I love your honesty and reality! Here is my dose of reality...As a native Coloradan and lifelong hunter, I can attest to the fact that over the last several years the number of hunters in Colorado has become a major detriment to the overall experience. I believe that the social media craze of backcountry hunting videos has done a great disservice to the expectations and behaviors of elk and deer hunters in general. Too many of the non-resident hunters that I meet in the woods have arrived with high expectations of calling in giant bulls and filling their tags only to go home empty and thousands of dollars poorer. I know first hand that many of the influencers out there are not hunting public land OTC or even OTC units. Much of what you see is shot on private land by paying for land owner tags in OTC units. I have witnessed first hand the migration of elk to private land the day before the season opens when all of the trucks and campers are piling into the forest. My rancher friend and I watched as elk would jump his fences and pile into his property as these trucks and RVs drove through the public access on his land which borders Flat Tops wilderness and forest service property. The introduction of wolves into this area will just exacerbate the problem. If everyone were to watch your videos there might be less disappointed souls in the woods each year.

I’ve never heard anyone address the “anxious” or “panicked” feeling on KZfaq or hunting forums before. It’s very real! I get it worse solo hunting which sucks because solo hunting is awesome. Having unlimited texting on the garmin helps and sometimes going into town for a burger can completely dissolve the negative mood.

That’s so real. I turned 61 this year. I’ve been doing self guided pack in archery hunts in CO from OH for the last 16 years. Mostly OTC with a few low point draw units in there. It’s so hard and nearly all mental. I took a 320” bull off a CO OTC unit at treeline in 2020. I definitely put my time in but I also know very few people score a 300” bull in CO on a OTC unit. The crazy thing is I’ve seen 300” bulls on at least 1/2 of those years. But getting close is a totally different story. And I’ve seen so many people suffer through that mental breakdown a couple days into a hunt. Your comments on this short video are so spot on. Thanks! PS it’s all about the experience for me. Sept in the mountains is the best thing ever. I just want to be there.

Appreciate the data-driven and experience-based advice. Us newbies are still in the good ol' days too with videos like this! Nothing replaces getting out there, but saves a lot of potential time/frustration having these tips heading in.

this why I tell everyone who's planning on OTC diy to watch your stuff.

Thanks again for the awesome content. Don’t change a thing about how you present your information. You’re way of doing it is far more relatable than a lot of the other channels out there. Much appreciated. Good luck this season.

Really like the straight forward non edited. Straight to the dam point.

Watching all your videos, practicing, and applying what you share and explain has been more valuable than wandering around in the woods for the last decade. I've applied your logic and positive mental attitude and have harvested 3 bull elk in the last 3 years. Keep up the great content and keep telling people how it is going to go. Good work.

Thank you for sharing your wisdom! I'm headed to AZ in early Dec for a unit 22 bull and ill be playing your words back in my head for sure! Keep it coming!

This is one of my favorite episodes. It's like hanging out with your favorite uncle while he shares his decades of hunting experience with you. Name it Coffee with Uncle Cliff and make it a regular feature!

Definitely love this kind of format, just off the cuff honest, hurt your feelings truth!! 🤘

I just want to say THANK YOU Cliff!! The content you're putting out for us is invaluable and I really appreciate it! As a Eastern Whitetail hunter in my 50s with two unsuccessful DIY elk hunts under my belt I feel like the clock is ticking. Anything I can do and/or learn to up the odds before these knees and back can't climb the mountain anymore is golden! Have a great season! 🏹👊

Great advice Cliff. Especially the spot and stalk tip. These old cows are really savvy and they know what's up. Thanks for reminding us to enjoy the experience and don't get stupid in our expectations. Appreciate your sharing your experience and knowledge. Stay safe this fall.

Love listening to your vids. Great advice for a complete newbie.

Well, good luck to you guys in CO. I'm kinda glad Archery is almost over for me. It's been a helluva year so far, and the season isn't over yet. Super anxious about this weekend. Labor day weekend with 80% chance of thunderstorms the whole weekend. Gonna be a lot of stupid happening, I just hope I avoid it all and come home safely.

I enjoy the no nonsense approach and straight forwardness of the information you provide. I feel you give a true expectation without discouragement. I have been on one OTC Colorado bow elk hunt and tell persons that ask, I had an extremely difficult and expensive camping trip which I would not trade for the world! The experience left me craving more and wanting to apply what I had learned in the future. Keep this content coming and maybe you can discuss equipment you would recommend that really works in the field.

