A (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. If you really want to utilize a lot of this information from the podcast in the field, one of the best ways to do that is to be physically ready for the hunt. And that's really why I've partnered with Mountain Tough. So if you aren't familiar with it, Mountain Tough is an online training app designed for hunters with a ton of added benefit. In addition to the fitness programs built for that backcountry hunting, you also get access to nutrition and recovery guides for on and off the mountain mental toughness training, and this really great in app community that connects you with other mountain Tuft toughers and coaches. This app is packed with value. To help you stay ready to get started in the journey, go to mountaintuff.com that's MTN T O U G H dot com. Well everyone, welcome back to the LiveWild podcast. Now this week we're going to look at those final moments of a bow hunt and the decision making process around the shot. I'm going to highlight today. What I think of is five top mistakes that I definitely make that blow a stock or maybe the shot when it comes to getting in position with a bow. And then we're going to look at those ways that we can prevent it. But before we do that, I really want to share the story of a recent bow hunt I did for fallow deer in New Zealand and a big bedded buck I got a second chance on. So I recently got an opportunity to chase some fallow deer with my bow and that's one of my favorite things to do. The area that I get to hunt is really conducive for spot and stock because it's more of that open type country and there's definitely some really good bucks there. It's always fun for me to spot a good, big mature buck and try to slip into bow range. It's a really good challenge, especially in that open country because these deer don't give you second chances like they often are running for miles if they, if they even catch you on the skyline or if you get, you know, make a little bit of noise in that dry country. They're just out of there. They're really keyed in. And so it's such a fun bow hunt. It really reminds me of like early season bow hunting, mule deer. And this this year I actually went earlier than I'd probably ever chased them. It was definitely pre Ruth. A lot of the bucks were still bachelored up. Some of the younger bucks even still were holding velvet. So it was still fairly early in the season when I went. And I was kind of excited to. To have that opportunity to chase him outside of the rut. The rut is so fun because they're. They're croaking and making noise and any kind of buck can show up. But it was just when I could go and kind of a different time of year to. To chase him. The almost maybe an easier time to target like mature bucks because the. They weren't in the big mobs of does. So fewer eyes. But they were definitely bachelored up and seemed like some of the smaller. There's a couple deer that I'd spotted that still were holding velvet. The bigger bucks were all stripped and hard horned and some of them were kind of off on their own and it was still pretty hot. So kind of think of it like end of for everyone in north America, Sort of like end of summer. So it'd be like, I guess comparable to end of August for us or like beginning of September time frame, like weather wise especially. So that kind of, you know, in my mind thought if I. If I can find a good deer, it might be in a good shaded position or in a good spot for bedding to make a good play. So I was just on this one glassing spot and Danielle and the kids were with me and. And I was. We were actually looking. I can't. I think we were just looking for does. Me actually hadn't seen any bucks at all. And I was just looking for maybe a doe that we could go try to get on. Because I was like, well, maybe there's no bucks here this time of year. I really haven't hunted this particular area this time of year. Wasn't sure if they were just somewhere else or. Or what. And so I'm glassing and I've got my binoculars, and I look below this cliff ledge and I see what looks like a buck. So I. I go grab my spotter, set the spotter up, and I'm like, sure enough, it's a big buck bedded below this ledge. And I start to look around and it's tucked in like the ledge kind of overhangs and it's tucked in tight to this. This cliff. And I started looking around. There's a couple other bucks. So a little bachelor group. And a couple of them started to get up and start walking around this and start to reposition while I was watching this. This one buck. And so there's a couple smaller bucks. One buck. So I looked at Daniel. I'm like, look at this deer. Like, this is a good buck. She's like, you should go down there and try to get on him. I'll stay with the kids. All right. So I took my bow and dropped down. I wanted to. Because those other deer were kind of getting up. And I really wanted to try to get into position before he got up. So I left Danielle there with a spotting scope. And she had her phone on the mag view, filming it a little bit. And for just to. To not only stay back, but also to watch and help guide me in just in case something happens. So I move in. I'm trying to make. Make some good time. So I drop around the backside. I. I don't want to get seen. I've got mediocre wind. But it's going kind of up canyon. The way that I'm planning on coming in should be good. So I go around the mountain, pop over. And I'm working toward where I think that rock is. And I could tell like sort of where it was at. But I had to kind of reference where Danielle was, was trying to get me to. So I look back at her and actually had a. One of my rocky talkie radios. Radio. I was like, hey, are they still there? She's like, they're still there. But when I get in closer, I didn't want the radio. Radio going off or anything. So she's like, they're still there. They're right where they're at. And I'd ranged from where I was to where those deer were. So I knew that they were out. She's just like. They're just. He's just right below on that point. So I'm self filming. I've got my camera and everything. And I kind of