Backbone Unlimited Podcast

The Best Training Tool for Elk Hunting
Most elk hunters don’t fail because they didn’t work hard enough before season. They fail because their training didn’t prepare them for what elk hunting actually demands.
Steep climbs. High elevation. Consecutive hard days. Long hours on your feet. A loaded hunting pack. And, if everything goes right, a brutal pack-out when your legs are already exhausted.
In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited Podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down the best training tool for elk hunting: ruck training — and explains how to use weighted pack training to build the strength, endurance, cardiovascular capacity, and durability required for real western elk country.
This isn’t just about throwing weight in a backpack and hiking around. You’ll learn how to structure a complete elk hunting fitness program around long rucks, short uphill intervals, sustained climbing intervals, lighter recovery-volume days, progressive pack weight, real terrain, and consecutive-day training.
Matt explains why traditional gym workouts, treadmills, stationary bikes, and flat-road running alone don’t fully prepare you for the specific demands of a western elk hunt — especially when you’re climbing thousands of vertical feet, hunting at 9,000–11,000 feet, carrying a pack day after day, and trying to stay strong enough to make good decisions late in the hunt.
Matt draws from 34 years of hunting and guiding western big game across high alpine terrain, canyon systems, and dark timber, along with 30 years as a professional strength, conditioning, and nutrition coach, to explain how hunters can prepare specifically for the physical demands they'll face in September.
If you're searching for how to train for elk hunting, the best elk hunting workout, ruck training for hunting, mountain hunting fitness, weighted pack training, elk pack-out training, high-altitude hunting preparation, or a complete elk hunting conditioning plan, this episode gives you a practical framework you can start using now.
Because the real test isn't whether you feel strong on day one.
It's whether you still have the legs, lungs, and durability to keep hunting hard on day seven, eight, nine, and ten — and whether you're physically capable of getting an elk off the mountain when the real work begins.
📙 Elk Hunting E-Book Series (the complete elk hunting system) → https://backboneunlimited.com/collections/elk-hunting-series-e-books
If you want to take it further: 📋 Elk Hunt Plan Audit — I'll personally review your specific maps, terrain, access routes, pressure points, and wind strategy before you head into the field → https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/elk-hunt-plan-audit
👥 Team Backbone — Daily guidance, accountability, and a community of serious western hunters putting in the work right alongside you → https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/membership
🦵 Backbone Unlimited Training Plans — Built specifically for the physical demands of mountain elk hunting: legs, lungs, and the ability to handle miles under load day after day → https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/training
🥩 Nutrition Plans — Get leaner before season, fuel long days in the field, and dial in your in-season performance → https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/nutrition
 
 

August is one of the best months of the year to locate mature mule deer bucks — but finding a big velvet buck is only valuable if you understand what his summer pattern is actually telling you.
In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited Podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down how to scout for mature mule deer bucks in August, where big bucks are most likely to spend the summer, how to glass them effectively, and how to turn August scouting information into a hunting plan for September and October.
Mature mule deer in August are highly focused on quality feed, thermal comfort, water, and security. That creates predictable patterns that can make summer one of the most valuable scouting windows of the entire mule deer season.
But there’s a major mistake hunters make: finding a buck in August, dropping a waypoint, and assuming he’ll still be standing there when hunting season opens.
He may not be.
In this episode, you’ll learn how to use August scouting to identify not just where a mature buck is today, but the terrain, bedding preferences, movement corridors, elevation changes, and security cover that can help you predict where he’ll be once velvet strips and hunting pressure begins.
Whether you’re hunting high-country mule deer, mountain bucks, canyon country, high desert mule deer, early archery mule deer, or later rifle seasons, August scouting can give you an enormous advantage when you know how to interpret what you’re seeing.
The goal isn’t simply to find deer.
The goal is to locate mature bucks, understand why they’re using that country, identify the terrain they trust, and build a hunting strategy that still works after summer patterns begin to change.
📙 Mule Deer Hunting E-Book Series (the complete mule deer hunting system) → https://backboneunlimited.com/collections/mule-deer-hunting-e-book-series
If you want to take it further: 📋 Elk Hunt Plan Audit — I'll personally review your specific maps, terrain, access routes, pressure points, and wind strategy before you head into the field → https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/elk-hunt-plan-audit
👥 Team Backbone — Daily guidance, accountability, and a community of serious western hunters putting in the work right alongside you → https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/membership
🦵 Backbone Unlimited Training Plans — Built specifically for the physical demands of mountain elk hunting: legs, lungs, and the ability to handle miles under load day after day → https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/training
🥩 Nutrition Plans — Get leaner before season, fuel long days in the field, and dial in your in-season performance → https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/nutrition

