Ep. 224 | Live From The Hunt Expo

Summary

Live Wild with Remi Warren Episode 224 | Live from the Hunt Expo (Feb 26, 2026)

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Overview

In this special episode of Live Wild, Remi Warren hosts a live Q&A seminar at the Western Hunt Expo in Salt Lake City. Speaking directly with hunters and fans, Remi shares candid stories, practical tips, and strategic insights gained from years of guiding, hunting, and running outdoor businesses. The live format provides unscripted advice on pursuing a hunting lifestyle, staying sneaky in the field, rifle choices for youth and long range, navigating new predator dynamics, effective team hunting, and adapting strategies to diverse terrain and species.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Balancing Passion and Business in the Outdoor Industry

Timestamp: [04:25-08:29]

• Remi discusses his lifelong commitment to making a living through hunting—as a guide, outfitter, and now entrepreneur.
• He emphasizes that "the hunt always comes first" and avoids letting business compromise his love for the pursuit:

  “I'll never do anything that gets in the way of my love of hunting. ...I would still be doing this for free.” – Remi ([06:10])

• Recent changes: Selling his outfitting business to focus on manufacturing (Day Six gear), while still maintaining direct ties to the field.

2. The Fundamentals of Being Sneaky in the Field

Timestamp: [08:39-11:54]

• Top 3 Rules:
  1. “Go the best way, not the easy way.” – Choose routes and strategies based on effectiveness, not convenience ([08:39]).
  2. “You gotta get way lower than you think.” – Prioritize stealth, often through extensive crawling and staying below sight lines ([09:00]).
  3. “I'm a big proponent of taking my shoes off.” – Reduce noise by stalking in socks or barefoot, toughening up feet as needed ([09:30]).
• Focus on details—quiet gear, tight clothing, and treating each stalk as critical.
• On authenticity in filming hunts:

  “You could easily just stalk in, kill the animal, go back into a fake stalk—and you don't do that.” – Audience member Jake ([11:54]) Remi’s reply: “That was always the thing that bugged me...For me, it was just, like, my way of doing it, and I liked it.” ([12:06])

3. Deep-Dive Q&A: Gear, Strategy, and Life in the Field

a. Hunting Frequency and Family Balance

Timestamp: [15:02-17:50]

• Remi maintains a high volume of hunts: 5 for himself, ~15 with others per fall, many more throughout the year (20–30 total).
• Credits family support and the evolution from solo hunting to sharing the experience with his wife.

b. Barrel Lengths and Caliber for Youth Hunters

Timestamp: [17:50-22:21]

• Shorter barrels (even 16–20”) can be effective, especially with advances in bullet technology.
• Remi advocates for rifles manageable by youth and emphasizes shot placement over raw power:

  “I’ve killed a lot of elk with a 6.5 Creedmoor... Make a good shot.” ([19:20])

• Bullet selection, particularly bonded bullets or federal terminal ascent, is more important than caliber alone.

c. Strategies for Elk in Wolf Country

Timestamp: [22:23-27:30]

• Despite the introduction and growth of wolf populations, Remi’s team found continued success with minimal changes to core tactics.
• Key adaptations:
  • Find persistent elk locations—safe zones with swirling winds, more cover, or difficult access.
  • Recognize elk now cluster more and choose different terrain to avoid predators.

  “I have literally bugled Elkin while wolves are howling across the canyon. And that's the God's honest truth.” ([22:45]) “We just adapted our strategy, and we ended up finding and killing just as many elk.” ([26:52])

d. Team Dynamics in Hunting

Timestamp: [27:30-31:43]

• Success depends on attitude: partners should be optimistic, supportive, and “over the next ridge” types ([28:18]).
• As a guide, Remi pushes but never endangers hunters. Adapting to team energy can make or break a hunt.

e. Roosevelt Elk vs. Rocky Mountain Elk Tactics

Timestamp: [31:55-35:05]

• Remi’s Roosevelt experience is mostly in Alaska—notes they are larger, terrain challenging.
• Tactics are based more on terrain than on species:

  “I look at... hunting them like other elk in similar terrain, than hunting them as a completely different species.” ([33:01])

f. Bullet Choice: Bonded Lead vs. All Copper

Timestamp: [35:09-38:48]

• Remi: “I prefer a bonded bullet” ([35:15]).
• Concern with all-copper bullets: sometimes “pencil through” with less energy transfer; bonded bullets mushroom and maintain more mass, providing more reliable penetration on big animals like elk.

g. Patterning and Locating Bulls from Trail Cameras

Timestamp: [38:48-43:27]

• Bulls often remain consistent on summer patterns (high elevation, water source) until the rut, then move—sometimes miles away.
• Bulls may not rut where they spend the summer; consider scouting for cows’ locations to intercept bulls later.
• Adjust expectations: “...wouldn’t be strange that that elk vanishes because it’s no longer there.” ([39:24])

h. DIY Hunting in New Zealand

Timestamp: [43:27-45:49]

• Tar and chamois in the mountains a top recommendation; fallow deer also fun.
• Key is research via the Department of Conservation site—New Zealand shares data and prioritizes hunter management for population control.
• Logistics for firearms have gotten tougher—bows are sometimes simpler for travel.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Authenticity in Hunting Media:
  “[Filming the hunt after the shot] just blew my mind. ...I wasn’t that type. Once I got something or got down, I would never think about going back and doing it a different way.” – Remi ([12:06])

• On Mentorship and Teamwork:
  “I would always push them to... what most people are capable of, and it’s often more than they think they are capable of.” – Remi ([29:20])

• On Bullet Selection:
  “With every bullet, I just like what— I like the effects better with the bonded bullet, the lead core.” – Remi ([38:44])

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Important Segments & Timestamps

