Depends on where you intend to go and what the ground conditions are at the time.
On my first big game hunt, elk in 1982, we drove though creeks and axle-deep mud getting to the spot where we parked the 4x4 truck.
My second hunt, the next year, was for deer. I could have driven my Malibu station wagon over the frozen ground to the parking spot. Coming back out that night was a totally different situation - the ground had thawed and truck traffic had chewed up the only road out, leaving axle deep ruts. My friend's International 4x4 Scout had slightly less ground clearance than the Ford/Chevy/Dodge trucks and got high-centered on the differentials. No problem, he had chains for all four tires and had used them before. He also had new and slightly larger tires and we found it impossible to put the chains on in the mud - we could get them around the tires and fasten the back sides but they were a link or two too short to connect in on the outside. We spent the night on the hillside and two jeeps in tandem pulled us out i the morning.
Since them I've used a high-clearance (full size Bronco, Suburban, F250 and now F150) 4x4 and have chains for all four, with two rubber tensioners for each wheel (and spares) and a chain repair kit which hasn't been needed since I upgraded to high-quality chains (but saved my bacon and that of others several times before the upgrade).
That said, there are places you can hunt near a paved road and even more by well-maintained county roads. There is a 1/4 sq mile patch of public land where I've taken 3 elk and could have taken more. There is a knoll about 100 yards from the pavement from which I've taken one, a ridge 50 yards from the pavement from which I've taken another and another knoll in the back from which I took yet another. Another time I took one 45 lasered yards from a gravel road.and passed on yet another. That same trip I filled my second tag while sitting 25 yards from a different gravel road.
Elk are where you find them. Getting to them (and back) can be easy or hard. I've pulled one 4x4 truck back onto a road and took a pair of hunters to town because their truck was irretrievably stuck until they could get a tow truck to winch it up and out.
If all I had was a Subaru, I'd take it. Hunting is better than not. (But I'd prefer a 4x4 truck with chains.)
Last edited by Coyote_Hunter; 06/29/19.
