Advice for the Inexperienced Backcountry Wannabe’s

[dtrkyman]

I just bought some peak refuel, have not tried them yet. I seem to find lot's of game near the highway!

 

[trophyhill]

IMO, one of the most important things is practicing with your gear. Whatever gear you choose, make sure you aren't using it for the first time when on a hunt. That's not the time to find out your boots aren't broken in. Or your pack doesn't carry well on technical terrain. Or you don't have the right tent stakes for the ground you're on. Or that your sleeping pad has a hole in it. Or whatever. None of it is rocket science. But, I want my hunting trips to be about hunting. And not managing and figuring out my gear.

I had a shoulder strap break on a cheapazz pack while packing my first bull hunting from truck camp in 2012. 2013 I bought my first Kifaru and haven’t looked back nor had a pack issue since.

 

[GreenNDark Timber]

Never ever under any circumstances trust Google Earth....it's way steeper and way farther than it looks!

 

[bracer40]

get enough short trips in at home before you go that you know your gear and have some idea of your abilities.

spend a few nights alone in as remote country as can find..

as coon dog says, it is big country. i will never forget the first look i got at the country we would be hunting, as we came to a small clearing.

This! Sleeping alone in the woods can be a spooky affair if you haven't grown accustomed to it. Do it in your own neck of the woods for the experience. Also a great time to test out gear.

 

[Still Hunter]

Hunt every moment. You never know when that bull will materialize. When you are tired, worn out and walking back to camp looking down a the trail just trying to put one foot in front of the other up, going up a steep incline and all the sudden you hear crashing and a 6x6 with 3 cows was 25 yards away watching you but you never even looked up. And to make it worse, you are only 130 yards from your base camp. That might be your one chance. Hunt every moment.

 

[Venom One]

I think nearly all of us are gear junkies at heart. Even when we have something that works really well, we still want to try the new gadget.

Awesome gear makes every part of the trip/experience better, but IMO the most important part is knowing how to get out when something goes wrong. If your GPS and/or phone fail, can you get out? If you're alone when this happens and you're unprepared, you will feel panic. It's not quite as bad if you're in open country where you can see landmarks, but if you're in a thick, tangled jungle of forest where everything looks the same - and you have no idea which way to go.......panic will have a new definition after that.

 

[trophyhill]

Just get out there. Waiting 15 years to draw that awesome tag, then blowing the opportunity because you have 0 experience is not what you want to do. Hunt OTC, buy points and burn them every couple of years on easy to draw units. You'll have way more fun that way than sitting it out every season, waiting to be drawn for a primo unit.

I think nearly all of us are gear junkies at heart. Even when we have something that works really well, we still want to try the new gadget.

Awesome gear makes every part of the trip/experience better, but IMO the most important part is knowing how to get out when something goes wrong. If your GPS and/or phone fail, can you get out? If you're alone when this happens and you're unprepared, you will feel panic. It's not quite as bad if you're in open country where you can see landmarks, but if you're in a thick, tangled jungle of forest where everything looks the same - and you have no idea which way to go.......panic will have a new definition after that.

Great point. One reason I have a backup to a backup to a backup. OnX, Go Hunt etc on phone, Garmin 60CSX and In Reach. Big Country in CO. My first trip to CO and only second year hunting elk in 2009 I thought I was the ultimate woodsman and went with only the bare essentials hunting from truck camp and no map or gps. I went chasing a bugling bull and an hour later everything looked the same. Couldn’t see the sky and a storm rolled in. Got turned around and felt lost. I did not panic though and just sat down and waited the storm out. I knew I had been traveling up the whole time so started downhill after the storm and luckily popped out on the forest road my truck was parked on and recognized a pond I had driven by. Boy what a relief that was! You don’t ever want to be lost and unprepared in the Rockies that’s for sure.

I killed my 1st elk that evening about a mile from the truck and my first solo pack out. I remember being soaking wet when I got the last load to the truck around midnight. Good times. That Bud Light was the best tasting beer I’ve ever had when I got that last load to the truck

 

[Still Hunter]

I am adding another important one. Take the first good shot opportunity within your range. If he is at 40 yards broad side coming right to the wallow you are sitting at and he stops in a opening, take it. I missed some of the easiest opportunities looking for a closer one and they were hard learning experiences. The wind can swirl , a cow call or bugle in the distance can pull him in another direction. A &%$#@+! Pine squirrel can start barking and make him uneasy and make him head off. I am not saying take a bad shot, I am saying take the first solid shot opportunity that is within your range that you can take. NO REGRETS!

