Exo Journal

Having a good set of tires goes a long way, literally. With good rubber between you and the road, there's going to be fewer complications, less stress, and an added bit of security to your trip. Boots are our tires of the backcountry. They get us from point A to point B. A bad set of boots can ruin a trip in a hurry — whether it’s from a failure of the boot itself, or issues with your foot because of the boot. For this reason, you should put a lot of thought into your backcountry footwear. The last thing...

Finding success in the backcountry starts by creating success at home. But you need more than a vision for success; you need a system that will get you there. We created a simple Hunting Habit Tracker (PDF) for you to intentionally define your system for success and ensure that you are consistently following the program.

We released the "Building a Backcountry Rifle" series through the Hunt Backcountry Podcast and covered the topics of rifle selection, caliber/cartridge selection, projectile selection, scope selection, and even shooting tips. Here is the rifle I built, based on what I learned in that series.

Elk, especially mature bulls, are incredibly large and tough creatures. As a point of comparison, it’s not unusual for a big bull to weigh 3-4x as much as a big-bodied whitetail or mule deer. Stories also abound of poorly hit elk running into the next zip code with no signs of slowing down. For this reason, hunters going afield after elk with a rifle should be adequately armed. With all that in mind, my goal with this article is to provide you with a couple of good recommendations on selecting the right caliber for hunting elk.