set it up or like 360 cam helmet cam on. And I move up to the edge. And as I'm moving up off to my right, kind of the direction that the wind's blowing, I didn't know from where we were looking, you couldn't see these other deer. Those two other bucks had popped in there, but gone further than where we could see and caught. Must have caught My wind or seen me something, and they blew out, and I. I got ready, and they blew out and ran across, down and then across and actually across. It might have still been close enough to shoot because, like, they jumped out at 15 yards maybe, and then took off. And I'm looking around like, where's the big buck? Where's the big buck? And he didn't pop out. So I'm just on this rock, like, this kind of rock, cliff edge, and I'm trying to look down, and I'm, like, peeking over. And I knew he was tucked in tight. Like, I didn't know if I'd be able to see him, but if he was still there, like, maybe he popped out. So I'm popping over, and in that time, another buck came out and went the other way. And he. He kind of. He kind of went out pretty quick, but not, like. Not super fast. Just kind of went out, I think looked back up and trotted off. So I'm like, I only knew of a couple deer in there. So now three deer had blown out of there or gone out of there. And I'm assuming that the big buck's still there. He has to be right below me, but I can't tell if he's off to my right, straight below me. So I'm kind of moving around the rock, quietly peeking over. I don't see him. And so I. I back. Back out, and I radio Danielle. I'm like, is he still here? She's like, yeah, he's still bedded. Okay. So I just. I. I sneak back in, and I'm peeking over, and I. Trying to figure out where he's at. I'm just gonna be patient. Wait is my plan. Just wait for him to get up. But also, I'm a little worried that, I don't know, maybe the, you know, the wind or what have you, but. Because I think if I can peek over and maybe get a shot, that's great. Like, I don't even know how those. Like, clearly, those other deer got out of there. But this buck was. I don't know if he's asleep or just whatever. He didn't know what was going on. And so I. I peek over the. Like, the cliff ledge, and I see an antler tip. And I don't know if he heard something. He. He starts to turn his head back toward me, and I just moved back and started to come to full draw. I mean, there's bucks, like, right below my feet. He's probably 5. I don't know, 5 to 10 yards away. Has to be less than 10 yards, like directly below. Like, if I was going horizontal distance, he was probably three yards away, just right below me. And unfortunately, that kind of little bit of impatience killed me. And I really did think that he was going to be over to the right. So had I just maybe approached a little bit different or set back a different spot, I don't know what would have happened. But he blew out and just kept running, like running over, down the canyon, up the other side, over into the abyss. For the most part, we kind of. So I hiked back up. It was such a bummer, Such a good buck, and just didn't work out. So get back. We actually go down and try to relocate him, but didn't see him. So, yeah, that was that. I was like, man, it was such a good deer. And it just sucks when you're that close and doesn't work out. A few things different might have, but just didn't work out. I had another stock a different time on, another nice. But it wasn't like a was. That was a really good buck. And so I was. I kind of went back to that same area and I actually got a stock on another deer. It was like a nice buck, but just didn't have the same. It wasn't like a giant buck like this one was. And I spotted him in the morning and he was bedded. So I. I circled around and I probably should have taken a little more time to see where he's at. But I had a good feeling, you know, like, I thought when you're looking across the canyon, like, oh, I know where that's at. I can easily see this. So I took some pictures and videos on my phone. So I dropped down. What I should have done is I probably should have dropped a pin on him on my onyx, because even though it doesn't have, like, layer data, it definitely still has the tools, like measure tool and dropping pins and all that kind of stuff. So I circle around the mountain, go up the backside, get the wind right, start working down. And as I'm working down, I feel like he's like, right down here and I'm looking, and there's like this bush tree off to my right. I don't remember that. So I look at my picture. I don't see the tree. And I'm thinking this would be really apparent from where I'm at. But I feel like I'm on the right route. And I think that he's just down below this cliff, which is fairly close to me. So I. I dropped my pack. I actually set my camera. I'm, like, sneaking in with my bow self, filming bow hunting so hard, but sneaking in with a camera and a bow. And, like, I take five more steps from where I took my boots off, and the buck runs out from this rock, like, less than 20 yards away from me. Like, if I would have got to where I would have wanted to go, it would have been fine. I still would have been in position, But I probably could have just waited back even further back. He probably was maybe 15 yards away. I could have waited, you know, 20 yards back at this good little rock outcropping and watched below and waited for this buck to stand up. And he ran out, ran across the canyon. By the time I adjusted everything and he was 65 yards, fully aware that I was there, knew that there was, you know, no shot whatever, and watched him go off. And so another failed stock just got in too tight again for the most part. So I guess fast forward. It's like the last day that I'm gonna be bow hunting, and I decided I'm gonna go back to where I spotted that. That big buck and see if I can get on him again. So that morning, I go up to that glassing vantage, and sure enough, I see that same bachelor group, not in the same place, but kind of in that same canyon down a little ways. And they're feeding on this little bit of a flat. And so I'm looking at. There's