 

[Venom One]

Great point. One reason I have a backup to a backup to a backup. OnX, Go Hunt etc on phone, Garmin 60CSX and In Reach. Big Country in CO. My first trip to CO and only second year hunting elk in 2009 I thought I was the ultimate woodsman and went with only the bare essentials hunting from truck camp and no map or gps. I went chasing a bugling bull and an hour later everything looked the same. Couldn’t see the sky and a storm rolled in. Got turned around and felt lost. I did not panic though and just sat down and waited the storm out. I knew I had been traveling up the whole time so started downhill after the storm and luckily popped out on the forest road my truck was parked on and recognized a pond I had driven by. Boy what a relief that was! You don’t ever want to be lost and unprepared in the Rockies that’s for sure.

I killed my 1st elk that evening about a mile from the truck and my first solo pack out. I remember being soaking wet when I got the last load to the truck around midnight. Good times. That Bud Light was the best tasting beer I’ve ever had when I got that last load to the truck

Great story, Trophyhill! Once you've been lost and realize how easily and quickly it happens, you immediately take steps to make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm like you after my experience - multiple backups - OnX, InReach, Garmin Instinct, and (2) compasses.

My experience was in my second year also and I'd grown accustomed to trusting the GPS 100% so I didn't have anything else with me. After hunting all morning with no activity, I was ready to head back to the truck. I fired up the GPS, let it acquire and started walking. After about 10 min, I noticed boot tracks, which surprised me because I was sure I was alone, but I just kept walking, following the GPS. But....I kept running into boot tracks - it was thick woods with lots of ground vegetation so they were very sporadic, ill-defined tracks - but why would I keep hitting tracks? I wasn't on a trail so the likelihood of following another person in the middle of nowhere was nearly impossible......what could be going on with all these tracks? Then I looked at the tracks closer and realized those were my tracks - the GPS signal was very weak under the thick canopy and it was just routing me in circles. I forced myself to sit down as waves of panic roiled though my head as I accepted I was completely LOST. After getting control of myself, I realized my only chance was to find reliable GPS reception and that meant picking a line of travel - tree-by-tree - and staying the course until that was achieved. Fortunately, I eventually got good reception and got out, but now I never go into the woods without:
1. Marking my truck location on OnX and InReach
2. Noting which direction I have to walk to hit a landmark if I'm reduced to compass navigation.
3. Having a compass (once your GPS routes you in circles, you'll never be without one, AND it allows you to verify the GPS is working correctly.

 

[Steve1662]

Great story, Trophyhill! Once you've been lost and realize how easily and quickly it happens, you immediately take steps to make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm like you after my experience - multiple backups - OnX, InReach, Garmin Instinct, and (2) compasses.

My experience was in my second year also and I'd grown accustomed to trusting the GPS 100% so I didn't have anything else with me. After hunting all morning with no activity, I was ready to head back to the truck. I fired up the GPS, let it acquire and started walking. After about 10 min, I noticed boot tracks, which surprised me because I was sure I was alone, but I just kept walking, following the GPS. But....I kept running into boot tracks - it was thick woods with lots of ground vegetation so they were very sporadic, ill-defined tracks - but why would I keep hitting tracks? I wasn't on a trail so the likelihood of following another person in the middle of nowhere was nearly impossible......what could be going on with all these tracks? Then I looked at the tracks closer and realized those were my tracks - the GPS signal was very weak under the thick canopy and it was just routing me in circles. I forced myself to sit down as waves of panic roiled though my head as I accepted I was completely LOST. After getting control of myself, I realized my only chance was to find reliable GPS reception and that meant picking a line of travel - tree-by-tree - and staying the course until that was achieved. Fortunately, I eventually got good reception and got out, but now I never go into the woods without:
1. Marking my truck location on OnX and InReach
2. Noting which direction I have to walk to hit a landmark if I'm reduced to compass navigation.
3. Having a compass (once your GPS routes you in circles, you'll never be without one, AND it allows you to verify the GPS is working correctly.

3. Having a compass (once your GPS routes you in circles, you'll never be without one, AND it allows you to verify the GPS is working correctly.

