thing to sneak on, because sometimes they're used to that herd mentality, and they put themselves in, you know, places that maybe don't have the best security, but they're. They're thinking about security. So they've got a place where it's like, hey, it's got to be comfortable, too. Big animal. They want to. They don't want to be like having to tie themselves off on the mountain to stay bedded, which they will. You'll. You'll find them. But maybe they got, like, a little bench or something that they could lay on. And one can be on this side, another could be on that side. They can look out for danger. They've got the wind in a way that is blowing toward them, or maybe a spot where the wind's swirling. This is what elk love to do. They like to pick those swirly wind spots because they've got a bunch of them bedded all over. Different directions, different lookouts. And then that wind's hitting from all different directions, so someone will catch a predator as it. As it's moving. And so those places where the wind's real turbulent, that's. That's where you find a lot of elk. It could also be as similar to the mule deer with the downhill and that. It could also be the opposite, where it's like that uphill, but they've got some down below, and the bull puts himself kind of in the middle. But you think about that as far as safety, security in combination with shade and cover. Later in the season it could be, you know, something similar, but opposite, where the security things are the same, but they put themselves maybe in a more open spot for more sun or an area that maybe heats up across the day. So maybe we're on the mountain, might change a little bit. And sometimes you might see a little bit of overlap between summer and winter in an interesting way. And we'll look at that when we start looking at the map. So think about that. We got thermal cover, really, so like either shade or, or something that heat later in the season we've got security, which is very important to them. And now we're going to kind of think about, well, what's optimal bedding look like? So in the summertime we're thinking about bedding and that thermal, that thermal shade. Well, think about it. Just like if you're going to go take a nap in the woods, right, you can find places that are much cooler than others. There's places that are just getting beat down by the sun. And yeah, there's shade, but everything around it's hot and it's just. It's hot there. And then you can go on maybe like the north face of a ridge or something, and you've got shade, equal amounts of shade, but it's just a lot cooler. Now you can also have a place that's real thick, okay. And maybe it's on one side it's thick, but there's no wind flow. Well, that's one, it's hot, and two, it's just not real safe for an animal. So we're looking for in the summertime, good dark shade, like that dense shade where the sun's not. Like, how many times have you maybe been out, you know, like morning glassing sessions over, you're tired, you're going to lay down, and you lay down this shade pocket, but the sun's poking through all the little holes. It's shady, but it's not dark shade. And you just get cooked out real quick. You're kind of uncomfortable, but then you go to another spot where it's like a different kind of tree. So I think of it like in mule deer hunting, you get like juniper trees and they are real thick, okay? So that's a benefit. They're thick and they got real dark shade, but they also block the breeze. So they can be good, they can be bad. And maybe you go into a mahogany patch and it's just on a better side of the hill and you got good breeze and good shade. Well, that's going to be A little cooler. Good shade combined with airflow. Cooler. So we're looking for that cooler pocket. Now, the same could be said in late season when you got, you know, it's cold out snowing. You've got maybe this, this good potential bedding where the trees actually start to absorb the heat from the sun. And then they create this little pocket that's just warmer than everywhere else. I don't know how many of you have noticed this. Maybe you're walking around at night. You're walking. It happens a lot. Like, say you're walking a logging road and it's nighttime and you're what, you got three, four miles back to the truck, you're walking this logging kind of just meanders through this mountain. Maybe it's a burn and you've got like, pockets of timber, little patches. It kind of goes all, let's say it just goes all the way around the mountain for all intents and purposes. And you're walking and it's like, kind of chilly. And then you hit this pocket and it's like a little sauna. You go, why, like this hot pocket of air? Well, that generally happens because maybe there's not a lot of airflow from that pocket. It's protected from a wind. Maybe it was on the sunny side of the hill. And it's got a bunch of trees. So you just popped into this pocket. It's got a bunch of trees. It trapped that, absorbed that heat. And then you pop around the corner and it's cold again. So these, like pockets of warm air and animals. Absolutely, especially in winter range, seek those out because it's, it's places where they can survive and, and stay warm in the night. But even in, like, later in the season, you know, those are places where they might find that bedding. And then they've got some, you know, the security aspects mixed into that. So we're going to dive into the tools here. And I'm just once again pulling up my maps. So I think that when we're thinking about all these things, it's just like we talked about before. There's a few features that I find helpful. I like to look at this in. I've got my map set to hybrid mode, so I've got the topo lines on and then I've got my satellite imagery. Satellite imagery is huge for this because, you know, cover is very important when it