Backbone Unlimited Podcast

Two elk hunters can hunt the same drainage, face the same pressure, and chase the same bulls—yet experience completely different results. One spends the week reacting, bumping elk, burning setups, and wondering why bulls keep hanging up. The other understands how to use terrain, wind, thermals, sightlines, funnels, sound, and elevation to make the mountain work in his favor.
In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited Podcast, Matt Hartsky explains how to use terrain as a weapon when hunting public-land elk. Terrain isn’t just the ground beneath your boots. It controls how your scent moves, where elk travel, how bulls approach a call, what they can see, where sound carries, and whether you can reach a setup without being detected.
You’ll learn how to identify and hunt the terrain features that consistently create elk encounters, including saddles, benches, drainages, creek crossings, timber points, ridgelines, aspect changes, and natural movement funnels. Matt also breaks down how rising and falling thermals interact with slope direction, shade, timber cover, canyon shape, and changing temperatures throughout the day.
This episode covers:
How terrain controls wind and thermal movement
How to approach elk without allowing your scent to reach them
Why bulls hang up when they can see the source of your calling
How to use timber, bench edges, ridgelines, and terrain breaks to control sightlines
How saddles and creek crossings funnel elk into predictable travel lanes
How terrain affects bugles, cow calls, sound direction, and calling distance
Why your access route may matter more than your final setup location
How to use elevation for better glassing, cleaner wind, and less hunting pressure
How to study elk country using topographic maps and satellite imagery before the season
Matt draws from 34 years of hunting and guiding Western big game to explain how experienced elk hunters read the entire terrain system before making a move. The goal isn’t simply to find elk. It’s to understand how the mountain influences every part of the encounter so you can approach cleanly, protect the wind, create a high-percentage setup, and give a bull a reason to keep coming.
The mountain is never neutral. It’s either helping you close the distance or helping the elk detect you. Learn how to make it work for you.
Build your 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 designed to help Western hunters prepare with purpose.
Train harder. Hunt smarter. Never settle.

Most elk hunters plan opening morning. Very few build an elk hunting strategy that carries them from day one through day ten.
In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited Podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down a complete day-by-day system for planning and executing a 10-day elk hunt. Instead of treating the entire trip like one long push, you’ll learn how to divide your hunt into four distinct phases: orienting and finding elk during days 1–2, executing on fresh information during days 3–5, managing fatigue and making strategic adjustments during days 6–8, and closing the hunt with full commitment on days 9–10.
Matt explains why the first two days should focus on locating elk, reading fresh sign, understanding wind and thermal behavior, identifying bedding and feeding patterns, and confirming both a primary hunting zone and a backup area. You’ll also learn when to stay in productive elk country, when cold sign and zero contact justify a move, and why changing areas after one slow day is often a costly mistake.
The middle of a long public-land elk hunt is where many hunters begin making decisions under fatigue, frustration, and doubt. This episode covers how to maintain confidence, manage physical recovery, use midday elk movement, glassing, wallows, and water sources more effectively, and decide whether to continue hunting known elk or make a strategic move while there’s still enough time left to execute.
You’ll also hear how to approach the final two days of an elk hunt, why day ten should be hunted with the same urgency as opening morning, and how to prepare pack-out routes, meat-care timelines, food, hydration, recovery, and physical capacity before a bull is ever on the ground.
Drawing from 34 years of western elk hunting and guiding, along with 30 years as a professional strength, conditioning, and nutrition coach, Matt lays out a practical system for staying effective across the full duration of a demanding backcountry elk hunt.
Whether you’re preparing for a Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, or Oregon elk hunt, this episode will help you build a realistic plan for locating elk, managing hunting pressure, making better decisions, adapting when conditions change, and staying mentally and physically engaged through the final morning.
A successful 10-day elk hunt isn’t built on luck. It’s built by knowing what every phase of the hunt is for before you ever reach the trailhead.
Study the complete Elk Hunting E-Book Series, join Team Backbone, book a personalized Elk Hunt Plan Audit, or explore hunt-specific training and nutrition programs at backboneunlimited.com.

