10+ Mile Days

[elknailer]

This year in Colorado unit 61 it was between 6-8 miles every day for15 days. I'm 73

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

This year in Colorado unit 61 it was between 6-8 miles every day for15 days. I'm 73

With an density of 4-5 elk per square mile in that unit, it is likely you missed some elk over the 15 days of your hunt.

 

[elknailer]

I'm sure I did but I saw more bulls this year than all the years since I started elk hunting in 86.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

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.

That’s the equivalent to just over 7 mile by 7 mile square. That’s about 28 miles in the AM and and again in the PM. 56 miles a day. Every day. All without breaking a sweat.

You truly are an Uber elite Rokslide hunter.

 

[mtwarden]

Plenty of 10+ mile days for me; not a big deal

The big deal is when your kill site is 5+ miles from the trailhead

 

[Overdrive]

That’s the equivalent to just over 7 mile by 7 mile square. That’s about 28 miles in the AM and and again in the PM. 56 miles a day. Every day. All without breaking a sweat.

You truly are an Uber elite Rokslide hunter.

Reading isn't your specialty is it, reread what I wrote and think about it

 

[jbranski]

Informative conversation


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[*zap*]

Some folks can walk farther than other folks.

Attorney General Robert Kennedy walked 50 miles in a day in 1963.

"Bobby walked for nearly 18 hours in a pair of dress shoes in 20 degree weather, perhaps under some of the worst conditions to attempt such a feat."

 

[Laramie]

I think to many people are worried about what others think or do. Who cares how far a guy walks... I'm more excited to see the rookie that got a cow 400 yards from a road. That said, 10 miles in flat country isn't a big deal. In really challenging country, it is almost impossible.

 

[tioga]

I’ve done many 10mile days.. me and 3 other guys hauled an elk and out camp out 9.9 miles this archery season.. most I’ve done in a day is 16 with a day pack..
Mileage should be a matter of necessity not because I can.. if I can keep it a few miles it makes life easy..as others have said it depends on terrain, elevation, pack weight, did it feel like 10miles or was it really 10miles etc.

 

[Indian Summer]

I also think that there’s a curve to how many miles guys cover. Over the years you should be learning things enough to shift gears. Hunt smarter instead of harder. Slow down. Get to your money spots and then just sit or make little moves in a small area. Let elk come to you instead of bumping them. I could probably sit in 2-3 spots all week. Actually I have 1 spot that will do. Lots of times if I cover ground it’s just for a little change of scenery or to get some blood flowing.

 

[5MilesBack]

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

Of course we do. The bulls either want to play or they don't. If they don't, I keep hiking until I find one that does. I've very rarely ever gone a day while elk hunting and not gotten into elk. People put too much thought into this mileage and hunting thing. Just go out and do what you can do, and hunt the way you want to hunt......or hunt within your limitations. Some people like to sit all day, and some like to be on the move from the time "I" get out of bed. And not everybody is looking for "any" elk. The way I hunt generally weeds out most of the elk I'm not interested in.

 

[Newtosavage]

The last day of my hunt this year was an 8 mile day. Reason being, I killed my buck 1.5 miles (according to my GPS) from the truck late in the evening, packed half out, went back in and then packed out the other half. So 6 miles just in the last 3 hours of the day. But that was a relatively flat area (albeit at 9400') which is why I was willing to kill that deer 1.5 miles from the truck. I was pretty sore that evening but the next morning I was okay. I'll be 52 soon and 5 years off of back surgery with lingering nerve issues on my right side.

Typically I find my days average around 4-6 miles. Mostly because I'm very curious and part of the reason I go to Colorado to hunt every year is to see some new ground every day. I can watch the same patch of woods all season without leaving my county if I want.

I've thought twice about taking animals more than 2 miles from my truck when I was by myself.

Don't outwalk your ability to safely and ethically get the meat out - that's always in the back of my mind. I used to hunt Colorado in September but my concern for meat spoilage by the time I could get it all out made me switch to the later seasons. Last thing I want is a dead 600 lb. critter 3 miles from the truck when it's 80 degrees. That right there really dictates how and where I hunt as much as anything.

 

[mtwarden]

Here’s a three day hunt from this fall (albeit mule deer), 15 of those miles with a 65-70 lb pack. Fun? Now that’s it done and meat is the freezer…………... ah sure

 

[KsRancher]

I have only put on more than 10 miles once while elk hunting. That's a long ways. 4-5 would be more of a day for me. This fall my brother and I went in shot an elk and brought out 2 loads of meat each that day, clocked a little over 14 miles. And WOW, that was brutal.

 

[Fever Buck]

I’m gonna say that the majority (not the vast majority, but the majority) of people who make this claim are full of it. That being said, 10 miles can mean a lot of different things in different terrain. If you’re getting off trail in rough terrain, 3 miles can easily be a 8-10 hour day. I checked out a spot awhile back that took me 9 hours to get 6 miles (4,000 feet of climbing) using a patchwork of game trails. On a moderate trail, you can easily knock out 10 miles in 5 hours. But, if you are actually “hunting”, you aren’t knocking out miles, you are stopping , starting, listening, glassing, calling, evaluating and trying to be quiet.

Put this on the scale of UL thru hikers: 25-30 miles a day is dark to dark hiking with sub 25# packs, eating meals on the go. If you are effectively hunting, 10 miles is likely all you can effectively cover in one day and that’s in relatively moderate terrain. So, when people rattle off about covering 10 miles a day for 9 days in a row, either they weren’t spending much actual time hunting or they are exaggerating.