comes to bedding. Covers is generally, you know, going to be something that we're, we're really focusing on now. You might look at like a A mountain that's completely timbered and you're elk hunting is like, it's all. There's shade everywhere. Different sides of that mountain feel cooler or warmer based on which side you're on. So early in the season, the north faces, if you're like looking facing north on it, is going to be more shaded. The south faces are going to retain more heat and that's pretty much all season. So later in the season, south faces are warmer, north faces are cooler. So oftentimes that north orientation, or let's say kind of opposite the sun, the shaded side for whatever time of day it is, will be more likely for bedding for that time of day. So think about it like this too. Not all betting is all day or all the time. Right. You might have a south facing slope like the predominant. The mountain is facing south. Does that mean that that whole mountain is not early season bedding? No, because there's ridges and draws within there that come down and they create shade rifts, shade pockets. Then you add some other things like cover trees, whatever, and you've just created a bedding area on a fate. Like maybe the whole mountain itself is kind of south facing. Like I'm so it doesn't mean like you don't go to the south face of a south side of a mountain or that, you know, like if you're, if you've got the mountain in the middle and you're thinking like, well, oh, the south side won't have anything bedded on it because it's south facing. That's. That's not what we're talking about. I think that's where people get very confused is like, I'm looking at this mountain right now, one that I. Some area that I actually hunt a lot. And I'm looking at, I've targeted bedding areas. Okay. And I'm like, on the south side of the mountain there's multiple bedding areas, but there's also these little like draws where it creates a shaded area for depending on where the sun's at. So as the sun's rising, I've got. Over here, I've actually got this big ridge that casts shade into this whole basin for a very long time. So just because on the south side of the mountain, I hope this is making sense, like in your head. Just because the south side of the mountain doesn't mean that it's doesn't have like north face type bedding, if that makes sense. Because there's ridges, draws. The way that these bowls and basins curve creates different bedding for different times of days. Now, some bedding might be shaded. Like, ideally, like the sun's coming up over here in the east. It's going to set in the west. And I've got. I'm looking at a particular spot that I've hunted a lot of deer. And I know, like, every time I go there, I can find deer bedded in this one particular spot in the morning. Well, it's because there's this giant ridge that runs north, south, which is blocking that eastern sun for a long time. So that. That's prime bedding. Okay, it's on the south side, but there's this. This ridge that blocks that sun. Now, as the sun starts to travel and starts to go west, well, now it's starting to put sun over onto this side. But then what I've got is I've got another ridge that, like, makes a U shape right here. I got this other ridge that comes down that blocks it from the west side. And this is on the south side of the mountain. So it's because it makes this horseshoe kind of shaped basin in here. And the way that the sun travels across the sky, it's got great shade. Now, the other thing is the wind from here comes from the north. So it's got this. It's like a. Think of it like a basin shape or like a head shape where the topo lines kind of make like a wraparound. And this is great for. For looking into different areas and targeting areas on a map. Because that head basin shape, which might not be the top of the basin, but like, that shape where it's kind of makes almost like a semicircle of topo lines, it allows for optimal bedding in different places based on wind direction. Because the wind could be coming from the west and it's still got downhill wind. It could be coming from the east, and it could go over onto the other side and have downhill wind. It could be coming from the north and have downhill wind. Now, if it's got south wind, okay, the wind's going uphill, but it could pop over on the other side and boom, it's got downhill wind on the other side. Easy as that. And still got good shade. So this particular spot, ideal, ideal bedding because it has the potential for security. It has good shade for most of the day and probably has good breeze. So I'm looking at that going, oh, that's really good. Now, another thing that I like to do is have that satellite imagery on because it allows me to identify. Well, oftentimes you can See the shade? Because most of these pictures are taken, like midday, you can see where those shady parts are. You might have an area where you can actually look up some of the data on when this was. You could go, recent imagery. And it tells you, like, you know, when you got all your dates here. These are based on the day. But I'm looking at. I'm looking at this and I can see like, oh, okay, there's a bunch of clusters of trees, but I can see, oh, the shades on the left side of these trees. So clearly the sun is somewhere in that morning position. So I can like, zoom in here. And I just see based on. I could just pick a single tree and I go, oh, based on this picture, this satellite imagery, I see the trees on the left side. You know, on this north oriented up map, the shade's on the left side. That means the sun's in the east. Okay, that gives me an idea that it's like, not necessarily. It's sometime before midday, before the sun's at its apex. And depending on how long these shadows look, kind of gives me a good gauge of maybe what time this picture is taking. I don't