• [04:25] Life as a hunter-businessman: Passion vs. profit
• [08:39] Top 3 rules for stealth/stalking game
• [12:06] Authenticity in self-filming and hunting TV
• [17:50] Barrel length and caliber for young hunters
• [22:23] Hunting elk in areas with wolves
• [27:30] Teamwork: Maximizing success while hunting in pairs or with guides
• [31:55] Differences (and similarities) in Roosevelt vs. Rocky Mountain elk
• [35:09] Bonded vs. copper bullets for elk
• [38:48] Raising odds on a target bull seen on camera
• [43:27] New Zealand DIY hunting: Steps and species

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Summary & Takeaways

This episode offers listeners direct access to Remi Warren’s hard-earned expertise, blending technical advice with philosophical insight. The themes of authenticity, resilience, and adaptability recur throughout, whether discussing the challenges of business vs. passion, the minutia of stalking technique, or strategies for new predator dynamics and varied habitats. Hunters of all experience levels will find actionable tactics, inspiration, and reassurance that the love of the hunt is the heart of a life lived wild.

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For more information on Remi’s gear and to reach out with questions:
Visit day6gear.com

Quote for the road:
“I just want to say thank you, you guys are the reason that I do it. ...Until next week, I’m just gonna say: live wild.” – Remi ([47:45])

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Transcript

[A]

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

[B]

how to Live wild.

[A]

This podcast is brought to you by

[B]

Mountain Tough and Yeti.

[A]

Now for those that don't know, Mountain Tough is an online based training app that's designed for hunters to train you both mentally and physically for the mountains so you can go on. And there's programs designed with workouts that

[B]

are specifically made to get you ready for the things you're going to encounter out there in the wild.

[A]

And while a lot of you probably know that their programs are designed to get you ready, they also have programs

[B]

designed to keep you ready during the season.

[A]

It really is a year round process

[B]

to help you be the best you can be on the hunt. If you're looking for a great gift this holiday season, Yeti has you covered with their Rambler Drinkware.

[A]

It's a leak fruit, stackable, ton of different colors and everything for drinking water,

[B]

coffee, wine or beer.

[A]

They even have shot glasses and flasks. They're great stocking stuffers and an awesome

[B]

gift to give this holiday season.

[A]

Welcome Back to the LiveWild podcast everyone. Last week I was actually in Salt Lake City at the Hunt Expo. I was exhibiting there.

[B]

I had my Day six Archery booth

[A]

where we sell our arrows and broadheads. And then within that booth I also

[B]

had a lot of my Live Wild

[A]

stuff, our apparel, gear and some of

[B]

the other stuff that we sell online.

[A]

And while I was there I got to do a couple of Q and A seminars, a lot like the Call in live shows that we do just live and in person and there were really some great questions asked over the couple of days in the room and I think some answers that are gonna benefit a lot of people. So I wanted to be able to record and replay those for you guys. Now, much like the call In Q&As, we had a ton of great prizes to hand out there as well, including a few Onyx Elite memberships, a Montana Knife Company knife and some of my Live Wild and Day six gear. So let's dive in and go live with the Live Wild podcast at the Hunt Expo.

[B]

Thank you guys so much for coming. This is one one of the Things that I really enjoy about getting to do this Western hunt Expo is getting to talk with people both in the booth and then here as well. I think that this seminar setting is a good opportunity to have questions answered. And it's one of the things that I like to do is take the knowledge that I've gained over the years through guiding and hunting and hopefully break it down into something that might be actionable for some of you. In the vein of the way that I like to do the podcast, I also have some prizes for people that come to this. So for taking some time out of your day to join me here, I've got for sure a Montana knife company speedgoat that I'll give away at the end. Hopefully somebody brings some tickets so we can make it fair. But we might just do some arm wrestling up front. We'll see. We'll see how. Maybe we'll just throw it in there and let everyone rush for it. But what we're going to do is I'll open it up. Nico will come by with a microphone, and if you don't mind just talking to the microphone so everyone can hear your question. If you guys have trouble hearing me or whatever, just let me know and hold the mic pretty close so we can all hear the question and then we'll go through whatever you guys want to talk about. Hunting, hunting wise, I probably don't have too much information on anything else because all I've done my entire life is go hunting. So as long as it's on that, I can probably answer it. You can always try to throw me for a loop and ask me something else, and I might have an answ. So we'll get started here. Anybody want to open it up today?

[C]

Hey, Remy. It's the first time I think I've ever actually seen you. I really admire your hunting techniques. I've learned a lot by watching you. So it's good to be here. My name is Jake Migalski. I'm from Willsau, Montana.

[B]

Oh, awesome.

[C]

And I have two questions for you. The second one's kind of fun. I hope the first one is what is the biggest rub between doing what you love and making money doing what you love?

[B]

Yeah, that's a good question. Because my entire, you know, I think in one way, the hunting is, for me, what I love, and it's also my business and my job and how I make it make a living. Hunting has been the way that I've made a living since I was 18 years old. I started as a hunting guide and I think that what that allowed me to do was be out in the field. I was getting paid to be out in the field taking people. And not only. I think in that time frame, I wasn't the one pulling the trigger, but I was the one learning just as much or more doing that, because I was hunting with people with different skills and abilities than myself. And so it allowed me to sort of see hunting through a different lens and figure out tricks and tactics that weren't necessarily for where I was at. I'd be taking a guy that couldn't hike as hard and had to figure out how to get him an elk in five days. And it became this challenge that I really liked. And along the way, I was making a living. I don't know if it was a great living, but it was a living, right? I think I remember the first week that I ever guided. I factored out the hours that I put in, what it cost me to get there, what I got paid, and I made like A$43 an hour. And I was like, I thought those guys were stupid because they didn't know that I would have done it for free. So I was like, wow, this is awesome. For me, it's always been about the passion of hunting and the love of hunting and everything else in my life. As far as the business aspect has been around that. And I think that the way, like, my frame of lens is like, I'll never do anything that gets in the way of my love of hunting. And so, for me, I would still be doing this for free. And with that mentality, it's me just. It's just allowing me to do what I love every day. I think that you can get into that mindset of, like, it's all about the business aspect.