This guy is hilarious to listen too. I like how he throws around over the counter elk tags like they arent the same elk on the same mountain with the same september archery season.

Way to keep it real! I love getting back there and you’re right some of my hunts have out right sucked. Missed stalk after stalk with no luck, storms, bears, etc. We did succeed during rifle. Thank goodness! Either way I always walk away feeling blessed and grateful I’m able to get out and experience our wonderful outdoors. That means the world to me and I know others feel the same. Thx for the advice!

Thanks for the content. Elk are definitely more savvy than our local mulies. Love the value and attitude from this channel

Was turned on to your channel a few months ago and I absolutely spend Days watching and taking some notes. Going on my first OTC in Colorado this year/ Second Rifle season and while I don’t know What to expect like you said here, I do know one thing it’s going to be an adventure like you say that 98% of the people will Never experience. Oh yeah I got some of Justin’s Almond Butter and some Belvita Breakfast Biscuits and there actually pretty good with a cup of coffee. Thanks cliff for all the free advice you put out there for us

Was successful on this years Colorado DIY OTC archery elk hunt - all of these tips just hit home, you literally described the pitfalls and success of the hunt!

Probably my favorite video. Nailed so many of the problems I ran into the last couple of weeks.

Great video! Keeping it real. Good luck this season everyone.

So good. All truth man. I genuinely appreciate your approach! Thank you.

#reality I love Cliff’s approach. This is not meant to be negative but an approach that is in your face the moment you head out into the mountains. Power through with a great attitude and hunt till it’s over as in the season is done or if your time doesn’t allow it. These animals (elk) have been doing this way longer than you and it takes determined diligence to tag out. Very real, if I could have told myself back then I would have said first: relax and enjoy, then gain knowledge and wisdom about hunting. Be safe and enjoy! It’s about the experience 👍🏻😃

your an awesome person. just wanted to say that. Thanks bud and good luck this season.

Cliff, I agree with most of the others in the comments that this is my preferred style. It feels like you are talking, sharing, more on a personal level. This video is one of my favorites. I love your description of 'the perfect hunt'; "lip bawling in your face as you frontal shoot them perfectly and the blood squirts out all over the place and he head plants in front of you and rolls over so you can gut him..." LOL. Hilarious! Awesome stuff. Love your videos. Good luck on your hunts and a sincere thank you for all the straight-up advice and hard-earned knowledge. Al in St. George

Excellent advice and pulled no punches. Thank you for quality content Cliff.

Wow! Great advice and timely. I just came back from 4 days (the only time I had available from work) on the Tops. My hunting partner and I were constantly seeing fresh steaming elk sign but we were not seeing the actual elk. No vocalization at all. No responses to calls either. We did bump a couple but not to the extent we expected based on the amount of sign we were seeing. I have hunted over 2 decades and I am at a loss as to what we should have done and what we were doing wrong. We didn't see any other hunters during that time and we were over 4 miles from the nearest road. We backpacked in and would hunt 5 to 6 miles from camp each day. Very frustrating...

I’m so stoked for my 2023 Colorado elk hunt. Thank you for the years of advice.

This may be the most helpful video about elk hunting I have ever seen. Thanks, Cliff.

New elk hunter. Your videos are my go to on everything to do with the pursuit 💪. Thanks brother.

Thank you for your advice. Appreciate you sharing your experience.

Cliff, I can only speak for myself but I'm a pretty good Hunter with many trophy quality public land kills in my album. You're one of the few guys on KZfaq. I can actually learn something new from. I don't care what gear your.wearing. How cool you look against the background, the setting the script. If you can teach me something new I am riveted. Thank you for all the advice and I look forward to using your advice this fall and many falls in the future. I am going into two new units this year in Oregon mule deer in Southern Oregon in the unit called Keno, and elk in Keating Oregon. I found your videos on glassing and scouting to be extremely helpful. Thanks again!.

That was awesome. Thanks Cliff

I'm heading out Friday for my first moose hunt! Beyond excited! Good luck this fall!

Love all of your content Cliff!! Super appreciated

I live local to the flattops and elkhead mountains in Colorado. Just harvested a nice mule deer buck a couple days ago during 2nd season. Getting myself psyched up for 4th season elk hunt. This is great advice

Thx man. I appreciate the truth & reality. Solid choice on the shirt selection.

