What range of miles and elevation do you do in a hunt day?

[*zap*]

Elevation change 500-800’, miles less than 7. 4-5 optimum. Pack in to spike 2500’ change, 5-7 miles. Flatlander here, so I’m hurting that next day. Not gonna lie. Going to admit something I’ve done here relating to hydrating. Conserved water one pack in, lost track, and quit drinking out of the bladder bc I “ knew I was about out” felt like hell when I got to camp and still had 1/3 water left when I emptied my pack . Another pack in, ran out 2/3s in. Felt like hell when I got to our water source. Dehydration effects kick my butt for at least a
Day. Am I the only D.A. That’s done this

Try some zipfizz in your water to help with hydration/energy.

 

[WV Mountaineer]

Well since you are well versed in the mountains then you know there is no 15-20 mile stretch in the mountains but doesn’t mean you can’t put on 15 miles, you also then know that not every step in the mountains is up a 60* slope, over blow downs in a rock scree. There will be variations from difficult to easy all throughout. I guess we shouldn’t count the easy spots in our daily walking?

Also do you think people don’t hunt the same area day after day or do you think they only hunt it when they first walk it, like a through trail? I don’t know anyone that is just walking 100 miles from their vehicle and back. But hey we all hunt different.

I think it is exactly what I said. I never implied differently then your last example. And, I'm not going to argue with any one about it. Am I saying people don't walk this far occasionally? Or, even yearly as part of a hunt? No, I am not. But, the answers given on this thread sure leads one to believe it's an everyday thing.

To the OP, you need to be in the absolute best shape you can be in. You are going to get tired no matter what. However, the difference in being in great shape and decent shape is the ability to push yourself hard day after day. 2-3 miles through oak brush on a steep mountain is way harder then 10 miles on a gentle trail or gated road. And, would likely offer you a much better chance into getting at elk then sharing the long walks with everyone else. So, get to where you can recover enough to do it day after day and don't worry about the mileage. That means push hard now and get your diet right. Good luck and God Bless

 

[lifeisgoodsteve]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for sharing your experiences as it gives me and new hunters at least a general idea of what level hiking I should be able to handle now to be ready for hunting season. Last weekend I did about 6 miles and 1600ft. elevation up and then down with a 55lb pack/rifle. Man, the next day(s) was I sore and worn out, so have plenty of conditioning left to do.

Thankfully it's fun to just get out in nature and carry my rifle.

Thanks again,

Steve

 

[Wrench]

I've learned to focus on what guys don't want to hunt after the first few days.

I've taken my boat up lake Chelan and hiked clear into McAlister and Mc Gregor. It's a grueling climb. What I've found is finding a area that's overlooked and not so easy to get to, but not a destination has been the most fruitful for me. Often times those areas are .5-2.0 miles from a road and often require crossing a Ridge or two.

I'd focus on habitat and typical characteristics of the habitat for the critter you chase....then I'd look for the overlooked stuff.

Unless it's mule deer, then you just climb forever and ever and ever.

 

[Pendleton]

It depends on the area. To get away in OTC areas, it's nice if you can do a 5 mile hike most days with 2000 feet of elevation gain.

In my younger days, I would do way too much hiking instead of hunting like you guys mentioned.

People massively overestimate mileage. For every guy doing 6 miles and 2500 up per day, 300 put in less than 2 from any base camp.

 

[ridgefire]

Last year my brother and i were averaging around 17 miles a day according to the tracking on OnX. Our longest day was just over 20 miles and took over 14 hrs. This was hunting elk in fairly flat country in Eastern Washington with only maybe 3000ft of up and down in a day. Where we hunt in Idaho it is way steeper country and maybe do 10 miles a day but quite a bit more up and down for hiking. Our camp is at 6700' and we hunt from hat elevation up to over 9000' daily and typically are up and down a few different drainages/ridges over the course of a day. Our style of hunting is hiking til we find bugling bulls so not the most energy efficient way of hunting.

 

[ridgefire]

Our longest day last year was on 9/16/18 and was 21.92 miles over 14 h 34 m and 46 seconds with a speed of 1.5mph according to OnX tracking.

 

[kscreekguy]

Colorado elk I camp around 9500. Hunt 5-7 miles a day up to 11,000.

 

[timekiller13]

When hunting Colorado, average day is probably 6-8 miles, start off at about 8200'. Generally hike up to around 9500-10000. Highest I have been is 11200. In general, I don't hike all that far to the areas that I target, usually 2 or so miles in. Miles get added on when I come out, sometimes I will take a longer route to get on an established trail so I don't have to navigate deadfall in the dark. Most miles I put on in a day was 11. That was because I kept chasing a bull deeper and deeper.

Here at home in NC, about 1-2 miles, elevation from 2500-3500'.

 

[Brock A]

Gotta a lot of world class individuals on here it seems.

Since I seem to fit your "world class individual" definition I will elaborate on my 20 mile elk day.

I will never do it again. It was horrible. We ended up 8 miles from the tent/truck after chasing a herd all morning, as mentioned by others, you can rack up 8 miles rather quickly when you are dropping and gaining ground. Around 1pm we decided to call it and head back, then we spotted some elk bedded across the canyon in the wrong direction. Being the last day, we got closer, shot a cow at 300 yards, went over cut her up and hung over a creek. Looked at the GPS and realized we had about 9 miles to go back to the tent. After doing some zig and zagging we got to the truck via headlamps and drove home.

 

[kmbrewcrew]

We typically cover 6-10 miles per day, and climb 1500-2500 feet depending on location...