Roughly estimate your walk in time.

Schleppy

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
204
Location
West Salem, WI
For those of you who like to hike in say 5-7 miles for elk hunting, how long does that usually take? I know that it depends on terrain, elevation, etc etc. But what would be an estimate for a guy to walk in past where the day-hunters go?
 
4 hours depending on what kind of shape you are in, terrain, weather, glassing points along the way, how familiar you are with the area.... lots of variables
 
Takes me about 5 or 6 hours to get past my dayhunt range. Including driving to the trailhead it takes me a day to get in to the edge of deep. Day 2 is when I'm able to get into the remote areas.
 
Thanks for the replys. I'm thinking of setting up a spike camp with a 6 man tipi and hunting out from there. I just didnt really know what to expect as far as how long it takes to get back in.
 
I would say I average 4 miles hike in for most of my muley spots...and I usually dayhunt these. Lots of dark miles.

Our hike into camp for our elk spot is about 2.5 hours, just over 1 mile distance, and about 1400 vertical feet. And that barely gets us to the edge of the area we focus on. It's more of the same to get farther.

The more broken the country the better the hunting. Nothing worse than finally getting "in deep" and cutting fresh boot tracks.
 
There are different variables for me. I can ride my mountain bike into an one of my hunting spots that's three miles back and can be there in 20 minutes.

Another area where I hunt it takes about two to two and one half hours to hike to get to where I'm going to spike camp.
 
with a pack and down the steep switchbacks and about a mile on the beach (tough walking) it take me about 3.5 hours. did it the other day with a light pack and by myself and cut it down to just over 2 hrs. tho my legs felt it in the am.

where i go hunting from there will be deeper in
 
Are you hiking on a trail or workign along a drainage with lots of brush? Up hills?

When I caribou hunt in certain places its on a trail and takes me usually around 4 hours to go the 12 miles in, but not much in the way of elevation gain and mostly good footing and zero brushwhacking. Other places takes me the same 4 hours to go 1-2 miles. So its really hard to even give a "rough estimate" with no knowledge of the terrain, brush, footing, and more.
 
A word of caution from an older guy. One can get back 6 or 7 miles with some effort of course. The challenge in my mind is meat recovery on elk during Sept archery seasons. I am routinely hunting bruins in Sept with daytime temps in the upper 80s. Archery elk hunters have to keep in mind how long it is going to take to move 200 or so pounds of boned out elk. You younger guys might be able to pull it off, but I don't think I can get it out of the back country in those temps fast enough. Heck, I hunt several spots that are kind of steep and I don't see other hunters past 1 mile in and those are OTC areas. Sure it varies a lot though.
 
2.5-3mph on decent trail that isnt too steep, then about 1k ft/hr once it starts going up. i can move faster than this but find this is my natural pace and one that suits me for the beginning of a long trip
 
A word of caution from an older guy. One can get back 6 or 7 miles with some effort of course. The challenge in my mind is meat recovery on elk during Sept archery seasons. I am routinely hunting bruins in Sept with daytime temps in the upper 80s. Archery elk hunters have to keep in mind how long it is going to take to move 200 or so pounds of boned out elk. You younger guys might be able to pull it off, but I don't think I can get it out of the back country in those temps fast enough. Heck, I hunt several spots that are kind of steep and I don't see other hunters past 1 mile in and those are OTC areas. Sure it varies a lot though.

This is exactly whiy I'm asking. I have been looking at maps and trying to locate areas that I might want to try, the only problem is that I live in Wi and have no expectation as to how quickly a person on foot can cover terrain. I am very concerned about gettin the meat home in good shape, I'm not a trophy hunter and why go through the effort to let meat spoil. I just figured that most guys must have an average distance/time that works for them for finding elk and still being able to get the meat out quickly. Everyone is quick to "remind" a rookie to think about meat care and I'm just trying to figure out what the no BS range is for getting in and out in colorado during elk season. I appreciate all the info already posted.
 
This is exactly whiy I'm asking. I have been looking at maps and trying to locate areas that I might want to try, the only problem is that I live in Wi and have no expectation as to how quickly a person on foot can cover terrain. I am very concerned about gettin the meat home in good shape, I'm not a trophy hunter and why go through the effort to let meat spoil. I just figured that most guys must have an average distance/time that works for them for finding elk and still being able to get the meat out quickly. Everyone is quick to "remind" a rookie to think about meat care and I'm just trying to figure out what the no BS range is for getting in and out in colorado during elk season. I appreciate all the info already posted.

I believe the answer to that question can only be answered within you and the situation. If weather conditions are not an issue, then the only question is the drive within you. If weather conditions are an issue, I would strongly recommend a packer, or several friends.
 
Dead reckoning over terrain on foot is a tricky scenario. My comfortable pace over pavement averages 3 miles per hour. Off trail and semi undulating terrain with tussocks and tundra (alpine) is about 1.5 miles per hour. Mountainous terrain with mild angles about 1 mile per hour.

Anytime i'm in unfamiliar terrain with elevation and trees, I allow myself double the usual required time and really pay attention to distance and time for the first couple of hours...then take an average and try to keep pace.

Add hunting to the scenario and I expect to cover about 1/2-mile an hour.

It really depends on my pack weight and the terrain type. It's an individual task, so no real accurate judge for someone else's consideration and abilities.

But when I hunt sheep, a good day average once the hammer falls is 5-7 miles per day with 100-120-lb packs. But goat hunting is more vertical terrain, takes a full day to travel a few miles with wicked steep slopes and alder busting down lower.

Best thing to try is to assess how long it takes you to get where you're going to hunt, and double that time if you're strong and motivated coming out heavy, or triple the time for a return if you'r busted up or tired. Make sense?

larry
 
Last edited:
This is exactly whiy I'm asking. I have been looking at maps and trying to locate areas that I might want to try, the only problem is that I live in Wi and have no expectation as to how quickly a person on foot can cover terrain. I am very concerned about gettin the meat home in good shape, I'm not a trophy hunter and why go through the effort to let meat spoil. I just figured that most guys must have an average distance/time that works for them for finding elk and still being able to get the meat out quickly. Everyone is quick to "remind" a rookie to think about meat care and I'm just trying to figure out what the no BS range is for getting in and out in colorado during elk season. I appreciate all the info already posted.
our spike camp is only 2 miles from the truck. its all up. takes 3-4 hours. that being said we know where we are taking the meat depending on the kill. our camp sits between 2 huge bowls, kill an elk in west bowl, the meat is going to "meat creek" to cool as we get all we can carry to camp. east bowl has a preset "meat creek "also. we have other areas that if we get one down,it goes strait out to the truck. not packing meat UP to camp.
bottom line, you might have to do some crazy stuff, like pack your elk out and go get your camp later. brutal, but worth it.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top