The first 48 hours of an elk hunt can determine whether you spend the rest of the week executing a plan—or wandering through public land hoping to get lucky.
In this episode of Backbone Unlimited, Matt Hartsky breaks down a complete opening-day elk hunting system for locating elk, reading hunting pressure, evaluating fresh sign, identifying security cover, and finding one huntable group before you start forcing setups.
Most elk hunters begin moving the moment they reach the trailhead. They hike miles because movement feels productive, stop at the first elk tracks they find, or immediately call to the first bull they hear. But covering ground without gathering the right information can burn access routes, educate elk, contaminate bedding areas, and make the rest of the hunt harder.
Instead, the first two days should be treated as the fastest elk scouting and intelligence window of the entire season.
You’ll learn how to:
• Read trailheads, roads, camps, and terrain to understand public-land hunting pressure• Identify dark timber, steep benches, blowdown, and other elk security terrain• Locate the combination of bedding cover, feed, and water that consistently holds elk• Determine whether elk tracks, rubs, droppings, and wallows are fresh or outdated• Read fresh elk sign for direction, purpose, and time of day• Use bugles, cow calls, hoof sounds, and other natural sound to locate elk without burning country• Glass timber edges, avalanche chutes, burn edges, hidden parks, and overlooked feeding areas• Evaluate whether an elk herd is actually huntable before committing to a stalk or calling setup• Build a complete plan around feeding areas, bedding zones, wind, thermals, entry routes, and exit routes
The objective isn’t to locate every elk in the unit. It’s to locate one group of elk you can approach, hunt, and exit without exposing your position or scent.
Matt brings more than 34 years of western elk hunting and guiding experience, combined with over 30 years as a professional strength, conditioning, and nutrition coach. The lesson from both hunting and athletic performance is the same: complex problems aren’t solved by winging it. They’re solved by building a system, executing it with discipline, and allowing the information you gather to guide your next decision.
This episode explains how to apply the Backbone Unlimited elk hunting process—Locate, Evaluate, Position, Execute, and Adjust—during the most important intelligence window of your hunt.
Ready to build a stronger elk hunting plan?
Study the complete Elk Hunting E-Book Series, join Team Backbone, book a personalized Elk Hunt Plan Audit, or explore hunt-specific training and nutrition programs at backboneunlimited.com.

Most public land elk hunters don’t go home empty-handed because there weren’t enough elk, the unit was bad, or the weather ruined their hunt. They go home without a bull because of a series of small, preventable decisions that slowly cost them opportunities.
In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited Podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down the 10 elk hunting mistakes that consistently send hunters home with an empty pack. Drawing from more than 34 years of hunting and guiding western big game, Matt explains why elk hunters get beaten by shifting wind and thermals, hunt too close to roads and trailheads, arrive without enough preseason scouting, overcall from stationary positions, bugle too aggressively, choose poor setups, and fail to adjust when elk behavior changes.
You’ll also learn how physical conditioning affects elk hunting decisions, why pressured elk often shift instead of leaving an area completely, how to improve bowhunting shot selection, and how to build a daily assessment process that helps you adapt throughout a multi-day hunt.
This episode covers:
• Wind management, mountain thermals, terrain and scent control• Finding pressured elk on western public land• E-scouting, preseason scouting and identifying elk habitat• Realistic elk calling strategies for educated bulls• Choosing better archery elk hunting setups• Mountain fitness, weighted hiking and pack-out preparation• Staying patient after bumping elk• Ethical shot selection and field-distance limits• Adjusting your elk hunting strategy as pressure, weather and rut activity change
Every mistake in this episode is fixable. You don’t necessarily need a better elk unit or more cooperative bulls. You need better preparation, stronger systems and more disciplined decisions when the hunt gets difficult.
Explore the complete 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.

September elk hunting strategy starts long before the rut. In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited Podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down why July elk scouting, summer bull patterns, cow elk behavior, and August transition signs all matter when you’re trying to find rutting bulls in September.
Most elk hunters spend July and August watching bachelor bulls, dropping pins, and building a plan around summer patterns. But when velvet drops, bachelor groups break up, bulls shift country, and archery elk season becomes a completely different game. The bulls you watched all summer may be gone — not because your scouting was worthless, but because September elk movement is driven by cows.
This episode explains what summer bull scouting actually teaches you, how to read the August transition, why cow elk patterns are more dependable than rutting bull patterns, and how to focus your September elk hunt around mid-elevation transition zones, water, feed, cover, pressure, wind, and thermals.
If you’re preparing for western elk hunting, public land elk hunting, archery elk season, or building a better elk hunt plan, this episode will help you stop chasing old summer pins and start hunting where September bulls are actually going 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
 
 

Most elk hunters waste the middle of the day. They head back to camp, take a nap, or wait around for the evening hunt while a small percentage of disciplined hunters are still in the game. In this episode of Backbone Unlimited, Matt Hartsky breaks down the complete wallow hunting system for elk hunters — how to find the right wallow, read fresh sign, understand when bulls are using it, approach without blowing it up, and set up 40 to 60 yards off the wallow where a mature bull is most likely to commit before he ever reaches the mud. You’ll learn why wallows are best treated as a midday strategy, why hot and dry early-season conditions make them more valuable, how thermals control your entry, why you shouldn’t set up right on the wallow, and why calling can actually hurt you in this situation. This isn’t random wallow advice. It’s a practical system built from 34 years of hunting and guiding elk in the western mountains. If you want to make better use of dead time between morning and evening hunts, this episode will show you how to let the wallow do the work.
📙 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
 

