10+ Mile Days

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

As others have said, a lot of times people "feel" how hard a hunt is and throw out 10 as a big number. That said, our average day is probably 7-10 miles. It's not as bad as it sounds though. Most of our hunts consist of a 2 miles in, 2 miles out loop. Do one of those in the morning and one in the evening, and you're at 8. We know the area we hunt extremely well, which helps out with knowing the most efficient ways to handle/keep elevation as well.
The more elk we run into, the less miles we put on. So it's a win-win.

Stay out and glass. You may be surprised at how many animals get up to use the bathroom, eat a snack, and move to shade while folks are back in camp.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Pretty sure I don’t care enough to kill a critter or any sort of it requires 10 mile days…..hell, even 5 mile days!


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The farthest I've killed from the truck was 3.2 miles.
2 trips to get it back to the truck,,,,12.8 miles.
I'd say most dont have a clue what 10 miles looks like.

 

[gelton]

The farthest I've killed from the truck was 3.2 miles.
2 trips to get it back to the truck,,,,12.8 miles.
I'd say most dont have a clue what 10 miles looks like.

That's why everyone should have a packer set up in the case you get one where it's hard to get out. Not afraid to say that we have used one twice.

 

[Poser]

Pretty sure I don’t care enough to kill a critter of any sort of it requires 10 mile days…..hell, even 5 mile days!


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I have a spot in particular that I’m thinking of that takes about 4 hours to go 1.25 miles. Used to take 4.5 hours, but have 15+ trips over the years, we’ve got it down to 3.5 hours in, 3 hours out. That’s not “hunting” slowly either, that’s just trying to get there ASAP. This spot is not unique for the San Jauns as there are plenty of other examples of progress grinding down to a speed of 1/4 mile per hour. No one is going to cover 10 miles a day in that. Mind you, this is all off trail, but I’ve logged enough 8-9 hours days to cover a mere 3-4 miles to not have expectations of knocking out mileage unless it’s on trail. It’s just not doable: too steep, too technical, too many terrain obstacles (scree slopes, deadfall, waterfalls, cliff bands etc) to negotiate.

 

[Newtosavage]

I see a ton of posts about people saying that they cover 10 or more miles a day, in the mountains. Is this for real or is this people walking a couple miles and grossly overestimating or exaggerating how much ground they actually cover? Especially with a 50lb pack on.

I remember back to last season where I climbed 1,500ft at 4:00am, glassed a bit, walked a bit, glassed a bit, napped a bit, and ended up back at camp at dark. All covering about 3 miles, and that was a big day.

I have a buddy that tells me every time he goes hunting that he walks like 10 miles, and then he tells me where was and it was more like 1 mile. He’s a tool…hahaha.


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I can't speak for anyone else, but rarely would I ever see the need for a 10-mile day. For one, finding a location where I hunt (in Colorado) that is more than 2-3 miles from a road is nearly impossible. Second, I don't want to/not able to pack meat that far. Third, I just don't think it's necessary to find game.

If someone just wants to hike 10 mi./day, then good for them. But I'm not that guy.

Last season, I kept a log on my OnX app and I averaged about 3 miles/day. On my final two days I hiked 6 and then 9.5 miles. Obviously the last day was a bit of a "desperation" move since I hadn't had a shot opportunity all season. And with 1k vertical up and then down in 15" of snow, that 9.5 miles was literally all I wanted.

But when I was 20 years younger, I probably could have managed 8-10 miles/day. I just don't see the need for it.

 

[roosiebull]

i keep track via gps every day of elk season and blacktail season, after reading through the replies, i think i'll keep my stats to myself, haha..... a lot of you wouldn't like hunting with me though, based on the replies.

 

[TradLife406]

Apparently on the gram the only distance is 10 miles.
I stepped out of the tipi 10 miles at midnight to P...

Apparently there's a badge of honor for going harder not smarter.

Five miles total is a solid for me!

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[zion zig zag]

I looked at the tracks for my elk hunt last year. This was the Uinta mountains of Utah, the 10 and 11 mile days were mostly cruising ridge-lines peeking into different basins.
Day 1-9.98 miles
Day 2-3.32
Day 3- 6.69
Day 4-11.3
Day 5 (killed an elk and packed it out)-5.95

 

[justinspicher]

During our sheep hunt this year we finished up 47 miles in four days……

 

[5MilesBack]

It's pretty obvious that a lot of guys seem to think a 10 mile day is hiking straight in 10 miles for some reason.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Apparently on the gram the only distance is 10 miles.
I stepped out of the tipi 10 miles at midnight to P...

