Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Camping out for elk

I'm with saddlesore ..

The Bitterroot is big, steep country. I am there right now, at my mom's house.

I have spent a few unexpected nights out on the mountain around here during the elk season in November, without a tent or sleeping bag. It wasn't the Waldorf Astoria, but if a guy can't handle one uncomfortable night out without a hot meal then he has issues. It can get cold for sure, but it rarely is so cold that it becomes unsafe (but it can happen in November). A hatchet may be nice for a small fire if desired but I wouldn't sweat it to not have one and I rarely make fires when hunting. If you do find a herd that is too far to go after in the evening, then I would for sure consider staying the night right where you're at. There are situations when it makes sense and several places in the Bitterroot don't have roads to get you any closer to where you may want to go in the morning.

I have done it lots of times in September chasing archery elk. More than once with no tent. Watch the weather November can get cold. I have the luxury of coming back next week and use it. Hunting in November with enough gear in a pack to spend a comfortable night out or two means a heavy pack every day. I would travel light with the gear needed to take care of an elk once down and made a couple of pack out trips the next day. I like to hunt from camp and cut my sleep short if needed.

It’s called camping. Have you ever backpack camped in the winter? Then got up real early and leave camp in the dark? Thats what you’ll be doing. It aint rocket surgery. Just the same as if you were day hunting, you need to have a plan in place for:
-staying warm
-getting lost
-getting wet
-getting hurt
-transporting meat
-food and water

Without someway to warm up and dry out clothes and boots if one ran into some snow and single or below digit temps you can run into problems. Having to survive a night in inclement weather in a survival situation is one thing but to go spartan and then plan on hunting from a spartan camp, especially without heat, is asinine. Too many things can go wrong. Don't get me wrong , it's doable, but not advisable.

I've done " OK" in the winter with a small 3 season tent, a good bag and a pocket rocket stove to cook with, but if you can add handle a little more in your pack, I've been much more comfortable in my seek outside tipi/titanium woodstove.
Just make sure you and your pack can handle both camp and full game bags.

So, I won't comment on whether you should do it or not. One thing I will suggest is an equipment choice. While there are plenty of good/light bags/quilts out there, I would suggest a system that has a Gore-Tex shell. Since you are a Marine, I would suggest looking for the Mil Surplus 4/5 piece Modular Sleep Systems. Make sure you get the patrol bag, intermediate bag, and bivy cover at least. The whole system will be comfortable down to at least 0 and cost ~$200 (or less depending on how close you are now to a base). Weight for the 4 piece system is around 9 pounds, but you are going to have a hard time getting a commercial system that works as well for the price/weight that the USGI system provides.

I do agree with others that if you can do a tipi/woodstove as well for heating water and drying clothes it would be much better. Also, having heated water will help a LOT with getting/staying warm. Put heated water in to a nalgene bottle, wrap it in a sock (helps dry out the sock too) and put it in the foot of your sleeping bag. Will make for a MUCH better sleeping experience.

Its absolutely doable, if 2 of you plan to stay out you can split the extra pack load. Look for a used lightweight teepee and titanium stove on places like rokslide. Food tent stove and sleeping bag/pad will be around 10lbs each. Even just a good bag and a cheap tarp or tent will be fine for a night or two. Spent my honeymoon in a Walmart eureka tent in subzero Montana temps hunting muledeer. Attitude and a good bag will get you by just fine.

Something else about seeing a herd of elk at last light - this hunt is in Nov. Quite often after the rut the bulls will go into hiding for a while. They won't be with the cows. It's not uncommon to see 40 or 50 cows and not a single bull. They're close by but stay hidden for a while, maybe into Dec. We were hunting cows last Nov in so. Idaho. We saw one herd that might have been 200 cows and we couldn't see a single bull in the crowd.
The year before, I spotted a dozen or so way up high shortly before dark. I wasn't able to tell what they were so I started climbing I climbed maybe 800' in elevation before I got a good look - all bulls. I found the bachelor herd with a cow tag in my pocket. Meanwhile, one of my partners found the cows. They weren't very far away but it was getting too dark to get on them and we weren't fixed to spend the night there. This was in late Oct.