this, like, a bunch of rock cliffs. I'm thinking, well, maybe they're gonna work their way toward that embed. So if I could get in there before they get there, that might be really good. Danielle was with me, so she was gonna just sit back and watch again. And I ranged where they were, and then this, like, there's a little gully. And I figured from the end of the cliffs to where they were actually feeding was probably, like, could be 40 to 70, 80 yards somewhere in there, depending on where I was, where they were. So there's a potential that I could get a shot in there. So I. I try to make good time, get down there. I blew out one doe on the way, but thankfully, she didn't go that way. Drop down, work my way through these cliffs, and I. As I'm popping up, I see that some of the deer actually bedded in that. Some of the bucks bedded in that gully. So I'm actually going to be in really good position. I creep to the end of the rock pile, I peek up, and they're all bedded there kind of in this open spot. And so I was probably at that point, like, 80 yards and knew that I could get closer. So I went down, dropped back into, like, the little cliff band, Worked my way around and crawled up. And sure enough, I had this, like, perfect opening in these big rocks up in the cliff where I was directly across from the buck. He was bedded there pretty much perfectly broadside. And then I had the other two deer off to the right, so I could kind of block them with a rock and then go to the other side and probably draw back, stand up, because I had plenty of room. And then slowly move into position and shoot this buck. And I don't know if you would. I was actually covered behind me, too, so it was a really good setup. So I. I set the camera up, and I just, like, set it up to record and put it up higher and then laid down for a long time. Just wanted them to make sure that, you know, because where I put the camera, I didn't want to put the camera. I was going to shoot. So it was a little more exposed, but it's just above the rock, and, like, beautiful lighting. Everything looked awesome. And so I sneak back, get around, get everything set, range the buck, set my pin, and he's bedded. And now it's that time of morning where the thermals really haven't stabilized. The wind is okay, but I'm really worried that once that starts heating, it started to heat up. Like, I don't know how long I'm gonna be able to hold this wind out. So I can sit here and be patient and wait for him to stand. That would be optimal. That's the ideal. That's what I want. But I don't really know if I have time for that. Like, I was just weighing these two options. Patience or action. Now, on the patient side, that's the better shot, the better play. It would have been probably pretty ideal. Bedded. He's bedded there now. He is. He is, like, looking my direction, per se, But I felt like where I was drawing from and everything, he wouldn't really be locked in and see me. So I felt like, even though he was bedded kind of in my direction, where he could see me, I didn't think that he really would see me. So that was. These are the factors that are kind of just running through my mind as this is going down. The other thing that I think of is, is this buck going to jump this, like, jump the string? Is he going to jump up out of his bed. And in my head I have two options. I, I either aim for a perfect kill shot or I hold above him thinking that he's going to pop up a bit and you know, hit him in the vitals that way. It's the exact same thing when, when a deer standing there, if the deer is standing there, I probably would have aimed low on him and would have had that, you know, distance to catch him as he comes down. These deer do jump a lot. Like they jump the string quite a bit. But he was bedded comfortable and in my head I go, I, I mean I, I literally was like, I, I was sitting there for a long time because I just wanted everything to be right and, and I, I wasn't really rushing it or anything. I was being pretty patient. But I, I could start to feel some wind doing some things and I thought now is probably the time. If I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it. And all these thoughts are like, okay, where am I gonna aim? What am I gonna do? So I'm like, in my head I'm like, I've got to aim for the kill shot because if this buck doesn't jump and I shoot over his back in this gimme, that's a hard miss. Like that's like you're intentionally aiming above. It's, it's kind of in, in my, in your mind too. It's harder to wrap around aiming above than aiming below. But I had a really good open vital shot on him and so I decided I'm gonna hold for exactly where I wanna, wanna shoot. I, I'm outta sight back here. I draw, I'm like fully standing and I can kind of slowly creep up at full draw to get him into sight, like ease out from the rock face a little bit and so do that. I mean, shot feels good. I put it exactly where I want, let the arrow fly. I mean that arrow is flying perfect and, and the buck just jumps up at the last second and that arrow beds right exactly where I was aiming, right where I wanted it. And the buck runs off. I mean I thought this was going to be one of those picture perfect scenarios where second chances find the big buck, you know, make the great. It was an incredible stock and the buck jumped out of his bed and was gone before the arrow got there. And you know, it's cool having like the videos epic. I just one of the coolest probably shots that I've self filmed because it was clear and most of the time when you're self filming, like you Just barely get it to where you can. And. And I took the time to get it right because I had time. And I mean, you can see that arrow. It's like perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect. Tracking, tracking, tracking. And it's probably the last 10ft that that arrow's from him. He jumps up and it's just like, goes right under him, right where he is bedded. And no, I guess, no harm, no foul. Like, the harm is. Is in the memory of just watching that perfect arrow sail his way. And. And at the end, I thought, dang