Great explanation.

 

[Troutnut]

Ten miles with a hunting pack is a long day and probably means not enough time spent behind the glass in most spots. I had my first ten-mile hunting day this year, when I took the long way from the high country back to the trailhead, thinking I might stop part-way, but I decided not to stop and to drive to a different part of the unit instead. I do six miles pretty often going into and out of an area, but those are usually broken up by days I move just a couple miles between glassing points or stalking animals.

FYI, GPS usually exaggerates distance, because when you're sitting still the coordinates still bounce around. There are tools to factor that out and get more accurate measurements. Since I switched to using my phone as my GPS, I rarely bother burning battery recording a track unless I'm measuring the final pack out or following a spotty trail I might want to retrace.

 

[roosiebull]

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.

being a fool who kills a bull every year is fine with me i personally think it's foolish to assume what others do and why without even a little information, but i'm not that surprised with the current mentality inn this country.... trying hard is for fools, and effort is for idiots.... never know what the hell you'll read on the internet, haha.

 

[roosiebull]

I also think that there’s a curve to how many miles guys cover. Over the years you should be learning things enough to shift gears.

it was the opposite for me, i used to cover a lot less ground, but more pressure, low biomass of elk and a huge reduction in access over the years, if you want to stay among elk, there are lots of days of covering ground to cut fresh sign.

all last week, i couldn't find a track that was less than 4 miles from my pickup... one night i found some, ran out of light, thought it was a long walk out of there but didn't do the math until the next morning when i was back in there, and i realized it seemed like a long walk because it was almost 6 miles... wouldn't have been a very fun pack out by myself, but the suck only lasts so long. 2 weeks of OTC rifle, and the elk were pushed hard in the unit i have a tag in. i would be happy to not walk that far, but if there isn't a track, i'm not slowing down.

what gets me on mileage is walking back out and walking back in for the afternoon.... better than jumping them out of bed midday, but piles on the miles... mostly walking gated logging roads, so covering 10 miles in a morning is pretty easy, and necessary last week. i could save myself a lot of walking by just staying in the woods rather than walk out for the middle of the day, but i don't mind walking, so it doesn't matter much.

this time of year, my legs are pretty bulletproof.... the smart hunters covering less than 10 miles in a whole day probably bring a picture of an elk with them

 

[PNW bow hunter]

The area I elk hunt 10 mile days aren’t unheard of for me. Average is probably closer to eight.

From my favorite spike camp(5.25 miles from road) if I head nw I can hunt my way out a really good finger ridge anout 3 miles. I call to locate bulls, but stop and call for 20-30 minutes in a few known bedding areas on the way out the finger. Depending exactly what I do this hunt ends up being 5-6 miles round trip back to camp

If I head nw out of camp there is a series of steep fingers and draws with lots of different bedding areas. I call to locate bulls, but in this area spend way more time set up for 30 minutes at a time near known bedding areas. Depending where I go on this hunt it is 4.5-6 miles round trip back to camp.

If I head straight north I typically hunt up hill about 1.25 miles, and then drop down a 2 mile long ridge above a steep timbered basin. I cover ground calling, and also stop near known bedding areas to call for 20-30 minutes. This is another hunt that is 5-6 miles round trip back to camp

I can also head straight north a couple miles out of camp across the top of multiple steep fingers and draws. This is a mix of feeding and bedding areas. This hunt we mostly do locate bugles and cover ground. This ends up being a fairly quick 4ish mile hunt if we don’t get on any bulls. 9 out of 10 times if they are in this area they are bedded a little lower than halfway down to the bottom.

In all these areas we like to hunt hard, but hunt it in a way where we don’t blow the elk out. The bulls are mostly in the thick timber, and locating them first then calling them in is probably how we get 60 percent of them. Covering ground from up high, calling to locate a responsive bull.

The other 40 percent are killed getting in close(within 100yards) of suspected or known bedding areas, then using mostly cow calls/kicking small rocks around/and breaking small sticks to call bulls in. We only set up on these bedding areas when the wind is right, mostly depending on the thermals for consistency. Elk density is low, so knowing where bedding areas are doesn’t mean they are there that day.

All the above hunts are ones that are done in part of a day, so we usually hit 2 of the areas per day, obviously not always returning to camp. You can see it wouldn’t be difficult to cover 10 miles in a day the way I hunt, in the area I hunt. There is food, water, and cover pretty much everywhere, and there’s not elk in all the areas all the time, so covering ground seems to work very well for us in this area.

I also have 2 other spike camp spots south of the above one with multiple hunting areas similar to the above ones from each camp spot. From where I park I acces all 3 different camps and hunting areas. On a 5-10 day hunt I may end up hunting out of all three camps or just one depending on where other people are, and where the elk are.

When these elk get bumped by hunters they tend to completely leave the area for at least a week. By mid September it can take some leg work to figure out which nasty pockets the different herds have moved into.

I have hunted other areas with really high elk numbers, areas where glassing is an option, or areas where limited food/water/cover congregates them in specific areas that covering that much ground is not necessary.

I hunted the wasatch mountains with a friend that drew the archery bull tag around 2006 when elk numbers were super high, and tag numbers were extremely low. We had never been there, only scouted with paper maps. After 4-5 days of backpacking around we zeroed in on where lots of elk were. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure Out where they would be bedding. Nearly every north face timber patch was full of fresh beds. Once we got boots on the ground in the unit we covered way less ground each day, probably 4-6 miles.

Way different scenario than where I have hunted the last 10 years.