even have to look and see what time a picture is taken. I can just tell based off of what we're looking at, just looking at the map. And then I can look on the other side and say, like, okay, there's still good shade over here on this particular side. That. That's like, the satellite imagery tells me that. Now I can also use that satellite imagery to identify different types of trees. And I look here. So I've got. I'm going, we're just talking mule deer at this point right here. Right? So I'm looking at this map, I've got this. And I can tell just because I'm very familiar with the kind of COVID there. There's a mix of mahogany and then there's these juniper trees. And when I zoom in on these juniper trees, there are these little bushy, thick clusters. And the shade there just on satellite imagery is like dark. Oh, okay. Like, that's a different kind of of shade. So maybe that's telling me something from my particular area. Maybe we kind of like we did last week, where we're like, oh, Aspen trees also provide a really good type of shade where the breeze moves through really good. It creates a thick canopy and then allows a lot of airflow. Really good bedding has a thick canopy, not a lot of undergrowth and good airflow. So if we think about that, we can think of okay, here's a patch of trees. There's sparse, sparse, sparse, sparse, sparse. And then there's this part where, hey, these are real thick. These happen to be mahogany trees. So I know that, like, it's a thick canopy with potentially more airflow. If it was super thick junipers, it'd be the opposite. I'd say real thick, but probably not a lot of airflow, like, kind of choked out. So we can identify different species of trees within a mountain range. Say, like, well, what kind of potential bedding could it be? Same goes for elk country. Even if we're looking at timber del country, we can say, okay, this is a lot of lodge pool. But then we go here. Okay, lodge pool. What's that? That's actually a thick canopy with good airflow. And then there might be a part on the mountain where it's more spruce. Well, that spruce is a lot thicker. Often maybe it's shorter spruce. Maybe there's like, a burn we can kind of see, like, oh, here's some real thick cover, which is really dense and really good shade. But maybe it doesn't have as good airflow. Doesn't mean that we aren't. We aren't eliminating anything from being good bedding currently. Like, that might be better bedding later in. In this. In the year when it's just, like, holding heat, short trees, good thick cover. Hey, all we care about is, like, staying warm. And the elk are spread out in there, and they're just using their ears. Okay, well, that. That's. That identifies a different kind of bedding for a different type of season. And so what we want to do is be able to identify all this stuff in a place that we've never been. So on. The ONX app has some. Some really good stuff. Like, you can do what I just did where I can zoom in and I understand what trees I'm looking at based on satellite imagery. But sometimes that's just like, hey, dude, I've never even been in these areas. I don't know the difference between a first stand and looking at satellite imagery and. And lodgepole pines. I don't know the difference in this more arid country of mahogany, juniper, and aspen trees, when, like, they haven't turned color, like, I don't really know. So they have some interesting kind of features on here that we can utilize when we're looking for bedding. So a couple of them we've already talked about for other things, I think, like, the timber cuts one, if you're in real thick country, is good because it shows Opening and potentially thinning. If it shows thinned areas, you could say, well, actually, that could be potentially like, maybe more airflow in certain faces. So, like, let's say we've got a good north face that we know is going to be shaded real well in timber country. There's got some openings nearby which would be feeding. And then it's got, like, these thinnings on the edge where you go, okay, this was thinned and maybe a clear cut near it that's a lot older. So we go, okay, that clear cut that's older has thicker cover. These thinned areas might produce more airflow, and it's on a good shaded side. I would probably highlight that as a good spot for elk in early September. Okay, now a couple of other things that we can do here. I'm in the onyx. I'm on the trees, crops and soil layer, which has some. That's where the timber cuts and everything else is. Historic wildfires is in there. These are all things that I also look at. So, like, wildfires, I might turn that on, look within a fire and go. Same thing we've pointed out in the past thing in lease supply. We got a big burn. And then here's a bunch, like a bunch of standing cover that narrows down bedding real fast. A couple of the other features here that we're going to talk about is like. And depending on where you are, if you're in, like, whitetail country, you can go deciduous versus coniferous trees. And then this one's cool, like, coniferous tree distribution. So I can go pine, fir, spruce, juniper, hemlock, larch, tamarack, longleaf pine, other. And I can switch that on and actually, I'm on my map here, and it highlights areas and tells me what kind of tree is actually in the imagery that I'm looking at now, it might not be, like, super, super detailed, but it's detailed enough that it gives you, like, a really good basis of what you're looking for. So I've got like, the juniper on and some of the other pines and stuff. So I'm looking at, like, various places, and it's showing me I can, like, toggle on and off different species of trees and understand what the ground cover looks like there. What. What am I looking at in this satellite imagery? I can. We talked about this one last week. Young aspen forest. Boom. Flip