Hotwash Review

Over the past few years, I’ve been extremely fortunate to hunt a fair amount of days in a lot of different places. In most of my life, I fly by the seat of my pants, but when it comes to planning for hunts, I’m embarrassingly meticulous. I have gear lists for every specific hunt. I have written plans for different areas depending on what I see and how the weather changes.

Immediately after I finish a hunt, I write out a “Hotwash.” This Hotwash goes over gear that performed well, gear that performed poorly, things that went well, and things that went poorly. I’ve used these to try to become more effective in the woods, so I wanted to share a few common threads from the past few years. Some of them are pretty specific, some a little more broad. 

1. Use insulated boots on late-season hunts. I have this note on 3 of the last 4 late-season hotwashes that I’ve written. My feet get cold pretty easily, but I think that’s because I’ve brought them to the brink of frostbite on multiple occasions. After a hunt in Colorado a few years ago, it took my big toes a full month to feel completely normal. I now am the proud owner of a pair of 800g insulated boots (thanks Mark.). 

2. Don’t become a one-dimensional hunter. I have access to the best optics in the world. This is great, and they make finding critters easier exponentially easier in some situations. But I have found myself only glassing from one single knob for multiple days in a row on hunts where that wasn’t the best plan, and I probably missed animals that I would’ve found by taking a more hybrid approach of glassing and moving. 

3. Be extremely proficient with your weapon. I have shot guns my whole life, like I don’t remember shooting my first animals because I was so young. So until the past year, I have rested on that knowledge and practice for any rifle hunt I have. Now over the past ten years, I’ve religiously shot my bow, never going more than a few days without practicing. Come to find out, I need to be doing close to the same thing with a rifle if I want to be proficient at modern hunting distances. 

4. This one is extremely specific, but it’s on nearly everyone. The Sitka Ambient jacket is the best mid-layer ever created. Multiple companies now make something similar, but the Ambient is the one I use day in and day out. 

5. Don’t get into a hydration deficit. I am the worst at drinking water. I often get to the end of a normal workday and realize I have had nothing but coffee to drink all day. This has burned me on a couple of different occasions. Last year on a big uphill pull, my legs completely locked up, and I had to take 20 minutes before I could even try to walk again. It took me till the next morning to feel completely back to normal. On an elk hunt in Colorado, I missed multiple hours of sleep because I was up with raging calf and quad cramps all night. Wilderness Athlete has been the biggest difference-maker. 

6. Hike in the dark. I have found that I can be a lot more effective with my time if I do all my long hikes in the dark. This could be after the sun has gone down or before the sun comes up. Either way, it has helped me hunt the entirety of the day instead of wasting precious daylight hiking through deadfall with my gun strapped to the back of my pack. 

7. Seriously consider your hunting partners. I’ve had entire hunts ruined by people who have had either bad attitudes or bad bodies. 

8. Satellite imagery isn’t always correct. Just because something looks glassable on Google Earth or OnX doesn’t mean it is. My buddy and I wasted 4 days because we trusted old imagery. I now always use multiple sources to make sure what I’m looking at is true. 

9. The colder it is, the more food I require. On early-season hunts, I find myself eating more out of boredom, but in late-season hunts, I require more food to keep myself warm. 

10. This is all basic stuff, but it was all on at least one of my previous notes. Break your boots in, make sure your pack fits, try your food before you leave, check the bolts on your weapon, and download your maps. 

Hopefully, something in here can help, but most of all, I think it’s important to reflect on previous hunts to help with your future hunts