[C]

And.

[B]

And I think then it. Then the hunting becomes this thing that it becomes about the business of hunting. And for me, it's never, like, me personally, this is me talking about me. It's never been that. For me, it's always been the hunt and keeping that alive and my passion for it and then just finding out ways to create and do the business alongside that. Now I've also transitioned a little bit into, like, the manufacturing side of the arrows and broadheads with day six. And that is more of a business thing because that's the only thing that I've really done in the hunting space that isn't out being in the field. And so that transition's a little bit different for me because that's utilizing what we know, and my passion for Gear and getting to do that and then making it and being able to deliver that to people. But it doesn't necessarily. Like, obviously there's a testing and stuff in the field, but that's kind of a completely separate business that's new for me. Everything else has been about being in the field, videoing and just essentially started solo hunters, just taking the camera on my own hunts. And all the hunts that I do now are things that I'd be doing no matter what. I feel very fortunate that I get to share it and do it. And so the aero side and the business side of that is a little bit different because it's something that's not in the field and that's kind of a new challenge in a way where, okay, I still have a passion for the gear and the other stuff and get to do that outside of the things that I'm still doing. So in some ways I'm working myself harder because I'm still doing everything else that I used to do. One of the things that's a little bit different for me this year is I've been an outfitter since I or guide and then outfitter shortly after that since I was a teenager. And I'm actually selling my outfitting business this year to be able to focus on the Day six company and stuff like that. So I'll probably still get out in the field and guide some people. Probably end up just taking more friends and family than anything, doing exactly what I was doing before and not get paid and enjoy it and love it just as much. But then also have a little bit more time to focus on the business of Day six and the arrows and broadheads in the development process there. So hope that answers your question.

[C]

Thank you. The last question is, what are the three most rewarding fundamental rules for you of being sneaky?

[B]

The three rules of being sneaky. I mean, the first is the thing that I say more than anything is go the best way, not the easy way. You have to like, commit to. When I'm moving in, I'm committing to whatever is going to be the best option. And that's like the first foundation to everything that I do. And then the next thing is you got to get way lower than you think. I so many stocks, I see guys, they're like, I don't know, afraid to crawl or not, not crawling or not. Like, they just kind of cut corners because it's easier and not is uncomfortable. I take the time to get low, to be out of sight. I do a lot of crawling. I've probably done as much belly crawling. I mean, there's antelope hunts where I've belly crawled for miles. My neck is just absolutely dead by the end of the week of hunting because I'm taking every stock that I can and trying to get as low as possible, as quiet as possible. And then my other thing is, I'm a big proponent of like taking my shoes off. And I've done it in really bad country, and I've got really tough feet because of it. I like toughen my feet up. But just being able to go barefooter in your socks and not worrying about the sound of shoes and boots on the ground is substantially louder. And through the like self filming and solo hunting, I would have a camera with me on a tripod. I'd have my bow, I'd have all this stuff. And at first it felt near impossible to self film and get in close. And what I ended up having to do is do two stalks on. Pretty much everything I ever killed was two stalks. I'd crawl in, I'd do the camera first, which all that stuff's loud. And you have to pay attention to every little thing. Tucking my release in so it didn't tick the tripod, getting everything super quiet, stock in, stock back, stock stalk back in with my bow. And nearly everything I've killed was two stalks. It's kind of three stocks because you're in, out, back in and going out, you have to be just as quiet as going in. I think sometimes people back out and they're like, I got in and then they back out loud and whatever. It's just paying attention to all those little details. And I was taking my boots off, tucking my pants into my socks, like keeping everything tight and not catching or brushing. Choosing clothing that's a little bit more quiet than some of the other stuff out there makes a big difference. And I got a lot of practice blowing a lot of stocks and kind of started to find the formula that worked for me. And that formula turned out to be really successful. And I think in the long run made me a better hunter. When I wasn't doing that stuff, when I just go, okay, I'm just gonna get in and be quiet and be sneaky. And just paying attention to all the little details makes a big difference. But for me, that's one that I know some people are like, I don't need to. It's not. Certainly there are stocks that maybe it doesn't matter. Elk in September when they're. I rarely take my socks off unless I'm like, physically stocking a bull that's bedded or something like that, but treating every stock like it's the one and only stock you're gonna get, making sure everything's quiet and taking that best approach is, I think, is a solid way to go. You're gonna end up making fewer stocks because the ones you do make are gonna be more successful.

[C]

It's just very respectable. The way you do that is very authentic, because you could easily just stock in, kill the animal, go back into a fake stock, and you don't do that. So that's kind of. That would be. I'm gonna talk about it for a sec.