Completely agree. Make it easy on yourself and always have it were you can see it.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Venom One]

Completely agree. Make it easy on yourself and always have it were you can see it.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

That's a great idea! I bought my Garmin Instinct as another back-up navigation device, but also because I was tired of having to dig my compass out of my pocket all the time. Which is a real pain because I wear gloves and getting your hand in and out with gloves sucks - then I'd worry I didn't get it back into my pocket and it might fall out. LOL. Love your solution!

 

[Antares]

Never ever under any circumstances trust Google Earth....it's way steeper and way farther than it looks!

I wouldn't say not to trust Google Earth. It's one of the most amazing scouting/planning tools we have. However, I would agree that terrain sometimes looks deceptively benign on Google Earth when it is in reality very, very steep.

Some thoughts on dealing with that. Exaggerate the elevation by 50% (Tools>Options). I feel like that makes viewing Google Earth imagery "steepness" more aligned with what it looks like when you're boots on the ground. Also, use the little summary statistics in the "Show Elevation Profile" feature. If it says Max Slope = 70.2% (as in example below), buckle up, that's gonna suck.

 

[Gerbdog]

Great story, Trophyhill! Once you've been lost and realize how easily and quickly it happens, you immediately take steps to make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm like you after my experience - multiple backups - OnX, InReach, Garmin Instinct, and (2) compasses.

My experience was in my second year also and I'd grown accustomed to trusting the GPS 100% so I didn't have anything else with me. After hunting all morning with no activity, I was ready to head back to the truck. I fired up the GPS, let it acquire and started walking. After about 10 min, I noticed boot tracks, which surprised me because I was sure I was alone, but I just kept walking, following the GPS. But....I kept running into boot tracks - it was thick woods with lots of ground vegetation so they were very sporadic, ill-defined tracks - but why would I keep hitting tracks? I wasn't on a trail so the likelihood of following another person in the middle of nowhere was nearly impossible......what could be going on with all these tracks? Then I looked at the tracks closer and realized those were my tracks - the GPS signal was very weak under the thick canopy and it was just routing me in circles. I forced myself to sit down as waves of panic roiled though my head as I accepted I was completely LOST. After getting control of myself, I realized my only chance was to find reliable GPS reception and that meant picking a line of travel - tree-by-tree - and staying the course until that was achieved. Fortunately, I eventually got good reception and got out, but now I never go into the woods without:
1. Marking my truck location on OnX and InReach
2. Noting which direction I have to walk to hit a landmark if I'm reduced to compass navigation.
3. Having a compass (once your GPS routes you in circles, you'll never be without one, AND it allows you to verify the GPS is working correctly.

Yup! i carry backups for backups now. First year hunting the deep timber here in CO i got turned around, went to turn on the GPS, batteries took a crap, after adding new batteries (at least i brought those) it took over a half hour to find a satellite again.... it was a rather crap feeling for a while. It was also my first solo backcountry hunt so.... my nerves were already a bit strained. I was preparing to spend an uncomfortable night lost but it came back into signal eventually and i wandered my way back to camp.

 

[TradLife406]

Don't ask residents where in a particular unit to find elk and there to camp. Don't even talk about specific areas online. Not sure why people think this is OK. While it's public land no resident is going to hand over coordinates to there spots that they've found through a lot of hard work. Do your own work.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[Indian Summer]

I had a shoulder strap break on a cheapazz pack while packing my first bull hunting from truck camp in 2012. 2013 I bought my first Kifaru and haven’t looked back nor had a pack issue since.

I hunted elk before they invented good gear and anything lightweight. Lol So life is pretty good these days. But those are good posts. On the money.

I’ve told guys before this is it… any weak link will be exposed. Then watched their gear fall to pieces. Blown out pack zippers, failed Walmart headlamps, soles completely letting loose off of brand new boots. You can cut corners in places like clothing but when it comes to the main tools of the trade, boots, packs, binoculars etc make sure you get solid chit!

