Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting New elk hunters

Yes it all has been excellent advice and it's a very much appreciated! The grandsons live in Minnesota and we're in Missouri. The other fellow lives near by. Mt grandsons will be here again this summer so we're going to have a lesson on putting the tent up. We shoot allot when they come here and not from the bench. They are as good or better than most hunters I know. They love work too and seem to think I need to just sit and watch while they do it all, I know that's rare.

There are some guys in the area that have pack horses/mules and I intend to get in touch with them before hand to see if I can get an elk packed out and what it cost. The cost isn't such a big deal after spending time myself in helping to pack meat out and the work involved. If we do have to pack it out I'd rather not carry the bones so we'll likely bone it out.

My choice for getting in better shape will be my bike. It's always been a big help in the past. I'm 60 though and not 25 anymore. I will pace myself and advice them to do the same. We also plan to hunt late October and by then some of the better hunting seems to be at lower elevations. The thin air is a tough go when you're not used to it.

My wall tent is 18'x21' from Bravo Tent. We'll have a good wood stove which I am getting material together to build, I do allot of fabricating in my business and would rather build it myself. Camp will be set where we can drive to it. I aim to have a warm dry camp and plenty of good food. I've been in lousy camps and it seems to make everything harder. That's why I bought my own tent. Ideally I'd like to camp in the National Forest and have close access to the Wilderness Area. I already have some locations in mind, I've been there before so it's not unfamiliar country to me. I want as many options as possible. We have a good group going. Everyone will pitch in and I see no reason we can't enjoy the time. Safety first!

As long as they boys want to learn and have an understanding that they are rookies and need to listen to you who’s hunted elk before. They also need to be Willing to carry their own weight, such as Help around camp, set up, cook, clean or get fire wood.
I just took my daughters boyfriend elk hunting this last season. He’s never been any kind of hunting. Typical Soutern Cali boy. But he wanted to tag along with my daughter and experience elk camp.
I’d take him again as he never complained about anything , and he was Johnny on the spot when I needed him. The fact he had a good attitude even when we didn’t tag out made me appreciate he was there experiencing highs and low with my daughter and I.

Maybe you have already considered this, but a little advice from experience on self-fabricated stoves: You might want to test it for smoke leaks well beforehand to make sure the stove does not fill the tent with smoke. A buddy built a stove for one of our trips to put in his little tent. The way he had the door open clear to the top of the stove allowed about half the smoke to come out the front at the door opening (with the door closed) rather than out the stovepipe. He also did not have a proper intake vent. The stove was so small that you could not move the fire back away from the door. It filled the tent with smoke. I did make a makeshift flange for it down over the front with a Coleman fuel can, but that didn't fully solve the problem. It made the stove considerably less useful. I would recommend studying available stoves for designs.

That is a nice looking tent. Will you have extra sleeping or gear storage tents? With cots up inside, and the need for space around a stove, a tent can shrink down smaller. You will need the stove away from the tent walls/ When you have it set up this summer it might be good to layout what will be inside it to check floor and movement space.

No only self fabricated stoves. I had an Ed T backpacking stove. I had to run it wide open all the time because if I dampered it down it smoked like crazy around the chimney.

Every stove has its own personality.

We heat our house with wood quite a bit of the time so I understand where you're coming from on the smoke but it's a Vermont Casting model. Open the doors too fast before the flue is hot and you get some smoke. Have to open a window when starting a new fire sometimes too so it drafts. The stove door will have a fiberglass seal and I intend to make it as airtight as possible. I had in mind to keep the door lower to avoid the smoke when you open the door. Many of the commercial made stoves are wider than tall and mine is going to be 18" wide and tall so that in itself will give me more room above the door to keep the smoke in.

