Backbone Unlimited Podcast

In this episode Matt Hartsky breaks down one of the most frustrating and misunderstood challenges in elk hunting—swirling wind—and why it consistently ruins encounters for hunters who don’t fully understand what’s happening. In steep mountain terrain, wind rarely behaves the way most people expect, and assuming it will follow simple patterns is often what leads to blown setups. Drawing from more t...

In this episode Matt Hartsky breaks down the biggest mistake hunters make when trying to find mature black bears around water in the West. Most hunters know water matters, especially in dry country, but very few understand how bears actually use it in relation to feeding areas and bedding cover. That gap in understanding leads to wasted time, poor setups, and missed opportunities. After more than...

In this episode, Matt Hartsky breaks down one of the most overlooked terrain features in elk country and how it quietly controls the way elk move through the mountains. Most hunters spend years hiking past these spots without realizing how often elk naturally funnel through them while traveling between feeding areas, bedding cover, and neighboring drainages. Drawing from more than three decades of...

In this episode of Backbone Unlimited, Matt Hartsky breaks down why elk hunting feels different across the West in 2026—and what serious hunters need to understand to keep finding bulls. With extremely dry winters, reduced snowpack, earlier green-up, and increasing public land pressure, elk are using the landscape differently than many hunters are used to. Basins feel quieter, traditional spots se...

In this episode, Matt Hartsky breaks down a moment every elk hunter eventually faces in the mountains. A bull answers your call, the encounter builds, and it feels like everything is about to come together—until the bull suddenly disappears. The mountain goes quiet, the opportunity fades, and you’re left trying to make sense of what just happened. These encounters are extremely common, especially...

In this episode, Matt Hartsky breaks down one of the most overlooked terrain features in Western elk hunting—and why understanding it can completely change how you read elk country. After more than three decades of hunting Western big game, Matt explains how this feature quietly influences elk movement, bedding, and travel in steep mountain terrain, even though most hunters walk right past it with...

In this episode, Matt Hartsky breaks down one of the most critical skills in Western mule deer hunting—how to quickly identify real buck country across the mountains of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Colorado. Too many hunters spend entire seasons in beautiful-looking deer habitat that holds numbers, but not mature bucks. The difference is subtle, and if you don’t understand it, you’ll keep glassing...

Elk Hunting e-Books 👉 https://backboneunlimited.com/collections/elk-hunting-series-e-books   In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down what to do after drawing an Arizona elk tag as a non-resident and how to turn years of waiting into a disciplined, structured hunting plan. Drawing an Arizona elk tag is one of the most anticipated moments in Western big game hunt...

Bear Hunting e-Books 👉 https://backboneunlimited.com/collections/bear-hunting-series-e-books   In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down one of the most frustrating moments in spot-and-stalk bear hunting: when a black bear suddenly disappears in the middle of a stalk. Nearly every Western bear hunter experiences this at some point, especially in broken mountain t...

Elk Hunting e-Books 👉 https://backboneunlimited.com/collections/elk-hunting-series-e-books   In this episode Matt Hartsky breaks down how to read an elk basin in just five minutes. If you hunt elk on Western public land in states like Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, or Colorado, learning how to quickly evaluate terrain can determine whether you waste days in dead country or position yourself where elk a...

In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down exactly what to do after drawing an Idaho elk tag as a non-resident. Drawing a tag is only the beginning. Success in Idaho’s elk country depends on how well you prepare for the specific zone you drew and how disciplined your preparation becomes long before opening morning. Matt walks through a structured preparation framew...

Kapture delivers one of the simplest, strongest digiscoping systems on the market, letting you lock your phone to your bino or spotter in seconds. Their rugged magnetic design gives hunters pro-level photos and video without fumbling with bulky adapters. Kapture Discount: Use code BACKBONE for 10% off: https://kapturegear.com/?bg_ref=gCD000n5fB In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited podcast, Ma...

In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down one of the biggest missing links in consistent spring bear success: understanding how black bears actually travel across the landscape during spring. Many hunters know that green-up matters, that south-facing slopes warm first, and that bears are calorie-depleted after hibernation. Yet they still struggle to locate bears c...

In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down one of the most frustrating experiences in spring bear hunting: spending long days hiking and glassing without seeing a single bear while other hunters in the same unit seem to be finding them regularly. When that happens, it’s easy to assume someone else is simply getting lucky. Matt explains why that assumption is almost...

In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down how to hunt black bears without bait and why many hunters struggle when they try to apply bait-site thinking to spot-and-stalk country. In many Western states baiting is either illegal or simply not part of the hunting tradition. Yet bears are successfully taken every spring without barrels, scent piles, or artificial attr...

In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down one of the most misunderstood questions in spring bear hunting: how to tell whether a bear you spot is actually huntable or simply passing through the country. Many hunters finally locate a bear, invest time and energy into the opportunity, and then watch it disappear without another sighting. What feels like bad luck is o...

In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down the best time of day to hunt black bears and why many hunters misunderstand how daily movement actually works during spring bear season. While most hunters rely on the traditional morning and evening approach used for elk or deer, that mindset often leads to long glassing sessions with very little bear activity. Black bear...

In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down one of the most overlooked truths in shed hunting: why some areas consistently produce antlers year after year while other places never seem to give up bone. Many hunters assume good shed spots are random or simply the result of luck, but in reality the best areas repeatedly solve the same winter survival problems for deer...

In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down one of the most misunderstood forces in spring bear hunting: how black bears actually use wind. Most hunters know wind matters, but very few understand how bears actively plan their movement around it. When that detail is misunderstood, hunts rarely fail in dramatic ways. Instead, they quietly go dead. Slopes that should h...

In this episode of the Backbone Unlimited podcast, Matt Hartsky breaks down a hard truth most shed hunters never talk about: shed hunting is often a game of missed opportunities, and most of those opportunities disappear quietly. They rarely show up as obvious mistakes. Instead, they come from small decisions that stack over the course of a long day in the mountains—staying in an area just a littl...

In this episode of Backbone Unlimited, Matt Hartsky breaks down the spring bear hunting mistakes that quietly cost hunters opportunities across the West. Many hunters spend long days hiking and glassing only to leave the mountain believing there simply aren’t any bears in the area. Meanwhile, another hunter in the same unit may be seeing multiple bears or filling a tag. Matt explains why that diff...

In this episode Matt Hartsky breaks down how deer and elk actually travel right before they drop their antlers—and why misunderstanding this final behavioral shift is one of the biggest reasons shed hunters miss bone. Most shed hunting advice focuses on winter range, south-facing slopes, and migration corridors. That all has value, but it ignores a critical truth: antlers don’t fall randomly, and...

In this episode Matt Hartsky breaks down how to actually find black bears in spring—not with guesses or internet shortcuts, but by understanding what bears are doing and why. Spring bear hunting frustrates a lot of hunters because they treat it like a numbers game: glass more, hike more, cover more country. When they don’t see bears, they assume the unit is empty. That’s almost never the truth. Co...

In this episode Matt Hartsky breaks down one of the most overlooked forces in shed hunting: how human pressure changes where antlers actually end up. Most hunters know animals avoid people, but few understand how pressure quietly rewrites the drop map long before sheds ever hit the ground. After more than three decades of Western big game hunting, Matt explains why deer and elk don’t simply abando...

In this episode Matt Hartsky breaks down how far black bears actually travel to feed—and why misunderstanding that distance causes hunters to miss bears even when they’re in the right unit. After more than three decades of Western hunting, Matt explains that black bear movement isn’t random and it isn’t personality-driven. It’s energy math. Early spring bears are calorie-depleted and highly effici...