that on. That's. That can be good feeding, but great bedding as well, Especially for mule deer. Elk as well. Man, they love that you can be in a pine forest and like, Aspen forests are like the AC unit of the mountain often because they're in the cooler parts of the. Like, just identifying where aspens grow tells you where the cooler parts of the. The mountain are. I've got it on right here. And yeah, it's. It's highlighting. Oh yeah, here's a little young aspen thing. Okay, that's a pretty cool spot. Often they're near water and other things. Sometimes they don't provide the most security. Which if you can find like an aspen grove that has security and that shade and breeze and everything, like, it can be a very cool spot for animals to. To seek refuge to bed. So that, that's, you know, just depending on where you're at, especially if it's like there aren't a lot of them that could be. It'd be great. Now, another feature on here that I think is cool, and I'll just click it on real quick, is thermal deer cover. So what that's showing is this the way that it's showing it is essentially those places that retain heat for winter range is the way that this is set up. Now, in a funny way, sometimes those can be the same places as summer shade bedding. So even though those are probably highlighted places, like, you might see a place like that and it's like, okay, well, there's this big patch of COVID and not all of it's highlighted as thermal deer cover. It's like, oh, it's all cover, but it's not all thermal deer cover. So that, that's saying, like, it's a place that in the wintertime can hold heat probably based on that, like, getting a lot of sun. So like, in here, there's a lot of. This is his places that definitely, as the sun moves across it just gets hammered with sun. However, I'm over. I'm looking over it with pins that I have from like summer bedding. And a lot of these places are actually lining up up similar for that summer bedding. So they can be places that create shade as well. Like, they are good shade pockets, but we'll kind of analyze those a little bit later as we're really looking into the time of year. There's a lot of data, right? Like, you almost have to like, pull this out and play with it. But I, I like to just spit out what I'm talking about as I'm looking at the things that I'm thinking about. Because the goal here is not to always have just like a necessary formula of like this, this, this, this. That's kind of how you start. But really a formula of the way that I'm thinking about things like the diet, like the zooming in and looking at the way the shade's hitting based on this and going like, oh, okay, here's. Here's some pretty good shade cover. I'll do the same thing. Like, let's say I'm mule deer hunting and I've got open country. I did this a few years back. Or, well, actually, shoot. I mean, this is like place I killed my buck. Last year was one of these kind of places, like a ton of COVID around and then some open country and within that open country, some rocky stuff. It was, I guess, a couple years ago. And like, not a lot of shade. And I was targeting places with not a lot of tree cover, but utilizing 3D mapping to look for bands that held really good, good shade. And I go, oh, okay. Like this, this part of the mountain stays shaded because of the mountain. That's a really good place to kill a mule deer buck. Because you can often get in quiet, you can get in above them. The wind, like, might be technically bad, but the thermals will keep it drafting up or blow over the top of them. And I've killed a lot of mule deer in those kind of spots. So I'm using that to just find like shaded bedding for those hot days and utilizing satellite imagery to. To figure out where that might be. And then I'm highlighting that. But depending on what you're hunting, looking at the type of trees and the type of thermal deer cover, especially for like late season hunts, things like that, that might highlight some areas to kind of focus on. Now I'm. I. We're also thinking about pinpointing places where deer might be. And I. And I look at this map I've got. I'm just still kind of in mule deer mode right now. But this could easily be, you know, transferred to elk and elk behavior. But I'm in. I'm in mule deer country right now. I've got mule deer on the mind that some of the first hunts popping up. So I've got deer on my mind. And I look at this, right? And I've got this, this particular area that I'm looking at. I've got thermal deer cover on. Okay. Whether you have this layer or not, I don't know if this is. I mean, it's definitely proprietary to onyx, but I don't know if, like, if you have to have a certain elite or anything for this layer, I don't think you do. But that, that's beside the point. What I'm looking at here is like I've got the thermal deer color layer on and so what it's doing is it's highlighting those areas. Okay. It's showing me like pretty much it's all juniper tells me actually too what kind of tree cover it is. So I've got this thermaledeer layer on and where I'm looking it's like there's. There's massive sections of just cover. Okay. And you go, well, it's everywhere. There's like there's a sea of it. That's probably not where I'm going to be hunting to be honest, for mule deer. Okay. Because there's. There's a sea of it. Are there deer in there? Yes. Is it somewhere that I could target if I. With like specific knowledge and other things? Yep, absolutely. What I'm looking for is more fringe habitat where I've got other things mixed in there. We aren't just trying to find cover. We're also trying to find feed. We're trying to find maybe travel routes. We're also. All these things that we've been talking about can kind of come together within this. So we're breaking it down by each individual thing. But we're looking at it as a whole at this point. We've