Most elk hunters see a blue line on a digital map, mark it as water, and start hiking. Two days later, they’ve checked multiple dry creeks, pressured good country, and still haven’t found elk.
That’s not scouting. That’s hiking.
In this episode of Backbone Unlimited, Matt Hartsky breaks down how to find high-probability elk water on a map before you ever set foot in the mountains. You’ll learn how to separate reliable September water from seasonal drainages, locate hidden springs and seeps using satellite imagery, and identify the unmarked water sources other hunters overlook.
Water alone doesn’t mean elk. The best water sources sit where multiple factors converge: secure bedding cover, clean wind access, low hunting pressure, favorable terrain, and nearby elk sign.
Inside this episode, you’ll learn:
How to evaluate creeks, ponds, springs, seeps, and wallows on a digital hunting mapWhy elevation, drainage size, shade, and drought conditions determine water reliabilityHow to use green vegetation and terrain features to locate unmarked waterThe three filters every water source must pass: bedding proximity, wind access, and hunting pressureHow elk water during early September, warm weather, and the rutHow to identify active wallows and hunt the approach without burning the areaHow to rank your top water sources and build a backup plan before leaving home
Two focused hours of elk map scouting can save you two full days of guesswork in the mountains.
Whether you’re preparing for an early-season archery elk hunt, hunting pressured public land, or trying to improve your elk e-scouting system, this episode will help you eliminate low-probability country and concentrate your time where elk are most likely to be.
📙 Elk Hunting E-Book Series (the complete elk hunting system) → https://backboneunlimited.com/collections/elk-hunting-series-e-books
If you want to take it further: 📋 Elk Hunt Plan Audit — I'll personally review your specific maps, terrain, access routes, pressure points, and wind strategy before you head into the field → https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/elk-hunt-plan-audit
👥 Team Backbone — Daily guidance, accountability, and a community of serious western hunters putting in the work right alongside you → https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/membership
🦵 Backbone Unlimited Training Plans — Built specifically for the physical demands of mountain elk hunting: legs, lungs, and the ability to handle miles under load day after day → https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/training
🥩 Nutrition Plans — Get leaner before season, fuel long days in the field, and dial in your in-season performance → https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/nutrition
 
 

Early season elk hunting and hunting rutting bulls require two completely different strategies. Yet every September, hunters arrive with the same calls, the same marked locations, and the same plan—whether they’re hunting September 1 or September 20.
In this episode, Matt Hartsky explains why using rut tactics on early season elk can destroy predictable patterns, educate bulls, and make the rest of your season harder. He also breaks down why patient, structure-based early season tactics become a liability once the rut begins and elk start reorganizing their movement around cows and breeding.
You’ll learn how to hunt early season elk by identifying feed-to-timber transitions, water corridors, terrain pinch points, bedding routes, fresh sign, and other predictable movement patterns. Matt explains why early September calling should usually be minimal, why aggressive bugling can push bulls out of huntable areas, and how to protect productive locations instead of pressuring them until they go cold.
Then, the episode shifts into rut hunting strategy: locating vocal elk, staying mobile, closing distance, reading individual bulls, and adjusting your calling approach for herd bulls versus satellite bulls. Matt also explains why early season locations such as wallows and water sources may become rut traps once bulls begin following cows across multiple drainages.
Most importantly, you’ll learn the four signals that tell you when it’s time to switch playbooks: natural vocalization, extended daylight movement, bulls mixing with cow groups, and aggressive responses to calling.
Whether you’re bowhunting elk during the first week of September or chasing bugling bulls during the peak rut, this episode will help you recognize which phase you’re actually hunting—and choose the tactics that match it.
If you want my eyes on your actual elk hunt plan before you head into the field — your maps, access, terrain, pressure points, wind and thermals, and overall strategy — book an Elk Hunt Plan Audit and I'll help you build the right approach for whichever phase of September you're hunting: https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/elk-hunt-plan-audit
If you want to study the complete elk hunting system on your own, start with my Elk Hunting Series E-Books: https://backboneunlimited.com/collections/elk-hunting-series-e-books
For daily guidance, accountability, and a community of serious western hunters working toward the same goals, join Team Backbone: https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/membership
If the missing piece is your body — legs, lungs, and the ability to handle mountain miles under a heavy pack across all of September — check out my Backbone Unlimited Training Plans: https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/training
For pre-season body composition, in-field fueling, and in-season performance nutrition, check out my Nutrition Plans: https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/nutrition

