Archery Elk question from new elk hunter

[87TT]

Dude! If you want to hunt on the moon, do it. No one here is trying to talk you out of what you want. BUT if you actually want to kill an elk anywhere, Listen to Paul/Elknut and also buy his App and use it where ever you hunt. There is maybe a fraction of a percent chance you would kill an elk no matter where you are being as you are new. I as well as some here live and play where the elk are. I can tell you without fear of contradiction that the elk in the fall hunting season will not be where you find them in the summer. So scouting is nice and at least you can get a feel for the area. But if you think you can find and figure elk out and then return in the season and kill one, not going to happen. All Paul was trying to do was help you kill an elk like he has me and zillions of others.

 

[Laramie]

I agree with most here but will offer one piece of advice that I didn't see mentioned. From my experience, once you get 5+ miles back in you start to run into outfitter camps in many units. Being in competition with the large camps on horseback can really be challenging and take a way a lot of the fun. During your scouting trip, pay attention and you may see signs from old camps. Many outfitters will return to the same spots year after year so the areas are often easy to identify.

 

[5MilesBack]

Anyone. And I mean anyone that refuses to pursue elk within 1 mile of their truck is a complete fool.

What's worse is going in 6-7 miles, hunting your way back out, and not finding any elk at all on that hike. Then what? Hopefully he has a plan B, and C, and D, etc.

 

[satchamo]

PS: I will not have a base camp when hunting. I will be bringing camp with me and plan on staying out where the elk are and not coming back to the trailhead until im done.

I would base camp. Everyone thinks their billy badasss until they hit elevation like that and start walking. You might put yourself right into no mans land. Elk are where they are. Human pressure certainly affects them but I’ve had more luck closer to roads than further away. Go figure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[N2TRKYS]

I’ve never understood the thought process of not wanting to kill something until the last day of your hunt. I wish I could fill my tag within the first hour on all of my hunts. Heck, that’s what I’m there for after all.

 

[robtattoo]

I haven't read the entire thread so this might be echoing previous advice.
As another south easterner who has a passion for elk; I've done the 'romantic starry sky, lone hunter' thing a few times. I've followed the shortbread-tin ideal of elk hunting & while i'm the first to admit that it's a great experience, it rarely gets elk killed. Not to say that killing an elk is the be all & end all OR that you won't kill elk.... but a few years & a few grand invested makes filling the freezer far more attractive than a lone camp in the high wilderness.

Another thing I learned. It doesn't matter how many things you've shot, walking up on your first elk carcass will utterly humble you & make you question a lot of life choices up to that point! A cow elk back leg is literally as heavy as a Tennessee whitetail doe.... I had to pack a cow & calf a grand total of 180yds uphill to the freaking truck last fall. With an average hog or deer from round here, I doubt that would've taken 30 minutes. IT TOOK ME 5 HOURS OF NON STOP, BACK BREAKING EXHAUSTION to get both loaded up! Aaaaaand I was literally useless the rest of the day.
I'm sure you're in better shape than me (everyone is.....) & i'm sure that you're as fit as a butcher's dog, but I promise you that you're in for a surprise once you hit 8000+ft of elevation. Unless you can consistently pack 200lb down here, you're honestly going to struggle under 75lb up there.

I mean no offense by this, just poking in my 9 years experience of joyful misery!

 

[robtattoo]

Another thing to consider.
If you're packing 60lb (you're gonna be packing 60lb......) of camp in your back every day, what're you going to do if you drop 4-700 pounds of critter? Do you leave camp stuff to pack meat? Do you leave the meat to pack out your camp stuff? Realistically, if you're in say 5 miles with a 16 year old & you live down here, you're looking at a minimum of 3 trips to get meat out, plus camp. That's a 30 miles carrying, i'd guess, 60lb.

Like I say; i'm sure you're fitter than me, but i also know that doing that down here is incredibly hard (done it) doing that shit out west is like doing a triathlon whilst wearing a snorkel.


This website makes it seem great, far easier than reality, but you have to account for the fact that 80%of the members here live & work out west. You CANNOT substitute fitness & enthusiasm for experience & acclimatization. Most of the skinny muscle freaks on here would be world class athletes if they moved to Georgia for a week!

 

[Sportsman]

I did a backcountry trip last year. 5 miles in with a spike camp. E-scouted. Found elk. We had a blast and several stalks but unfortunately no arrows were released.

Here's the catch aside form the input that is already been provided - the morning we thought we had our plan solid, a group of hunters rode INTO the meadow we were watching about 10 minutes before shooting light. The herd we were watching (and hunting with a plan) became a thundering herd. Never saw another elk for our last two days and we're stuck 5 miles in with no room to negotiate.

yes, not setting up a spike camp gives more options but the lesson I learned is you can't out hike horses even if you did scout the right area.

Glad I did a true backcountry hunt - we were close to a wilderness border - but I want to be more mobile for my next 7 day hunt.

