Podcast Summary: Live Wild with Remi Warren

Episode 200 | "Five Ways to Beat Bad Luck"

Date: September 13, 2025
Host: Remi Warren

Brief Overview

In this 200th episode of Live Wild, Remi Warren recounts an epic but challenging early-season elk hunt, using his own recent experience as the lens to explore the broader topic: "Five Ways to Beat Bad Luck" in hunting. With stories of close calls, persistent setbacks, and a hard-earned last-minute bull, Remi shares practical strategies—mindset and tactical—for persevering when things just aren’t falling into place. This is an uplifting and honest discussion for hunters of all experience levels.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Storytelling: Remi’s Recent Elk Hunt

[03:10 – 56:00]

• Setting: Early September; hot, high-desert elk country with mixed open sage and forested patches.
• Expectations vs. Reality: Remi expects a slow hunt but is immediately met with action: "Heard some bugles...that’s a good feeling. Beginning of September when you got some bulls making noise. Anything can happen." (06:18)
• Bad Luck Themes: Despite abundant elk and numerous opportunities, each encounter is thwarted by tiny setbacks: wrong property lines, last-second wind changes, and critical animals always barely out of range.
  • Bulls consistently stay on or return to private land just outside legal hunting bounds.
  • Approaches repeatedly end with animals moving away seconds before Remi can get in place.
  • Missed shot due to a deflected arrow by an unseen twig, despite a perfect setup.
  • Final day nearly running out with no success despite tireless effort.
  • Victory only comes after pushing into "overtime," with a last-minute bull harvested literally as Remi’s cameraman was packing to catch his flight.
• Persistence Rewarded: "It was just one where...I had just encounter after encounter where if one little thing was different, we would have killed an elk. But...they were always just that little bit out of reach." (55:00)

2. The “Five Ways to Beat Bad Luck”

[56:10 – 1:10:52]

Remi transitions from storytelling to specifics—his hard-learned strategies for overcoming tough luck:

1. Persistence

(56:18)

• Key Quote:

  “Success is the intersection of persistence and luck. You just need to be persistent enough to be lucky.” (56:30)

• Keep showing up and working hard, even in the face of discouragement.
• Most of Remi’s success comes on the last possible day or even last possible hour.
• “Time kills animals 100%...the most effective arrow in your quiver is persistence.”

2. Tactics – Mixing It Up

(59:35)

• When one approach isn’t working, try another—spot-and-stalk, calling, hunting thick timber, ambush, etc.
• “Having just a variety of tactics can increase your success when things just aren’t going right with the way that you’re hunting.” (1:00:52)
• Example: Switching between timber tactics and glassing for solo bulls to respond to elk patterns and terrain.

3. Hunting Hard

(1:02:09)

• “You just have to work harder than the bad luck is working against you.”
• Even when tired or discouraged, keep putting in miles and effort to find new opportunities.
• More effort equals more encounters, which increases odds for success.

4. Stay Positive

(1:04:11)

• Key Quote:

  “Every opportunity you have to think of it as the opportunity, and every missed opportunity, you have to see as an awesome encounter...because it’s building experience.” (1:05:04)

• Avoid letting repeated failures affect your confidence or effort.
• Treat each new opportunity as "the one," don’t get defeated or cut corners after a string of bad luck.

5. Be Flexible With Standards

(1:07:10)

• Sometimes, "increase your success by lowering your standards"—a tongue-in-cheek “Marcheseism” from Remi’s longtime friend Mike Marchese.
• Be willing to adjust goals if conditions call for it, but be honest about what will still bring satisfaction.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Remi, on last-minute success:

  “In the very last minute, killed the bull... All those things of things not going right—he could have easily got up and gone the other way and it wouldn’t have given me a shot. But he got up, he went the right way, and in the very last minute, I killed the bull.” (54:00)

• On effort:

  “You can do everything right and things can still go wrong. Even for myself...there are hunts where I struggle to find something that by all accounts, should be easy.” (58:50)

• On mindset:

  "When you go into it thinking, ‘it’s probably not going to work,’ you do dumb stuff and make mistakes... But if you go in thinking, ‘this is the one,’ you give it your best.” (1:05:36)

• On standards:

  “You can’t shoot the big bull if you shoot the little bull, but you also can’t shoot a bull if you don’t shoot a bull. Depends what you’re looking for.” (1:08:20)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:55] - The episode’s theme: Overcoming bad luck in hunting
• [03:10] - Start of Remi’s recent elk hunt story
• [11:40] - Early encounters: bugling bulls on private land
• [25:30] - Epic herd action, “hundreds of elk,” but always just out of range
• [38:00] - Approaches to solo and group bulls; wind, timber, and missed shots
• [54:00] - The last-minute bull success
• [56:10] - Transition to “Five Ways to Beat Bad Luck”
• [56:18] - #1 Persistence
• [59:35] - #2 Varying tactics
• [1:02:09] - #3 Hunting hard
• [1:04:11] - #4 Stay positive
• [1:07:10] - #5 Lower your standards (when needed)

Practical Takeaways

• Persistence and effort matter more than luck: Play the “numbers game” of encounters.
• Adapt: Try new tactics tirelessly—calling, glassing, stalking, ambush—based on behavior/weather/cover.
• Attitude is critical: Maintain focus and optimism on every stalk, regardless of setbacks.
• Be honest with yourself about goals, and be willing to adjust them in the field when needed.

Episode Tone & Language

Remi’s tone is motivational but honest, full of practical wisdom, self-deprecating humor, and vivid, gritty storytelling. He’s candid about frustrations and failures, but frames all of it as part of the adventure and the learning process.

Final Words

• “By being persistent, varying up your tactics, hunting hard, staying positive, and being realistic with the opportunities available, you can push bad luck aside and create your own success.” (1:10:35)

For more insights and stories, follow Remi Warren on social or leave feedback on the podcast. "Until next week…keep after it!"