got three weeks of different types of things that we're looking at. So I'm looking here and there's literally the mountain is covered in cover in certain places and it's just like these big massive juniper flat like hillsides. Like just choked out. Like a chaining would be good in here. That's where they rip out like a lot of juniper because it's just thick. Like there are deer in some of this. But also I'm looking. It says juniper. I can look in here and it's like fairly well spaced out. Finding a deer in here would be near impossible unless I was like sitting water or something, which there are deer. There's not a lot of feed in this. It's not that it's bad. And some of the giant bucks won't be shot in this kind of country. Like absolutely will. Right. Like you might need some like pre knowledge. But I'm looking at it going, hey, it's a lot of places. So I'm actually kind of using that to go like, okay, here's a bunch of that, here's a bunch of that. But now we're going to find a place where it has other things and then the covers in a little lease supply. So I'm moving around the mountain here. It starts to open up. Oh man, I've got these beautiful sage basins. Now I've got some juniper cover. I've got. Looks like in here it says juniper, but I zoom in and there's, there's quite a bit of mahogany mixed in there. And now I'm going like, all right, we've got something on our hands here. You know, I'm going to spot, I'm going to do whatever. I've got some feed now. I'm looking at it and here's some saddles and these, this like bowl shape over here and a bunch of different ridges going different ways. And I got this other glassing vantage and these like draws that come down and on the, on the north or actually, sorry, on the south side of these draws is cover and it's kind of opposite you might think, but there's like this draw and then on the north face is open, but it's, it's actually more of like a south, it's like on the south side of the mountain. So it's kind of like a north, south kind of slope, I guess. Big sage. Man, this is like good looking country. And I've got less cover here, but I've got enough that I've got bedding. So I've got food. I've got these great travel routes through this steep country and I've got some good bedding. I'm starting to hone in on an area here and I'm starting to say this looks good. Now I can start to identify. Okay, if I'm scouting this area, maybe I've identified an area that I want to hunt. Now let's identify some bedding and I can use these layers and go, let's switch over to elk. Like find a zone. Everything's timbered. And I'm like, man, where, where the elk going to be? And I find some good feet. Like when I think of maybe a good feeding areas. Hey, there's a, a burn here. Maybe there's a, you know, burn. Clear cut, doesn't matter. I've got some opening, maybe just some natural openings, some thinnings, whatever. We've got some feeding area. I've got like this steep country. And then I go, oh, it looks like, looks like the wind, I think from this area comes from the west. Okay. Or the east. Sorry, wind's coming from the east. Oh, cool. I've got this like north face here on the edge of this burn and there's just still a lot. It must have been real Wet in there. And there's like still this giant stand of lodge pole pine. There's this nice bench that goes down to like the saddle wraps around this mountain. Here's this like nice little benchy zone and it just dumps into timber. I'm a bingo. I'm dropping a pin right here. I've never hunted this spot. I know for a fact, like, if there's elk in this unit, I could probably find elk right here, which is wild because within a matter of minutes I've probably narrowed down a place where there's going to be elk. And now I can. When I get into the field, I can. I can prove this or not or disprove it doesn't matter. But it's giving me place to hone in on and it's giving me. And I can go over here and just kind of verify when I'm seeing. So I'm going. I'm switching on the coniferous tree distribution. I've got that. I'm just toggling. So I'm going between pine spruces. Yeah, it's pine, which I figured there's actually some like tamarack mixed in there, which is cool. Like most of those tamaracks are in kind of wet zones, wetter parts of the mountain. Often it seems like. So that's cool. Like there's probably some good. And then. Oh yeah. Like there's some spruce and fur. Yep. In this, like edges. It's an old burn. So that's like some thicker cover. It's got everything that I would think of. Of where an elk would be and within a matter of seconds can kind of highlight that in an area that I just kind of fly to on. Fly to on the map. And so now I can. And now I can drop a pin and. And that's how the scouting works, is just having a little bit extra knowledge of the way animals do things, what they're looking for, and then identifying the way that looks on the map. So let's jump over now to that grading. Okay. And what we're going to think about is the time of year. So we've got all these. These factors and we're. We're factoring in what we're factoring in thermal regulation, shade or heat and security. And those are the most important things. So foliage or lack thereof for the time of year, maybe we're looking at this patch and we're like, hey, it's. It's an aspen patch in the winter time. Would that be good or bad if everything else is timbered? Well, actually you know, in the middle of the day that might be a spot that's getting hit with some sun as opposed to the opposite where it might be cooler in the summer. Maybe this is a place when once the leaves fall off of it, it's got heat in the winter. Or maybe there's a little more opening place on a south facing slope where, hey, it's going to be a real cold hunt. I can look at maybe midday bedding out in the sun where it's open, or a ridge where it's like