Apparently there's a badge of honor for going harder not smarter.

Five miles total is a solid for me!

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The one thing I've learned hunting for dang near 50 years in probably a dozen states is :
S L O W D O W N.

 

[Poser]

“Well, it was a hard week, but we kept hammering’, hiking eight………teen miles per day for 8 days straight. In the end, we didn’t get it done, but we saw some beautiful country.
Good luck to all of the hunters out there tackling the West. Smash that subscribe button, hit the like button and don’t forget to turn on the notification bell. Personal training and elk hunting coaching now available, DM for details. If you like what you see, considering joining my Patreon so we can keep bringing your the best elk hunting content on the Internet.”

#cantstopwontstop #keephammering #18milesdaily #elkslayer #elkhuntingcoach
#3%hunter #huntfit

 

[SWOHTR]

People that achieve these distances must have 30in waists and ankles of iron.

 

[Scooter90254]

I’ve had plenty of 10 mile days. Slowed down considerably now that I’m over 40.

Woke up 5 miles back one morning few years ago and chased a bugle 2 miles. Shot the bull, quartered it and hiked it back the 2 miles to camp. Decided to take a load to the truck with only 2 of us and knew it was going to take 2-10 mile round trips.

That hike back from the truck to camp was absolutely miserable.

For most people 10 miles is where for whatever reason your body hits the wall.

 

[Marble]

I've been hunting in CO for 19 years. Most years I do not have 10 mile days, but it is expected that it could happen at anytime.

The most I did was 35,000 steps which was something like 17 miles. But that was an odd one in many ways. And only got worse when I returned to my horse and it was gone.

Most days, hunting off the horse I do 3 -5 miles. Straight backpacking is generally 5-7 daily.

I know of a few guys that greatly exaggerate weight of animals, distance hiked and elevation climbed.

Frankly I don't give a shit about that stuff, but I do like to keep track of where I've been for future use with OnX.

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[ndfb35]

“Well, it was a hard week, but we kept hammering’, hiking eight………teen miles per day for 8 days straight. In the end, we didn’t get it done, but we saw some beautiful country.
Good luck to all of the hunters out there tackling the West. Smash that subscribe button, hit the like button and don’t forget to turn on the notification bell. Personal training and elk hunting coaching now available, DM for details. If you like what you see, considering joining my Patreon so we can keep bringing your the best elk hunting content on the Internet.”

#cantstopwontstop #keephammering #18milesdaily #elkslayer #elkhuntingcoach
#3%hunter #huntfit

I now how you decided upon your name

 

[blicero]

We do about 3 miles to get up to the saddle where we start hunting. If we get into elk, we might not go much further than that, but generally we're at least dropping down to the bottom of that drainage. I'd say we average 10-12 miles a day, we've done as much as 16 in a day but that was a terrible idea.

Miles aren't created equal though. I'd rather do 3 miles on a moderate hiking-grade trail than 1 mile side-hilling through super thick deadfall.

 

[mwebs]

Gridding one small section, of one ridge, for an elk my buddy hit opening day I put on 6 miles just switchbacking down to the bottom and back up. That was after 10.5 miles hunting all day. It’s not hard to get up to that mileage if your actively hunting and moving all day. Go check out this bench 3/4 a mile that way, then this one .5 miles that way adds up quick. Obviously I’m not hiking 10 miles in a straight line.

 

[lmeyer]

My first trip out west was to Wyoming with a deer tag. I had a base camp at the bottom of the mountain and covered 10 to 12 miles a day and gained about 2 to 3000ft.... granted I had no idea what I was doing. My Idea of glassing at the time was stopping for 2 or 3 minutes while hiking and take a quick look through the binos. I was in ok shape but not great shape when I arrived. None of my pants fit by the time we left.

 

[3forks]

It seems like a lot of guys are putting in 10+ miles a day.

Maybe that’s the reason all the units are so crowded. If everyone is hiking 10 miles a day while moving through a unit, no wonder so many hunters are running into each other.