stickbowcoop
FNG
Good luck and have fun.
Don't be afraid to relocate if you are not seeing fresh sign.
Be courteous and friendly to other hunters, even when you don't feel like it. We are all out there living out our passion. Amazing how I can be so frustrated bumping into another hunter, then within 30 seconds of chatting I find myself wanting to get to know them more b/c of the common bond we all share.
You don't have to wear orange, but a blaze hat sure helps a shooter & caller team easily keep track of each other when separated by 100 yards in the thick stuff.
Don't waste ANY time. Ever. Two weeks seems like a long time. It's not. Don't waste time doing anything in CO that you could get done before you leave home (waiting to buy groceries, waiting buy tags or maps). And don't waste time doing anything in your base camp that keeps you there and not in the woods hunting elk. I'm not saying you can't relax and have a good time, but be mindful that daylight hours are fleeting and they are to be cherished. A few minutes here and there messing with gear or looking for a misplaced item becomes hours quickly, especially with 4 people. Prepack your daily food bags (I'm doing that right now) so you can grab and go quickly in the am. No thinking, no mistakes. Get your pack re-organized for the next morning as soon as you get back at night while your mountain house is cooking. Don't put it off to the morning. That's how people forget stuff back at camp and then have to turn the truck around and go back for a headlamp, etc. Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock...
Buy way more gallon jugs of water than you think you need. Like 3x more than you think.
Be uber respectful of the land and this gift we have to recreate upon it.
Every time it sucks... Every time you are standing there gasping for air after only gaining 30 ft of progress upslope... Every time you have to force your beat-down body out of the warm bag and into the morning chill... Every time your buddy makes a mistake and you want to react like Bobby Knight in the late '90s... Every time you drag ass back into camp without even seeing an elk and you wonder what the Hell you are even doing out there... Every time you re-tape your aching, blistered feet and gingerly slide them back into wet boots... Smile...
SMILE. Smile and remind yourself that you are FINALLY elk hunting! These moments that suck the most are the very same ones that you will most fondly remember. I don't know why that is. It just seems like the very things that threaten to drive you off the mountain and back to the comforts of your warm bed, those are the very 1st things that you begin to miss about elk hunting before you have even made it back home.
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