What was your first western hunt - especially if from East of the Mississippi

[NRA4LIFE]

1988, DIY MT antelope with my 2 brothers and a buddy. We did well, filled all 8 tags in 3 days I think. You're first trip will teach you a lot about your gear. Not from east of the Mississippi, but about 10 miles west (lived near St. Louis at the time).

 

[Doc Holliday]

Dall/caribou hunt in NWT in 2018 was my first hunt west of the Mississippi. I know….

In the years before that I had friends every year saying they would go on an elk hunt…I would do a bunch of research and they kept backing out, so I finally decided to start doing stuff on my own (though my wife goes with me), and since it was my 40th bday I swung for the fences. At 46 yo, my only regret is that I did not start buying points and western hunting earlier in life.

You will be able to sit in a deer stand when you are old, not so with climbing mountains

 

[Billinsd]

1977 DIY Colorado OTC deer hunt, west of Crested Butte, by Ruby Peak, I think. We were living at the time in Bakersfield, CA and I was 15, and my dad flew us in his plane to Gunnison, Colorado. We’d been there before to Crested Butte to go skiing. They gas boy that fueled our plane, said we could just walk out from the airport north and be into deer, that’s what another guy had done, put on a pack and hiked out of airport and two days later came back with a buck. I thought hmm, that’s possible but extremely unlikely, lol. So, the gas boy rented us a Bronco from the airport, not hertz or any commercial rent a cars there in 1977. We stayed in Gunnison and drove 20 miles west of Crested Butte to hunt deer. My dad had been a trapper in his youth along the Mississippi in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and had a 30-06 without a scope I was using. We used his colored flight maps that had topo lines and showed major roads to navigate. I remember the hills were covered in orange vested hunters, never seen anything like it since!!! Just an absolute crazy zoo!!! We drove around to get away from crowds and parked and just started walking through the heavily forested woods. Quickly I realized this was not fun or effective. A couple times we got turned around and walked a mile or so than we needed to. That evening a bought a hunting magazine, Outdoor life or something and read an article about getting up real high above treeline for big bucks. I directed my dad, who was my private hunting Chauffeur, he just loved to fly his plane and loved being in the mountains, to drive up above treeline and he was a bit skeptical. First day we get up above treeline, but it was too late in the day. We saw another truck with a couple people who looked suspicious, not hunters. So, next day we drive in the dark to get in position. I was filled with anticipation. No one was there!! I got out and started hunting. My dad told me Don’t shoot a bighorn sheep!!!! I thought sheesh no kidding!!! So, I’m walking along looking with my binos and see a group of deer above me, up a steep hill. I look and sigh, does….. Then they cross around a bend and move their heads and I just make out tiny horns!!! By the time I was ready, I shot at the last forkey!!! Damn I missed, why didn’t I look closer with my binos! Bummer! Wait…I’ll run up the hill and get another shot!! LOL!! It took me about 45 minutes to get up there, it was steep and air very thin, LOL!!! When I got closer I knew the deer where gone, but it was more out of stubbornness and curiosity to get up where they had been when I shot. I got up there and on the ground around the corner out of my sight when I’d shot, a young forkey was laying on the ground dead. I couldn’t believe it! I fired off all my cartridges in excitement!!! I got back down to my dad and the truck about an hour later. My dad was reading the Wall Street Journal. I was yelling and screaming!!! My dad said “did you shoot a bighorn? I told you not too!!” I said no, no!!! We hiked up to where I took the shot. My dad said “you shot a bighorn a deer wouldn’t be up there”. I insisted and we got up there and he was shocked and very proud of me. He said that was a 400 yard shot you made with open sights off hand!!! I said, “no I don’t think 400, 200 maybe line of sight. I gutted the deer and ripped open the stomach and threw up. We dragged the deer down the steep hill to the truck and then drove to a butcher in Gunnison. We came back two weeks later to hunt elk. The rest is history.

