You've e-scouted, hiked in, and invested heavily—but there's no sign, the weather is crashing, and hunting pressure is high. What do you do next?
In this third installment of our 2026 Expert Roundtable series, we dive into the practical side of adapting to adversity. We bring together four veteran backcountry hunters to debate one of the hardest questions in the field: When should you stay patient and trust the process, and when is it time to abandon your plan and move?
The Expert Guests
- Isaac Deuling (mountain hunting guide) on why you shouldn't "fall in love with your plan," how he manages patience during remote sheep and moose hunts, and using daily "mindsets" to guide your decisions.
- Nate Simmons (Producer & Co-Host of Western Hunter TV) on balancing spot-and-stalk tactics, knowing when to pull the plug on an area, and why persistence kills more game out west than any single tactic.
- Brad Brooks (Owner of Argali Outdoors) on trusting your gut intuition, avoiding the trap of overanalyzing animal behavior, and the most efficient times of day to relocate camp.
- Ben Reynolds (do-it-yourself sheep hunting lunatic) on the physical demands of covering high alpine terrain, ensuring you effectively cover an area before moving, and how strategy varies between sheep and elk.
Hear the Conversation
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts
Key Takeaways
Isaac Deuling
- Don't Fall in Love with the Plan: He emphasizes not getting married to your initial plan or e-scouting maps, as the mountains and animals do not care about your expectations.
- Signals vs. Setbacks: He differentiates between a setback (bad weather, physical discomfort) and a signal (such as little evidence of game sign), advising hunters to stay patient when evidence of game is present
- The "Going Out Before You Go Out" Mindset: Borrowed from his work as a ski guide, he establishes a specific mental framework each morning (e.g., determining if the day requires an aggressive push, a passive valley hunt, or "entrenchment" in the tent due to zero visibility) to guide decision-making and maintain patience.
- Context Matters: He operates primarily as a guide in highly remote areas (like the Northwest Territories) with dense game populations and zero hunter pressure, which gives him different logistical options (such as calling an outfitter for an aircraft relocation) compared to a DIY hunter in the Lower 48.
Nate Simmons
- Persistence Over Tactics: He firmly believes that raw persistence kills far more deer and elk out west than any single hunting tactic or sharpened skill ever will.
- Moving Areas vs. Shifting Tactics: When things get tough, he is much more prone to packing up and changing geographic areas entirely to find his preferred setup rather than staying in the same spot and radically changing his hunting style.
- Staying Flexible but Methodical: He shares examples of successfully modifying his approach on the fly—such as aggressively tracking mule deer before they bedded to beat rising thermals and other hunters, or picking up cow calls when a rare September window made elk unusually responsive.
- Avoiding Impulse Pivots: To counter the frustration of a bad day, he deliberately forces himself to pause and talk things through (often with his filming partner, Randy) before making a decision, ensuring he doesn't pull the plug prematurely on a spot.
Brad Brooks
- Decide and Don't Second-Guess: He stresses making objective decisions based on the current situation and then letting go of any second-guessing or regret, recognizing that you can never truly know whether the grass is greener on the other side of the next ridge.
- Efficient Relocation: To protect precious hunting time, he avoids moving camp during prime hunting hours; instead, he packs up and relocates either during the dead middle of the day or entirely in the dark.
- Hunter Intuition vs. Preference: He notes the difference between a hunter's natural personality preference (e.g., wanting to constantly hike and cover ground) and genuine gut intuition that tells you to do something counter-intuitive, like sitting over a tiny opening for ten hours.
- Keep it Simple: He reminds hunters that animals are basic creatures driven by simple needs (safety, food, water, shade) rather than complex analytical thoughts. Thinking practically about what a spooked or resting animal would logically do often yields the best results.
Ben Reynolds
- Terrain Defines Patience: In his context of hunting Dall sheep in the high, glaciated alpine terrain of Alaska, success is less about sitting and glassing the same spot for hours (like hunting timbered big horns or mule deer) and more about physically covering massive amounts of country.
- 100% Coverage Before Moving: He cautions against the temptation to only hunt the "easy spots" of multiple drainages. True adaptability means pushing through physical fatigue and blisters to view a single drainage from every possible angle and peak before declaring it empty and moving on.
- Fitness Dictates Strategy: He emphasizes that aerobic efficiency and muscular endurance directly impact strategy; if a hunter is physically spent, they will subconsciously cut corners and fail to climb into the high-hanging bowls where the rams actually are.