[B]

Oh, yeah. That was always the thing that bugged me. So when I first started doing the TV stuff, I had been the guide to air quotes TV shows. And it was a different time then. Like, there wasn't a lot of YouTube. There was big TV shows, and it was all about whitetails and this other thing. And I was the young elk guide that would be, like, guiding guys on for different shows that just happened to be with outfitters that I worked for or my own outfit or whatever. And the thing that pissed me off more than anything was one of the first shows that I was a guide on. We went out the first day and killed a bull, like, the first morning. And they got this shot on film and whatever. And I'm like, okay, cool. Now I can get back to my real job and go guide other people and do, like, do some guiding. He's like, no, no, no. We gotta come back and film the hunt. And I was like, what? Like, it just. It blew my mind. And I felt so stupid. Like, in the way that it panned out and the way that they cut it together, it made it look like it was like a late October rifle season. I had a call to, like, try to stop the elk, but it made it, like, the way that they cut it together made it look like I blew this bugle. 500 Elk came running in, and I'm like, I look like such an idiot. Like, people clearly, you know, it was probably the catalyst that launched my outfitting business. For some reason, people saw that show, and I was actually on a desert sheep hunt with my brother, and I thought, this is gonna be the dumbest thing that anyone has ever seen. And my brother had drawn a desert sheep tag. We were out of service, hunting sheep. Got back into town, and my phone had blown up. I had mailbox full of people wanting to book a hunt. Well, I guess the bugling and 500 elk running in really incited people to want to book a trip with me, but then I had to kind of, you know, like, talk them down a little bit. That's not really how it go. But, yeah, I think, like, for me, it was just. I liked that. I liked doing it the hard way, and because of it, I felt like I learned more. It was more successful for me, and I ended up, like, you know, you kind of have to do it, too. Like, I might as well get the stuff along the way, because I have to get the camera there to film the shot and stuff. And there's been times where, with the solo hunter, I just had to commit to making, like, filming and knowing that I was gonna get it on video, because there was times, looking back, there was deer that I could have shot that I didn't because I couldn't get it on video. But I was like, if I break that one time, I'll break it every time, and I'll never get anything that I want. I'll, like, always hit that easy button and be like, oh, I didn't get it. Didn't get it. You know, Then obviously, there's times where it, like, walked out of frame or something and you out of your control that you didn't notice or didn't hit the record button. Done that before, but for the most part, like. But I had to get that camera there. I had to figure it out. So getting all this stuff along the way was actually, in some ways, for me, easier in my mind than being like, oh, I'll just go do that again later, because it just never would work. I wasn't that type. Once I got something or got down, I would never think about going back and doing it a different way. So for me, it was just, like, my way of doing it, and I liked it. And I'm glad that over the years, it started to resonate with people, I think. Got another question over here. Jeff Foster, Atlanta, Georgia. On a given year, how many hunts do you average in one year? That's a good question. Like, for myself personally or with, like, other people? Just yourself? Either you with a gun or a bow or you guys? Yeah. I mean, it just depends on the year. You know, I probably have in the fall season, I'd say, like, five tags of my own. I probably hunt on other people's hunts. 15. So I would say, like, if I did 20 hunts in the fall, I would do 15 with other people and five for myself, for the most part. And then outside of that, I do hunts, like, out of that season. So like spring bear would be one on top of that. Maybe something in Hawaii or New Zealand would be something on top of that and maybe like an international hunt or two somewhere. So, you know, on average probably around 10 hunts, something like that. And then a lot of hunts, 20 to 30 hunts with other people in other places. So I can convince my wife that three or four a year is not too bad then. Yeah, you can tell her that like that's pretty manageable. I know. I don't know how many days I spent hunting now with the. It's a lot still. And you know, thankfully when I met my wife was the year. Like I met my wife in December, it was like right around Christmas time. I think it was like a day or two before Christmas in that year. I was in the field 323 days. So she met me when I was hunting 323 days a year. So anything less than that has been like, wow, he's home a lot. He's this guy. And fortunately she gets to go on a lot of stuff with me and with the guiding and stuff. We bring her family and they're in camp and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, it's kind of been cool to the transition of being a guy that goes out solo and then just guiding all over the world and doing that to then having my wife go on trips with me and kind of work in the. Be in the hunting camp and all that kind of stuff and then bringing the family into it. And it's been kind of fun to just go through that change in that process of the difference of thinking back to what I used to do and what I do now. And they're both awesome and both different in a lot of ways and still challenging all the way around, I think. Got a question up front.

[D]

So in your opinion, is a 22 inch barrel long enough for like 400, 500 yard shots? And I ask because my son is 12 and the game we're going at, we've kind of moved past whitetails at this point, going after some bigger stuff where the 243 is not going to cut it. And I want to get him a rifle that he can have forever. But he's still, you know, the longer barrels, he's just still body wise. It's like a lot for him kind of balance wise. I think the 22s, like the size wise is good, but is it enough kind of barrel to get where we want to be?

[B]

Yeah. So I mean the, the barrel, it really depends on the caliber you're Gonna go with too. So I mean like I've got a 20 inch barrel on my 7 backcountry and they're making them now with a 16 inch barrel and they're still getting really good velocities out of it. I wouldn't give it to a kid without a muzzle brake or suppressor on it. But you're still getting like. I would be comfortable hunting elk with a 7 backcountry in a 16 inch barrel because you're still getting really good velocities and a heavy bullet that's kind of a new caliber. That's a new thing. I would probably, I don't know. Is there a specific caliber that you're

[D]

looking at right Now I'm looking at 6, 8 Western and kind of scared about the ammo availability but you know, all the parameters and 6, 8 Western with the muzzle brake.

