10+ Mile Days

[Seeknelk]

I say BS - 10 miles in some places you’re already close to another road

They r saying 10 miles total...so only 3-5 one way...some hunting, looping around and hiking back out and we often are over 10. And I'm fat and otta shape and in extremely chitty country.

 

[FLATHEAD]

All these people doing 10-18 miles, no wonder all the animals have
run in to the next county/ranch.

 

[Southforkguy]

Don't think some of these dudes are being honest about their hiking abilities. Thats all I'm saying.. kinda like the old saying fisherman/hunters are liars...No 10 isn't very far and is pretty easy to do in a day. We do that grouse hunting every single damn day. I typically drive to other areas then hike in if I'm hunting a new zone. Guess it all depends

 

[id_jon]

I only believe gps tracks when it comes to miles hiked, and especially elevation gained. That said, 10 is easy enough to believe, I get skeptical when someone says 12, or 15 miles, especially if they're fat and they say they didn't see any elk despite covering 15 miles.

 

[JordanH]

Did over 8 the first morning.....plus the evening hunt. 2nd day did less than 4.....took it easy.....like WAY easy. And I am old and fat and not in shape for this painful chit. 100 mile season is average.

 

[roosiebull]

All these people doing 10-18 miles, no wonder all the animals have
run in to the next county/ranch.

They haven’t, you just aren’t walking far enough

 

[KOK]

astonishing ridiculous thread

 

[Poser]

Perhaps I’m too steeped in my locale. I don’t think 10 miles a day is an impressive hike, in fact, I easily averaged that at lower elevations while bear hunting this weekend. Have a thru hike planned for later this month where the plan is to average 20 miles a day for 5 days.

But, local elk country looks like this:

 

[TILLER]

This thread blows my mind. Where I hunt you'd have to walk logging roads to get that kind of mileage. As soon as you drop into the woods it is bushwhacking thick in most areas and you'd have to try to find a place that was a mile from a logging road. I gotta get to a more remote/open area. Sounds fun to be further out.

 

[Travis1984]

I mean I (and my hunting partner) packed a bear out 17 miles. So I’d say 10 is doable


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[Huntnnw]

completely dependent on terrain and area. Hiking the open country in S Idaho versus hiking 10 miles in hells canyon is 2 different animals. You could also be hunting in heavy thick cover with minimal roads or trails and 10 miles is almost not even feasable, yet 2 ridges over you could be hunting gated roads in a logging area and walking 10 miles is easy.

 

[roosiebull]

completely dependent on terrain and area. Hiking the open country in S Idaho versus hiking 10 miles in hells canyon is 2 different animals. You could also be hunting in heavy thick cover with minimal roads or trails and 10 miles is almost not even feasable, yet 2 ridges over you could be hunting gated roads in a logging area and walking 10 miles is easy.

Pretty much spot on

There is a spot I’m thinking of close to home that would be 5.5-6 miles hunting through and back, and it takes the better part of a full day… 2 big ridges, with a bunch of finger ridges, and tons of little creeks and forks of them… it’s vertical draw after vertical draw, and every one is solid salmonberry brush in the bottom 3rd… it’s slow going, rough country and super thick, and that 5 miles is much harder than 15 walking logging roads… I’m planning on making a 2 day trip out of that spot here soon, just to be able to be thorough.

hells canyon is no joke… spent a few days in there a couple springs ago… crazy beautiful country, but it’s an ass kicker… the last morning we were there we did a big loop in there, and certainly had my legs feeling it at times

Weneha is another area that is tough country to cover a lot of ground in… a buddy drew that elk tag a few years ago, and we would drop into one of those canyons in the morning after walking in, hunt around, climb out and do it again in the afternoon… we finally settled into one canyon where he ended up filling his tag, and found a way into the bottom… it was almost 4 miles in to get to where the bulls were living, but it was a pretty mellow walk… took us about 1.5hrs in the dark to walk in every morning, but it was a lot easier than climbing straight up out of there… not crazy elevation there, but I felt it, spending all of my time around sea level

 

[Seeknelk]

There's a million varieties and blends of terrain! Man, how's it so hard to believe?! Can walk in on a main trail or road 5-10 miles without a ton of pain. And then drop off and be in yew brush and devil's club to your neck and spend hours going a mile. Or hunt eastern Mt and walk 15 miles easy in a day. Or a long main drainage...I mean c'mon. It just walking n climbing, our legs are purpose made for it. Sometimes it just hurts. Who cares about the mileage , just go where you gotta..

 

[roosiebull]

I would be happy with some sub 10 mile days right now, but I wouldn’t have seen much this past week if I kept the daily miles under 10. I only had one day in the last 9 that was under 15, that was because it was storming hard, and didn’t hunt the afternoon

 

[Wrench]

I just do what it takes. Sometimes I can be in cooperative animals in my local .5 mile hole....Sometimes I have to work others which can vary up to 3 miles away. I will break 10 coming out because i can drop to a road and book out, but 3 miles in my area is an all day event. It's thick, steep and typically pretty dry.....so I will advance a few hundred yards and evaluate, possibly call, possibly chase tracks.....possibly, you know....hunt.

I don't keep track of distance as a metric of success, I keep track of shot opportunities as success....and trust me, I fug those up with reckless abandon compared to the number of ones I don't.

 

[Overdrive]

I usually cover 50 square miles before 10 am and then again in the evenings and I don't even break a sweat. Seems like there's more and more guys that go Elk hiking these days. I'll let my eyes do the walking until I find what I'm looking for and pattern the herd then make my move.

 

[Jakerex]

I hiked about 4 miles one day from point a to point b, but my watch gps said 13 miles cause it calculates every side step and what have you. I’d never tell someone I walked 13 miles…..you’re a tool if you do.


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[FLATHEAD]

I bet a lot of these guys walk past a lot of Elk.

 

[Indian Summer]

If a hunter walks 10 miles in a day he’s a fool. He’s running ridges or bottom trails. He’s not side hilling benches in the elk zone. He’s definitely passing up elk unless his spot sucks so bad there are none. He probably hasn’t hunted the area enough to know when to slow down. Most likely he’s in a new area and that means he’s in exploring (scouting) mode not hunting mode. No doubt that at the speed it would take to cover that much ground there’s no way a guy could see an elk before it sees him. When someone says they covered 10 miles I just laugh and think wtf did you do that for?!?!? 16 miles… lmfao… it’s time to put miles on your truck not your boots. I probably average 3 miles a day. I’m hunting.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

I bet a lot of these guys walk past a lot of Elk.

Then there’s the game that gets blown out before they even get there, wherever “there” is.

But this is Rokslide so the hunters are stealthier than a mountain lion and are scentless.