Gathering essentials

[Timmayy92]

Ok so me and my hunting buddy from the flat lands of Louisiana are planning a 2020 Elk Hunt. Don’t know where. Kinda know when. Want to do rifle as early as feasibly possible. No later than oct 20ish start date for hunt if going up north to co to wyo. Trying to avoid a seriously cold and miserable first experience.

with that in mind I need to put together an inventory list of must haves for the hunt. I have done backpacking when I was in the scouts when I Hiked philmont. So I should have the tent sleeping bag pack ground pad stove.

i will need new boots and clothes. I know clothes will be dependent on where and when we go.

I wanted to be a little different and have a new twist in the help a newcomer out rather then the where to go first post haha

 

[Researcher]

First just embrace the suck mentally. Misery is part of the game and there are going to be miserable parts of elk hunting. The people that I see that arent successful havent embraced the suck. The suck can be cold weather, no animals to be seen, crowded OTC units, loneliness, missing family, out of shape, or hiking 15 miles a day with nothing to show. If you have mental toughness and you can grind through the misery you’ll be successful.

 

[Timmayy92]

We’ve done our fair share of embracing the suck. If That means setting out 1200 rags in a Mississippi delta farm field in 10 degrees and 20 pounds of Muck on our boots or fighting 3-4s in GOM washing machine chop going 300 miles round trip in a 33’ CC. Sometimes the suck is what makes the fruits of our labors so sweet.

that said I don’t want to do something stupid and have it suck so bad that when we don’t kill something we say we will never do that again. I want it to suck just enough that I’m even madder attem next time I come back.

If I can do everything in my preparation to make sure it doesn’t suck because of something I didn’t do That’s all I can ask for.

 

[LaHunter]

Check out the Nutrition & Training sections. There is some valuable info there. Gear is important, but being in the best physical condition for rucking at elevation with a pack is critical. You will need to 'train' for your hunt to get the most out of it.
Gear: Boots, plan on spending more on boots than you ever have. Lowa, Kennetrek, Crispi are a few brands that are good. I personally like the Lowa Tibets and Lowa Ticam II. Don't skimp on boots. Good merino wool socks are important also.
Pack: Pack opinions are personal. Kifaru is probably the web site favorite, along with Exo or Stone Glacier. I run a Kuiu Icon Pro and have for several years and hauled several animals with it and it works well for me. Packs are personal, sort of like boots.
Sleep System: You mentioned camping gear. For a first timer, I would recommend setting up a truck camp, and having the gear/ability to spike camp if you find animals. Staying mobile with a truck camp has some advantages for someone new to an area. Also, mid October in CO, WY, ID, MT can see single digit temps and 18" of snowfall.
Glass: Get the best binos your budget will allow. I pack a spotter also, but that will depend on the terrain / habitat you will be hunting.
Clothing: This is probably the least important part of the puzzle, but a good clothing system will allow you to stay more comfortable and hunt harder. Kuiu, Sitka, Kryptek, are a few brands that are good.

The 'Search' function is a useful tool on this site and can help you find specific info and past posts.

Good Luck

 

[BeaverHunter]

Elk hunting can be as hard or as easy physically as you want it to be. More often that not on a non “draw” tag, if you take it easy you probably won’t be successful. If you hit it hard you’ll probably be successful. Maybe not the first year but after a couple years. And there might be times where you are questioning your sanity. Something like “I took vacation to do this to myself” might cross your mind.
And I know when I started to be successful hunting elk, I thought about it year round and almost every day. It’s the main reason I work out at least 4 days a week. And am constantly refining and upgrading my gear. And taken up bow hunting. All in a quest to ensure I get a bull every year. You’re more than welcome to ask me any question via pm if you would like some advice or thoughts. Good luck.

 

[Wrench]

I killed my first few elk owning not much more than a pocket knife, bios and a Dwight Schuh frame pack. I loaded parts into pillow cases. I wore military surplus wool....and loved it.

Set a budget and let us know what you have to work with now.

Really, elk hunting has been pretty commercialized making the masses think they need $30K in shit to notch a tag.

You don't.....but it does help.

 

[Researcher]

I would recommend to buy everything used if you can and save a ton of $$$. Almost anything you want can be found for 40-50% off on this website, ebay, and a few others and it will be in very good condition

 

[Timmayy92]

Well so I’ll start with what I’ve got.