[B]

Yeah, I think that, I think that like a lot of it comes down to shot placement no matter what you're doing. And this will probably ruffle a few feathers, but I've killed a lot of Elk with a 6.5 Creedmoor and like they've all gone down in one shot. And I use like a. I like that federal terminal scent bullet. Like once I, I had never hunted elk with a 6.5 Creedmoor until that bullet came out. And I saw the performance of it because I like I've literally shot. You'd be hard pressed to find a bullet that I haven't hunted with for an extensive period of time or seen a lot of stuff shot with it through the guiding and everything. And I just saw like that that bullet performed so well because it opened it fast like close range and longer range at those slower speeds. And once that came out, I started hunting elk with a 6.5 Creedmoor. And I don't know if I can offhand think of. I mean maybe there was one where he put in an insurance shot in it. But like elk can be killed with the right bullet. You can. And that was out of a 20 inch barrel. Like my wife shot elk with it. My brother shot elk with it. Clients have shot elk with it. I've shot elk with it. So it is, it is doable. And maybe people will be like that's not enough gun. Make a good shot. And obviously things happen too. You know, you can, you can't always rely on. It's nice like I shot like a 300 short mag. 300 win mag 300 weather be. You know, it's nice to have that too of like. Well if you Hit them where you aren't supposed to, they're still gonna die and probably a lot faster. But I think if you just have a gun that's manageable, the recoil, I wouldn't be so worried about it. I would be just. I'm more of find something you can shoot really well, be precise. Obviously with a kid, like there's this new excitement level. It's, it's all foreign. Like looking through that scope. I remember as a kid looking through that scope, it's a new world through that scope. And shooting at paper and shooting an animal are two different things. But just having something that's very manageable for them where they're more likely to make that good shot. And I have noticed through guiding and taking other people, kids and shout out to the ladies, women will always outshoot their male counterpart 90% of the time because they're really focused on that. They listen really well. They do know that it's new and they're open to some kind of correction as a guide. You get these guys that they would show up with these big guns and whatever and they're like, this is my elk gun. And we go shoot at the paper. And it's like you looking at it going, well, boys, it's gonna be a hard week to get an elk right? So I think that there's that with a kid, just get them something that's manageable. I wouldn't be too worried. I'd focus on bullet selection. I would use a bonded bullet if it's, you know, unless you're hunting in California. Like, I wouldn't get some, like, I wouldn't focus on like a long range bullet that's really frangible. I would just get like a bullet that's going to hold together real well and that's going to go a long way for the setup.

[C]

Hey, I'm Mark from Seattle and my

[B]

question is, how do you hunt elk in wolf country? Hunting elk in wolf country. I mean, honestly, like I. Where I did a lot of my guiding, when I first started guiding there and doing a lot of hunting, there were no wolves. And then I remember one day I was out and saw the first wolf and I was like, oh, there's wolves here now. And then I saw this population of elk that did not experience wolves. And then wolves moved in and the population of wolves exploded. And it became an area that was in the news for being decimated by wolves. Right. So I went through this whole thing of no wolves, lots of wolves, then wolf season opening and kind of things getting back on balance, and to be 100% honest, our tactics rarely changed. I have been bugling, and maybe this isn't everyone's case. I have literally bugled Elkin while wolves are howling across the canyon. And that's the God's honest truth. And people say that they don't make noise. And I understand, like, when they're getting. I like, if you've been out enough, you see things, you're like, that could never happen. I've also been hunting elk, and elk are quiet and called in wolves. Right. So it is one of those things where at first I think it's the shock where they don't really know. It's just like hunting pressure all the time. And they weren't used to that hunting pressure per se. I think they did some studies in our area and what they found out was actually, actually the wolves weren't killing as many elk as they thought. It was mountain lions killing elk because they're way more efficient. And then the wolves chasing the mountain lions off, the mountain lions going and killing another elk, and the wolves just claiming those things. I'd actually witnessed that on one occasion where the mountain lions were pushed off of a fresh kill by the wolves, which I thought was a really interesting study in our area. Now they definitely, the wolves definitely, like, you can't ignore it, hammered. Our elk populations definitely dropped. And it kind of at first seemed like the hunting was harder, but I think it was just harder because we actually had overpopulation of elk in our area. And then we went into the zone where it's like, now we're at or below population. And that changed a lot of things. And then you had same amount of hunting pressure from hunters, and it seemed like the hunting was harder than it used to be, having gone through this. And then after a while, we were able to manage the wolf population in accordance to the elk population, and things started to balance out again. It's hard when you're talking about Washington, where there isn't a wolf season and probably who knows what's going to happen, right? So I think in those situations, like me thinking back to the strategies that we employed when it was new, that was the biggest shift of, like, when something. When that wolf population exploded and that elk population started to dip, we over time saw the same success, but I think, like, as guides and through our outfit. But I think that people around us saw way less success because they struggled in finding that, I guess that, like, balance of where those fewer elk were. And the way that I see it is I kind of look at it and think of it in the terms of a strategy that you're using where there's a lot of hunters in a general unit and the kind of places that the things that those elk do when that hunting pressure hits. And then you're going to extrapolate that hunting pressure throughout the year. And now those places, there's going to be certain places that hold elk because it's more advantageous for them to be safe from these predators. And you can, like, find those areas and focus on those areas. And one of the things that we used to see, like, where we were at or what we started to see afterwards is, like, where we'd start to find elk was these places where it had those more varied, like, they would start to congregate in places where they were safer. And it was oftentimes, like those knobs in the valley. There'd be a valley with a prevailing wind and a knob, because the wind would swirl around those knobs, and it was like clockwork. You could just go find those places with the real, like the wind, where you're like, you can never approach something. And there would be elk on it 100% of the time, Whereas before, it was like, you would see elk in those places, but they would also bet on this face, and they'd bet on that. So finding those places where they were a lot safer, and we would just focus on those places. And we actually started finding elk more often because they were more consistent in the places that were safe. Now, when you're bow hunting, it was a lot harder to kill them sometimes because they would put themselves in these, like, they started to group up more like the herd, instead of being like, little pockets, like, we get bigger herds. So you'd be looking for one big herd in a really safe place. And once you found that, then we'd continually hunt that and find similar places. And we actually had. I don't know if we had better success, but we had consistent success by just targeting those things. So because the populations were down, wolves were a new thing. They're being hunted all the time. But we just adapted our strategy, and we ended up finding and killing just as many elk, I guess, if that makes sense. Next question.

