Day hunting out of the truck?

[GunsAreFun]

Elevation is my biggest worry.

He was talking camping at 10 and hunting 10,700.

For a flatlander, sounds Like a major suckfest.

You’re going to be doing more than that each day regardless of where you camp. 700’ is not bad at all once you’re in shape. We were doing 1400-2000’ a day in Colorado the first couple years. We aren’t super athletes or anything.

Last year in New Mexico, the biggest elevation change from the truck to the top was about 600’. That was nothing. We were joking that we wasted too much time working out that year.

 

[Jason Snyder]

Elevation is my biggest worry.

He was talking camping at 10 and hunting 10,700.

For a flatlander, sounds Like a major suckfest.

Why is 700 feet of elevation change such a big deal? Or is it camping that high that has you concerned? Either way, don’t overthink this.

 

[Thinkingman]

Elevation is my biggest worry.

He was talking camping at 10 and hunting 10,700.

For a flatlander, sounds Like a major suckfest.

As a flatlander who has done multiple ski trips to the Colorado I70 resorts (9K and up), get there as early as possible to acclimate before you start hitting it hard.
Your body needs time to adjust to altitude.
Weeks are good, days are helpful.
Altitude sickness sucks and can be dangerous.
Hydration is also critical when you get into the high Rockies.

 

[homebru.trout]

I hunt both ways. If it's a unit/area I know well and am confident holds elk, I'll happily backpack in for a few days. On the other hand, if its a new area or an area in which I know the animals are highly mobile, I'll find a place to camp next to the truck so I can be mobile day to day as needed. Last year I did a hunt in CO with camp on my back and 2 hunts in MT truck camping. As I get older, I find that the ability to have a whole lot of comforts at the end of a very long day and the ability to be mobile searching for animals makes for a very pleasant hunt. Don't get me wrong, sleep equipment and dehydrated food have come a long way...but they ain't a cot and 2 ribeyes in the cooler.

I would be curious to hear about your friend's/acquaintance's morning and evening routine that makes base-camping untenable. Generally I'm up well before dawn and heading to a location picked out the night before rather than glassing from roads or taking a stroll a half-mile from camp. I don't use horses or ATVs...up early, stay late, go like hell. We still kill stuff.

I would echo others' feedback on your planned trip...if this is your first go, plan to basecamp at a road accessible camping spot. If the spirit moves you, do an overnight. Find a way to hunt that you enjoy, and get after it.

 

[TaperPin]

I’d skip the idea of backpacking. You don’t want to commit to a bad area, and not ever setting foot west of the Mississippi ups the odds of needing to explore a bit to get the feel for where elk are and aren’t. There are plenty of areas without a single fresh track - don’t spend time where elk aren’t.

You also don’t know how elevation will affect you - hunting out of the truck allows you to sleep lower.

Local hunters sleeping in their own beds at night kill a lot of elk every year - quite sleep deprived at times, but it works for many folks.

If you’re experienced close distance woods hunters don’t think it’s a requirement to find elk right out of a scope advertisement standing broadside on the edge of a meadow in fading light right at 617 yards. Hunting bedding areas almost exclusively can be quite productive and gives a glimmer of hope to a new hunter, but you have to be able to shoot fast.

 

[cuerro viejo]

Elevation is my biggest worry.

He was talking camping at 10 and hunting 10,700.

For a flatlander, sounds Like a major suckfest.

just try to spend first night or two under 9k. exponentially decreases risk of AMS. Other the that elk are where you find them….

 

[5MilesBack]

I'm always prepared for both, but honestly 90%+ of the time, I'm sleeping in my wall tent. I normally have elk keeping me awake at night during archery, and I've even had them come through my camp and fold the mirrors back in my truck in the middle of the night. They even chase each other around my tent pulling up stakes at times.

But there are times when I want to hunt specific spots where it just makes more sense to pack camp in and stay a couple days. And I almost always camp at 10k+ feet.

 

[Indian Summer]

Rokslide seems like the only place that makes people think they need to backpack hunt when elk hunting.

