Older hunters showing up

[trophyhill]

About half the time I'm in decent shape for the elkwoods physically, the other half when physically I'm not, I just power thru it and embrace the suck. I don't think my mind lets me quit no matter how rough and tough it gets in the elkwoods. September only comes once a year.

Most of the game is upstairs anyways. You can have a great hunt without killing yourself. I've seen gym rats half my age give up early because the Rocky Mountains chewed them up and spit them out. They go hard for 2 or 3 days and they are spent mentally, and beat down physically. And they either stay in camp, or pack it up and leave.

Cliff Gray has a great video on "why guys quit on the mountain". I've seen it happen

 

[dtrkyman]

Guiding mountain hunts I assume I need to go at 25 percent with a client until I am proven wrong!

If you beat em up in a day or two the hunt gets incredibly hard.

Had a client shoot a bull the first afternoon a couple seasons ago, he shot a small bull even after telling him not to, he later said he didn't think he could hunt anymore days like that.

I was taking it quite easy but we did cover some miles!

 

[CAElkhunter]

I am 62 and have been hunting elk for 30 yrs. I always stay in decent shape and start getting into Elk shape 90 days before the season starts. I have used Guides on all my trips and have yet to have a guide wish I could keep up. I agree 100% it is mostly mental. Guys have a hard time on day 3 when even the most trained muscles start to ache. Hydration is key and a positive mental state.

Drew a LE tag in Wyoming this year. Can't wait until October to go see if something needs killin.

 

[bummer7580]

I am 62 and have been hunting elk for 30 yrs. I always stay in decent shape and start getting into Elk shape 90 days before the season starts. I have used Guides on all my trips and have yet to have a guide wish I could keep up. I agree 100% it is mostly mental. Guys have a hard time on day 3 when even the most trained muscles start to ache. Hydration is key and a positive mental state.

Drew a LE tag in Wyoming this year. Can't wait until October to go see if something needs killin.

Congrats on the Wyoming LE tag. LE tags are often something special and getting more rare it seems. Good luck and post pictures if sucessful.

 

[CAElkhunter]

Congrats on the Wyoming LE tag. LE tags are often something special and getting more rare it seems. Good luck and post pictures if sucessful.

Horseback wilderness hunt. Goals : don't fall off horse, have fun, Kill Bull...in that order.

 

[7sdad]

I'm 64 1/2 and try to stay in shape other than round by riding and racing bicycle's year round. Good luck to everyone this year, I leave at 5:00am in the morning!

 

[yycyak]

Another observation: This is something that I'm struggling with this season, especially since I've started mucking about with horses. Fitting a framed backpack on a horse is a rodeo waiting to happen. Riding with a pack is no good either.

Most of the guys on horseback stick everything in saddlebags. Ie. no pack, or a super lightweight daypack slung over the saddle horn.

Which now has me going down the rabbit hole of whether I really need all that crap plus the pack frame? "Going back" to get the horses is the same as "going back" for a pack frame: You're still stuck walking back to the basecamp on that first trip empty.

To really Analysis Paralysis this to death, best I can tell there are 3 stages of a hunt: 1. Logistics/planning, 2. Making the shot. 3. Recovery of meat. Humping a pack frame blends #2 and #3. Humping a heavy pack arguably hinders #2. I get if you're on a fly-in hunt chasing sheep 100 miles from the nearest road, carrying a SG or Exo makes sense. But for a regular old public land hunt... I dunno.

Anyway, didn't mean to take this on a tangent. Your observation of the guides' load-out triggered me and my hatred of heavy packs.

Yes we are fortunate to be in an LE area that allows us to do a morning hunt and evening hunt. The area we hunt is great for glassing and we often know where the elk are holed up and we prefer not to accidentally bump them from their bedding area. We seldom get farther than 2-3 miles from camp or a truck. If I was headed deep I agree my pack would weigh more than it currently does but I even then everything in that pack would be as light as possible.
An interesting observation is many of the guides I've had in New Mexico and Arizona don't even carry a pack. They carry what they need in their jacket pockets to process a kill knowing they will be coming back with pack frames later. On guided hunts in the Thorofare in Wyoming the cowboy guides didn't wear packs either. They kept a knife, a bit of rope and a water bottle in their Carhart jacket pockets.

 

[bummer7580]

Another observation: This is something that I'm struggling with this season, especially since I've started mucking about with horses. Fitting a framed backpack on a horse is a rodeo waiting to happen. Riding with a pack is no good either.

Most of the guys on horseback stick everything in saddlebags. Ie. no pack, or a super lightweight daypack slung over the saddle horn.

Which now has me going down the rabbit hole of whether I really need all that crap plus the pack frame? "Going back" to get the horses is the same as "going back" for a pack frame: You're still stuck walking back to the basecamp on that first trip empty.

To really Analysis Paralysis this to death, best I can tell there are 3 stages of a hunt: 1. Logistics/planning, 2. Making the shot. 3. Recovery of meat. Humping a pack frame blends #2 and #3. Humping a heavy pack arguably hinders #2. I get if you're on a fly-in hunt chasing sheep 100 miles from the nearest road, carrying a SG or Exo makes sense. But for a regular old public land hunt... I dunno.

Anyway, didn't mean to take this on a tangent. Your observation of the guides' load-out triggered me and my hatred of heavy packs.

The information in your post about pack frames and horses is excellent and probably should be heeded by new riders on a horse hunt. The frame will probably be poking the horse in the kidneys making him very unhappy. At some point he will try to get rid of what's poking him which will probably make you unhappy.Lol. Some outfitters don't allow you to wear a large pack on a horse. Instead you should be able to tie rain gear and a jacket behind the saddle, your lunch and water can go in the saddle bags. If you need a pack for horse hunting the smaller the better.

 

[5MilesBack]

Because I return to camp twice a day the most water I carry is a couple of 12 ounce bottles.

I drink an average of about 170oz a day of water during archery elk season. Most of that is just replenishment from sweating. I don't sit, I don't glass, I'm always on the move looking for bulls that want to play the game my way. I've gotten dehydrated out there before, those headaches are NO fun. I don't take that chance anymore. If water was more plentiful where I hunt, I'd carry less and take my filter.