Advice After First Elk Hunt

[Apollo117]

I did not know that about the Sawyers! I used mine several times after it froze, so thankfully I got lucky. I will not use them again. Thanks for the heads-up. Nalgenes and a Steripen will be added to the kit. Thanks!

I wouldn't give up on Sawyer filters. They work very well when they haven't been frozen.

 

[jspradley]

I wouldn't give up on Sawyer filters. They work very well when they haven't been frozen.

If they have been frozen you might just have to let it go.







....I'll see my way out

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Don't the Sawyer filters come with a syringe to blow the water out? If so, nothing in there to freeze if you clear it out. OP you mentioned bringing Llamas, wonder if a small softsided cooler and a handwarmer pack would keep some waters from freezing. We had a truck base camp this year and camped down I think lowest was 2 degrees, everything left out froze, cooking oil, beer, etc... Drinks and meat were kept in Yeti coolers and stayed unfrozen.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

OP I was browsing the RTIC black Friday sale and saw this and thought of your thread here. These come in various sizes for packing and I bet could keep water from freezing if you boil it before filling.

 

[grey12345]

My father and I went on our first elk trip - a DIY, backcountry hunt in the Sangres. We had a lot of fun, though we never got into elk. Some quick details: we had llamas, and camped about 5-miles into a long drainage I had e-scouted (~10,200 feet). We hiked to various benches, avalanche clearings, blow-downs and to the timberline from 9,000 to 11,500ft. There was a bright full-moon and clear skies the whole trip, and a record cold front hit the day before the opener (it was 11 degF our first night). We saw 1-mule deer and no elk in 3-1/2 days of hunting. That could be due to a number of factors, but I have questions on a few things;

1. every night our water (bladders, bottles, Sawyer Minis and LifeStraws) froze solid. We kept them in the tent with us, but that didn't help. We had to boil water from the creek each morning to pack water for the hunts until we were able to thaw our filters in the sun. How do you keep water from freezing at night? I've seen some people say put it in your sleeping bag, but we were cold in our bags as it was. Anyone tried a handwarmer in a sock?

2. the spots I picked to hunt via e-scouting looked the part in every way. We found fairly fresh sign (at one location there were rubs with tree sap still beading out of them). But like I said, we never saw elk. When you run into fresh sign as we did, would you hunt the same area for several days, or should we have abandoned our plans and moved to a new drainage after not finding elk the first 2 days? In other words, how long do you give it until you give up on an area?

I think a lot of our failure was due to choosing an area that was a little out of our league geographically. We put in a great deal of effort every day, averaging about 8-miles of hiking in steep, tough country; but even then we were always near the trail (although we barely saw anyone the whole trip). I feel like we need to choose an area that is less thick with blow-down and less steep that will allow us to get off the trail a little easier. Of course then we'll pay the price with a higher density of hunters... Also, by hiking in so deep, we kind of mentally disallowed the idea of hiking out and trying a different drainage because of the physical effort it took to get back there.

Oh well, lessons learned for next year. Any help on the questions above is appreciated, or advice for a newbie in general.

I have to agree with the comments below, 3.5 days is only enough if you'll fairly familiar with the elk patterns.

 

[jspradley]

OP I was browsing the RTIC black Friday sale and saw this and thought of your thread here. These come in various sizes for packing and I bet could keep water from freezing if you boil it before filling.

I have one of these, it's nice and holds temp well but I wouldnt trust that lid in my pack. It's pretty heavy too.

 

[Headwatermike]

Your water solution was mentioned straight away. Boil water at night before bed and throw a Nalgene of boiling water in the bottom of your sleeping bag about 1/2 hr before bed. Your bag will be warm and instead of having to warm it up you will be in heaven and your water will be thawed in the am. If you want to keep more water outside bury your water container in the snow upside down. If it partially freezes it will still be thawed at the lid.

I second the others as well on the hunt. I would add: elk aren't where you want them, they are where you find them. Keep moving until you find them (fresh tracks, etc). You can kill elk in three days but you better know they are where you are hunting.

 

[11boo]

It Sounds like you bailed one night early? Because you weren’t seeing elk. You have to keep grinding.

 

[Birdman7]

Do you walk through your hunting area to find sign and then walk up high to start glassing? Seems like if there are Elk in the area you'd blow them out.

 

[fatlander]

If the weather was that rough before you rolled into camp it’s likely the elk were down at lower elevations. 10,500 and a high of 11 degrees sounds like the reason you didn’t see any elk or fresh sign. They were probably there in September. That rub sounded old. Sap running out is usually indicative of it being older. Fresh elk sign is so unmistakably fresh. As others have said, until you see/hear/smell them you’ve gotta keep going.


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[Bugle]

It Sounds like you bailed one night early? Because you weren’t seeing elk. You have to keep grinding.

We did bail a night early. That seems to be the biggest piece of advice; suck it up and keep hunting.


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[Bugle]

Do you walk through your hunting area to find sign and then walk up high to start glassing? Seems like if there are Elk in the area you'd blow them out.

Also curious what others’ strategies are regarding finding sign, etc.


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[Bugle]

If the weather was that rough before you rolled into camp it’s likely the elk were down at lower elevations. 10,500 and a high of 11 degrees sounds like the reason you didn’t see any elk or fresh sign. They were probably there in September. That rub sounded old. Sap running out is usually indicative of it being older. Fresh elk sign is so unmistakably fresh. As others have said, until you see/hear/smell them you’ve gotta keep going.


