Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting I've never been elk hunting.

Maybe the jeans guys see the custom-camo clad guys with their empty trucks, and snicker in their discomfort....

Only once without jeans.....

OMG, 50 +years wearing jeans in Colorado and New Mexico elk hunting and I"m not dead yet.I guess some never heard of gaiters or rain paints/jackets

Damn that thing is hairy.

The more cantankerous you are, the more cotton you can wear.

No self-respecting cowboy wears camo pants. Jackets, sure.

"Team Wrangler"....Pro staffer..;)

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Sometimes I go full on "Rambo"...grin

I try to keep the wind right, and stay in the shadows.

43 days, and it's on!

Ordered Black Orvis merino wool base layers today, as well as First Lite Obsidian pants and a First Lite Cirrus packable puffy jacket. Oh and a Cabela’s 1/4 zip fleece mid layer. This is getting expensive quick! But I feel like I’ll use this stuff all deer season here too. Or at least when I’m not in a tree in shorts and a t shirt and have the thermacell burning!

Good gear! I have some merino base layers as well as polypropylene undergarments. I love my First Lite pants and Cabelas old Microtex pants and shirts. The new stuff is strictly junk. I have a bunch of 100% wool stuff for real cold. I have a blizzard box that stays in the truck that includes Kennetrek pack boots, snow camo rain suit, extra gaiters, and heavyweight socks. You can’t wear it if you don’t bring it. Happy Trails

Ya know after reading about this gear I think it will really be a joy to have all deer season. I hunt whitetail September through February, and have just used the stuff available here. Merino is a foreign concept. I ordered Kuiu midlayer merino pants today that zip off to the hip, as well as a merino neck gaiter. Also a Kifaru belt; if there’s one piece of whitetail gear I’ve never mastered, it’s a quiet belt. Still want some gaiters (to keep those Obsidians dry in the AM), and some rain pants. For a rain top I figure my Drake jacket will be fine.

Also noticed Amazon was offering 15% back on my Chase card for camping and outdoor gear. We are about at full kit now ha.

And ran 1.5 miles tonight; surprised by my ability after pretty much all but quitting exercise 8 years ago. It feels good. I’m excited.

I wish I had read all this information from experienced elk hunters before my first elk hunt ever which was in the San Juans in Colorado near Pagosa Springs. Here is a summary of that hunt -

Showed up in not anywhere near good enough shape to tackle the high altitude and the mountains. Tried to hike a lot uphill the first 2 days before adjusting to the altitude and felt like I was going to die a few times from carrying too much gear, wearing too much clothing, and having altitude sickness. Was already dogged tired by the 3rd day of the hunt but started adjusting a little to the altitude and learned that drinking a ton of water and packing less weight was best way for me to combat the altitude sickness.

4th day I decided to walk down a road that was a little off the beaten path just over on the other side of a smallish mountain from where a bunch of guys were riding all over on 4 wheelers/ATVs. Didn't really expect to see anything with all the hunters tearing it up on the 4 wheelers on the other side of the mountain, but by sheer dang luck I ran into a herd of elk just below the road I was on in a meadow at the bottom of a semi deep and steep canyon. I shot the biggest cow I could get a decent/ clean shot at out of that herd...Then the real fun started.

Called up my brother who was also as inexperienced as myself at elk hunting to come help get the cow out. We spent at least 3 to 4 hours getting down to it and gutting the cow and getting it on a plastic sled a buddy let us borrow...Put it on the sled whole/ with no guts and tried dragging it out uphill with no snow on the ground. Learned real fast that plastic sled was about dang useless with no snow, it kept digging into the ground..Spent about 2 hours to go maybe 60 brutal yards...Gave up on that and took the elk off the sled. By then it was close to 1030 or 11 at night. Decided to skin the elk out and prop its chest cavity open with a stick and leave it where it lay overnight and come back the next day. It was down in the teens in temp so figured the meat would be fine. Got back to hotel at 1/130 ish AM feeling like I been beat all too hell by Mike Tyson. Woke again at 530 AM, got back out to where the elk was around 7 AM and ran into some other hunters that loaned us a wheel cart. We decided to quarter the elk out and bring it up in pieces out of the canyon on the wheelcart in 4 trips. Daylight revealed the least steepest route up out of that canyon I shot the elk in which was still steep as hell and covered with deadfalls and we had no chainsaw. We spent all dang morning dragging quarters of elk up about 30 to 40 brutal yards at a time constantly having to lift the cart up and over deadfalls over and over. Constantly stopping to catch our breathe and drink tons of water. It was about 6 to 700 yards up to the road where the truck was, but felt like it was 10 miles dragging those elk quarters on that wheel cart. We should have deboned it and used packs to carry the meat out, probably would have been much much easier, but neither of us ever thought of it being as inexperienced as we were.

