22 Elk in 23 Seasons: Public Land Lessons w/ Kevin Gower

Alright guys, today's episode is a good one. I'm sitting down with Kevin Gower — a Colorado public land guy who's been in the elk woods since he was 12 years old and has packed out more elk than the years he's been hunting. That's 22 elk in 23 seasons. Not luck. Not private land. Public dirt, over the counter, doing it the hard way.

We get into it — why most guys aren't consistent on public land, the "cover ground" era of learning to elk hunt, and why the YouTube backpack-hunting romance can actually work against you when you're trying to learn a mountain. We talk mindset — the "today's the day" mantra, why you can't write the story before the hunt is over, and why the guys who stack hard experiences early end up with the confidence to go get it done later.

Kevin also walks through his biggest bull — a solo four-mile pack out in thirteen inches of fresh snow — and why moments like that are what separate hunters who quit from hunters who figure it out. We dig into silent bulls and why they're some of the most killable elk in the woods, calling strategy, reading pressure on the edge of private land, when to leave elk to go find better elk, and why learning to hunt the storm front instead of fighting the wind might be one of the most underrated skills in elk hunting.

This one's packed with real public land wisdom from a guy who's put in two decades on the same mountain. Grab a notebook, this is a good one.

Sponsors

onX Hunt

Today's episode is brought to you by onX Hunt. If you haven't checked out our free 4-hour e-scouting course yet, go grab it at elkhunt201.com — it's completely free. Building a color-coded system of waypoints, markups, and tracks for your hunt is one of the most important things you can do before season. Too many guys draw a tag and just show up to figure it out — don't be that guy. If you're not an Elite member yet, Elite unlocks a ton of extra planning tools that'll make your prep this fall way more dialed in. 

onxmaps.com Use code TRO when you upgrade to Elite.

Bridger Watch

This episode is also brought to you by Bridger Watch — a smartwatch built specifically for hunting. All your normal smartwatch features (health tracking, fitness tracking, texts) plus, in my opinion, the best mapping capability of any wearable on the market. You can save offline maps, ship them straight to your watch, and pan around right on your wrist with a screen that's genuinely impressive for its size. Bridger Watch also integrates directly with onX — share a whole hunt folder or a single waypoint from the field straight to your watch, so if your phone dies or you lose it, you've always got a backup.  

bridgerwatch.com

Timestamped Chapters

(Approximate — based on episode flow, total runtime ~1:02:00)

• 00:00 – Intro / onX Hunt: free e-scouting course & building a hunt plan
• 02:15 – Bridger Watch: mapping-focused hunting smartwatch & onX integration
• 04:00 – Welcome Kevin Gower — gearing up for elk season
• 06:00 – Kevin's background: 22 elk in 23 seasons on public land in Colorado
• 08:15 – What most hunters get wrong: sitting in the same meadow vs. covering ground
• 11:30 – The YouTube generation, backpack hunting romanticism, and today's pressure
• 14:30 – Blocking out other hunters without losing your own game plan
• 17:15 – Mindset: "today's the day" and staying positive in the field
• 19:30 – Don't write the story before the hunt is over
• 22:30 – Early lessons learned solo, the 90/10 rule, and being more aggressive
• 25:30 – Kevin's biggest bull: solo 4-mile pack out in 13 inches of snow
• 29:30 – Stacking hard experiences to build confidence over time
• 33:00 – Pushing limits early — lessons for newer hunters
• 36:15 – Hunting a brand new unit for the first time this season
• 39:00 – E-scouting: finding elk vs. figuring out where people will be
• 43:00 – Staying balanced as a hunter & always having backup plans
• 46:30 – E-scouting and boots-on-the-ground as separate, underrated skills
• 49:15 – Recognizing elk in the field — don't walk past what's right in front of you
• 51:30 – Silent bulls: why quiet elk are often the most killable
• 55:00 – Calling strategy, patience, and reading stick breaks/non-verbal cues
• 58:15 – Reading pressure on private edges & when to leave elk to find elk
• 1:00:30 – Hunting the storm front instead of fighting bad wind
• 1:02:00 – Wrap-up, why you hunt, and closing advice for the season

3 Key Takeaways

1. Don't write the story before the hunt is over. It's easy to mentally give up on a season five days in when things aren't going your way. Both Kevin and the host agree — stay in the present, trust your prep, and don't decide the outcome before you've actually run out of time.
2. Silent bulls are still killable bulls. Pressured public land elk often won't respond to calls, but that doesn't mean they're unhuntable. Learning to locate, approach, and call elk in silently — without over-relying on a bugle response — opens up way more opportunities than waiting for a screaming match.
3. Sometimes the right move is to leave elk to go find better elk. Whether it's a herd locked up on private land or elk buried in noisy, impossible-to-approach downfall, burning days trying to force a bad setup can cost you more than it gains. Recognizing when a situation is unwinnable — and moving on to find more huntable elk — is a skill in itself.