it, yeah, coulda should have held over him. I thought about it. It was an option in my head. It wasn't like, I didn't even calculate that. It was just. I think if I would have done that and it would have sailed over his back, I would have been so mad. I was like. It was rather. I let the miss be on him, not on me, I guess, is the case. So the big buck got away. He ran over the ridge. I tried to pursue and never turned him back up. Ended up spotting some does. And it was like, on. On the way out, spotted a group of does in this big open area. It's like, all right, consolation prize. Try to get a doe. And I stalked in. They were. They were kind of moving, and there's like, big rocks. I just snuck up to the back of that. There's a bunch of them, like, standing there. And I peeked over there. No cover, kind of almost skylined. So I peeked over and see that there's one fairly close, maybe like 35 yards. And so I draw back and move to the other side of this rock that I was behind, because I peeked off to the left. And so I just decided to move to the right just so if they did see anything, because they kind of seemed a little on edge, you know, I'd be on back on the other side. Maybe that might help me get. Get a shot off. So I moved over. Everything was settled. I aimed. I aimed low on the deer because I knew it was going to jump shot. I mean, perfect shot right through. Right through the shoulders. She ran I. 10 yards. Was dead by the time it took me to walk over there. So got a dough. Unfortunately, never turned the good buck back. And that was my. That was my bow. You know, it's. It's one of those where you come back and you go. Sometimes you think that that second chance or whatever. I've had so many of those were last day, last evening. Got in on the buck and got the one that I'd been Chasing or what have you. And, and this was one where it didn't work out like that. And it was a, it was an incredible hunt. There was some things that I probably maybe did wrong, some things that I did right. You know, the stocks I felt like went off pretty good. There was a couple of mistakes I made on those earlier stocks that maybe could have changed a little bit. And then that shot, right. And, and sometimes that's the thing about bow hunting. You can do everything right up until that very last moment. And that's kind of maybe that difference between success and failure. And I don't know, for me it was, it was still a really fun hunt, really, really good experience. And, and on this, on this particular bow hunt, the, the deer beat me, the deer won. And I don't know, I was still. I just like watch remembering that when you just make a perfect shot, you do everything right. Sometimes you can't even, can't even be mad. You know, I walked back, she's like, are you bummed? And my little guy, he was like, he was kind of, he was, he's actually in tears. He's like, you didn't get the buck, dad? I was like, no, man, that's just how it goes sometimes, buddy. Like, I did everything right, in my opinion on that one. I did what I thought was right and it didn't work out. The buck bested me. And that to me is what I love about bow hunting. I think I would rather in some instances. And actually, you know, it's funny, I remember a conversation I had with a friend of mine, Brian Barney, many years ago. He, you know, it was like a similar kind of scenario, I think it was, but sometimes, you know, it doesn't work out. And you did everything right. Like you executed a perfect stock, you executed a perfect shot. And the deer just did something that made the arrow not connect right. It jumped. And you know, I did what I thought was best for that scenario and I can't be mad about it. There's other times where like you sneak in, things go haywire, you actually like punch the trigger, make about whatever, like do something, hit the buck bad and end up killing it. Because it's, you know, you kind of got lucky, right? And I was like, man, I don't know what I'd rather have. I think sometime I think I would personally rather have the well executed plan, stock and shot and it just didn't work out than the like wingeding hope and a prayer and oh, got something right. But I don't know, you like look back on it and it's such a good memory, such a great hunt and just a lot of fun. And on this time, the, the buck won. So before we dive into the tips and tactics of just breaking down some of those or the things that normally go wrong and ways that you can kind of do things different to help them go right, I wanted to talk about an incredible supporter of this podcast, Montana Knife Company. If you've been following their journey, it started as Josh Smith just making knives in his garage and in selling them. And then he started to, you know, turn it into what is now Montana Knife Company hiring a few more employees, really, you know, going all in on American made knives and high quality products. They expanded and you know, I've, it's been awesome to kind of see how this has changed over the years, right from going in his garage, in his little shop there, to them building a building on his property and getting that going. And if you've been following along on the journey, they've built a really large like full scale manufacturing facility in Missoula, Montana. Their grand opening is going to be Saturday, April 11th. So they've got a black Rifle Coffee Company coffee shop in there that I think that opens at like 6am and that's already open. But they're doing their grand opening kind of free event to open to the public on Saturday, April 11. And I'm really excited because I'm going to be up there for it. I'm really excited to tour the new facility. It was cool because I went, I got to be a part of the groundbreaking ceremony and it's just really cool to see people that, you know, doing awesome things like this. It's really inspiring. And then especially for me as a business owner, as somebody that's, you know, jumped into the manufacturing side with Day six Aero company and just to see what's possible in what he's doing, you know, from going building something in your garage by yourself to then like