How far off the trail?

[strand]

I've killed an elk 1 mile from the road, ~2 miles in, and 7 miles in. All solo, but I found help to pack out the 2nd load on the 7 mile bull. Killing an elk 7 miles in is cool for about 2 minutes, then it sucks for like 2-3 days.

The least pressure I've seen is in that 1-2 mile range, but I had to gain 2K feet of elevation in under a mile to get there. Like others are saying, you need to increase the barrier to entry and I think you found this out already but distance alone doesn't do it.

 

[Newtosavage]

Barriers to easy entry are very handy for avoiding people.

But you also have to consider the pack-out if you are successful.

I've post-holed it through deadfall a few times to get to places that I had all to myself, all the while wondering how I would get through that deadfall with a 70# pack on my back. Same would be true for scrambling up a steep ridge, etc.

So there is also that to consider. I'm always thinking of the "what if" scenario of killing one wherever I am and I avoid places where that scenario results in an injury or lost meat.

 

[mmartiniii]

All - thanks for the great insight. That is the one thing I love about hunting. You are always learning and challenging your self to be better on the next hunt.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[WYLight]

Depends on where you’re hunting. I hiked 1.5 miles from the road last year and was into tons of elk everyday for a week and had zero run in’s with people. This was also opening week of elk season in a General Unit. I hunted a week in Alaska for Caribou and was 5 miles back for a week and had to take a small bull because that’s all we was seeing. A buddy went to the exact same location a few months later and killed a monster bou half a mile from the truck when he was walking in to set up camp.

 

[sndmn11]

I shot a decent bull last year that we had to pack about a 1/4 mile to where we could drive our trucks. Watched quite a few hunters walk right past where we hunted and were even watching a herd of 22 elk while 2 hunters went through our area to get as they told us, "back where the elk were."

This happens with us very often.

 

[HookUp]

Its less about distance and more about location. I like 2-3 miles for a elk hunt, deer it doesn't really matter.

 

[Raghornkiller]

My bull this year was 8 miles my girlfriend's was about 500 yards.

 

[hobbes]

It's already been said, but I'm assuming that by saying 7 miles wasn't enough, you weren't into elk.
First off, 7 miles solo is more than I can reasonably expect to pack an elk out without stock, so I don't go that far. Second, 7 miles would push into hunters from other access points in mist places that I hunt and I don't currently hunt the areas in MT that can be hunted much deeper. It's not a contest to get farther, higher, deeper, etc. If there is any contest, It's finding the elk.

There is no magic distance, just find the elk. Easier said than done sometimes

 

[md126]

If you are trying to avoid other hunters; find an area hard and useless to hunt. If you want to kill elk, go where the elk are. I killed mine last season 700 feet from an open gravel road. Go by the evidence on the ground. The elk leave sign of there movement. Trust your eyes.

In hard useless places to hunt (overlooked by most people) isn’t that s good place to find elk?? Not trying to be rude, just trying to clarify the info. Thanks

 

[Swede]

I generally hunt eastern Oregon. What I have found is that elk populate a small portion of the unit during hunting season. In the units I hunt, a hunter can narrow the area where elk are to less than 25% that is worth putting in time and effort to hunt. There is private open country, there are wide open areas of public land and areas where you can go for days without seeing a fresh elk track. I spent little or no time there.
As a hunter I narrow things down so I am where the elk are. I adjust my hunting to minimize problems from other hunters. Where I killed elk the last two seasons, in two separate States, I could hear people talking and calling from a gravel road. I could hear vehicles drive by. That was ok. They were not bothering the elk and they were not interfering with me.

 

[Flatland Newbie]

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