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The low was 11 for the first night, but it warmed to lows in the 20’s and highs in the upper 50’s the other days. There was some snow in front of the cold front, but nothing stuck.


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[SonnyDay]

I'm replying to stuff a bit earlier in the thread...

Hydration Packs - As you discovered, they are pretty worthless once temps drop below freezing. If the temperature in the day is warm enough that you want to keep hydration packs rolling, ya gotta sleep with them at night. A Freezer Gallon Ziploc should hold the bag, tubes, etc. Stick it in the bottom of your sleeping bag. NOTE: For anyone looking to buy a sleeping bag sometime soon, always get the "long" size no matter how tall you are. Just gives you extra space at the bottom for clothes, boots, water bottles, hydration packs, etc.

Sawyer Squeeze Freeze - We also had a frozen Sawyer Squeeze this fall. It was a bummer because we started using it when it was dry, with liquid water... but the water was close enough to freezing that the whole works froze up immediately. We warmed some water with the stove and added it to the squeeze bags, and still no luck. We ended up de-laminating the top of one of the bags by adding water that was too hot. Never got the Sawyer to unfreeze. Have since tossed it per concerns about cracking and such. I will buy another for summer use... love the light weight and quick filtering.

 

[Jimss]

The one thing I've learned about elk is....they hate human disturbance. It doesn't take much to blow elk completely out of an area. Once they are spooked by seeing or smelling you they can run miles before settling down. If it's open country they likely head directly down into the trees where you may never see them again. The best bet for elk is to set up high before daylight....keeping wind direction in mind....and glass....glass....glass. Find another area to glass the next day, etc. The least amount of disturbance by hiking during daylight hours the better (if you are hunting relatively open country! If you hike around you will likely blow them completely out of a drainage. Your chance for success goes WAY up if you spot elk before they spot or smell you!

You could have easily spooked them on your way in with camp? I am super careful where I set up my camp so I don't disturb elk hangouts.

I NEVER hunt elk near trails in Colo OTC units or units with gobs of tags....whether it's hiking or 2 tracks. I find the biggest areas I can find without ANY trails and that's where I hunt! It may take several years of trial and error...plus learning the country to figure things out.

 

[Marble]

I think you guys need a mentor to give you some help. #1 rule for hunting elk is keep the wind. I keep the wind no matter what.

If I'm in a new area I make a big circle around the drainage and look for entry points for where they have gone in if wind allows. I then evaluate what I have seen and make a decision. After 3 days, depending time and the size of the area, I would know if there were elk in the area.

Whenever I am having a hard time finding elk, I look to the places no one wants to go.

 

[wind gypsy]

If the weather was that rough before you rolled into camp it’s likely the elk were down at lower elevations. 10,500 and a high of 11 degrees sounds like the reason you didn’t see any elk or fresh sign. They were probably there in September. That rub sounded old. Sap running out is usually indicative of it being older. Fresh elk sign is so unmistakably fresh. As others have said, until you see/hear/smell them you’ve gotta keep going.


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Man I don’t know, this picture is my buddy from last week as we were following an elk track. He’s standing up.

Lots of good advice on this thread.


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[jmez]

I don't hate elk that bad!

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[SlickStickSlinger]

Sb'd

 

[Bugle]

The one thing I've learned about elk is....they hate human disturbance. It doesn't take much to blow elk completely out of an area. Once they are spooked by seeing or smelling you they can run miles before settling down. If it's open country they likely head directly down into the trees where you may never see them again. The best bet for elk is to set up high before daylight....keeping wind direction in mind....and glass....glass....glass. Find another area to glass the next day, etc. The least amount of disturbance by hiking during daylight hours the better (if you are hunting relatively open country! If you hike around you will likely blow them completely out of a drainage. Your chance for success goes WAY up if you spot elk before they spot or smell you!

You could have easily spooked them on your way in with camp? I am super careful where I set up my camp so I don't disturb elk hangouts.

I NEVER hunt elk near trails in Colo OTC units or units with gobs of tags....whether it's hiking or 2 tracks. I find the biggest areas I can find without ANY trails and that's where I hunt! It may take several years of trial and error...plus learning the country to figure things out.

We camped 5-miles into the drainage, but each morning hiked 1 to 3-miles from there to glassing locations. So we weren't really hunting in the vicinity of camp. Also, it was definitely not open country. Below the treeline was DENSE with tons of blowdown.

We were limited to hiking in on a trail by the llamas. The thought on taking llamas was that we could get our camp deeper than everyone else and still have a practical way to get an elk out if needed (which for the most part worked since we didn't encounter other hunters). I think next season we will omit the llamas and hike a shorter distance into a trailless area.

Glassing Question:
On calm mornings we glassed from the bottom-up (e.g., sat at 10,500 ft and glassed above the tree line to 12,000 ft). I thought that would be a better option because of the downhill thermals and wind direction (and we didn't have to hike the extra 1,500 ft of elevation gain to get a vantage point). Is there anything wrong with glassing "UP"? One disadvantage that comes to mind while typing this is that, in brush, you don't have the advantage of a downward angle to spot bedded animals - but for glassing into timber you have the advantage of not glassing down through tree-tops. Do you worry about downhill thermals when glassing from above? Or do you distance yourself enough from where you're looking that you don't worry about it?