having a hundred and some odd employees and this, you know, bringing this manufacturing back and providing jobs in a community and building awesome products that people are really excited about is so cool for me to see. And so I'm really excited about this event. If you guys are in the area or even maybe this is something that it'd be fun to travel to. Saturday, April 11th the Cop Coffee Shop I, I mean I just, I watched their little YouTube announcement video of some of the stuff they got going on. So 6am Coffee shop open. I think the first 50 people in line are going to get some kind of free gear or something like that, not really sure what it is. And then around. I can't remember, maybe around 10am or something like that. I'm not sure. But in the morning, there's. They're going to be doing. It's like a. A free event where you can tour the facility. You can, you know, check out the manufacturing facility. There's going to be the store. They've got like a. A little shop in there. So there's the. The coffee shop, Black Rifle Coffee Shop. There's a Montana knife company, like, factory store. There's going to be food trucks, prizes you can meet. I'll be there. There'll be a lot of other ambassadors and other people there as well. Just meet the staff and the people that work there. So it'll be a really cool event. That's going to be in Missoula. It's over on. Let me look at the address here. It's. It's 8659 Robbins Road, Missoula. You can't miss it. If you're driving on the freeway, you can see the building and the sign and the whole deal there. But if you're. If you've never been in the area, you don't know where it is. You can just Google search it or what have you. But it's going to be a really cool event. I'm really excited about it. There's going to be some prizes, I'm sure some cool giveaways. They always. One thing I know about those guys is they. They do some great events and it's a lot of fun. So I'm really excited to be there and, and just to celebrate with those guys, because it's cool to just see the journey that they're on and what they're doing. And so if you guys want to be a part of that, it's open and it would be awesome to catch you guys there. So I tried to think of the hunts or whatever, the boat, especially bow hunts, where it didn't work out. And what are the top five things that I do that go wrong and then how are some of the ways that we can kind of mitigate that problem? So I'm going to go number five, and we'll go five to one. I don't know if these are in any particular order, but maybe I think that, like, in some ways, when it comes to bow hunting, getting into that, we're going to call the red zone, that, that bow zone, that bow range where you're going to send an arrow. That's the hard part. Right where the, where the rifle hunt ends, the bow hunt really begins. The hard part's getting in close. I feel very fortunate that I've got to do like, I feel like with the self filming thing and bow hunting, I've got to do a lot of stocks because every stock I do twice, I'm like crawling with the camera back out. Crawl back, like crawling in, crawling out, crawling back. That's like three stocks. Because crawling out I count as just as difficult as crawling in. And so I've gotten pretty sneaky over the years, which is, I think a good blessing, maybe too sneaky because I think in some of these instances I've moved in a little too tight. But that's a good problem to have, I guess. But we're going to go with number five. I think number five. I'm going to say misranging is a big one. I know I talked about this a couple weeks ago on that Hawaii hunt where just my range estimation was off. But even like an ideal, let's say it's an ideal stocking in situation. And this is for. Definitely for spot and stock hunting. It could be for anything. Calling or anything. Having that idea of the range of the animal is huge. You could be like, well, yeah. You have a laser range finder? Yes, do. Sometimes it's hard to get a range on stuff when you're trying to be sneaky because you have to put yourself in a position to, to get too high or you're, you're trying to, you know, you don't want to pop up and expose yourself too much because you know you're going to show the animals where you're at and alert them to your presence. And you still need to get a range. Other times there's grass and other things in the way, or you accidentally range over their back or underneath them or in front of them and you get a reading. And okay, the range is wrong, not because of the equipment failure, but just because of user error and the actual circumstances. Another thing is you ranged it, but maybe the animal moved or something like that. So a couple of little tricks that I like to do. As I'm moving in, I like to know maybe where the animal is and where I'm trying to get to and just do some math of this is the calculation of what it should be. So I'll be like on this particular stock where they're bedded, I knew like I popped up and they were further than I wanted to shoot, but I arranged the rock like Some rocks down the way thought, okay, this. You know, I could kind of have an estimation of where they were. I was prob. I think, when I actually arranged it a yard off. So, you know, having that going in is always really good idea. Often if I'm like, for mule deer hunting, as I'm stalking, I'm ranging, and I'm ranging, like, where the deer is. Let's say it's 90 yards. And then as I'm moving in, I'm counting down what I think is a yard every time. So if something happened, like, I'm crawling forward, setting my bow down, and that buck jumps up and starts looking around, and he's like, now he's looking away. That's my opportunity to draw and shoot. I can either reach for my rangefinder or reach for my bow and be at full draw. I'm the type that chooses to reach for the bow. And I felt like. Feel like I've had a lot of success for that. But if I have no clue what the range is, I ought to reach for the rangefinder. Because if I'm gonna guess it, like, if I'm gonna miss, it's gonna be because of a miss range. So while I'm crawling in, I'm counting down, like, 90, 89, 87, 