[E]

Hello, Remy. Hi, I'm Nyssa. I'm from Alaska, but live in Montana and Texas. And I'm curious what your advice would be. To be the best team out in the field, you have hunter in position A and hunter in position B. Or sometimes there's a hunter with a guide. Like, what advice would you give Those two people to be the best team out there, most successful at working together.

[B]

Yeah. I think having been someone that's done a lot of solo hunting and then on the other side being like a guide and always having people with me or then getting to hunt with family, it can go two ways. There's times where you can be hunting with someone else and actually detract from the success and the experience of the hunt. And also when I started went from like doing all my own filming to having somebody with a camera. Right. That's still another person and it's part of the team. And what I realized is the person that's with you and their attitude really dictates the success of the entire experience. If both people can be a go over the next ridge type of person, the let's give it a try type person, the let's glass and pick it apart. The like picking each other up with the optimism of something is here and we're gonna find it, you're overall gonna be more successful. I think it's like no matter what kind of team thing you're doing, you're always working to the weakest link per se. And so when you have that, it's more of a mindset than anything else. The skill and ability is probably secondary to the mindset that's going to help kind of make success for everyone. Like when I go out with guys that are. That you could see something a long ways away and you're like, oh, man, we've got an hour to get over there. It's probably going to take us an hour to get over there. Maybe we should come back tomorrow. And you've got people that are with you and you're like, we should give it a try. And you're like, yeah, we should give it a try. And you give it a try. Maybe it didn't work out. Maybe it did. But they're always the we'll give it a try type people. The success is 10 times that. But the people that are always sitting back like, oh, that's. I don't want to go across the canyon or maybe we'll find another one or that. It just kind of puts you in that mindset and you aren't hunting to the best ability of what you guys can do. And then as a guide, you know, I've kind of always been the one that's like, there might be somebody that's with me that's a lot older, isn't as in good a shape or whatever. So I have to hunt to their ability but also to the best of their ability. So I would always push them to. I know what people can do. I know what most people are capable of, and it's often more than they think they are capable of. So as the guide, I would always generally not try to piss anyone off, but walk fast enough that they couldn't really complain. It's like, well, we're here. We're going to. I know you're gonna make it. It's gonna suck. You can scream at me later, but we're gonna kill this bull. And that's what you came to do. And most people are like, wow, thank you. I didn't think that I would have never done that on my own. But I'm not gonna put anyone in a bad. I've never put anyone in a bad position ever. But I've always kind of continually pushed people a little bit. And so if you've got somebody that you're hunting with where you're both saying like this, last week, I was in Mexico hunting, and it was a grind. It was. It was a very difficult. We just had a lot of things working against us. And when you're sitting there with a guy that's like, the big buck could be coming out. You're sitting, even though you haven't seen anything for three days, you're glassing every rock and nook and cranny like, that big buck is there. But if you're with a guy that's like, everybody's. We aren't going to see anything. Why are we even out here? We should just go home. This sucks. This is the worst hunt I've ever been on. Then that's what you're going to. And you're just going to sit there. You're going to be, like, lackadaisical, and then you aren't going to see anything. You know, we hunted it to the bitter end. We ended up kind of on the way out seeing a. A buck that we ended up chasing and not getting on. But it was so easy, depending on, like, the dynamic of the people there, to either bring the hunt down or bring the hunt up. And it's a lot of mindset, to be honest.

[E]

Thank you.

[B]

All right, we got a question in the back. Hi, I'm Darren.

[C]

I'm from Oregon Northwest. And my question to you, first and foremost, have you hunted Roosevelt elk?

[B]

Yes. So I have hunted Roosevelt elk, but not in Oregon. I've hunted them multiple times in Alaska, which is a little bit different. But that's like, all my Roosevelt elk hunting experience. I Have been talking about trying to get on and probably hunt either Oregon or Washington for Roosevelt in the near future. Whether it's this year or next year, I'd like to do it down here. But I have. I have hunted them quite a bit in Alaska. But the. I know that it's probably a lot different there than in other places, and in some. In some instances, very similar. There's. There's definitely its own challenges. The biggest challenge that I found was packing them out because they were massively bigger. They were like the size of moose, about 1400 pounds. And. And we were hunting them like we'd hunt any elk, not paying attention to limits of mountains and distance. So the packouts have always been very excruciating. But that's kind of my Roosevelt elk experiences in Alaska.

[C]

That was.

[B]

My next question is, do you separate

[C]

Rocky Mountain from Roosevelt in tactics or strategy?

[B]

The ones that we were hunting in Alaska was similar strategies. We didn't. We were doing a lot of calling, a lot of glassing. It was more open country than you might get in some of that coastal terrain. But also, I really like to hunt elk archery season during the rut in thick cover, because I feel like it's a. It's a tactic that I can use that I can't use other times a year and can target elk in that thick stuff. I think that those elk that live in that thick stuff, like all elk, I think elk are very habitual creatures. They have their patterns, they have their circuits. And once you figure out that circuit and that pattern, you're going to find that success. It's a lot harder to do in that thick country because you can't see them all the time. So you can see sign of where they've been, you can see sign of where they might rut. You can see potential topographical features on a map that elk tend to gravitate toward. And then you can kind of extrapolate out the places that they're most likely to be. And then during the rut, you can utilize the calling feature to let them tell you where they're at. But also, I mean, within that, there's been plenty of hunts where I hunt that country. They aren't making a lot of noise, but I'm using that knowledge of where they might like to live to still hunt and find elk. And so I would use those same tactics on Roosevelt elk if they weren't calling, that I would use when I'm hunting elk, Rocky Mountain elk in that thick terrain. I look at it more of like hunting Them like other elk in similar terrain than hunting them is a completely different species. Right. I think they act different because they're in that terrain. But I think if you took like a Roosevelt elk and put him in the prairie of Wyoming, he'd be doing the same stuff that those other bulls are doing. And same if you took that prairie bull and put him in the mountain, he'd be like a little off kilter for a while. But I think after a while he'd be starting to do those same things that those other elk are doing because it's a more of a terrain and habitat based feature than necessarily like a species feature, if that makes sense. You mentioned bonded bullets with elk and

[D]

maybe smaller caliber

[A]

rifles.