At 49 years old, after 34 years of hunting and guiding elk across the West, I’ve made enough mistakes to know which ones cost hunters the most.
This episode isn’t about the bulls I’ve killed, the hunts that went according to plan, or the decisions that made me look like I had everything figured out. It’s an honest breakdown of the elk hunting mistakes that cost me opportunities, unfilled tags, wounded confidence, and—in one case—an animal I never recovered.
Experience doesn’t automatically make you a better elk hunter. Honest experience does.
In this episode, I break down seven hard-earned elk hunting lessons that changed how I call, move, set up, train, manage the wind, and make decisions under pressure.
You’ll learn:
• Why blaming weather, hunting pressure, moon phase, or other hunters prevents real improvement• How overcalling can stop a committed bull and destroy an otherwise perfect setup• Why wind direction must control every move you make in elk country• How hunting comfortable, familiar terrain can keep you away from pressured elk• Why shot discipline and ethical bowhunting standards can never change in the moment• When leaving good elk country is actually the wrong decision• Why traditional gym fitness doesn’t always prepare you for a demanding backcountry elk hunt
I also share the mistake that still haunts me most: taking a shot I knew wasn’t right.
The angle was poor. The bull was moving. The distance was beyond what I’d prepared for. I released anyway, wounded the bull, and never recovered him. That decision permanently changed the standards I carry into the mountains.
Elk hunting success isn’t only about finding elk or becoming a better caller. It’s about controlling your emotions when a bull is close, respecting the wind, trusting good country, maintaining your shooting standards, and preparing your body for multiple hard days in steep terrain.
These lessons apply whether you’re preparing for your first public-land elk hunt or you’ve spent decades chasing bulls with a bow. You’re going to make mistakes in elk country. The question is whether you’ll accept responsibility, study what happened, and make sure the same mistake doesn’t cost you again.
Thirty-four years. Seven mistakes. These are the ones that cost me the most.
I hope they cost you less.
Listen now for a direct, honest discussion about elk calling mistakes, wind management, public-land hunting pressure, ethical shot selection, backcountry hunting fitness, staying in productive elk country, and becoming a more consistent elk hunter.
Explore the Backbone Unlimited elk hunting e-book series, training plans, nutrition programs, and personalized Elk Hunt Plan Audits at BackboneUnlimited.com.