sparse timber. I'm looking for the opposite. Maybe it's real. I'm looking at the type of foliage. It's summertime and I want that like thick cover, like thick canopy and good breeze. Oh, hey, we've got this nice stand here. Okay. That, that kind of checks the box, especially based on what else is around. Like I'm always looking at everything that I do, the amount of something that's there and looking for the best stuff in lease supply. It just narrows it down. So it's not saying okay, like in a real timber area, find the most. It's like maybe we're looking in a timbered area, but what's the, the better kind of COVID What's the better part of the mountain? What's the better if it all looks the same, where's a spot that's a little bit different? What's the amount of COVID in this area? And then what does it look like? Now we can start to attribute more weight to the things that are kind of. It's like ah, this, this looks a little bit different in here. This is like early season. It's got a lot of feed and a lot of like good bet like travel routes, but not a lot of great bedding. Boom. Okay. There's not a lot of COVID I can really narrow down my area here and I can say like this, this looks like a good betting area for this. Now let's dive into. So does it like have actual bedding for the time of year for whatever you're looking for now, does it have that security factor? This is the biggest thing. When I'm looking at a map, I'm not thinking about a map, I'm thinking about an animal and attributing what that animal does to what I see on the map. So for each species, like for their security, when I'm looking at this and there's a million places that look kind of the same. Let's go back to this mule deer example. Just fun to do. For me, we've got this mule deer zone we've got. I'm just highlighting in there. I'm going to this area that I think looks good. It's like, hey, there's a lot of COVID down in this lower country, and there's probably some giant bucks in that. Like, I just don't know. But I've kind of found this, like, good feed area. They're going to be doing a lot of eating early season. It's like mid elevation, and so I find, like, there's. There's good kind of directional ridges everywhere. And now I've got some, like, good cover. And I say, okay, this is good cover. And I can like, click on the weather on my onyx. I'm just looking at, like, the current weather right now. Yeah. So I got like 9 mile per hour south wind. And. And I can just look at, like, the different wind directions. I mean, almost in this particular place that I'm looking like all the forecasts, it's like either going north or south. It looks like not a lot of other directions for the wind in here. It's like north and south. And I could probably, you know, scroll through and look at different places. But I mean, that. That's like an easy way to do it right in the app. But you can. You can look up historical wind. You can look up, like, wind maps. There's, like, there's maps out there that show you the way that the wind actually hits these certain feature types, like, live, and just study those and say, like, oh, it. It's blowing from the west, but it comes around and comes up from the north in this valley and then hits the top and swirls there and then dives over the other side and goes like, almost a different direction. We've talked about wind in the past, and there's. I've done quite a few podcasts on the way that wind moves. Always good to refresh that stuff. Maybe we'll dive into another one for elk season. We got elk month coming up, so a lot of, like, this stuff pertains to elk, but we're going to do some elk specific stuff next month. But I'm looking and thinking security. So I'm like, okay, here's the bedding. Here's good down, like, average downhill wind. Okay, well, this. These places probably don't have that good bedding wind, but this place does. Okay, well, now I've narrowed it down a bit just by thinking about one aspect of security. Now I'm also going to look at this and go like, well, where's a place that it's got a view. So there's like, this thick patch, and I'm thinking actually, like, probably the bottom of this, like the midway through, this little stand of it kind of, like makes this, I don't know, diamond shape, if you will, like this patch that I'm looking at different parts of the mountain, and there's one spot here that stands out to me that says, like, okay, if they were bedded here, they would have a good view of maybe anything coming up this other side. They have good wind, and then they've got easy escape. Like, they could jump over and dive off either side of this ridge and be gone and go up the other side and out of there like that. That's a safe spot for a buck to lay. And then above it, it's like, there's a patch, and then there's like, this open, kind of dry bit, which is probably more noisy. You know, there's actually a little scree field on one side like that. I'm starting to narrow down and say there's a lot of good stuff here For a deer to stay safe. There's probably a high likelihood that deer bed in the spot. Whether it's bucks, whether it's does, I don' know. But as long as there's decent number of animals in there, I've kind of narrowed down in this spot where they might bed, which can help me. And when I'm out in the field, it's going to be a lot easier to identify that because I am glassing and I spot a deer, and yep, that's the direction they're going. But maybe it doesn't. Maybe in the middle of the day, I can. I can move around, cruise around different spots and start glassing into that shade. Like, I'll go and find places that match that have that, and start looking into there and say, okay, can I spot a deer? And many times I do. And that's a way that I actually start or, like, continue to hunt and, like, gain a stock based off of finding that. So then we're