[D]

But can you compare for me the all copper bullets compared to your bonded

[B]

bullets and what's your preference? Yeah, I prefer a bonded bullet. I've shot a of lot, lot of copper bullets and I know that there's the one thing that you might start seeing is lead maybe being banned in certain places. That's happened in California. I know a lot of people shoot all copper bullets. I also shoot like I have setups where I shoot copper bullets. Maybe it's because of, maybe it's because that rifle just shoots them way better. And I'm, I'm prioritizing accuracy. I've had, you know, you just like you could pick a bullet and ask a question on it and I could tell you what I think of that particular bullet. But in everything that I've used, you're going to see failures when you do something. A lot, a lot of it's more shot placement failures. You're going to see like certain bullets being really frangible at high velocities and so they essentially hit, explode. And what's going into the animal is like, I don't know, like shotgun. Right. It's just, it kills them, but it doesn't, it uses a lot of that shock on the onside and then you've got them, they stand like you shoot a bull with a, I'm not going to name any brands but like, I don't know, a more frangible ballistic type bullet. And it's going to hit, it's going to hand grenade, it's going to make a big damage right here and the bull's gonna like you hit him in the lungs, it's gonna stand there, it's gonna bubble for a little bit. It's dead on its feet. But in thin thick country or whatever, you got a big bull elk, all it takes is a big run. Off the other side or into something, and it's hard to find because they don't bleed a lot with that. I'd rather have a bullet, especially for bigger animals like deer and stuff, you can kind of get away with anything. I think elk on the. On the bullet side, me personally, anybody can refute any of this with enough evidence. Whatever. This is just based on seeing hundreds of elk get shot over guiding and whatever and saying, like, an elk's a big animal. They don't put out a lot of blood. You want to get a bullet deep, and you want that energy to be transferred through the elk. So I like something that's going to stay intact. Now, there are copper bullets that stay together, and they almost just pencil through. So you've got this, like, kind of balance where I feel like a bullet that hits mushrooms and then retains that mass and goes through is just transferring more energy that elk. And I feel like for elk, it's a better setup. There's certain animals that bullets that are slower and mushroom more have better effect. There's certain bullets that are fast and don't and have better effect. Like, I've got a friend that's a professional hunter in Africa, and he's like. He's like, you're better off shooting a lion with a slower bullet than a faster bullet. Like, it does. You know, it transfers that energy more. There's more mass. He'd rather do that than a really fast, light bullet that just zips through him because whatever. So there's just different species that I think lend themselves to different types of bullets and elk, for me, personally, I kind of take that philosophy of, like I do with my broadheads. I'd rather have a fixed blade broadhead with elk because I can get that penetration. I can get into where it needs to be. I'll probably get two holes, and I'd rather have that. I can get through some heavy bone. If I make a mistake or whatever, it's going to get that penetration. Whereas I prefer that penetration with elk. I've absolutely. For a long time, I used copper bullets, and I've used every copper bullet. And I've. We've killed elk. We've had problems with them. 99.9% of them we've retained with every bullet. I just like what. I like the effects better with the bonded bullet, the lead core.

[C]

Treyton Young from Idaho, My question was, how can you. Strategically, I've got a bull on camera. How can I raise my odds of finding that bull?

[B]

Again, I'm assuming is a. It Depends where it is in the time of year. So I'm assuming it's on water in the summer, is that right? Okay, so. And then would you be hunting archery season or would you hunting rifle season?

[C]

Archery season. And typically I still see them until

[B]

the last week of August and then they just disappear.

[C]

Yeah, I'll see them occasionally, but it's not consistent at that point.

[B]

Pretty high elevation where that camera is about 7800. Yeah. So what's happening is the bulls on summer range, he's doing his summer pattern. He's using that wallow for water at that time. And it's part of his little home range he's got. He's in that summer range because there's probably good grass, good feed. When that rut note hits, he's moving to where those cows are. He's staging. He's either first part of the rut. So it depends on when the season is and a lot of times weather and just the time of year. Sometimes we'll catch bulls still in their summer range. That first week of September, like my wife's bull that she shot, I had a video. I never, I don't know if you saw the video, but like a big bull that my wife shot, those bulls were still bachelored up. They were at the top of the mountain in their summer range. They hadn't moved since August. Some years those bulls are out of there before September even hits. And where they're at, they'd be in that lower country and some of those elk will cruise. We know this because, like there's, there's a place that I've hunted. We've had camera, I've had cameras out. A collared bull has come through and you're like, oh, you can. Actually a lot of this data is public. And you're like, okay, this bull, this collared bull is getting hitting this area. And by September, that bull was a nearly 120 miles away in two different units. So it depends on the unit that you're hunting, how transitionary they are and what the potential is. If you've got a bull in an area where there's a lot of cows, they might stick in that area and focus on the cows. But that is really difficult depending on the area, when, if you have a consistent bull that's like, hey, we keep getting this bull. Year after. I've got bulls on camera that like I get in August, year after year after year, same water hole. He's got his, he's got his summer range. Yet when that rut Starts to hit, he's rutting somewhere else. And that could be not even in the zip code of where I'm hunting. So it really depends on the area. Sometimes it's impossible. Sometimes you get lucky and they stay on that summer range. And the way that I would see it is there are. You'll notice there are years whether whatever the weather conditions are, where bulls hold their velvet longer, when they hold their velvet longer, they're going to stay in that summer range a little longer. And those are the times where you're like, okay, I think I can probably still get on them. The other thing is, we've had success going into those areas or like hunting around those areas. Maybe the bull stop showing up. But you like with light cow calling, there's fewer cows in that area potentially. And sometimes you can just get those bulls to come investigate. So it's hard to say. Like, it really depends on the area. And it wouldn't be strange that that elk vanishes because it's no longer there. Like, it can't be found where you're at. So what I would do is maybe scout out good areas where there's cows and potentially good rut activity. I would also, like, look around that area and be like, if there's not a lot of rubs and other stuff, that bull is probably moving on. And then there's this other factor where I've seen where summer range there, you'll be getting cows and other things. There's bulls on that summer range. And you would think that those bulls would be like, there's cows here. But sometimes those big mature bulls aren't worried about these little cows that are in the summer range. They're worried about that monster herd that's down mid mountain that's been living down there where they can go and just take over and have a giant harem. And you're gonna get these little satellite bulls that are running the show up top. They maybe even were down here earlier. They get run off and they kind of swap zones. And I've seen that happen before too, where a bull will be living with this kind of in and around the cows all year kind of thing. And those bulls get kicked out and they just start. They go on their war path to go find something else. And they go up top and they find this little pocket of 10 to 12 cows that have been living up there in this summer range area. And they're running around and they create their own little zone. And that better bull is just completely gone because he's down here in the in the better rutting area. Matt from Pagosa Springs, Colorado. As far as New Zealand goes, what