No kidding. I shake my head thinking about bulls we’ve seen from camp or killed within sight of the truck. I shake my head even more when I think about all the money spent on lightweight camping gear that ends up in the classified ads while the sellers post asking about wall tents. Once you kill couple, you’ll start taking the time to learn how to kill them closer to the truck real fast. There is only one good reason to hunt like that. Well, unless you can’t seem to find elk any other way, in the area you hunt. And that is if it’s just what you consider to be fun. If that’s your preferred method and you find enjoyment doing it then have at it. My guess is you’ll learn to find enjoyment hunting from a Basecamp and just using spike camps when necessary. And for God sake, don’t pack all your crap in there until you hunted from the truck to make sure it’s even gonna be worth it. Time is more valuable than anything. If you spend a day backpacking in somewhere, and then another day or two stomping around to make sure there are no elk, and another day to pack your crap back out, you just blew your hunt. If you E-scout an area several miles off the road and then pack all your stuff in their site unseen you will most likely be sorry. Going deep is when it’s 4th and 16 with 1 minute to go in the 4th quarter. You do it only because you have to. But if I had to I’m hunting the wrong place.

 

[Jpsmith1]

Why is 700 feet of elevation change such a big deal? Or is it camping that high that has you concerned? Either way, don’t overthink this.

That's 700' of elevation after I'm already 9k feet above where my house is.

It's not the 700' that worries me, it's the 9k

 

[elkguide]

After filling my cow tag last fall and we were packing her out,
my buddy looked at me and said, "you know that you could have shot a calf!"
We were only a mile and a half from the truck and had slept in a nice, warm bed the night before.

 

[Peytb10]

I find it much harder to cover ground before sunrise if you sleep comfortably in the truck/camper. Plus you usually wake up earlier that route. I enjoy packing light and sleeping near the elk.

 

[Indian Summer]

It’s hard to describe the affects of elevation. It takes a minimum of three days to get at least somewhat acclimated. Someone above mentioned getting into camp a few days early to help with that. That is a very good piece of advice. Set your camp. Take a drive and find some standing dead trees. Chainsaw them down in the length to fit in the back of your pick up truck and haul them back to camp Section those out in the lengths the right size for your woodstove and split some wood. Get everything settled in. Then go hike to a high vantage point where you can finally lay eyes on your hunting area and just sit there and glass without disturbing anything. That alone will make a difference.

Imagine walking up a hill to the point where you have to sit down. You take a break for a few minutes until you stop breathing heavy. Then you stand up and start walking again. You take 15 steps and you need another break. That’s high elevation, hiking. Don’t take too long of breaks. That’s not good either. There’s a balance. While you’re taking a break look ahead and pick out a rock or tree and tell yourself that’s my goal before my next break you’ll feel much better about that than asking yourself how many more hundreds of feet you have to gain.. There’s no way to prepare for it and no way around it.

That’s one thing I think about when I see guys say they’re going for a week and have a total of five days of hunting. That is definitely not a good game plan. There are lots of reasons why you should hunt elk a minimum of 10 days that being one of them. Obviously the other one is it could take you five days to find elk. There are lots of guys who say that by the time they had it figured out it was time to go home. That if they had another day or two, they felt like they could’ve got the job done. Don’t sell yourself short on time. That will instantly drop your odds of success.

 

[Caseknife]

As many have said, altitude will be your downfall. Think about laying in your tent for 3 days sicker than a dog and not getting better after hiking in 4 miles at 10K ft. If you were truck camping you could go get a motel in town for a day or two.

My hunting partner and I borrow his brother in law's 10x12 wall tent. Drive to our base camp, set up camp, propane heater to take the chill off, cots, pads, sleeping bags, tables, propane cook stove and coolers full of food. Drive around to verify your access spots that we E-scouted and get the lay of the land and road system and glassing spots and time how long it takes to get there from camp. We will actually be hunting 2-4 miles from the roads. We actually could have killed a 6 pt bull right from camp on a muzzleloader hunt, but my partner was using my rifle and hadn't shot it for a while and wasn't sure on the shot. Would have been easy but not quite what we were looking for.