looking at. We're kind of grading it off of that wind profile. Which way do I think the wind's going to go? And is this a good betting area? I'm going to start attributing points to that. That just puts that betting spot up in my list. When I have 15, 20, 30, 40 infinity betting areas, which ones are just a little bit better by a small percentage? Because the ones that are a small percentage or better have a higher likelihood of holding Animals. And that's just how it works. What kind of view do they have? What kind of escape routes do they have, and what kind of hiding do they have? Maybe depending on the certain kind of species, right? Whitetails like that thicker kind of stuff where they can hear and have good hiding. I've busted whitetail bucks out of, like, areas that are maybe kind of thin. And you just get, like, this one thick, super thick pocket where, like, you. You darn near couldn't crawl through it. There's five bucks bed in it. Like, that happens a lot because they have everything they need for that safety and that, like, finding that and, like, what that looks like on a map, Attributing that and finding other places like that, you start to find betting areas. This also really works when you're in the field. Like, guys that are like, hey, I'm kind of understanding it. Once you're in the field and you start to figure out, okay, like, I'm walking around and, oh, shoot, I see a deer bedded in here. I blew a deer out of there. Start marking those things and now look at it on the map and just say, like, is there anything special about this particular spot for this particular day? And it changes, right? Last year, where my wife and I were hunting, there was a place that had deer in it. Every time after 3pm they didn't. You know why it didn't have them before? Because it was indirect sunlight. Until that point, the deer had moved from one side of the ridge in the thicker cover, the thick side would get sunny, and they would move over to the other side and they would plop themselves down in this nice breeze. Good downhill wind, good visibility, good shade, and it was like clockwork. Like, we could just sit there after, like, the sun kind of hit its apex or about the middle of the day, and boom, there's deer. Spotted bucks, spotted bucks, spotted bucks. Just see antler tips. You know, it can start to work like clockwork. And once you understand how to read that on a map, you really put yourself in a position to find more animals. I hope you guys have really been enjoying these podcasts, you know, diving in and there's just. There's so much information in this. But over the last three weeks, I feel like if you've absorbed a little bit of it, you can start to pull out these maps, you can go on your onyx maps, and you can just really start to build out these systems of figuring out the places that had just a higher percentage of whatever you're looking for. I think that these are going to be key, you know, podcast not just for the E. Scouting, but also when you're in the field to kind of think about as you're hunting and in the places that animals and the way that they utilize the landscape. That's, that's one of the biggest takeaways for me is like a lot of this stuff builds upon itself and I know a lot of our, you know, listeners that listen every week and maybe as the season starts to pick up, we start to listen more and more. These are some that I think maybe just pin, you know, like think about as you get into the season or maybe you're new to it and you're like, this just seems above my head. I like to talk about very basic things and very high level things and I think they'll all start to click for a lot of people once you've, you like encounter some of these scenarios and you go, dang, man, that makes sense. That makes sense. Oh, now I start to be able to utilize that a little bit better and a little bit more each and every time I go out. And you just start to hone that skill and becomes very successful for you like as somebody that, that hunts a lot of different locations and a lot of them new and you know, I'll go on a hunt and maybe don't have a ton of time to plan or prepare. And it's like, man, I can, you know, I'm in that very small percentage that's on game and then can find that success even when I don't really know the area because I just know the basics. I really understand the animals and then I really understand how that correlates to what I'm looking at. So I can be at home and, and feel like I can, I can pinpoint places where I'll find success without ever stepping foot in the unit. Now sometimes that changes once you get in and you realize like, dang, there's just nothing here. Like for whatever reason it is, maybe you mis, misread it, misjudged it. But then even just being in the field and being able to pivot, look at that map, like, okay, we gotta, we gotta hit a new spot. We gotta, we gotta find something else. Makes a big difference being able to do that. So I hope you guys really enjoyed these particular podcasts. You know, a lot of this, there's a lot of stuff going on right now with like the sales of public lands and Senate bill and all these things. You know, I think one of the biggest things that we gotta, you know, remember in think about is just our role as hunters in conservation and passing that on to the next generation. I mean, I'm a big proponent of joining a conservation organization, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. If you guys aren't members, sign up. Be a member. Like, be a part of it. Be informed. They had some easy ways to reach out to senators, you know, jump on the lines, call, like, say, we don't. We don't want this as part of our. Here's the thing. Like, I've seen behind the curtain too much. I know. Like. Like, there's some things where you look at it, you know, there's just an ulterior motive and a different