Is it ever too late to start DIY Elk Hunting?

[Dark_viper42]

Starting myself this year at 33.

 

[Newtosavage]

No, it's never too late to start. Just don't kick yourself too much for not starting sooner.

I was 45 when I started. I was finally in a position financially and had enough PTO saved to be able to go. I had wanted to go elk hunting since I was a teen but just couldn't afford it. Started raising our first of 3 kids when I was 22, the same year I graduated from college. So that was a big factor for me.

1st hunt I "split" with a good friend who had only been once and was still very green. We agreed to share the price of a tag and draw straws at the counter in CO to see who would carry the bow. He ended up getting the tag for 1/2 price and I spent my $275 on "tuition" for elk hunting 101. It was money well spent. We worked hard, got into some elk, but never really had a realistic shot at killing one.

2nd year we went back to the same area - about 4 miles up the road - for a ML hunt. We had a great hunt. I had been there for a week scouting ahead of time, and had located two herds that were pretty consistent. My buddy had a herd of cows all between 20 and 70 yards, and never got a clean broadside shot before they busted him. My son and I had two cows pass between us, 200 yards apart, and neither of us got a shot. But it was a great hunt and we learned a ton.

3rd year my 1st hunting buddy couldn't make it so I moved across the state to hunt with my son who was in school in Boulder. I had great opportunities on several bulls but all I had was a cow tag. Never saw a cow in 7 days of hunting but had 5 bulls within 70 yards of me, and three in my sights.

4th year I took an old college buddy on his first elk hunt. That lucky SOB shot a 6x6 on opening day, after he and I had been scouting for a week prior to season. He paid for the bull tag, I didn't, and that was the difference between me killing one and not. I had two legal bulls in my scope at 1st light on opening day, but not a cow to be seen. He was covered up in cows opening morning. That's just my luck... LOL

I plan to go every year now. I look at my elk tag as my annual gym membership. I just came in from a 3-mile run and will put a lot of miles on the road and the HS stadium bleachers getting ready for this year's hunt. I really don't care if I kill something or not. Sure, it would be nice, and it will eventually happen, but that's not why I go.

I'll be 50 soon and I hope to keep going as long as I possibly can.

Good luck to you.

 

[Newtosavage]

Sounds like doom and gloom! I don’t think elk hunting outlook is that bad is it?

He's joking man.

 

[Newtosavage]

The crap you read that a person needs to be some super athlete, with a few thousand dollars worth of gear, to kill elk is a farce.

I recommend people just go and have a good time. Hunt smart, do what you physically can, stay out all day...good things happen...seen it.

Fantastic advice right there.

 

[DamnRinella]

In same situation and doing a guided hunt

 

[juan trueno]

Sounds like doom and gloom! I don’t think elk hunting outlook is that bad is it?

Whatever it takes to push guys out of the nest.

You say “these are the good old days” and they think it’ll be there “later” and maybe never go.

You hype it up to get them there and they are not prepared for the reality of elk hunting.

You teach them to go early go often and keep to the narrative that it’s basically ruined and not worth messing with unless your eccentric- and then they don’t grow up to be hotspotters but may well grow up to be elk hunters . Doesn’t matter if they’re 20 or or 40.


The elk hunting is so bad that you NEED to start now A) so you sooner learn how much you like it, and B) just to see what you are up against if you want to keep doing it so you know what to be vigilant about. Last week I heard and saw 0 wolves- though he evedince they had been through was copious. I ran into thistle everywhere. I spent a week basically pulling thistle out of areas I want to hit this fall. Greedy I know. Nobody votes about weeds litigates about weeds or throws dollars around about weeds though, so you don’t here about that- amongst other habitat issues that all have pretty significant roles to play. It’s all hunting and wolves. Because those get people going. Anyway. Defintely just go and go diy with or without a buddy


*edit - another point, if you are a nonresident of any elk states- there is a orettt reasonable chance that the option of traveling to hunt elk every year will essentially be taken off the table in the next several or Maybe 5-10 years as tag allocations and numbers get shuffled and availability dwindles. That’s the main threat for a guy from the southeast. I’m pretty serious when I tell guys don’t get hung up in No mans land on points all over the place. Guys who are otherwise smart with there money buy points towards a day when they can have some generally speaking undefinably better experience- I shall refrain from numerous crass analogies here though by alluding to them I have hopefully assisted immplanting them in your mind nevertheless.

