10+ Mile Days

[justinspicher]

I did 10+ mile days with gear for multiple days as a wildland firefighter, I was in my late thirties. Its not as hard as you think it is. If you spend most of your time in the mountains, its just another day.

 

[KHNC]

6-8 miles is pretty standard for me in elk country. We typically hike 2-2.5 miles in each morning by daybreak to get to some of our better areas. Packs usually 20-25lbs at the very most. Probably 20lbs most of the time. We hunt steady throughout the day til we get into elk. Many times we will hear a far off bugle and take off in a rush in that direction. May cover almost a mile on the spot in that case. Then follow the bull til we can get in position to cut it off. I consider 6 miles an easy day elk hunting in most cases.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

My first season ever my wife and I had a couple 10 mile days. I was also advised that I was moving way too fast and not hunting but rather just hiking all over haphazardly. In hindsight I think the advice was correct and I needed to slow down, glass more, watch and listen.

 

[ganngus]

What was your elevation profile on that 16 mile day?

I apparently only saved the evening hunt track on Onx. Morning would been similar elevations. Started at 8300 to the north then worked my way south and peaking at 9100ish. I should have worked way north back the way I came. However, I was tired/hungry af and took the shorter route off the mountain. Super reckless on my part. But when its dark and the temperature drops out, the brain may tell you its the best thing to do to get back to a warm meal and bed.

 

[ridgefire]

Here are two tracks from a couple years ago. These tracks are from Unit 335 in Eastern Washington so not a ton of elevation gains but still a lot of hiking. We cover alot of country looking for bugling bulls but have a blast doing it. Some mornings we have a 5 mile hike to get to where we want to hunt for the day. If I went thru my tracks I would guess most days are at least 10 miles but probably closer to 15.

 

[5MilesBack]

There are days in some places where I'll hike 2-3 miles in before or close to first light.........do some prospecting and be back at the truck by 0930. That's 4-6 miles right there. Then perhaps another jaunt after lunch, and another one that evening, and I'm at 10-12+ miles easily. That's a very typical day for me in some of the places I hunt.

I'm not one for stopping much, I like to keep moving if I'm out there (I even pace around while in camp). So even if I was to "only" go 1mph (really slow for me) and stayed out all day, that's like 16 miles from 0500-2100. I don't slow down until I actually find a bull that wants to play. But I prefer to break the day up into segments like my first example. Those are easy. I'm also not carrying a 50lb pack anywhere unless I'm taking camp in, or hauling it back out. My normal daypack is right around 15-16lbs.

 

[tdhanses]

An avg day for me is between 22-24k steps, I never really keep track of what that equates to in mileage and I don’t carry a full pack each day, more like 15-20lbs while actively hunting.

 

[WCB]

Welcome to MN deer hunting where every body walks 1+ miles to there deer stand. NO JIM you hunt 40 acres and I can talk to you from the road.

10 mile days for SOME guys is not uncommon. For the vast majority 3-4 a day is more normal. I think MOST guys over estimate how far they walk. I know a couple guys like this and when you ask where the hunted they point at a hill maybe 2 miles away and they think it is 4 or 5.

 

[SuperDUECE22]

hard to say, i'd say half the guys are full of shit & the other half are actually doing it, my last archery elk hunt we did 10+ miles 8 out of the 10 days. I'd say half of them miles were hiking in & out of the area we were hunting because we were truck camping.

 

[cnelk]

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

 

[5MilesBack]

In 2012 my buddy and I hiked into an area and I shot a bull at 10am. That first load out I wanted to see how far we hiked in that morning, so I turned on the "trail" option and my GPS showed our outbound trail at 4.68 miles to the truck. That was almost a 10 mile day and we didn't start hiking out until 4pm. So there were another 6 hours between that, that we could have been hiking without that bull showing up.

 

[Grant K]

There are days in some places where I'll hike 2-3 miles in before or close to first light.........do some prospecting and be back at the truck by 0930. That's 4-6 miles right there. Then perhaps another jaunt after lunch, and another one that evening, and I'm at 10-12+ miles easily. That's a very typical day for me in some of the places I hunt.

I'm not one for stopping much, I like to keep moving if I'm out there (I even pace around while in camp). So even if I was to "only" go 1mph (really slow for me) and stayed out all day, that's like 16 miles from 0500-2100. I don't slow down until I actually find a bull that wants to play. But I prefer to break the day up into segments like my first example. Those are easy. I'm also not carrying a 50lb pack anywhere unless I'm taking camp in, or hauling it back out. My normal daypack is right around 15-16lbs.

this is pretty much how I usually end up hunting, I average 6-10 a day that number can go way up if I'm in a new area and cruising all day to get a feel for the area and trying to locate elk, it can go way down if I know exactly where I'm going and what my game plan is, I also hate blowing elk out by camping too close so I figure extra walking in the dark both ways every day.
absolutely not doing it with a 50lb pack though, more like 15lb...

added for cnelk: I'd also assume almost nobody goes 10 miles deep, as said it's almost impossible to not be closer to the other side at that distance, I walk 10 miles a day pretty regularly and almost never get farther than 2 from a road.

 

[Huntnfish89]

For me personally I might do 10+ miles a day, but that's counting zig zagging, going down various game trails, turning around, backtracking etc. Then again I can only day hunt and 2 days a week at that, often times while I have the opportunity to hunt throughout the season, the areas that game are in changes from beginning to end.

The majority of the time this is when I am having trouble finding game or areas that look fresh. When I find those my " mileage" drops considerably.

I do also base my numbers of my tracker on my wrist so I am sure the numbers aren't exact, but close given past experience.

 

[rodney482]

I sure aint got a 50# pack on when hunting

 

[Ross]

My experience says most don’t if there is any substantial vertical involved my day last weekend cam checking which would be a typical morning hunt a decade ago then back out at night….oh to be young againCan only imagine the days we used to have chasing bulls this was with a standArd 17-20 pd pack that included cams batteries and snacks for Odin the path shows you colors of your speed red flat blue or green steep crawling low gear also if you hunt roadless country of this nature you will likely need to cover many miles to find them which is half the fun

 

[FLATHEAD]

If you're doing 10 miles a day while hunting, you're missing a lot of animals.
Do more looking, less walking.

 

[Cant hit em]

If I was planning to hunt that far back Id dam sure have horses or llamas or something lined up to do the grunt work on the way out.

 

[5MilesBack]

If you're doing 10 miles a day while hunting, you're missing a lot of animals.
Do more looking, less walking.

Not looking for "just" animals........looking for the right bull that is ready and wants to play the game. But ya, there are a lot of animals out there that I pass by intentionally......and some I'm sure I pass unintentionally. Lots of elk that sneak in silently and then bust when I blow past them at 15 yards. I don't worry about those bulls.

 

[541hunter]

Hunting western Oregon, behind gates and using logging roads to get around you can easily cover 10 miles especially when just trying to locate an elk.

 

[D_Dubya]

I’ve done 10 miles a day a few times - round trip tracked on OnX . Usually covering ground to find sign or going to a far ridge to glass from - 10 miles is a lot of fast walking if you’re actually hunting. Most of my elk hunting has been in Colorado and there’s not a lot of elk country that you can go 10 miles one way and not cross another road. Most days I hike a total of 4-6 miles from the trailhead/truck round trip. That can be easy or very tough depending on if there’s any trail miles or not and how soon I start “up”.