Great information and advice. It also gave me a new appreciation for the amount of editing it takes to produce these videos.

Thank you Cliff, Flying out to Wyoming tomorrow to hunt Elk in the Wyoming Range with a bow ( first time ) honestly I will be happy to just set eyes on any Elk!!

Only follow this advice if you’re ready to pack! Seriously. This guy nailed it for otc. Thanks Cliff for confirming much of what I have learned in Idaho. It’s a game of chess (not checkers) during the early season. Some thought about approach and where to set up makes all the difference. It ain’t Primos style, but it works! Giving you the horns on this one! 🤘

Hey Cliff two ideas for you: 1.) Lots of hunters post-2020 discovered it from you, JRE, Cam Hanes, etc. They've learned some things on the internet but may have drawn their first tag and never spent much time in the field. What advice would you give for someone getting into big game hunting? 2. Some videos focused on cow elk, specially post rut and late season

Love these videos! Telling it like it is.

Love this format the best .

Great videos! I appreciate you telling it the way it really is in the hunting world these days. Keep it up

Thank you for sharing your knowledge!!

I don’t know whether to love you or hate you! You just gave a tremendous amount of accurate information. Know I’m going to be looking that F & G hidee-hole plan.

Great video! I like the realness of this style

This is hilarious! Love your stuff man. I’ll be attempting the Angry Spike method hunting Roosevelts on the Oregon coast starting tomorrow.

Good stuff! Thanks for the tips.

Great true insight thanks Cliff

The little pockets on the pressured backcountry was spot on brother. They find little fingers to settle in! Hunt smarter, not harder...

Great advice for first timers and new to hunting. Be flexible on your hunt.

Great ramp-up video... A like the raw non-format. Hell ya...

GREAT VIDEO. Two thumbs up👍👍 I'm going to go watch it again. Thank you.

Great info. I just did my first archery otc hunt. It was nothing short of magic. I had two close encounters with the same bull. I'll say the best piece of advice for elk hunting is not on you tube. You have to get out and experience what the animals do and don't do. I've got a long ways to go. I thought I was sneaky😆. Turns out these animals act allot different when you encounter them in their environment. I now plan to stalk any animal any time I can to get practice, cause these guys are not dumb. Anyways you got great content I always welcome any information that can help in the pursuit.

Sitting in a tree saddle right now hunting blacktail deer reading your video lol..Good luck all.

Edits happen who cares, you're info and knowledge is hard earned and priceless. Over the counter tags are tough and often low percentage of success. Don't let the mental game take you out ,hunt your ass off. Your info is the best keep it coming. Just turned 72 and still able to day hunt 1-2 miles from the road,50 plus years of elk hunting and every one has been a blast. Accept nothing less.

I live in the East and traveled 10 years to Colorado for archery elk hunts on public OTC. What you describe as becoming anxious has always been around day 5 for me. I believe it is the lack of being social and having outside stimulus from people, radios, TV and vehicle traffic. You come from an environment that is full of stimulus for your brain. Several days without that stimulus and being in big mountains with huge space and silence is difficult to adjust to. I take Zanax with me and plan to travel into a town after a few days. Also, the change of sleep, exhaustion and constant exercise will wear you down physically. Take the mental affect with the physical affects it can and will create anxiety and depression. We killed 8 bull elk and 1 cow in 10 years on public land, DIY. Love the hunt!

You rock dude. I’m in the mountains, found a bed, but had no idea how to hunt it. Had super fresh sign last night. Hope I didn’t blow them out of there. Thanks Cliff BTW, I made some pemican like your video. It sucks LOL. Not sure what I did wrong.

Never give up. I hunt until the last legal minute of the season and have killed many elk on the last evening!!

You the man cliff and to hell with that camera! Lol! Taking my 15 year old son on a backpack trip, kids a stud, should be a great experience! Thanks for the truth at the end. Told him, “we are gonna take what God gives us”

In Western Oregon yesterday I saw herd of 30 cows and two raghorn bulls. All rubbed out with white tips

Solid advice. Thank you.

Except for the rut behavior stuff, I feel like this will all apply to my general season rifle tag. I appreciate the authenticity and effort to get content out to us. I don’t need all the polish. Those highly edited videos seem like a bunch of ego stroking at some point. Good luck on your hunts!!