You absolutely do not need a wood stove. I've backpacked, skied, climbed in winter conditions spending many nights out down to -20F with no fire of any kind. It's done all the time. And building a fire in Montana is the simplest thing in the world given the abundance of dry wood.

You're only going to be in a few miles in. You're a Marine. Get a 0 - 15F sleeping bag, pad, light tent or tarp, pack and a decent backpack stove. You'll figure out the rest!

It's doable and I've done it, but there's two problems with backpacking for elk. The first is extraction. Any place that you can't walk out in a couple hours is going to be a VERY long process. Second, you need to have enough stuff to survive not just a night in the snow, but if something goes wrong like say wet equiptment + blizard. That means you need more calories, more fuel, and more warm when wet gear than you're going to want to carry. There all kind of ways to go "lightweight" and some of that gear is expensive but good. Some of it trades weight for survival margin in bad situations.

I agree that no wood burning stove is required or really even desired IMO. A backpacking stove that can produce hot water is an important hedge against hypothermia though. You can eat MREs under normal conditions and never fire it up, but you should have it.

I also like an expedition type tent where you can run the stove in the tent, even though those are out of fashion.

You want redundant and reliable ways to make a fire. I cary waterproof matches, a lighter, cotton balls with vasoline on them in a baggie, and a miniature road flare. The road flare can start a fire in totally wet wood, which is valuable.

Jeffrey:

Since you have never gone on a hunt on-you-own (a guided/outfitted hunt doesn't count), here are some tips from someone who has been an avid camper, backpacked and backpack hunter for seventy years.

1. Don't go on your first backpack trip and make it an elk hunt. That could be dangerous.

2. Forget the idea of renting a house, motel or any other kind of lodging. There’s a problem with sleeping in a motel or lodge because it’s not located in prime elk habitat and you have to spend time in the morning and evening traveling between where you are staying and where you are hunting. So, you either have to spend less time hunting or less time sleeping.

3. I suggest that you camp at the trailhead. But you shouldn't do that without some practice. Get some good gear, including a four-season tent and sleeping bags rated at 0°. Do your first camping in your back yard. Then do some camping near your home. After a few trips and a few mistakes from which you learn, then take what you’ve learned into the hills. I see you're from Texas. Texas has some excellent state parks with campgrounds. That's a good place to start.

4. I hope that you own an SUV or 4x4 pickup. Drive that to the end of the road, at a wilderness area boundary. Setup your camp there and day hike in from that camp to do your hunting.

5. Remember that elk hunting will probably be done in the cold and snow. So be prepared. That's why you need a 4-season tent and warm sleeping bags.

Completely agree with number 2

Showers are nice but certainly not needed, especially in Nov. You'll be shivering, not sweating. A pack of these things or maybe some baby wipes will take care of your hygienic needs just fine.

For the colder weather make sure you have insulated boots or packs that are up to the challenge.

May I ask (roughly) where you're planning to go? The Bitterroot is a long valley. Some trailheads are near densely populated areas and others are a fair drive from town, though there are some lodges randomly scattered around the valley. I think the Sapphires generally has better hunting than the Bitterroots, though the scenery isn't as good.

This may sound like good advice, but it is really ambitious. If you are capable of this recipe, by all means go for it, but anyone that spends that much time in a tent in those conditions, you could get tired of it short of your allotted time.

If its only 3 miles I'm walking in the dark in the mourning, ive done it many times. Its amazing how well you can see when your eyes are adjusted to the dark and even better if there's snow on the ground. You can actually see better without a flashlight and animals are pretty calm in the dark as long as they dont smell you. If your worried about time wall tent at a trailhead or closer to hunting then you can dry out or have decent food and forget staying in town.

We’ll be in unit 270 near Sula. We definitely saw several good areas last year and a few shooters. Closest we came to tagging one was an opportunity I decided not to take on a young bull. Shot was 380ish yards with a heavy crosswind and several cows around him. I think I made the right choice in not shooting, but I can still see that elk in my crosshairs.

The last day we found one old bull with a couple younger guys with him. It was the last day. Im confident if we could have woken up in the vicinity the following morning we would have gotten one of those bulls.