THE EVENING ELK HUNTING PROBLEM (AND SOLUTION) | 🎙️ EP. 168

Backbone Unlimited Podcast · Apr 14, 2026 · 11m

In this episode Matt Hartsky breaks down one of the most misunderstood and costly mistakes in elk hunting—misreading evening thermals and getting busted without ever knowing why. Most hunters assume evening wind becomes predictable, but in real mountain terrain it rarely behaves that cleanly. That gap between what you think the wind is doing and what it’s actually doing is where encounters fall apart.

After more than 34 years of hunting Western elk, Matt explains how evening thermals truly transition, why airflow becomes unstable during that window, and how elk consistently use those…