Anyway, In my younger years I did a lot of manual labor as well as a lot of physical excercise for sports, but I have never felt as physically washed up as I felt after getting that elk out of that canyon. The only thing I could compare it to is maybe the first day of "two a days" football practice in the middle of summer in Texas or hauling hay sun up to sun down.. I still feel the pain from it sometimes in my bones. Im always ready to go again though every time I get a chance.

Tons of great advice you will find out for yourself but in order
Good boots
Get in great shape
Rifle practice
Layers ready for snow & cold
Prep for meat care
OnX keeps you out of trouble
Understand you have to work hard and be a little lucky but it’s worth it
Once you have the bug it steals your attention and spending money.

preparation is key, mentally and physically. Be prepared to hunt all day,everyday. you should be at your 1st glassing point prior to 1st light and return in the dark if necessary after putting your quarry to bed. Good headlamps are essential, I carry 2 rather than extra batteries. Sitting around a campfire is rare for me, I usually return to camp well after dark, eat a mountainhouse then to bed w/ a 0400 wakeup.

Practice hunt a few times. Spend several days consecutively on your feet in the gear you plan on using and prove the efficacy of each item. Practice w/ your binos, range finder, wind dust so you aren't learning when you should be hunting, dry fire every day.

Decide if you are going hunting or on a camping trip, mountain hunting during rifle season in a popular area takes a lot of work or a lot of luck.

Never leave camp w/o a rainjacket, survival gear and enough calories to keep you going 24 hours. If you are ready hunting in the mountains is the greatest fun of all, if you kill something it is a bonus.

To sustain yourself at altitude drink a full gallon of water daily and supplement your electrolytes.

Your 1st Elkhunt will probably doom you to repeat it annually, have fun and become an expert navigator.


mike r

All good advice...I would add PATIENCE! We have had times when the morning brought zero and rather than hike back and forth we just holed up and waited for evening and as Mike said, walked out in the dark many a time.

The other thing I would add is to stick to cover as much as possible, dont expose yourself....the hunters scanning a gorgeous vista may look good on a magazine cover, but it'll give you away in real life.

Dont go out in the open...ever....dont go out into the sunlight, stay in the shadows. The elk may not see you but plenty of other critters will, and they understand each other.


Oh...and everything Scenarshooter said...

The never ending blue jean saga.....luv'n it. I think I have only killed 2-3 elk while NOT wearing blue jeans. Late season and snowy I am all about wool, but during the normal Oct and Nov seasons I almost always wear wranglers, but I do mainly hunt the intermountain west: not the costal Roosies.

Anyhoo I don't have much that is constructive to add to this thread....but I would reinforce the notion that you can't be afraid of the dark. If you want to be consistently successful with public land/general season elk you have to be comfortable hiking in and out in the dark.

If you spot elk in another drainage in the morning, just be patient and watch where they go into the timber at. 9 times out of 10 they'll come out of the timber at that same spot if nothing spooks them during the day. Watch the wind and get into position for them to come feeding out in the late evening.

TI...What state are you hunting elk in?

Mainly WY, but I have killed elk in MT and ID too. All general season public land, with some extra cow draws thrown in.

I still have never drawn even a decent Rocky Mountain elk tag, in any state.

That’s serious elk hunting doing GSPL in various states. 👍🏻😎

I don't hunt all those states every year...if that's what you were thinking.

Just Wyoming.