Great Video Cliff. Solid Gold!😁

Good luck on the upcoming hunts. Get Ric onto one.

This is awesome. Thank you.

I have a bow tag for unit 70 this year. Binging all these videos

. Totally enjoy your channel and content very helpful

Hey Cliff, I just discovered that we've met! As a matter of fact, I was running around with one of your buddy's wives last weekend... All kidding aside, I was archery elk hunting in ID with the "J" of J&Z (we met at their wedding). Glad we have some mutual ground when it comes to quality folks. Best regards, Jimmy

As always, good stuff Cliff! Have you tried the boost oxygen for altitude sickness? Have a safe season!

Thanks for the reality check lol. Good luck out there.

Thank you so very true information God's Blessings on all your adventures

I wish I would have watched this prior to my hunt this was perfect

Awesome video Cliff! Way to set the bar for OTC strategy and expectations. I only laugh in empathy for your camera malfunctions. It always seems to be at thr most inopportune time. All of them do it. Wait until you get a perfect killshot ruined by a malfunction.

I've noticed that about elk hunting with myself. It is very psychologically challenging for me. I ask myself those same questions,"what am I doing here, I should be at home with my family","I should be doing something more productive."I don't know why it messes with my head like that but it does

Before watching this video I watched the Corey Jacobsen Sitka video. Well, I just went out and bugled super agreesive at a giant bull. It did not work. Eventually I heard a bark, up wind and complety out of sight. Going back to mohekin sneekin for the time being. It's 9/10 and only some soft bugling and chuckles thus far. Tomorrow they should screem!

Love the video. Halfway through the video.. “just two or three more minutes guys” 😂

You’re the fuckin man! Appreciate the raw knowledge dump! I can tell you’re a master of the craft and how passionate you are. Downloading all this data to my brain for my first Colorado archery season coming in September!

Thanks for the straight talk.

Thanks a bunch!

True. The density here in NW MT is so low. No bugles. Light cow calls work. Just finding where they are frequenting and waiting is the best way to hunt them in our region. Social media is very misleading. Study the region you plan to hunt before you go out there blowing your hoochie mama thinking a bull is just going to show up.

thanks man. packing food bags and getting everything ready to leave next week for the Steamboat Area

Good stuff!

Loved it

Hahahah camera keeps dying lol. First part of the video so true. Take it easy on the first part of hunt. Watch the stress video cliff did. Keep stress levels low going into hunt and during the first 2-3 days.

Great video

Well, this was definitely uncut, that’s what makes this video so good. Technology does that….😂

Great videos great knowledge! I drew a late season (Nov) Arizona rifle hunt. Never hunted late season elk any tips and tricks? Would love to see some videos on this topic.

Good video, great stuff, don’t pay attention to the b.s. on internet, get your own trophy

Thanks man!! LFG

Great content! Thank you. Last year was my first year hunting elk, I hunt in a heavily pressured area and if you call in there, the elk go quiet and disappear. I got to 110 yards of a 6x6 bull, and his cows they were headed down hill and I couldn't keep up. I wonder if I had made a small cow call if they would've come close enough to get a shot? I don't know! I also had a 5x5 bull that came within 70 yards, but he didn't see a cow and buggered out of there. I was still very satisfied with my hunt as I've known people who have hunted elk for years and haven't seen an animal.

In units I've hunted where there is a ton of pressure, calling shuts them up. What i do is hope I can find an active bull and move in on him silently. It's worked well but you are at the mercy of their mood. It can be very frustrating when your not hearing anything, you start grouse hunting pretty fast!😂

I have a lucky connection to an old neighbor who gets a herd across his property that I'll get the chance to take a cow elk on. BUT I'm excited to put the time in on an OTC tag for the real experience but not feel like my season was wasted. Cheating....maybe.

Good advice….there is nothing like being in a rut fest in September.

Hey Cliff! I've been watching your vids over the last couple seasons and have a question I can't find an answer for. I hunt a heavily forested area mainly pre-rut and I'm wondering how you recommend finding quiet elk. I'm trying water sources mainly and game trails but not finding anything yet. Thoughts? (Btw, your wind & thermals video is my elk bible)

Hey Cliff. Looking at scalpel knives. Is your go to still the Pranta?

Thanks for rawdogging this video.