Backpack base camp distance from elk

[Huntnnw]

this would be a spot by spot situation. A mile in some country might mean a ton of work to get back over to where elk are. I make that decision by what I am seeing, hearing and smelling for sign. Hell I have killed elk 300 yards from my tent 3 times

 

[Mykolaivka887]

Definitely a spot-specific situation. But generally, I like my backpack camp to be 500 to 1,000 feet above where I expect to see elk, and within one or two miles of them.

 

[camping1601]

I try to be as far away as possible but it's not uncommon to have elk in camp at night. Last year I shot a small bull maybe 500 yards from my camp. Two night earlier I couldn't sleep because the elk were bugling in the meadow at camp. Almost killed one 300 yards from camp the next morning. I run a wood stove every night.

 

[TaperPin]

I regularly camp next to a high bowl during bow season (I’m not a bow hunter) that regularly has elk bugling and pushing each other around at night. They are probably 400 - 600 yards away and then move down into thicker timber during the day. During rifle season I have stepped out of the tent and shot an elk 200 yards away.

However, cooking and food storage are down the hill another 200 yards, the wind never blows toward the elk, we are ridiculously quiet, and the tent backs up to a ridge that has never had a single elk track on it so its pretty safe.

Your mileage will vary. You have to stay down wind. You have to be quiet and keep a low profile. You have to know travel routes.

 

[rockymountainjk]

Thanks for all the responses! Sounds like I’ll probably be fine where I am thinking of camping but should go a bit further to be on the safe side

 

[TradLife406]

We try and camp in a spot where there's water but fewer elk. That being said we still get some elk in camp. But they're not the elk we're targeting. We camp the on the south side of the mountain we're hunting and about a mile from where we'd find em.