Is/was backcountry backpack hunting a trend and fading?

[Hnthrdr]

Throw 80lbs meat on your back and go for a long walk in the dark and you’ve basically covered any ruck based selection course lol

Exactly haha

 

[HighUintas]

I backpack hunt every time I can that it makes sense to do so, because I prefer it. I like the solitude, difficulty, logistics, etc. I only have a 50%ish success rate in my backpack hunt area, but I keep doing it and would even if it was a 10% success rate. I'd probably find a different area though.

And if the backpacking popularity is waning.... Yes that's because people learned how hard it is and how hard it is to get an animal out. I've run some extremely hard 100 miles and have packed a bull out several times by myself, 9-10mi one way, in no more than 2 days. Once I did the whole elk in 15ish hours. The terrain there is relatively easy and they weren't huge bulls, but it's hard.

It's harder than a hard 100 miler.

I see the timeline like this:

Gear getting lighter > social media > gear getting really light > social media > social media > social media > people realize it's hard so they quit backpacking > there's more hunters so the back and front country is filled up

 

[Smoke_Rutz]

Being a resident doesn’t really have its advantages anymore.

If it isn’t hunters, it’s trail runners, or horseback riders or mountain bikers. As the weather stays nicer longer, more of them are out longer as well.

Dirt bikes. f***ing dirt bikes in October


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cnelk]

30 years ago Colorado had the largest elk herd - ever.

The hunting was amazing

 

[Ross]

Many people the idea of what is portrayed for a backcountry elk hunt. It is all roses and screaming bulls 24 hours a day You then go and find out it is not, unless you see some people on social media who pay to go places where it is. Elk hunting for the average Joe is difficult, taxing, expensive (you have to have the latest and greatest to be successful), and you get your heart rate too high Once someone attempts this endeavor with limited success, a high percentage bow out, but another crop fills the void, because it looks so easy

 

[CMF]

I think that backpack hunting is an unwise approach for hunters new to Western hunting, particularly if they lack extensive and recent backpacking experience. Its not the solution that many seem think that it is, BUT, I'd wager it is more popular now than it was in the year 2000, both in total numbers and % of people hunting.

I agree, but coming from the east, I felt like it was what I was supposed to do. It's what you read about and saw on TV. Nobody wrote stories about road hunting, lol.
It only took my first trip, with the need to hike away from camp back towards the bugling elk in the direction of the truck, to realize it wasn't always the best method.

 

[Wprinkle]

A lot less of the whole shooting back thing in hunting

Apparently you have never hunted Unit 24 haha

 

[Scoot]

Many people the idea of what is portrayed for a backcountry elk hunt. It is all roses and screaming bulls 24 hours a day You then go and find out it is not, unless you see some people on social media who pay to go places where it is. Elk hunting for the average Joe is difficult, taxing, expensive (you have to have the latest and greatest to be successful), and you get your heart rate too high Once someone attempts this endeavor with limited success, a high percentage bow out, but another crop fills the void, because it looks so easy

Totally agree! ...and... for those fortunate enough to kill one while back there, Ross described the easy part!!!

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Apparently you have never hunted Unit 24 haha

Now you’ve ruined that unit. It will be full of thrill seekers.

 

[willfrye027]

I grew up backpacking, did that long before I was big game hunting.

About 2008 I found some bucks on a trail crew trip and talked my buddies into backpack hunting with me after them. This is in CA. It was metal frame packs, crappy tents and bags, cotton hunting clothing, etc. the only other group hunting out of that trailhead were guys packing in on horses much farther than we went. It went on like that for a few years and we had the area to ourselves with lots of tags punched and memories made.

Flash forward to the last time I packed in there two years ago. Lots and lots of guys. Most I talked to were in there for the first time. Ran into a dude from Los Angeles who shot his very first buck—a forky at like 10,500 feet and 8 miles from the trailhead. Good for him!

The gear, apps, emergency locator beacons, and plethora of YouTube videos etc have removed a lot of the difficulty and broken the barrier.

I rarely backpack hunt anymore. Unless it’s after a specific deer or something, my odds are better being mobile rather than burning a day or two just to find out I have lots of company.

Heck my buddies and I killed three bulls last week in Montana, each on the first day of hunting, just hiking for an hour or two in the dark. I glassed the elk from the road in the evening, made plans for the hike in the morning, and had him killed by sunrise.

So yes my interest is fading because if you’ve only got a week to hunt, backpacking in blind is a big risk that you’ll get screwed by other people and waste valuable time.

 

[Sundodger]

I hope so, it's been getting crowded in the backcountry and I am getting too old to out hike everyone anymore.

 

[Backwoods_wanderer]

As someone new to backcountry hunting, I can’t necessarily speak to the decline of it or not. But my observation is that it has a very strong generational/family element to it. As others have noted, it’s a challenging sport, and even more so if you don’t have someone to teach you. It also seems that a lot of people have moved location over the last 20 years, and learning to hunt a new area may just be more than they want to do.

 

[hibernation]

It's what you read about and saw on TV. Nobody wrote stories about road hunting, lol.

It's all about what films well and what generates the most interest. Backcountry elk hunting has epic scenery, and if you're calling there's a lot of action that's pretty easy for a viewer to follow. Plus it's a lot easier to hide a camera crew than if you're still-hunting through thick timber.

For people who've never seen an elk in-person before, that's now the only way they can picture to kill an elk. Gotta go deep, work hard, and bugle at everything.

 

[cnelk]

I’ve said it before but Father Time is undefeated.
And with that, for the past several years I’ve worked hard finding elk without having to spike camp or hike way back in.
I have those T shirts

We are well over 20 elk killed within a mile from a vehicle since then.

Work smarter not harder

 

[HunterGatherer]

I’ve said it before but Father Time is undefeated.
And with that, for the past several years I’ve worked hard finding elk without having to spike camp or hike way back in.
I have those T shirts

We are well over 20 elk killed within a mile from a vehicle since then.

Work smarter not harder

True, BUT just a reminder, you can’t hunt those bulls that are within a mile of the road unless you’re over 40. It’s a law, pretty sure. Young guys still are required to get way back in there…

 

[mad_angler]

Where I hunt, backpack hunting doesn't really make sense. In my unit, you can't get more than 2 miles from a road.

There are a few spots where setting up a spike camp makes sense. I did that for a particular spot this year but only for one night.