 

[nnmarcher]

Never too late to start elk hunting! Going with a guide would give you a lot of experience in a short amount of time like learning how to call, glass, stalk, track, etc. However, learning all that yourself can be half the fun! Either way you will have a lot of fun and you'll be happy you started at 41 and not 42

 

[Ross]

17 and will be 56 next month I like the line above train like a young man to feel youngnever too late and we never know what is coming in life enjoy every day and soak it in to feed the passion good luckA photo from my old mans crew a few years back unfortunately last year was likely his last elk camp and yes guns unloaded you can’t tell these old coggers anything and they would not listen anyway

 

[Wmmichael20]

17 and will be 56 next month I like the line above train like a young man to feel youngnever too late and we never know what is coming in life enjoy every day and soak it in to feed the passion good luckA photo from my old mans crew a few years back unfortunately last year was likely his last elk camp and yes guns unloaded you can’t tell these old coggers anything and they would not listen anyway View attachment 108478

Digging those Browning BARs.

 

[Ross]

This crew has been hunting elk every year same place since1965 and bought most of them BARS in the 70s let’s just say they have heated up a few times I was an outcast with a Remington bdl

 

[OkieElk]

And the Reds and Plaid shorts. Who needs Camo anyhow. Good looking elk!


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[Ross]

Old time meat hunters another reason I got booted let too many legal elk walk looking for bigger

 

[Valkyrie]

This will be my first year at 48. I'm in decent shape. I spend most of my free time outside. I run, work out and the USN keeps me fit. I hunt and fish all year round and I’ll quit when I’m dead or close to it.

My grandfather was doing pushups well into his 80s and he said it’s all about a positive attitude.

 

[Bobcat]

I grew up hunting white tail in Maine, enlisted in my early 20s and developed new Interests. Each fall I would brush aside the emotional itch to hunt again. Time passes so fast. I found myself living in Oregon and picked up the hunting regulations Booklet and said to myself WTF. Intimidated, I put it down. Fast forward eight years and I’m on my annual fall solo backpacking trip in the Eagle Cap Wildersess. I I think to myself “I could be doing this off trail with a bow”. I didn’t know what the elk population was like there, But I knew I loved the area.

I purchased a bow and spent the next Year practicing with the bow and calls. I listened to many pod casts (huge shout out to Paul aka ElkNut).

After hours upon hours of studying google earth and maps I picked the spot for for my first elk hunt. I knew I Couldn’t pack an animal out alone that far in, In that terrain so I hired a packer to take me and my gear in and drop me off for a 10 day solo hunt.

What fond memories I have of the hunt. I called in one bull to within about 50 yards but he circled and winded me. I never did see him, but I’ll never forget how my hairs stood on end as he screamed at me.
I spent my 50th birthday snowed in in a blizzard that dropped over 2 feet of snow in several September days. I stayed up for four days digging blowing snow off my Three season tent; praying it wouldn’t collapse or blow away. The snow was too deep for the horses to get in to get me out. So the packer came in with snow shoes and we snowshoed out several miles to get to where the horses could make it.

I returned to the same area last year, called in and harvested my first elk on the evening of my 51st birthday. Packed him about 5 miles back to my base camp. It was a harder pack than it would have been 20 years ago, but I Savored every moment of the misery of the pack out because I now realize I am Mortal and tomorrow/next year Is not a guarantee.

Is 41 to late to start DIY solo elk hunting? HELL NO! But, one should be honest with their abilities no matter their age.

I have no regrets for my hunting hiatus. I Enjoyed many activities and adventures that I could not of had I been obsessed with hunting. I appreciate the process now more than I ever did when I was younger.

If you have the itch to go elk hunting, go. Enjoy the process because it’s not a destination. It’s an addiction.

 

[Moondoondude]

It is too late, regardless of age, if you are out of shape and unwilling to push yourself to get back in shape - or motivate your out of shape self enough while hunting to do what needs to be done.

Other than that, you're good to go.

 

[hflier]

41 is young


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[TNHunter]

I didn’t start til I was 50... now 55... seven knee surgeries and 2 shoulder surgeries (old sports injuries catching up)... and I’m not in the best of shape today.. but I get there for my elk hunts... just go, take your time, get in the best shape you can, educate yourself on altitude sickness, get good equipment and embrace the journey... wish I had started in my younger years... so there is not an expiration date... just plan your trip.. and learn from this website... best forum there is... don’t wait til next year... it may never come... good luck and just go


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[greenheadkilla]

Never too late! Haha , i think we have a few years left before the elk are extinct... You can do it!

 

[MtnOyster]

At 47 with a stent in my widow maker I been going solo the last 2 years from Kentucky, I went the first time at 20 years old and didn’t get a real chance again until I was 44, then 5 weeks before the trip doctors put that stent in my LAD and recommended I stay home..........I said the hell with it I’d rather die on a mountain doing something I love rather than sitting around the house wondering if I should have gone....go for it bro! It will be my 4th trip in a row and 5th total, I’m not stopping until they shovel dirt in my face.

 

[njdoxie]

It is too late, regardless of age, if you are out of shape and unwilling to push yourself to get back in shape - or motivate your out of shape self enough while hunting to do what needs to be done.

Other than that, you're good to go.

Well said.


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