86, right? Okay. And then I'm. I'm like, okay. And then if I get an opportunity to range again, okay, I'll arrange again, okay, where do I think he's at? And then maybe even range something to where I'm trying to get to, like, a particular rock. So I'm like, okay, I range the deer, and it's. Let's say it's 70 yards and I range a rock, and it's 20 yards in front of me. So, okay, if I get to that rock, I'm 40 yards. So as soon as I start to get close to that rock and I know, okay, I'm probably 40 yards. And then I could say, or I don't get to that rock, I'm like, I'm probably 5. It's a lot easier to tell 10, 5, and 10 yards than it is to tell 75, 65 yards, right? So I can then use my distance from that closer object to guess how far that particular animal is. And that works really well in those. Those kind of situations. Another thing is, like, just as you're walking around ranging different things and getting that range estimation, but if you can get a good, accurate range, that's ideal now there's those times where, like, even on this. This particular buck, I had to kind of what I'll do is I'll turn the rangefinder sideways or even upside down so that it reflects back into the part that catches the laser a lot of times sideways. So I'll run it sideways so it's not like below my eye. So everything's like, as I peek up, trying to keep it real low profile, try to get that range, try to range his antler, range behind him, range in front of him, range him and, and try to get in a good idea of what is the actual accurate range. And then sometimes you kind of have to say, yeah, that I feel like that's. That range that I got there is, is the range of that animal. Sometimes you, you do that and you're five yards off and things don't go right. And, you know, sometimes you're five yards off and it's great because he was further and you aimed lower and it ducked and hey, you know, chance led to victory. But I think a misranging is one of those things. And there's, there are those tips that help when it comes to getting in that red zone and just thinking about range, making range of forethought, not a afterthought, not a thought of, oh, when I get ready to shoot, I'm going to range him. Because sometimes that little time lag is the difference right there. I'd rather be at full draw at the opportune time than trying to range an animal. And range is very important. So I'm just putting it that, that out there. Number four, Big, big reason I get busted, the one you didn't see. And I try to, I really do try to not have this happen, but it's going to be one of those things that catches you every time. The key is as you're moving in, your head up, you're on a swivel, you're using your binos and binoculars to pick apart everything around and not get hyper focused on exactly where the target deer is. It's the deer you don't see that busts you. So as I move in, I'm continually scanning and I really do do this well. And you can't be you still, no matter how well you do it, you're on 100%. But if you aren't focusing on this as a tactic and a thing that you're doing as you're moving in, you're going to get busted a lot. It happens to me every once in a while, but I really put a lot of emphasis on, you know, being careful. The ones that you don't see so moving in, glassing, like even en route, if there's a spot you're like, you're moving and like this looks like a good bedding area. Look in it, move around it. Maybe strategically bump. You know, sometimes if I see a. This was what I was actually I did say that I bumped a doe on the way and it went thankfully the right way. As I was coming over the day a couple days before, I noticed that there was some does bedding on this ridge and. And it was a good bedding spot. And as I got to that, I actually went a little bit edged more to one side, thinking if there is something here, at least it'll run, hopefully run that way. And it actually worked out for me. So it's like sometimes you gotta just. You gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet. Every once in a while, like when I'm moving in, sometimes I'm not always afraid to bump certain things. Sometimes you just gotta strategically bump stuff and hope that it works out right. Every once in a while it doesn't work. They button hook and go blow out your, your deer, your elk or whatever. But just thinking about those ones that you don't see, not just on the final stretch, but the entire stock and. And then making a correct play based on that. But as you're moving in, head on a swivel, head up. I, I really would never, you know, I never make a move without looking. I. I know it's the ground. I feel the ground. That's one of the reasons I like to take my shoes off, shoes off situation. So I can feel the ground and I can be looking up and then using my binos and or rangefinder. You know, as I'm getting closer, sometimes I leave my binos in the harness and I'm just using my range finder for the magnification. So it's kind of one seamless motion and movement. And that seems to help. Number three, I think that this is a. Especially when you're solo, this is one that gets you is just not being 100% sure where the animal is. So you're moving in, you spotted him, you're like, yeah, he's below that cliff. And then as you get over there, okay, I don't remember this particular tree. I often do a lot of things that try to prevent that, like take a picture from where I'm at. I use onyx a lot, dropping pins where that animal is. But there are times where those animals move right, Especially if they're on Their feet. So you kind of almost have to simultaneously assume that they're exactly where you left them and that they have moved. So every time, if you don't have someone spotting, you're moving in. Like that buck that I got too close to, it didn't move. I think I just didn't have a good enough view of what I was looking at to exactly pinpoint. I was going to the right spot in the right cluster of rocks. I was just going to sit a little bit further up. I should have held back because I. If I knew that it was that exact rock where I was kind of moving toward, I think I would have not