agenda here. And when it comes to selling all these public lands, it's not for affordable housing. Like, I. I actually know. Like, I've heard from people that have been behind closed doors that are. Like, most of this is just to, like, sell to people that have checkerboarded slices. And that's the truth of it. Like, it will get used for that. And those are a lot of the places that hunters utilize and use, and they'll become private. But, you know, I think, like, the other thing is, as hunters, you know, we're primarily focused on conservation. That means conserving the land, conserving the animals in it and doing all those things. Joining these organizations that actually have, you know, the ability to reach out and make a difference makes a big difference. So if you guys aren't members of Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, I'm asking, you know, like, jump in, get a membership. It's a great way to kind of stay on top of things. And then also, you know, it dives back into. Once these. Hopefully these, like, political waves get, you know, settled down, and we can. We can focus back in on the animals and land conservation and all that stuff and working with groups. Here's the thing, like, I'll say something very controversial is, like, I don't think that all land sales are bad. I definitely think that this way that this land sale is going about it is bad. There have been, you know, and, dude, I've been actually locked out of places that I hunted a lot because of land sales. And I didn't, like, it sucked, right? But I, you know, you look at it and you go, like, well, it made sense because they consolidated this chunk, and now I can hunt this other place, which isn't as good. But, you know, it worked in this particular aspect, I guess, right? It sucked. But then there's sometimes where it's like, hey, man, there's major land Access issues and they do a boundary line switch and it actually provides more access for people. Right. Like there are land swaps and other things that benefit. And then there's like the Rocky Mountain Elk foundation, which buys private land and turns it over to the state or the BLM or whatever, or works with private landowners. And like, there's just more input. But the way that they're doing it now, there's just no input. They're just like, these are marked for potential sale and close to 3 million of them have to be taken off of here. Well, which ones are. Which ones is it going to be? It's going to be the checkerboarded stuff that probably still have, like, a lot of access to. It's going to be those kind of places that they can easily dispose of and think nobody's going to matter and nobody can fight it. I don't know. That's my little soapbox here. But I think that, like, we have systems in place and the Rocky Mountain Elk foundation is. Is incredible at like, working with different land managers and being that in between bridge to getting things done that benefit hunters, benefit access and benefit conservation. So incredible organization. I like to talk about them as much as I can. And then the other thing I wanted to mention too, is for those of you that you're like, dude, this, this stuff is. Is great info. It's just hard to retain it all through podcasts. You know, a lot of the things that I talk about here have been in my outdoor class or even you can gain a lot of insight through a lot of the other classes on there for elk hunting, for everything like outdoor skills, shooting, spotting, E scouting. There's. There's some real good breakdowns with visuals in it. If you guys aren't members you saw, you can always use code livewild. You'll get a discount on outdoor class. And then it's good for the year. You can watch whatever's new coming out. There's. There's some new stuff in the pipes. I'm working on a new. A new class as well. If you've already watched mine, maybe it's something you just want to watch again, you know, like as the season comes around. Mine on mule deer, archery or whatever, they're always available. You can download them, you can watch them however you want. So those are always fun. Those are fun for me to do. They. They. All this stuff takes a lot of time. You know, it's like whether it's the podcast or the outdoor class to make it useful, I think, like, it requires a large amount of time investment from the people that do it. And for those of us that do it like, we do it because we love it and we want to share high quality information with you guys, you know, at least that's, I mean, everybody that I know that's on Outdoor Class has that similar mindset. Like, we love hunting. We. We've been very fortunate to do it a lot, and we can kind of share what we've learned with other people. Like, with this podcast. I think the time that I take to think about these tactics or even just break it down, it flows out of me pretty easily in ways, but also to make it concise, or if somebody understands the crazy randomness that's going through my brain and all the things that I'm thinking about, how do I make that actionable and useful for people? And it all takes time. So I think that, like, there's a lot of time put into those Outdoor Class series. And, and I think if you haven't checked it out, it's, it's definitely beneficial for those of you that want to learn more. It's kind of like having a guide of, of somebody that's spent a lot of time, multiple people who spent a lot of time out there. Very specific types of information I think you can glean off of that. And it's also great for the beginner, too. Like, where do I start? Well, here's some, here's some stuff that, like, in some ways, the simple stuff, like understanding the basics, helps you get to the level where you can understand the more difficult things. So something to think about. I'm just gonna say, until next week, find the shade. I'll catch you guys later. Sam.