 

[LoH]

Utah archery mule deer. First hunt coincided with first Western hunt. hunting for a week, didn't know what I was doing. backpacked in a couple miles from a trailhead, camped around 9300'. the night before i shot my buck i was lying in my sleeping bag thinking this thing is just impossible, it's too hard, how is anyone successful at this?? and then i distinctly remember feeling a new kind of energy flow through me as i suddenly thought, "No. I know i'm not the most capable person in the world, and i know i'm not the smartest person in the world, but dumber, less capable people than me have taken deer with a bow. I will never give up. and i will eventually succeed."

the next day started like all the rest. climbing out of the tent in the dark. hunting on foot through the quaking aspen. found a group of three little bucks feeding in a little clearing. took off my shoes. put a stalk on. pretty sure they knew i was there. i'd close the distance a little (to like, 75 yards) and they'd move off a little. finally, they'd had enough and bounded off, but for some reason the third fork-horn pulled up, and didn't follow the other two. amazingly, he eventually went back to browsing. I got to within 50 yards. I had told myself 45 yards was my limit. spoiler alert: I didn't have the discipline to stick to my limit. I was so jittery. I sent the arrow on its way and heard it impact the deer but totally did not have the presence of mind to actually see the flight of the arrow. He dashed headlong into the trees out of sight. i knew I was supposed to stay put for 30 minutes but could only manage about 5-10 before i was tempted to just take a little peek. i started tracking, found the back half of my arrow, bloody. first major sign i saw was a big spray of blood against the white bark of an aspen, a few feet off the ground. as i stood there taking this in, i heard an animal move through the forest nearby. I caught a fleeting glimpse of a deer moving off. is that my deer? I wonder (and of course now twenty years later I know a lot more than I did then). still, I'm painstakingly trying to follow this blood trail which seems to be down to pinpricks of blood on single blades of grass here and there. I'm literally on my hands and knees with my face a few inches above the ground, hunting hard for signs. going back to the last known point, starting over. oh, the angst. That sick feeling. desperate bargaining with the universe.

eventually though, lo. a bloody bed, from whence i'd bumped the forkhorn the first time, when I stood there contemplating the blood on the aspen tree, probably mouth breathing like a dope. from the bed onwards, the blood trail became copious. easy to follow. and then, there, some 60 yards farther, lying dead, was my beautiful, generous forkhorn. It's possible i cried, but only the aspens know for sure, and they aren't telling.

turns out, I had shot him in the ham, and nicked the freaking femoral artery. I don't know, maybe it could have clotted up if I hadn't bungled into him and pushed him into pumping that leg muscle. It certainly seemed like the blood trail had been dwindling prior to bumping him out of the bed. And I would think if it had severed the artery properly, he would not have lasted even the 10 minutes I initially gave before following up. After I bumped him, it seems, he bled out quickly.

Since then, I've read Dead On! by John Jeanneney several times, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to be the most prepared hunter they can be.

So yeah, that was my first Western Hunt.

 

[LoH]

so to the OP I want to say I feel your pain re: not finding a true hunting partner who is as motivated and passionate as you are, with the wherewithal to plan a trip and actually do it. but I say hoo-rah to your decision to not let that stop you, to go it alone if you must. I'm grateful I was alone on my first western hunt. I'm grateful it was really hard. I'm grateful I was able to experience the full range of emotion and didn't have to "keep it together" for my entourage. I'm grateful that I can take that accomplishment to the bank.

 

[Jethro]

First hunt west of the Mississippi was Kodiak deer in 2004.

First elk hunt 2010 CO.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Sep 2021- early rifle traditional pack train elk hunt in the Bob. I won the lottery and killed a nice bull.

Oct 2022- took my daughter on DIY hunt to the Big Horns with youth cow tag. Didn’t fill tag but had an incredible adventure with my daughter.

 

[EdP]

My friend and hunting partner on one western hunt and two bear hunts in Maine died in 2021 just 6 weeks before we were to go on a mule deer hunt in Wyoming. We also had reservations with an outfitter for elk this year. I miss him greatly but still had a good hunt in 2021 and hope to draw a tag this year. The only thing worse than not going with a friend is not going at all.

 

[Scottyboy]

New Mexico elk in 2005. Guided rifle hunt. 1 shot using my Burris w/ BDC reticle and man how cool I thought I was to use the 3rd hash mark to shoot him at 300iah yards

 

[robcollins]

I grew up just east of KC. Moved to Colorado in '96. First hunt was '96 OTC Colorado 2nd rifle. Public land. Tagged a 5x5 at noon day 1 3 miles in, 1,600' up. Did 4 trips hauling bone in quarters and meat on the shittiest garage sale external pack frame ever.

Colorado has gone WAY downhill since parks merged with wildlife.

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[mt terry d]

About 1977. Lived in Wisconsin, my uncle took me to Belle Fourche, SD deer hunting.
After hunting deer at home restricted to shotgun with slugs , when we got within a couple hundred yards I was figuring a way to get closer and my uncle would start shooting. "Oh, yeah, my 270 will reach it".
I still like to get as close as possible.

Don't rely on others. Just do it. If they want to come along, fine, but don't
let your fate rest in anyone else's hands.