[D]

are some barriers, what are the first

[B]

steps and what are some hunts that are absolutely necessary when you're there? Yeah, for New Zealand, I mean hunting those mountain species is incredible. Like the tar and the chamois. Getting into that country is, is phenomenal. I love hunting the fallow deer there just because I like hunting deer. I think it's. I don't know, there's just something about antlers that I love. The mountain species are just, it's like the place and they're really cool animal. And then the red deer can be really cool as well. Like similar to elk hunting I think. Like the, like if you're doing a DIY style hunt, the thing is just like the research ahead of time. Just like anything else. Like if you're going an out of state hunt here, you got to do your research. The Department of Conservation website has a lot of their information. Like we're here. I think a lot of the information is a little bit secretive. They're trying to manage those populations without predators through hunters. So they give away a lot of info. Everybody has access to the same info. Secret spots aren't really secret. Like you can, you can go on there and be like, here's where there's too many tar. Have at it boys. So that's like the little bit different thing is the information that you can find is pretty reliable. That's how I started. I started just researching online now. There's definitely been changes in firearms. Permits are a lot more difficult. Like you just have to do a lot more pre planning now for sure, like traveling, you have to do a lot more pre planning. And you know, especially it's like, it's almost easier just to take a bow to be honest. But the landscape of that's changed. There are some areas that are like, call it like restricted seasons during the ruts and other things where they're limiting the number of people. But really just starting out with doing your research, you're going to be pretty well off just going that finding an area that you want to get into, figuring out the access point. Like it's exactly the same as anything I would do here. If I drew a tag in some unit I've never been in some state that I haven't hunted, I would do the exact same thing. I'm first like, okay, I'm picking an area, I'm doing my research on the area. What are the access points? What are the access issues? What are the rules and regulations and then building my hunt plan around that.

[A]

I hope you guys enjoyed that podcast. It was really awesome to be able to get get to meet quite a few people at the expo and just show a lot of people our Day six Gear Arrows broadheads answer a lot of questions.

[B]

You know, I feel like it was

[A]

awesome for myself and our whole team to just be able to interact with people and, and answer questions of things people had seen, like, oh, why is this different? Or, you know, looking at how do these broadheads shoot? Or what do you think for this particular hunt? And that's what we love to do. So if you missed us at the show, feel free to reach out on our website, day6gear.com our phone number's on there. You can call us, you can ask questions. Someone at the shop will pick up. Everybody that's answering these questions is extremely versed and knowledgeable in not only archery, but bow hunting. And they're some of the best resources out there for this kind of stuff. So if you have questions on arrow setups, broadheads, anything like that, anything we offer, please just reach out, whether it's email or phone, and we'd love to help get you set up. Also, we did do a show special at the show, like a special discount that we only do for essentially a couple of shows that we attend, just because it's kind of a reward for the people coming out and also supporting those organizations to come in and see our stuff. So. But one of the things that I wanted to do was something so the podcast listeners and the people on our email list didn't feel left out. So for those interested, we're actually going to be throwing in a free Day 6 shirt with arrow purchase.

[B]

While the supplies last, we ordered a

[A]

bunch of extra shirts. And so for now, until we run out of this specific shirt, we're going to be doing with your Arrow purchase a free shirt with that. So a little bit of a special little thanks for the support for those that weren't able to make it to the hunt Expo. And then we've also decided, I've also decided to extend out our free shipping for those purchases over $99. So we did that around Christmas time. And that, that should help you guys out as well. I just want to say thank you guys so much for the support both in the Day six Arrow Company our live wild stuff, this podcast on social and on our YouTube channel. Just subscribing, liking, even just subscribing to this podcast, it helps us out tremendously. So I just want to say thank you to you guys. You guys are the reason that I do it. And it's awesome, too. Like, coming back from a show like the Hunt Expo, where I just get to talk with people that regularly listen to the podcast and hear stories and see pictures of hunts that were successful and those. Those hunts that there was a tip or tactic list, you know, like, so many stories of guys listening to a certain podcast or vein of podcasts, just cramming for the hunt coming up and then finding success. Like, that's awesome for me to hear. I. I really enjoy hearing that kind of stuff. So thank you guys so much. And until next week, I'm just gonna say live wild.

[B]

Catch you guys later.