How I failed my DIY Elk Hunt….

[Mikido]

I’m 37yo, wife and 2 kids. Live on the east coast and am a seasoned hunter there. Stay in active good shape.

what I did right:
-researched and prepared 1 year before the trip
-got boots that fit me out the box and had no issues on the mountain with very little break in at home
-made a plan and followed it through (mostly)

what I did wrong:
-underestimated altitude sickness. 10 years ago I skiup to 13k without a problem….current day 10k kicked my ass
-didn’t train enough with a very heavy bag in my local mountain.
-picked the wrong partner. He bailed 2 days before the trip and I went at it solo

-didn’t scrutinize and fully understand topo
Maps. What looked like an easy 3 mile side hill was the toughest terrain I’ve ever encountered.
-overestimated my abilities in how deep i can go and bring an elk back, on my back.

I encountered the expected mix of old and new elk sign, however I just couldn’t go deeper bc of my physical inability.


what did I learn from all this? Humbled my stubborn ass and that I have an amazing family I shouldn’t take for granted.

Good luck to everyone this season and stay safe.

 

[Wrench]

Success and failure should not be measured in death, but in life. It's what you get out of the hunt that makes the difference.

Sounds like you won to me.

 

[JakeSCH]

Success and failure should not be measured in death, but in life. It's what you get out of the hunt that makes the difference.

Sounds like you won to me.

Agreed.

That time away helps magnify how important and how much you love your family. It is easy to take it for granted.

 

[Gerbdog]

I think you could move that "went solo" from fail to a success. Takes some guts and mental toughness to go it alone. I'm eating humble pie this year also, so i feel ya, i got one last shot after i get back from this travel for work. Gotta get er done. All changes in just a moment or a bugle heard off in the distance

 

[Wrench]

If it makes you feel better, I just returned from 28 days on the mountain. In that time I had 8 days around other friends. I didn't kill an elk because I didn't want to kill the ones which I had opportunities on.....but it was far from a failure. I put a bull in my buddies lap 2x and looked at several 6x6's.

That's a win for me.

 

[hflier]

My opinion, it takes about 4 years of learning curve if you do one week a year. Sounds like your first was good training.

Ron


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Dschwan]

I think you could move that "went solo" from fail to a success. Takes some guts and mental toughness to go it alone. I'm eating humble pie this year also, so i feel ya, i got one last shot after i get back from this travel for work. Gotta get er done. All changes in just a moment or a bugle heard off in the distance

Agree with "went solo" as a success. Just got back from six days of frustration on the mountains. Came home for a night or two to regroup and head back out for the rest of the season. Been at it for six years solo without my first elk.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

You never fail on hunt, some hunts you just learn more than others. Sounds like you learned a lot. Gotta start somewhere.
Great Job! You got an entire year to apply what you learned.

 

[Mikido]

Appreciate the responses. My tail is less itchy. Thanks.

 

[Wrench]

Appreciate the responses. My tail is less itchy. Thanks.

A year 3 lesson.....baby powder. It solves monkey butt.

 

[Mikido]

A year 3 lesson.....baby powder. It solves monkey butt.

Close….

 

[Poser]

What was the story with your partner bailing 2 days out?

In terms of underestimating terrain, I think that’s a super common mistake and probably one you will continue to make for some time. It’s almost always harder and slower than you think it’s going to be. In this part of the state, going off trail in rough country, which is pretty much all of the country, averages about 1/4 mile per hour of distance and no faster than 1,000 vertical feet per hour, but 2+ hours per 1,000 feet is not uncommon either. I scouted out an area this summer that took 8 hours to go 2 miles. I could do it faster a 2nd time (I really do not want to do it again), but going in the first time and making some terrain errors can be quite costly. It’s easy to plan on that 2 miles taking “a couple of hours”, but what happens when it eats an entire day from your 5 day trip and puts you in a place that would be impossible to pack out solo? These are the mistakes that will ultimately cut your teeth.

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

It's all about the journey, not the outcome. Feels bad sometime when we eat a tag, but it's a better feeling than not going at all.

Sounds like you left it all on the mountain. That's all we can do. The outcome is out of our hands, only the effort is our responsibility.

I live it, and the mountains continue to humble me.
I almost got hypothermia the night I arrowed my bull this year. I stayed up all night doing jumping jacks every hour to stay warm. You just take the mountains lashings as they come.
If it's endurable we endure it, if it's unendurable then we don't have to worry because the mountains will keep us.

If it wasn't suffering type-2 to type-3 fun, it wouldn't be so appealing to us crazies. Now you can dream about it all, and go in sharper than ever next season.

Sorry to hear about the buddy. Grounds to call him a bitch, and never hunt with him again. Haha!

 

[SonnyDay]

Good on you for going solo after your buddy bailed. Good on you for giving it what you could reasonably do—especially first time solo. I’m 3 seasons in of DIY and have never taken a shot at an animal…

Many, many, lessons learned. Hoping this year will be the payoff. But I am looking forward to a week in the woods with my son above all else.

And, as others have said, stumbling around on the mountainside alone for days sure makes you appreciate your family! That’s also a success. Good luck next time man!

 

[Mikido]

What was the story with your partner bailing 2 days out?

In terms of underestimating terrain, I think that’s a super common mistake and probably one you will continue to make for some time. It’s almost always harder and slower than you think it’s going to be. In this part of the state, going off trail in rough country, which is pretty much all of the country, averages about 1/4 mile per hour of distance and no faster than 1,000 vertical feet per hour, but 2+ hours per 1,000 feet is not uncommon either. I scouted out an area this summer that took 8 hours to go 2 miles. I could do it faster a 2nd time (I really do not want to do it again), but going in the first time and making some terrain errors can be quite costly. It’s easy to plan on that 2 miles taking “a couple of hours”, but what happens when it eats an entire day from your 5 day trip and puts you in a place that would be impossible to pack out solo? These are the mistakes that will ultimately cut your teeth.

That’s the worst part. He couldn’t be straight with me. Gave me some bs about his shoulder. I know the truth though…He’s a best friend of almost 20 years and I can read him like a book. The last year of planning he was all in….the last 2 weeks he was being squirrelly.
He’s been a wreck in his own life the past few years and we’ve Definitly been through a lot together, unfortunately this was the last straw for me. I don’t blame him though for my pains, I just feel bad for his own well being in his own life ya know?

 

[Praxeus]

Love your humility and transparency. Gotta agree with the above...in the long term, it was a success.
Knowledge is costly....what you learned will last you a lifetime.

 

[CoStick]

You had a great trip! On a side not, they aren’t always in deep.

 

[Dos Perros]

A note on altitude sickness: I'm not sure you can really correlate it to much of anything. Sometimes people struggle with it and sometimes those same people don't. I think it's tough to predict. I've heard of people who live at 7k and then go to 11k get sick. It's weird.

I live at 1k, and we usually bomb through the night and go straight to the top as fast as we can, and I've never experienced sickness myself. Dragging ass, yes no doubt, but not sickness, and there is a difference.

If you're really concerned about it you can spend a day at a middle altitude before packing in. I think that's the best thing you can do to mitigate.

 

[TheGrayRider]

I would plan your next DIY elk hunt as strictly a solo hunt. Never a good deal when your “friend “ bails the week of the hunt unless its a medical or funeral situation. Many people are not dependable. They can talk the talk but they can’t walk the walk!

 

[McCrapper]

One thing I noticed for myself is that my resting heartrate is around the mid 40s at night here in central texas (1600ft) but when I went up to 11000 feet my resting wouldnt go below 80 bpm.