Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Solo elk hunters on foot

I mostly solo hunt. Hard to find guys that have the time off when I do. I have a couple buddies I hunt with when they are available. However once I kill an Elk they will all come help haul it out if they are around. I agree with Brad until you have strapped on the pack and hiked into the high country on your own. Spent nights out in the wilderness with nobody around you. And felt the feeling you won't get it. There is nothing else like it.

I can understand the enjoyment, excitement and serenity of being packed in alone. For my locale and hunting environment, I guess I’m at both an advantage and disadvantage. The upside is I have excellent elk country an hour away from my front door... Seclusion is easy to experience since 95% of the hunters won’t hike into the areas I go due to the terrain and effort necessary to take a bull out.

Even though my elk hunting mornings start at 1:30AM to be out the door by 2:45AM. I’m coming back to the cabin bloodied or not.

The downside is to enjoy a pack in alone carrying my house I would have to love the weather I’m usually experiencing in November-Which is cold, heavy rain, high winds, sometimes ice and snow, but usually horizontal rain from whipping wind. My coastal country this time of the year is brutal.

I do realize that all of you hunting in high country have your share of adverse weather, but if you’ve never experienced the marrow sucking conditions of the Oregon or Washington coast during November. I think you might look upon the porch lights of my cabin with relief that a warm shower is available to wash off the dirt and blood even if it is 3AM of the next day.

Aside, I truly believe that all of us, no matter where we live or hunt, who chase big fur successfully year after year on DIY public land are amazing. 😎

Indeed, wet cold is tough. I've spent my fair share of nights out in wet-cold outside of Montana when the temps are well below zero, and a cabin is indeed preferable.

Coldest day I ever spent elk hunting was -30*F. Not a big deal as long as you're moving, but when the wind kicks up it gets sporty.

Here's a bull I killed many years ago (solo, public ground of course). I started climbing at 4:30 am @ -15*F... at sunrise I spotted this bull a mile away headed up a mountain with two other smaller bulls to bed. Rather than follow their track, I estimated where they'd bed on the ridge and decided to button-hook around them and come down to them from above (obviously they'd be bedded watching their backtrack). Three hours climbing in knee deep snow got me to the ridge I guesstimated they were bedded on. I Slowly still-hunted down the ridge which brought me exactly into their bedroom. I shot this bull at 35 yards standing in his bed a 1:00 in the afternoon. The high temp was 5*F for the day. Needless to say, I made a fire while taking him apart. Really, a fairly typical November day elk hunting in Montana.

Nice bull! Gotta love it when a plan comes together!

That's a fact.

Those bulls are magnificent!
Thanks for posting.

This is a great thread that has left me truly amazed at the abilities you guys possess in order to pack out an elk, alone, in that terrain and weather conditions.

Something I truly regret not doing when I was younger.

Almost all of mine are solo, far away from roads, backpacking. Most of them are great stories to me; but, would bore most others to death. The most exhilarating would be solo, surprise encounters I've had with bears, mountain lions and a wolf. I stopped sharing those stories with my wife years ago. Every time I go out I leave her with detailed lists of where I will be including copies of topo maps with areas specifically identified. After being charged and treed by a mother bear and her cubs one time, I made the mistake of telling her that story. Although she appreciates the care I take in identifying where my body may be found (her words), she has asked me not to share those types of stories with her.

I do enjoy hunting with friends. Most of them just don't want to spend the time and effort to do it this way. That is fine. I actually enjoy the solo mountain hunting. When doing so for ten days to two weeks I wouldn't mind having someone with whom to b.s. at camp at night after 7 or 8 days solo. Even the hard parts like a full pack of meat going up or down a steep grade are some of the most rewarding experiences an outdoorsman can have.

I wouldn't dare leave my wife without taking my InReach and leaving her with GPS coordinates of where I intend to camp.

I have places to hunt not 10 minutes from my house. Then the journey begins and the hiking in starts. I am pretty much surrounded by places to hunt. I can't complain at all. An hour drive will open up even more Public land to hunt. I just need more time!

Huh ??? Huh ?? is there any other way to do it ? Have I been doing it wrong all these years ?