 

[Spacek81]

DIY hunt for elk. It was in Colorado just out of Pagosa Springs. My family and I packed in about 10 miles on horses and mules. Amazing views and experience. We did have a 20x40 outfitters tent with the wood stove, so that made things nice. Nothing like camping at 9-10,000ft besides a little thin air. Hope y'all find your dream hunt!

 

[Fatcamp]

SD doe antelope. Didn't kill anything. Ex wife got massive blisters because she refused to break in her boots. Stayed in a hotel and drove around with everyone else.

But! That first morning after walking in in the dark I saw two massive whitetail bucks and was hooked. We even saw some antelope.

New wife and I make numerous trips hunting and camping in remote locations with our kids and dogs every year now. Huge part of our life.

 

[Rjk300]

Mine was in 2015 a drop camp hunt in MT. It was a 6 hr ride in on horse/mule staying in wall tents. I seen moose, elk, and deer on that hunt just couldn’t get a shot but was a great experience for an Ohio boy! I’ve hunted MT seven years now and CO once!


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[summs]

Hey Dude, NJ here too. None of my buddies hunt, and wouldn’t even think about going out west. I first started going out west 4-5 years ago. I started with Spring Bear in Montana. Very cost effective, a lot less pressure to get a bull/buck/etc, days start later, etc. I learned soooo much my first time. I can honestly say I like black bear hunting way more than elk. Physically training, good boots, and shooting past 300 yards (which in this state is hard to work on but possible) will greatly increase your odds and fun on the trip. If you wanna chat more Pm me.

You leave NJ to hunt bear... literally the bear capital of America.
I'll send you a DM on here. Would love to talk more if your open to sharing.

 

[WannaBeRambo]

My cousin and I went elk hunting in Utah (public land) in 2008. Hired a guide which was a great decision, since it was our first. Guide handled all the tags, we just needed to buy the license. Utah IMO is hunter friendly state, fish and game made the rules clear and the process easy.
Guide had pretty much anything I could not bring, 4x4 truck, ATV’’s Swaro spotters, binocs and even team of horses if needed. Stayed at his place and we all went to super Walmart and split food cost.
I live in Florida, near the giant rodent. Spent the entire spring and summer on stair stepper conditioning and dropping 40 lbs. Really the perfect conditioning exercise, since we just carried day packs and helpd me deal with the altitude.
So going to 7000-9000 feet was like slow suffocation, hiking out even with light pack, had to stop and recover a lot more than expected. I did mange to carry a 100lb quarter elk out of a canyon too deep, steep for horses, ATVs, carried that shifting load on hands and knees over fallen timber up the steep grade. My cousin could not manage anymore than a couple hundred feet, bad knees, so the guide carried the other three quarters, human pack horse. Earned his bonus right there.
I did not have a range to practice to 400-500 yds, so my 450 yd away elk was safe from me. My cousins cannot hit anything inside of 200 yds, so he stoned the cow elk standing offhand at 450 yds. (Not making this use) Jeez.

Regardless of outcome, I think you will find it’s an incredible experience you will never ever forget. Even 15 years later, when I want to mentally get away, I recall this hunt, the challenges, the lack of oxygen, burning legs, dang quarter of elk flopping to the side of the freighter pack trying to knock me off balance on the mountainside deer trail and think that rodent over in Orlando can’t hold a candle to this sort of authentic experience.

 

[Snow Panther]

I am from east of the Mississippi, and even east of the Atlantic ocean!
My first western hunt was in September 2022, a guided archery elk hunt in Colorado. I was unsuccesful but loved it so much I rebooked for September 2023, where I did my second western hunt, again a guided archery elk hunt.
I am going again this year (September 2024).
But I am also wanting to do more than only these 7 days guided hunt. I would like to experience a drop camp hunt in some higher country and see different scenery. I am doing a lot of research to try to find an outfitter who would take me on a drop camp hunt in a OTC unit, but most won't take single hunters, they take only a minimum of 2 people.
And just as the OP, I don't have any local friend who is available to tag along with me this year in Colorado.

 

[JohnJohnson]

My first was an Idaho elk/mule deer hunt I did near my grandfather's house when I was 17, I'm from the east coast. First and only guided one I've done so far was AZ coues deer which I'm now hooked on. Most fun I've ever had hunting.

 

[Krolly]

2003 Montana guided elk and deer. Never saw an elk but killed a 150” whitetail before gaining elevation one morning.

2005 unguided CO OTC rifle. Killed a small bull and was glad to do so.

 

[giabbit6]

Mine will be a CO OTC elk hunt.