Most elk hunters have a plan for opening morning. Very few have a clear elk hunting strategy for days 4, 6, 8, or 10.
That’s why so many promising 10-day elk hunts start falling apart halfway through the trip. Fatigue builds, the elk aren’t cooperating, confidence drops, and hunters begin making emotional decisions they should’ve made before ever reaching the trailhead.
In this episode of Backbone Unlimited, Matt Hartsky breaks down a complete day-by-day plan for a 10-day elk hunt. Instead of treating the entire hunt like one long push, you’ll learn how to divide it into four distinct phases—each with its own objective, decision rules, opportunities, and potential mistakes.
You’ll learn:
• Why days 1 and 2 should focus on locating elk and building information• How to hunt days 3 through 5 without abandoning good elk country too soon• When fresh elk sign means you should stay—and when cold sign means it’s time to move• Why days 6 through 8 are the critical grind phase of a backcountry elk hunt• How to make a strategic move while there’s still enough time to capitalize on it• Why days 9 and 10 must remain complete hunting days• How to plan your morning, midday, and evening hunting windows• When midday recovery is smart—and when staying close to bedded elk creates opportunity• How to prepare for fatigue, changing conditions, pressure, and declining confidence• Why your elk pack-out plan must be solved before a bull is on the ground
Whether you’re preparing for an archery elk hunt, rifle elk hunt, guided hunt, or a do-it-yourself public-land elk hunt, this episode will help you build a plan that extends beyond opening weekend.
Matt draws from 34 years of western elk hunting and guiding experience, along with 30 years as a professional strength, conditioning, and nutrition coach, to explain why hunters who perform for the full duration of a difficult hunt are rarely relying on motivation alone. They’ve built a system that tells them what to do when the excitement fades, the body gets tired, and the easy decisions disappear.
A 10-day elk hunt gives you enough time to locate elk, learn their patterns, adjust your strategy, recover from mistakes, and still fill your tag—but only when every day has a purpose.
If you want my eyes on your actual elk hunt plan before you head into the field — your maps, access, terrain, pressure points, wind and thermals, and overall strategy — book an Elk Hunt Plan Audit and I'll help you build the right approach for whichever phase of September you're hunting: https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/elk-hunt-plan-audit
If you want to study the complete elk hunting system on your own, start with my Elk Hunting Series E-Books: https://backboneunlimited.com/collections/elk-hunting-series-e-books For daily guidance, accountability, and a community of serious western hunters working toward the same goals, join Team Backbone: https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/membership
If the missing piece is your body — legs, lungs, and the ability to handle mountain miles under a heavy pack across all of September — check out my Backbone Unlimited Training Plans: https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/training
For pre-season body composition, in-field fueling, and in-season performance nutrition, check out my Nutrition Plans: https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/nutrition
 

How do you find and kill elk when glassing isn’t an option?
In thick timber elk country, visibility may be limited to 50 yards or less. There are no open basins to glass, no distant ridgelines to scan, and no opportunity to locate elk from miles away. Your binoculars become less important, and tracks, beds, rubs, wallows, sound, scent, terrain, and wind become your primary tools.
In this episode, I break down a complete system for hunting elk in dark timber. You’ll learn how to use topographic maps to identify north-facing benches, hidden water, finger drainages, bedding areas, and overlooked terrain before entering the woods. I also explain how to read fresh elk sign, distinguish active areas from old sign, and recognize when you’ve entered a bull’s core living area.
We’ll cover the slow still-hunting pace required in dense timber, how rain and wind can help conceal your movement, and why stopping to listen and smell the air can locate elk you’ll never see from a distance. You’ll also learn how calling strategy changes at close range, why soft cow calls and raking can outperform aggressive bugling, when to stop calling, and how to manage unstable wind and thermals inside heavy cover.
Thick timber doesn’t make elk impossible to hunt. It requires a different system—one built around terrain, sign, patience, sound, scent, close-range positioning, and disciplined movement.
Read the map. Trust the sign. Slow down. Control the wind. Hunt every step like an elk could appear at 40 yards—because it probably can.
If you want my eyes on your actual elk hunt plan before you head into the field — your maps, access, terrain, pressure points, wind and thermals, and overall strategy — book an Elk Hunt Plan Audit and I'll help you build the right approach for whichever phase of September you're hunting: https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/elk-hunt-plan-audit
If you want to study the complete elk hunting system on your own, start with my Elk Hunting Series E-Books: https://backboneunlimited.com/collections/elk-hunting-series-e-books For daily guidance, accountability, and a community of serious western hunters working toward the same goals, join Team Backbone: https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/membership
If the missing piece is your body — legs, lungs, and the ability to handle mountain miles under a heavy pack across all of September — check out my Backbone Unlimited Training Plans: https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/training
For pre-season body composition, in-field fueling, and in-season performance nutrition, check out my Nutrition Plans: https://backboneunlimited.com/pages/nutrition