bumped that deer. He would have eventually got up, fed out. I would have made a good shot, like, had a good shot on him. All good. So there's that where you. You're simultaneously assuming that they're there and they're not there at the same time. So as I'm moving in, I'm looking, looking, looking. And sometimes, like. Like that deer, it's bedded, it's tucked in. You cannot see it unless you were. Unless it's up or you've got right above it. Like, a. A mistake that I do make often is I just get in too tight or not. You know, you get in too tight or not tight enough. So you're in a position where you believe that that animal is. And you're going to sit there and be patient. It gets up and it's like, oh, it's out of range. Or the way the slope of the hill is. You can see its antlers in its head, but not its vitals. Or you get in so tight, you're like, oh, I'm five feet from this thing. I'm right above it. I probably should have held back and been a little more patient. And that leads us to number two, which is impatience. Impatience, I would say, like, I can be very patient, but I can also be very impatient. When you get in, you're like, is he still here? Is he over this rock? Hmm. Okay, let me get settled. Let me. Let me see if I can fandangle a shot right here. Right. We all do it. Many times. Impatience has saved me in some ways. A lot of times it's burned me. It's more. I'm more apt to be patient with the right conditions. And knowing that, like, I've got a lot of things in my favor, many of the successful, like when I'm thinking kind of what I'm talking about here is more in those, like, true spot stock, like, picture Perfect spot and stock scenarios where you've got an animal bedded you, you've put them to bed, you've moved in. Now you're just waiting for that opportunity. Oftentimes you're on the same hill as them. A really good approach is from above on an animal, and so you kind of need them to. You just can't get shots from above very often. So you kind of need them to do their thing, get up and be unaware of you, and then make your shot after you're already in position. And this is where the patience and impatience can, you know, like, make a play or kill you. I've sat on animals for a long time, had wind swirl and blown them out. I've also been sitting there and, like, got a little too antsy, like, oh, okay, I got to get up and get a range and move and don't see him. All these other things, and had them blow out. It seems like on this particular hunt that I was sharing the story of on that first one, I think impatience got me on two stocks. Sometimes you don't get two stocks. Sometimes you get one stock. Sometimes you don't even get one stock. But you got to make the right play. And really, for that, I think impatience was my problem on those particular stocks. I think the final stock, the patience, was the exact right amount. I could have been more patient, probably, and let him stand. And in hindsight, that would have been the thing that I, I think, would have done. You're like, well, do you want him to run away because you shot, or do you want him to run away because he winded you? I'm like, well, I think I'd rather get a shot because I'd rather trust my skill and putting that arrow in the right spot. Now, the buck did something different, and that was one of the things that I tried to anticipate, but it didn't do what I anticipated. Therefore, deer got away, which leads us down to number one, jumping the string. If the animal is where they are when you shoot most of the time, as long as you, you know, got everything dialed and you're in the zone, you're going to. You're going to. You're going to come out with a heavy pack. Jumping the string is probably one of the biggest misfactors in archery. A lot of times I try to anticipate it. There's. There's a lot of hunts where I'm not aiming or a lot of shots that I've taken where I'm not aiming. Where the kill zone is. It's nerve wracking, right. But you're like, I feel like this animal might be alerted. He's. He's on high alert. There's a good potential that it could jump the string. And so I gotta account for that. So I, maybe I'll aim like still a kill shot but lower than center mass. Or maybe there's certain hunts where okay, it's more alert. I'm gonna aim way low or in the instance of some, maybe something better like is it gonna jump up? I've only had that happen where the arrow was in the bed and the buck jumped up twice. And I've. I generally don't take bedded shots, but I don't think that all bedded shots are bad. I think it depends on the body position of the animal and how idols are. Sometimes they can be great with a bow. But it's very, very dependent on the scenario. I would say 90 of the scenarios. I'm. I'm waiting for the animal to stand, but there are a few, like I've taken a pretty good. I took a big three by three meal deer in Nevada, like early season hunt one year that was bedded and it was kind of one kind of similar scenario where he's bedded facing me. But you could see his eyes were closing like he wasn't paying attention. I was able to full draw. There was no change in its alertness. It wasn't like whipped his head, ears out. And I've also like I guess last year, similar scenario. I guess I held a little high on this particular buck because I was so close and I figured he was, he was gonna probably jump, you know, and I was. But I was like shooting down on him from above. So that helped too. Made a perfect shot on him. So sometimes you gotta, you just, you anticipate. Other times you don't anticipate even with that thought that it might happen and they still jump the string. But one of the things that I try to do is really assess that before making a shot. What's the animal going to do? And asking that not where should I am but what do I think the animal is going to do. Sometimes you guess it wrong. And it's one of those things that's like this is a little weird mental trick I guess that I have for me when I make a decision when it comes to. Especially when it comes to bow hunting so you don't just kick yourself for the rest of your life. Is like, let's say I'll