Most elk hunters look at topo maps, but they don’t actually read them. In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited Podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down how to scout elk country from a map before you ever leave the truck. This is a complete map-reading lesson for western public-land elk hunters who want to stop guessing, stop picking random basins, and start identifying high-probability elk locations with a real system. Matt explains how to read contour lines, identify drainages, ridges, saddles, benches, aspect, north-facing security cover, south-facing feed, timber edges, water sources, springs, seeps, elevation bands, and terrain transitions that elk actually use. You’ll learn why security terrain comes first, how elk use saddles to move between basins, why benches are often travel and staging areas instead of guaranteed bedding spots, and how to stack multiple map features into what Matt calls an elk address. If you hunt elk in the western mountains, especially on pressured public land, this episode will help you understand how elk behavior, pressure, terrain, wind, water, feed, and cover all connect on a topo map. Build your September elk hunt before you ever set foot in the mountains.
For elk hunting ebooks, Team Backbone, elk hunt plan audits, training plans, and nutrition plans, go to backboneunlimited.com.

Most elk hunters don’t run out of desire in September. They run out of legs. In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited Podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down exactly what your body has to handle during a western public-land elk hunt and why most hunter fitness plans fail before the season even starts. This isn’t a generic workout conversation. It’s a specific elk hunting fitness framework built around mountain miles, steep descents, loaded packs, broken sleep, altitude, recovery capacity, and the mental reserve required to keep making good decisions deep into a hunt. Matt draws from more than 30 years as a professional strength, conditioning, and nutrition coach and more than 34 years hunting and guiding western big game to explain the physical demands of elk hunting, the biggest training mistakes hunters make, and the complete 60-day Backbone Unlimited training approach for becoming mountain ready by September. You’ll learn why flat running isn’t enough, why pack training is non-negotiable, why leg endurance under load matters more than gym numbers, and how to build the aerobic base, strength, rucking capacity, and recovery needed for real elk country. If you hunt western elk, mule deer, or public-land mountain terrain and want to show up stronger, sharper, and more prepared this fall, this episode gives you the plan.
Learn more about Backbone Unlimited training plans, nutrition plans, elk hunting ebooks, Team Backbone, and hunt plan audits at backboneunlimited.com.

Most elk hunters wait until September to start looking for elk. That’s already too late. In this episode, I break down a complete June and July elk scouting system to help you build a real September elk hunting plan before the season ever starts.
You’ll learn how to use summer elk scouting to locate bachelor bull elk in velvet, find cow elk groups, identify active elk wallows, mark feed, bedding, water, travel corridors, and build your elk hunting map around confirmed sign instead of guesswork. We’ll cover why cow groups matter more than most hunters realize, how July elk scouting can reveal the areas bulls are likely to show up during archery elk hunting, and why public land elk hunting success starts long before opening morning.
If you want to know how to find elk more consistently, stop hoping September works out and start scouting now. 
Elk Hunting E-Book Series (the complete system — 34 years OF ELK HUNTING) → BackboneUnlimited.com
📋 Elk Hunt Plan Audit — Matt reviews your specific maps, terrain, zones, access, and strategy before season → BackboneUnlimited.com
👥 Team Backbone — Weekly guidance, accountability, and a community of serious western hunters → BackboneUnlimited.com
"The hunters who are ready in September are the ones who start tightening the plan now."
Build the plan at BackboneUnlimited.com

What terrain should you focus on when hunting elk? In this episode, I break down elk hunting terrain and how to find elk by looking beyond obvious map features like benches, saddles, drainages, dark timber, meadows, and glassable basins. Elk don’t use country just because it looks good on a topo map — they use terrain that helps them feed, bed, stay cool, use wind and thermals, avoid hunting pressure, and escape when something feels wrong.
If you’re hunting public land elk, this episode will help you understand elk bedding areas, elk benches, elk saddles, elk drainages, thick timber, open basins, feed-to-bed movement, escape routes, security cover, and pressure-driven elk behavior. The goal isn’t to find one good-looking spot. The goal is to connect the terrain features that create a huntable elk system.
If you want better elk hunting tips and a more consistent way to read elk country, stop hunting isolated terrain features and start hunting the relationships between feed, water, bedding, wind, thermals, security, escape, and pressure.
Elk Hunting E-Book Series (the complete system — 34 years OF ELK HUNTING) → BackboneUnlimited.com
📋 Elk Hunt Plan Audit — Matt reviews your specific maps, terrain, zones, access, and strategy before season → BackboneUnlimited.com
👥 Team Backbone — Weekly guidance, accountability, and a community of serious western hunters → BackboneUnlimited.com
"The hunters who are ready in September are the ones who start tightening the plan now."
Build the plan at BackboneUnlimited.com