I will be borrowing my fathers leupold bx4 proguide 10x42

just purchased vortex viper HD 15-45x65 angled

i plan to use both on the vortex ssp tripod

gun tikka 308 chopped to 20” threaded with trash panda suppressor. Yes I will back pack and hunt with the suppressor on, I do all of my shooting and all of my doping with the suppressor on and i would have to restart to take it off, plus I hate unsuppressed guns). Bullet 165gr accubond going 2760fps handloads. Elk shots limited to 300yds mule deer 400yds. Scope Leupold VX-3 3x9-40 (May be upgraded by the time hunt comes round)

the boots recs are perfect and exacly what I need.

how warm am I really going to have to be prepared to dress say we decide to do a CO second rifle hunt? Layering recs?

logistics of camping 5 miles from a trail head. I know you hear It day in and day out and we know it’s going to be an OTC yah, but we would like to hike to get us away from the road hunters. We understand we can’t hike away from everyone as plenty other will have our idea of camping in.

Water access when camped in?

Food recs and provision plans for hiking in one day hunting for five ish days and hike out final day?

there is tons and tons more to come I’m sure but just bouncing questions around to see what sticks.

 

[rayporter]

get the minimum of a good pack and shoes and just go. second season is a crap shoot for weather a year in advance. i recon the odds say it will be about 25 for a low and 50 for a high but you can see zero. google the weather to check that out. also it depends how high you a go. it could be rain at 8000 ft and snow at 10000ft,

i killed my first with jeans and rubber rain gear with a summer tent that collapsed in the snow.
then for years just used army surplus wool clothes.

no matter what you get now you will likely change later. thats just the way it is. you have to go to find what works for you.

and get your gear soon enough to test it! in cold and in wet. testing in july will tell you nothing.

 

[Iketurner]

I cant wait to be able to go on my elk or midwest hunting experience. Good luck OP & let us know how it turns out after the trip

 

[muddydogs]

Must haves are easy. Good pair of boots, good pack, rain gear, firearm, ammo and tag. Other then that what you have or can afford to purchase will work just fine. As a first timer one doesn't need to drop $2000 on clothes and another $4000 on camping gear. Backpacking gear and clothes work just as well as hunting branded gear but is generally a lot cheaper.

 

[fwafwow]

You can get a good feel for what people are packing in on the Lightweight forum, as people routinely post their entire list (weighed to the gram) for others to critique from a weight standpoint. Even if you don't focus on a LW approach, it will be informative, and it will also help you come up with a list based on what you need vs. what you think you will need.

I would also spend a great deal of time lurking and searching (here and elsewhere). You asked a bunch of different questions, all of which are understandable, but *some* of those can be the subject of a separate post (or many posts). As an example, recommendations for water opens up a Pandora's box of subtopics - bladder or Nalgene (or both?), what filtering system? etc. Food alone is worthy of lengthy research and posts.

I just did my first elk trip last year and went through the same process. For me figuring everything out was pretty enjoyable, but it did take (or waste, according to my wife) a lot of time. (Think spreadsheets for sleeping bags, states and units, and backpacks.) . I would focus on one topic at a time and go from there, especially because many of your decisions will impact others. If you first figure out where (for us, one of the most complicated questions), that will impact terrain and weather, which will impact boots, clothing, and other gear. (For example, I'm not sure you need two sets of binos, unless you know you will be somewhere that you can glass.)

Note, warning for the future, asking where to hunt is probably one of the touchiest posts - there's a good chance you will get flamed unless you can demonstrate you have done a lot of research and aren't trying to get a "sweet spot" recommendation. Consider subscribing to goHunt and onX - both of which are discussed on RS.

And since posts don't do well at conveying empathy - I'm not intending to preach, and I'm no expert. In fact, I made more mistakes than I care to admit, notwithstanding all of the research I did to prepare. The food choice was particularly painful - I picked "the best" (and most expensive) and even taste tested it before, but when I was on the mountain it just didn't work for me and I ate very little of it.

Good luck!

 

[Timmayy92]

To be entirely honest the whole spreadsheet thing isn’t me. That just makes everything so much of a daunting task that I would be miserable and never go.

I can appreciate more the post that say hey don’t worry about so much and go rather than the you need to spend $1000 on this and that or your going to be miserable.

 

[fwafwow]

I didn't say you *need* to create a spreadsheet, or to spend lots of money. If you just want to hear it will all work out, you're good to go.

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