 

[sick_lids]

Small lessons from my first trip. I crapped my self when i got to the first chain station, white knuckling on the highway the whole way up to the pass. Once to the logging/access road to trailhead that we were thinking about striking up it started to sink in, there was about a 400 ft drop on one side and on the other it was either a raging ditch or sheer rock going up. It got really real when a truck pulling a horse trailer was coming down, i knew there was no stopping for that truck and trailer on that washboard incline/decline. The level of anxiety i felt in that moment as i eased my one ton over was next level, i was ready to go home lol....It was tight. Further up and up we drove past the trail head and deeper into the mountains. I started looking for a place to camp, passed 1 then another and kept going deeper, untill the road just became to narrow, and backed down to the first site we saw....Started to set up camp, two guys who could easily do a 5k at home, were huffing pretty good walking a few dozen yds across relatively flat clearing...Altitude at 9.5k is humbling coming from 500 ft. It took 3 days before i could sleep right. After setting up dumped bags loaded up what we needed for a few hours and started walking. 1/2 hour later about 1/4 mile from camp/truck saw our first wild elk, on our first walk. Could not close the gap...A few days later much better acclimated we loaded up spike camp and headed up the trailhead into the high, high country. we came across outfitters camps, they were meatless not seeing anything. Passed sad looking men headed back down who saw nothing, but were eager to hear where the noobs saw elk....Had a few people on horse back headed back same thing, saw one in a week. I can tell you one thing, even a ugly woman on horse back with a bow on her back is stunning......2 hours latter we decided to head back. On the way back I felt the heat in my heels... yep had 2 more miles to go with about 1k of elevation to drop in the last half mile. Mole skin, mole skin. Next morning different pair of boots. The pair so stiff i did not like wearing them. In the dead falls, side hills and scree with a pack on they became slippers, no more mole skin... and no more people. Saw more elk, except they saw us first... This year going solo, leaving 90% of what i did not use, and bringing the things i thought i did not need....hope i get as lucky this year...

 

[Moserkr]

Solo or with inexperienced groups, start small. A few miles from the truck, and hunt within a few miles of camp, so 4-5mi deep. Nothing further so you can bail out to the truck and leave if needed. Experienced groups, hope you trust them. My first backcountry experience was 14mi deep in MT’s unlimited unit for sheep and mtn goat. Our group of 4, with only 2 tag holders, brought home a b&c goat, and a full curl ram. Amazing hunt that hooked me, but my gear was scarily inadequate looking back.

Fast forward 8 years and Id call myself experienced now. Just took out two young men, ages 12 and 16 on their first trip last weekend. Gave them my gear list, and they did their best to piece together what they could. Our normal spots were closed due to fires so we took them on a long hike to a new spot where we could fish for some golden trout. Add the extra weight of fishing poles n tackle too now. Ended dragging our 40lbs of gear 7 miles into camp, and to find deer we went an additional 5 miles. They did amazing, an although all we got was a grouse, it was still an incredible trip. But we had issues…

Onx took us on a “trail” and was off by 1/4-1/2 mile. Not just any trail, but a world renown one…. Cost us 2 hours of hard hiking on the way in and tried to send us off cliffs. Dont blindly trust your maps, trust your instincts. Google had the wrong trail too, and I found the right one by seeing it on the satellite imagery and piecing it together by logic. Good lesson for the boys.

Next, my experienced friend who went with us had a popped air mattress. Gear check before leaving solves that problem.

I got blisters in my new boots. Luckily friend had mole skin but i paid the price. First blisters in years. Boys, with cheaper boots and gear, had zero issues there. I should have tested my boots better.

Pack issues with the boys, being their first long trip they did not have them adjusted correctly. After the first mile, I asked how they felt and sore shoulders was the clue. We readjusted and finished our hard 7 miles with them smiling.

Wind and extra weight - an unexpected wind storm caught us all off guard with minimal early season gear. We were barely warm enough but made it. Boys learned a lot about what gear was necessary and what gear they could have left behind, like a large lantern. Nice, but not needed. A sit pad would have been nice, but they did not have one.

To pass on the knowledge, and test everyones limits, was well worth the pain. I told them “Now you know what you’re made of”. And so do I. 20mi, 10,000’ of elevation changes, 7-9k’ elevation, in a weekend. Good times.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

I would say,

Know basic first aid
Know how to navigate
Know your limits
Don't buy ultralight garbage if you like durability
Get naked and have fun

Wait…are we still talking about elk hunting?

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

Don't ask residents where in a particular unit to find elk and there to camp. Don't even talk about specific areas online. Not sure why people think this is OK. While it's public land no resident is going to hand over coordinates to there spots that they've found through a lot of hard work. Do your own work.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

One of the most satisfying feelings is going into somewhere new and finding animals.

I don't understand why people want everything easy.

 

[Still Hunter]

Another pointer. Note to self...When you run over to hide behind something to get quick cover, don't get so close that you have to take two steps back to give yourself room to draw your bow. They don't stick around if they happen to spot you stepping back. Don't do that! .