When the mountains freeze and the bugles stop, late-season hunting becomes a game of clues—and the hunters who win are the ones who can read them right.

In this episode of Backbone Unlimited, Matt Hartsky breaks down one of the most important cold-weather skills a hunter can have: judging the freshness of sign when everything’s frozen. After three decades of late-season Western hunts, Matt shares exactly how he reads tracks, droppings, beds, and scent in the snow and frost to determine whether animals are still close—or long gone.

You’ll learn how freezing temperatures preserve sign and why sharp edges, moisture, and melt patterns tell a clearer story than color or shape ever will. Matt explains how to read tracks in snow versus frozen ground, how droppings change in the cold, and how melted beds, frost crystals, and scent clues all layer together to form a reliable system. He also reveals how to factor in environmental influences—sun exposure, wind, slope, and temperature swings—that can make old sign look new or erase fresh trails overnight.

This isn’t theory—it’s a masterclass in late-season elk and mule deer hunting tactics, designed to help you recognize real-time activity and avoid chasing ghosts. Whether you’re glassing ridges after a snowstorm or following frozen sign in timber, you’ll learn how to build your own system for reading the mountain and staying on hot animals when others are wandering blind.

If you’re serious about becoming a smarter, more efficient cold-weather hunter, this episode will teach you how to interpret every clue nature gives you—and how to turn that understanding into late-season success.