Day three of a solo elk hunt can break a hunter. Your body hurts, camp is cold, the elk aren’t cooperating, and there’s nobody beside you to rebuild your confidence or push you out of the tent the next morning.
In this episode, I break down why most solo elk hunts don’t fail because of calling, physical conditioning, or a bad setup. They fail because the accountability, perspective, and mental structure normally provided by a hunting partner are gone—and the hunter never built a system to replace them.
You’ll learn how to pre-decide your behavior before the hunt, reset after a bad day, measure success through daily process goals, and keep one difficult stretch from ending your entire season. I also cover solo elk packout planning, realistic kill-distance limits, meat-care logistics, and the tactical adjustments required when you’re both the caller and the shooter.
Solo elk hunting demands more than toughness. It requires a plan for the moments when motivation disappears, the weather turns, your confidence drops, and quitting starts to feel reasonable.
Build your accountability structure. Run on process instead of outcomes. Solve the packout before the shot. Adjust your calling strategy for one hunter.
Do that, and the solo hunt stops being the thing that breaks you on day three. It becomes the experience that shows you exactly what you’re made of.
Explore the Elk Hunting E-Book Series, TEAM Backbone, Elk Hunt Plan Audits, mountain hunting training programs, and nutrition plans at BackboneUnlimited.com.
Train harder. Hunt smarter. Never settle.

Living at low elevation doesn’t mean you have to spend the first several days of your elk hunt struggling to breathe, fighting heavy legs, and waiting for your body to catch up.
In this episode, I break down how to prepare for hunting elk between 8,000 and 11,000 feet—even if you never train in the mountains. We’ll cover the specific aerobic conditioning, ruck training, incline work, downhill strength, breathing practice, and arrival strategy that help low-elevation hunters perform better at altitude.
You’ll learn why general fitness isn’t always enough, why last-minute training usually fails, how to build a stronger cardiovascular engine, how to prepare for long climbs under pack weight, and what to do during the first 48 hours after arriving at elevation.
The goal isn’t to survive until day three. It’s to arrive ready to hunt on day one.
Learn more about Backbone Unlimited training plans, nutrition plans, elk hunting e-books, TEAM Backbone, and Elk Hunt Plan Audits at BackboneUnlimited.com.
Train harder. Hunt smarter. Never settle.

You had a bull responding. He was closing the distance. Then he slowed down, stopped, circled, went silent, or disappeared completely.
Most elk hunters assume the call failed. In many cases, the sound wasn’t the problem. The decisions surrounding the call were.
In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited Podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down eight elk calling mistakes that consistently cause bulls to hang up, circle downwind, shut down, or vanish before entering bow range. These mistakes happen before the first call, during the conversation, and inside the final 60 to 80 yards—when one bad decision can destroy an otherwise perfect elk encounter.
After 34 years of hunting and guiding Western big game, Matt explains why successful elk calling requires much more than producing realistic bugles and cow calls. Calling is only one part of a complete system involving wind, thermals, terrain, positioning, timing, hunting pressure, rut phase, patience, and shot execution.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why calling too much gives a bull enough information to hang up
Why you should check the wind and choose your setup before answering a bull
How poor terrain positioning allows elk to visually expose your setup
Why continued calling can stop a bull that was already committed
When soft cow calls may outperform bugles on pressured public-land elk
How elk calling strategy should change throughout the September rut
What to do when a bull hangs up between 60 and 80 yards
Why complete stillness becomes critical during the final moments of an archery elk encounter
Matt also explains how mature bulls use their eyes, ears, and nose to verify a calling setup. When a bull can see where the sound originated, precisely identify your location, or circle into your scent stream, the encounter can end without the hunter ever understanding what went wrong.
You’ll discover how to use timbered points, benches, ridgelines, terrain breaks, wind direction, and controlled sightlines to force a bull to close the distance before he can confirm the source of the call. You’ll also learn why silence often creates more urgency and curiosity than another bugle or cow call.
This episode is for bowhunters who are tired of almost closing encounters. Whether you hunt pressured public land, early-season bulls, peak-rut herd bulls, or quiet elk in heavy timber, these elk calling strategies will help you make better decisions when the pressure is highest.
The call gets his attention. Your setup, discipline, patience, and execution are what fill the tag.
Build the setup first. Read the bull second. Call third.
Study the complete elk hunting system at BackboneUnlimited.com. Explore the Elk Hunting E-Book Series, TEAM Backbone membership, Elk Hunt Plan Audits, mountain hunting training programs, and nutrition plans built for Western hunters.
Train harder. Hunt smarter. Never settle.