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When you have backpacked back in how close do you make camp to your hunting area?

The noise of cooking your meals. The scent plume. The noise generated when cutting wood for the stove when you are hot tenting.....

Do you make camp in the middle of your hunting area? I have had deer literally walk through my camp. Elk are a little different. More reclusive.


What are your thoughts?

On elk we set up at least one canyon away from where we expect to hunt. Not convenient. Deer don't seem to be as elusive.

Same here, except we don't have canyons, more like basins. A lot of it has to do with the lay of the land, and where they feed at night and bed during the day.

Similar to what is stated above the general concept that I utilize is A I like to camp where the elk do not want to be, and B I want a terrain feature between me and the animals Intend to hunt, and that terrainnfeature should provide for keeping my wind out of the elk and they’re expected travel corridor while I’m there.

You can utilize the same concept if you are waiting on pressure to push elk to you.

For deer in alpine, depends on what the wind is doing. It’s nice to get out or tent and have short hike to glassing spot. So it’s usually on the other side of the ridge, near the top to the bowls I want to glass at first light. Hiking layers and first light layers are different for me.

If you're hunting big muley bucks, you don't want to be anywhere close. If they detect you, they're gone. They don't get big by being dumb. Earlier this year, my partner spotted a really biggun on a ridge about 1/2 mile away. He had barely got his binocs on it when it saw him about 15 sec later and just took off running over the ridge.

It depends, in some areas, on the availability of water. If water is scarce camping near it is a poor idea and should be avoided. Being willing to pack your water into dry area is a good way to avoid the crowds and find big Mule Deer. Carrying water isn't fun but finding big deer certainly is.



mike r

When I backpack in, I have as basic of a camp as possible....and don't make fires. I usually don't cook either, just eat a lot of snacks and such. Sometimes I'll do the mountain house thing with a jetboil. I am almost always solo too, so talking noise isn't an issue (unless I've been back there too long).

I'm there to sleep and that's about it, so I don't mind being closer to the action. I've made camp within a few hundred yards of where I expect critters to be, though it is usually near a ridgetop where the wind is fairly predictable.

Exactly the same for me...

That's because you 2 home boys, know what you're talking about & actually do it !

The bull I shot this year was a 15min hike from my tent. Getting from the truck to where the tent was is another story...

Not a back packer here, but I find more and more hunters trying to get in closer to the elk habitat .I guess it is all about getting ahead of the other guy.I have seen guys set up big camps right in a prime elk corridor.Then they go out and "scout" in the timber for 1-2 days before the season starts and bump the elk. Opening day they are complaining about all the elk are gone and can't figure out why

Elk will move thru one of those areas, but mostly camping in the hunt area will move elk out. Sometimes over the next ridge,sometimes three - four drainages away