create two scenarios. He's. Let's Say he gets away. He might get away. Either way, which way do I want him to get away? Do I want him to get away because I shot over him, or do I want to get him to get away because he. He jumped up and I put the arrow where I thought it should go? Like, I do. I think he's going to jump or not. So I go, I don't think he's going to jump. I think he's pretty comfortable in his bed, and I don't think he has any clue that I'm here. Therefore, there's not really a reason for him to jump unless he hears something. I don't know. Okay, so I'm going to go with that. That's my plan. And then I go, okay, which. Which way would. Which way is going to just sting? Like, if that's what I think. Good, I'm going to go with that. Sometimes you don't know. It's literally a flip of a coin. You go, which way would suck less in the end of the day, which would you be more comfortable with, failure with shooting above him or it jumping out of his bed? It's like, okay, sometimes you make. You got to make your decision based on that. Sometimes I go, okay, do I want to try to be impatient and make a shot, or do I want the wind to swirl and in blowout, which am I more, which am I better with him getting away with? If he gets away, Right. Obviously, I'm not anticipating him getting away. I'm making the decision based on being successful. But sometimes I make those decisions, like in my head, saying, well, you know, the wind's going to shift in, I'm going to see him running over the hill, or I'm going to try to make a play where it's not necessarily ideal, but it's good enough and it doesn't work out, and he runs over the hill. If it doesn't work out, or best case scenario, it worked out, I made the play, and here we are with the animal. That. That obviously is the intent, right? But sometimes it's just a little mental trick, especially when you're by yourself in the backcountry for maybe a week or longer, and you just have this incredible opportunity and you've got a decision and you go, man, I could see this. I could see the wind shifting here in any minute. Especially based on the signs and signals that I'm getting in my knowledge of the way that these thermals are moving. I don't think I have much time. So he's either going to blow out from that or he's going to blow out from me. Repositioning and trying to get a shot where I can right now. Sometimes you got to make those decisions. So you know those top five things jumping the string, impatience, not 100%, knowing where the animal is, the ones you don't see and misranging. If you can kind of anticipate in, factor in those on your stock, you're going to be overall a lot more successful just because you're going to play the right cards at the right time and still it might not work out every time, but over the course of an extended period of time, you're going to be more successful in the long run. I hope you guys enjoyed that story. It was just such a fun experience. It's always fun to share those, the ones that go right and the ones that don't go right. You. Every hunt we get to learn something and some of the stuff, it's like things that I know and you just can't control and some of it's like things you know but you just didn't do that day. It happens. But yeah, man, it's, it's always heartbreaking when you get that second chance. I like to make good on sec. If often you don't get second chances, but if I ever get a second chance, often try real hard to make good on it. I thought everything was going to go right and it just, it didn't work out that day. But that's all good. We got, oh, Easter coming up. Happy Easter for everybody this, this Friday. So just after this podcast goes, we got the Nevada Big Horns unlimited dinner. I've, I've donated an incredible day six gear package. So the basis of this, this gear package is my flagship day six Arrows. Well, actually, you know, we can, we'll let you pick whether you want HDS or xds. I like, I was probably thinking hds, but whatever, whatever Arrows you want, I'll talk with you. The, the winning bidder will get you set up. So Arrows, I've got a little top secret new broadhead that isn't released yet, but it's going to be in there with these, with these. I always like to do some, some gear that's not released yet. And then I've got a brand new Matthews bow in there. We've got some first light gear, got some yeti coolers and all kinds of awesome gear. So we've got a ton of gear. I mean, I think it's like $6,000 worth of gear. And then on top of that what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna set up like a private 3D course and do a barbecue for the winning bidders, five to six friends, whatever, one day in the Reno area. So if you're interested in, in donating to Nevada Bighorns Unlimited, maybe potentially purchasing that, I know I talked about it on previous podcasts, but it wasn't live yet. So go to my website or and you can find a link to the auction item. If you aren't going to be there, if you're going to be in the room, you know, it's all 100 donation. So every single dollar is going to wildlife conservation, putting and keeping sheep on the mountain. And Nevada has done a phenomenal job at it, in large part to Nevada Bighorns Unlimited and Nevada Division of Wildlife. So just like their collaboration, their willingness to do transplants, to do guzzler projects like, thank you. All the volunteers that do all the tireless work of building guzzlers, getting these events like this that raise money, all the donations and all the people that attend. It's cool to see some of the things that we have as far as sheep hunting opportunities because of these kind of organizations. So if you want to support that, you can. And there's also. They've also got a Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep tag that they're raffling off. So if you want to just throw your name in the hat for that, find a link to that as well. I'm just going to say, until next week, shoot straight. Guess, guess the jump. I don't even know until next week. I'm just gonna say. Actually, I'm just gonna say Happy Easter and we'll catch you guys later.