I always seem to get a littler freaked out after making a kill to see, when on my 2nd or 3rd trip, to see mountain lion tracks or bear tracks in my boot prints when either coming or going when packing meat is all...

Thanks Pat... we know all too well that isn’t always the case

I have huge respect for you guys who hunt elk alone.
Being part of a team of elk hunters is a nice luxury. When going solo there is a whole lot more physical and mental work involved.
I have found that being alone really limits the risks that I feel are reasonable as far as going high, far, unknown terrain, and weather. The physical aspects of a solo spike camp, or pushing in from a trailhead each day, or an elk recovery are also just as much a consideration.

I end up solo nearly every year. Not on purpose, but if I was to 'wait' for the guys that 'wanted' or 'planned' to go with me I'd never get to go. Solo is work, but if you have a plan and a method it's doable and in a strange way very rewarding. Here is last years - 4x4 ~2 miles out, hot and really had to hurry. Got him out and in the coolers in about 5 hours.


Had help in 2017 on a little 5x6

Solo in 2016 with this nice 6x6 ~ 1.5 miles all downhill thank goodness - got him out in about 4 hours. Much cooler day had time.


Spike in 2015 - 1/2 mile easy pack after I rolled him down the mountain for 1/4 mile.


5x5 in 2014 - 1.5 mile pack then 1.5 miles on the mountain bike.


Had help the year before on a 5x5 - have shot 3 or 4 more prior to that that were solo pack outs also.

So this bull came about in a weird way as a solo hunt, on foot and fairly new to the state. I spent the summer scouting, and when leftovers came out, I was out of town and didn't end up getting the unit I was scouting. So ended up with a neighboring unit, and spent most of my off time learning it and finding a few elk here and there. I settled on a spot that was an hour and a half hike uphill through black timber, and across a beaver pond. Saw moose there the evening before the opener, but still liked the spot to head back on opening morning. Spent the night in my solo "base camp" consisting of a Suburban. On opening morning, I saw this bull at what I thought was reasonable range and shot him about 20 minutes after shooting light.
When I got over to him, it was intimidating as hell to deal with by myself and with no one to call for help. It took some time to figure out how to get a decent picture with a self timed camera, then a couple hours to quarter and hang. I had a hatchet with me, but took it down on the first trip with a small load of meat to get a saw to skull cap the bull. Came back up with the saw and struggled mightily to get through the skull with a decent, new hacksaw. I said "f" this, and took another load of meat down and brought the hatchet back up to skull cap him. That third load was my toughest load because I took a rear plus some additional and strapped the antlers to my pack. In all that blow down and thick timber I was constantly trying to step over down logs or squeeze through tight spots to get around a downed log. It sucked, then I got down to the beaver pond, and slipped when crossing the dam.
When I slipped, I damn near went head first into the deep end with the antlers sticking me into the pond. If I fell in bad enough, my body would have been found strapped to a frame pack with 80 pounds of meat, feet up in the air, head and torso in the water, antlers sticking into the mud and sticks below the dam. But, instead I caught myself and just soaked my torso and arms and lived to tell the tale of what might have been.
After that I decided to take a break, so I drove 2 plus hours into Jelm, and ate and drank with another hunter until the bar closed. At that point I was kinda drunk and it was snowing pretty hard, so I pulled the Suburban over somewhere below the state line on a County Road and slept it off. Woke up around dawn with a wicked headache, then drove back to "camp" and humped up the mountain again for one last load before calling it a wrap.

Thanks all for the stories and the pic’s. I’ve not gone solo on elk but love these beasts and their homes. I can certainly appreciate the mental toughness these tales and pictures give incite too.

I've done my share of wet and cold but never hunted elk. Great bull under what I would call tough conditions, bet it was very satisfying when you stood over the bull.

I might end up solo this year, and I'll be 71 by hunting season. Both of my long time partners are about done for. One has hip problems, the other bad knees. Luckily I have llamas to handle the load. I can go a long way if I'm not carrying a load.

I hunt elk and all other big game solo around 80% of the time by choice. You have to pass up some animals because of terrain.

Pat, the bull elk is terrific and the country rugged but that big dark horned mulie buck is where its at. Learned a lot from your posts and always enjoy the pics. Maybe someday I'll make it to an Ice Breaker :-)