Scouting Sheep and Goat Country Before Archery Season
Sheep and goat tags reward hunters who find animals before the season opens; here's how to glass basins and build a real scouting plan.
Guides
Honest gear advice, buying guides, and sale breakdowns — written to actually help you hunt, not to fill a page.
Pre-Season Pack Shakedown: What to Cut Before September
A real pack-weight shakedown for backcountry hunters: base-weight targets, real cuts, and why meat-hauling capacity beats shaving ounces.
Pronghorn Water Holes: Blind Setup That Actually Works
Pronghorn hit water daily in August heat, and a blind placed right on distance, sun, and wind puts bowhunters in range spot-and-stalk can't reach.
E-Scouting for Elk: Find Your Spot From Home
Turn topo lines and satellite imagery into a shortlist of elk basins before you burn a single scouting day or a tank of gas.
Break In Mountain Boots Before Archery Season
The two-week, walk-around-the-house break-in test skips the one failure mode that actually wrecks feet in elk country: loaded descents.
Too Hot to Bugle: Hunt Elk Wallows, Not Calls
Once temperatures push past 75 degrees elk bugling drops off, so hunt the wallow and water instead of calling into quiet timber.
Elk Hunting Fitness: An 8-Week Training Plan
An 8-week rucking, strength, and cardio plan built for real backcountry terrain, not a gym program repurposed for the mountains.
Backcountry Sleep Systems: Bag, Pad, and Quilt
Pad R-value decides how warm you sleep in the backcountry — match your bag or quilt to the actual hunt, not a worst-case guess.
Packing Out a DIY Moose: A Meat Care Plan for the Field
How to plan moose meat care and pack-out logistics so heat, flies, and distance don't cost you the meat.
Tuning Your Bow for Elk: What to Fix Before September
Broadhead-tune your setup, dial your FOC, and drill steep-angle shots now, weeks before opening day, not the week of.
Summer Trail Cameras for Elk and Mule Deer
Where to hang a summer trail camera for elk and mule deer, why western state laws restrict cellular models, and what the photos actually tell you.
OTC Elk Tags 2026: Your Plan After Not Drawing
Here's exactly where OTC and leftover elk tags still exist in 2026, state by state, plus how to actually fill one after not drawing.
July 3, 2026
Spring Black Bear: A Public-Land Spot-and-Stalk Guide
OTC tags, predictable bears, and empty mountains — spring black bear is the public-land hunt most elk hunters never try. How to find one and close in.
July 1, 2026
How to Spot-and-Stalk Mule Deer: Plan Before You Move
Plan the stalk before you take a step — how to glass mule deer bucks, read their daily patterns, and build an approach that survives shifting thermals.
June 30, 2026
Mountain Hunting Boots: How to Choose for Western Big Game
The fit, stiffness, insulation, and waterproofing decisions that actually matter when picking mountain hunting boots for elk, mule deer, and sheep country.
June 27, 2026
How to Hunt Pronghorn on Public Land: DIY Spot-and-Stalk
Wyoming pronghorn success tops 85% on public land — when you know the stalk. Terrain-reading, optics, and same-day meat care for a DIY antelope hunt.
June 26, 2026
How to Layer for Western Hunting: Base, Mid, and Shell
Mountain hunting wrecks most layering systems. Here's the base-mid-shell setup that actually works for elk, mule deer, and high-country season.
June 26, 2026
Western Hunting Pack Guide: Frame, Volume, and Fit
Liter count isn't the decision — your hunt type, torso length, and pack-out demands are. Here's how to match a frame to your actual western hunt.
June 22, 2026
How to Call Elk in Archery Season: Bugle or Shut Up
Most bowhunters overbugle and blow out bulls. This is how to read the rut phase and choose the right call at the right moment for archery elk hunting.
June 21, 2026
How to Build a Western Hunting Glassing System
The right binos, spotting scope, and tripod find mule deer and elk that walking hunters miss. Setup, station placement, and technique for public land.
June 20, 2026
How to Wash Your Hunting Clothes Without Wrecking Them
Merino base layers, DWR rain gear, and scent control each need different care. How to clean your hunting kit so it lasts, still beads water, and stays quiet.
June 17, 2026
Pre-Season Elk Gear Audit: What to Fix Before September
A month-by-month plan for western hunters — the tasks, in the right order, that get your optics, boots, pack, and layers ready before opening day.
June 17, 2026