 

[mod700]

Lots of good points mentioned, sounds like you got your mind made up, one thing I would suggest is to learn to call elk, and have your son learn as well, if he's with you, it can be a huge plus, helping stack odds in your favor. Elknuts can help you with that.... good luck, let us know how it worked out.
Mike

 

[Bighorner]

You are all set up to find out for yourself what you are capable of. If you are going to be in there scouting hit your farthest spots and go hard most of the day with a heavey pack. Then take a look at the feasibility of tripling those miles.

 

[justin84]

this has been a good thread to get me thinking about my strategy about my first elk hunt this september. i too have been intrigued by the deep backcountry camp experience, but i'll be in a national forest in WY where "deep" is hard to come by. reading this has really convinced me to be more mobile, and to even prioritize some areas I'd consider easy to overlook (and access).

 

[Keepkickin_19]

I am 52 and a seasoned hunter from the s.e., but i am new to elk hunting. I have been wanting to go elk hunting for decades, but life and other things always got in the way. I decided to make it happen since i'm not getting any younger. I have a strategy question that keeps coming into my head. I have done hours and hours of e-scouting for the wilderness area that i'm going to hunt. I have lots of gps spots marked from a couple miles from the trailhead to many miles deeper into the wilderness area. The terrain is rough and steep in this wilderness area. I am going out in late July to scout for 5 days and check the gps spots to put boots on the ground and see what they look like for real, and to look for other glassing spots, wallows, good areas.

I plan on bow hunting Sept 19 - 25. My question is, should I hunt my way out to my farther waypoints 6+ miles back or spend valuable time hunting the closer spots that have been hit already by ppl and work my way out to my further spots more slowly?
I am thinking of just bypassing my closer 2-4 mile spots and go straight to the furthest ones in hopes that the elk will be pushed out that way, or at least not messed with as much. But I don't really want to pass prospective elk along the way unnecessarily.

PS edit: in response to comments of going deep and camping back there and being able to haul out an elk. 16 year old son will be with me so packing/hauling is shared. Not wanting to have input derailed into whether a first time elk hunter should be going deep or not. Really just looking for input focused specifically as to whether to hunt my way deep over a couple days, or just head straight back deep where I think elk might get pushed to, or at least less messed with.

Thanks for any input.

Don’t bypass hit them first!! And sometimes the small patches of trees many times I have hunted my ass off and when I was too tired to trek back out I hit a close to truck spot and wham! There was a nice herd not a giant but decent 5x5 or raghead with a few cows!!!

 

[Ucsdryder]

I’ve never understood the thought process of not wanting to kill something until the last day of your hunt. I wish I could fill my tag within the first hour on all of my hunts. Heck, that’s what I’m there for after all.

I killed my bull opening evening. Not going to lie. I had some killers remorse at times the rest is the season. It didn’t help that I was “guiding” my buddy and girlfriend the rest of the season and had some stupid close encounters.

 

[N2TRKYS]

I killed my bull opening evening. Not going to lie. I had some killers remorse at times the rest is the season. It didn’t help that I was “guiding” my buddy and girlfriend the rest of the season and had some stupid close encounters.

Congrats! That sounds awesome to me. Well, not the guiding part. Lol. I would’ve moved on to the pursuit of another animal.

 

[Sportsman]

Guiding for elk is fun. When you get one tag per year, helping buddies lengthens the season.

 

[N2TRKYS]

Guiding for elk is fun. When you get one tag per year, helping buddies lengthens the season.

You don’t hunt any other species?

 

[Sportsman]

You don’t hunt any other species?

Sure, but you don't get a tag for every species every year and my work schedule hasn't cooperated for the OTC deer season the last few years. No way you are drawing an elk tag every year (in a particular state) but maybe one of your hunting buddies gets one for that year.

 

[N2TRKYS]

Sure, but you don't get a tag for every species every year and my work schedule hasn't cooperated for the OTC deer season the last few years. No way you are drawing an elk tag every year (in a particular state) but maybe one of your hunting buddies gets one for that year.

That sucks. Maybe your schedule will pan out this year.

 

[Elk97]

I was going to suggest Elknuts app and playbook, but sounds like the OP has got things figgered out on his own. Good luck, pard!

 

[rob86jeep]

If by now you haven't gotten the message that I am not looking for easy, then I don't know what to say. I have the answer to my question. I will hunt my way back. Thanks again! For the other comments, thank you as well.

I'm a little confused by what your wanting to hear. You asked if "should I hunt my way out to my farther waypoints 6+ miles back or spend valuable time hunting the closer spots that have been hit already by ppl and work my way out to my further spots more slowly?" People let you know that you can kill elk close to the truck so hunt your way back but you quickly responded that's not what you want to do. So why ask the question...? You can kill elk within a mile of the truck or hike 10 miles back to kill them. If you want to hike 6 miles first, then no one is telling you that you shouldn't...