Your truck will allow you to go find different areas that may have more elk or maybe less hunters. Don't be afraid to truck camp, it is how the majority of hunters operate.

 

[Gapmaster]

Don’t sell yourself short on time. That will instantly drop your odds of success.

Very, very good advice. As a NR I have always tried to be prepared for the altitude, but nothing can prepare you honestly. Personally I acclimate very quickly but I know others who don’t. The elk are where you find them. It may take 1 day or 5 to find the spot. More time is the key. Give yourself at a minimum of 7-10 days to actually hunt. It will be time well spent.

 

[Idaboy]

I wouldn’t try anything but a truck camp on your first hunt. If you’ve never experienced the mountains, then you may need a little wake up call before you invest on equipment that’s needed for backpack hunting. Camp comfortably, enjoy the experience, you’ll learn quickly what you do and don’t want any part of. Good luck

Agree with this, based on your OP, you are being realistic. Unless you've done alot of backpacking and used to going ultralight, given this is your first time west of Mississippi I would not rec camp on your back. Like others have said, you can bring some gear for a spike out if you find a great place, but otherwise have plans 5-6 legit places to move your truck/camp to, and for each location 2-4 options for day hikes and you'll be good to go

 

[LookinforDirt]

Some really good, helpful input from everyone in this thread. Great post OP. Good you are being realistic about it all. Every time I skied in Breckenridge it took me two full days to acclimate to the altitude. Head stuffy to the max, dry as a bone, slight headache. Every morning I had to blow my nose for a few minutes straight. It looked like everything inside of my head was coming out. Sleeping and first thing in the morning was the worst. Once I got past the first couple hours from waking up things were better. I was so bad in Vail the one time I was there I had to go lay in bed for the day. Nauseous, bad headache, etc. Slow acclimation helps. I used to work out of Denver on occasion and went skiing a couple times at the end of the work week. Altitude sickness was much less intense when I did that.

 

[Oregon]

That's 700' of elevation after I'm already 9k feet above where my house is.

It's not the 700' that worries me, it's the 9k

It's real. We did a hunt this year and camped at 8800'. All 4 of us live between 22 and 38'. Sea level. 2 people struggled big time climbing 500' out of camp each morning the first 3 days. I even hated that climb and it wasn't very steep. I'm in pretty dang good shape. 1 in our party shot a pretty small buck day 3 because he was feeling awful and assumed his entire hunt would suck.

 

[mtnbiker208]

I am a little different than most. I am either packed in on my bicycle or hunt out of the house.
Killed bulls both ways.

 

[wind gypsy]

I think altitude impacts people differently. Maybe i'm young enough to not feel the real impacts but i've been a flatlander most of my life and never had issues showing up and hitting it at 9-12k feet. And i'm a pudgy bastard who hasn't worked out for a few years. Just dont completely burn yourself out but keep putting one foot in front of the other. Definitely don't have days to waste getting acclimated these days.

It's totally possible that the OP's friend was right, the spot he was hunting at that time might have been garbage near his truck/trailhead. Just as good a chance that the guy sucks at hunting or just didn't have any luck on that trip and needed an excuse. That doesn't mean that the entirety of CO cant be day hunted effectively.

 

[trophyhill]

I mean... just so you dont hunt any locations i hunt... *cough* Go deep.


If i were a better man i'd tell you truck hunting is a very valid elk hunting method. Bring your hiking boots, but truck camping is luxury compared to backpack camping

Yes I can vouch for that. I’ve developed what I call my hybrid method. I will pack in with 4 or 5 days of food, and have a tent at the truck. Hunt back and forth, spend the night, and get cleaned up and have some real food at the truck every so often. Packing camp in on a 4 wheeler and camping just off the atv trail has been rewarding and netted results as well. And quite luxurious compared to bringing it in on your back.

This is all dependent on where I’m hunting