Bravo sells a cook shack that fits onto the front of my tent, enclosed too. I plan to order one before long. The entire roof will also be covered with a snow slide. Good idea on laying things out in the tent when we put it up. I plan to do that. I know too well how a poorly set up camp can make for a lousy hunt. My one and only drop camp had a wall tent set up in the Flat Tops and when we knocked the snow off from the inside we ended up with a 2 ft. rip in the roof, rotten canvas. No way to patch it either until some of his guys brought us back a cheap poly tarp a few days later. This is my first camp to be using my own equipment. I've seen many problems in the past that should have been avoided. As I'm sure you guys have too. That's another reason for my thread so I can miss out on as much grief as possible.

Yup, even a cheap poly tarp can save a lot of grief. We did not have that figured out yet when we nearly had a catastrophe. It was October, and having in the past hunted in dry late season snow that would just shake off, I didn't think a tarp was necessary, until one day...The snow was piling up on my shoulders as I walked along searching for elk. I started to get an uneasy feeling about camp, so I circled back in around noon. Good thing I did or we would have been homeless in a blizzard. The dome tent we had for extra sleeping was flat on the ground, and when I stepped into the wall tent it was like walking under a pregnant whale. The roof was bowed heavily under nearly 18 inches of heavy damp snow. Luckily the Eeena tent is well made and the seams didn't fail. After a bunch of pounding and scraping, and some heat to dry and shrink the canvas back, the tent got its shape back. Since then we have had a plastic tarp over the roof. In a more recent blizzard when we actually got snowbound, though, we had to shovel all the snow that had been knocked off the roof out away from the walls of the tent. It piled up so heavily against the walls it was pulling the tent down on itself. That was a trip.

I see you have a white tent, which is a lot better for light inside than the green canvas tents are. You get much better lighting from the reflection off white walls. To help that out, a clear poly tarp is good. But the poly gets torn up after a few years, so I recently got a white plastic tarp that I cut down to fit our tent. That sheds the snow and rain, and also lets light in.

There is always something that comes up in an camp. It helps to have a few tools, especially saws, a hand pushdrill, Duct tape, wire, paracord, a few pieces of 1x or 2x wood, and other raw materials for fixes. An abundance of fuel is also good; stove, lantern, and vehicle.

One other thought for you is consider; some tarps for a floor. Your gear will stay a lot cleaner and the floor will stay drier. If you take a broom you can sweep it out to get rid of dirt and snow. But I would advise waxed cotton, not poly tarps as flooring. When wet, poly is very slick and slippery. If you get a spark on it it will melt through and could burn. Cotton tarps are not slick and they also give you time to get a spark out. You will still want a dirt/noncombustible floor under the stove itself though.

And, another thing to remember. You are likely to get snow. It could happen when you are out, or overnight. Make sure your whole party knows not to leave stuff on the ground wherever it falls. If you get snow, you may never find it again. Stuff should be put away where it can be easily found. Every time.

Ph uck floors and housekeeping. a scrap of carpet to stand on by your cot, while you get dressed, and don't worry about muddy/snowy boots and playing little Miss Merry Maid......

I disagree. "Fùck" is not spelled with "ph."

And what's your beef with housekeepers?

Smokepole,

You would be welcome to stop by camp for a slice of homemade pie.

Have to admit us decrepit older, on-foot hunters do like a few creature comforts like heat, dry clothing, and good food as we recharge from a day of elevation gains, deadfall, and busting timber. But who knew it was so controversial to want dry socks on my previously frozen feet as I light the wood stove, start coffee/breakfast, and light lanterns before I can get my boots thawed to put them on? In this country, floor tarps are not uncommon.

When I get back to camp, I kick off my boots and put on a comfy pair of Crocs. They're waterproof except for the holes so a bit of snow or mud doesn't make much difference. I have wool socks on under them anyway.

I'm with you there jaguar!!

Don't mind huntsman, he's one a them old cowboys, likes to sleep on the ground and stuff.

Lots of good advice, as mentioned earlier the gutless method is your friend. I don't use game bags, a boned out quarter will fit in a cheap WalMart pillow case, 6 pillowcases will hold quarters, backstraps & neck meat.

TAG

Check your PMs

I did. Thanks for all that info too!

navlav8r above pretty much summs it.l would suggest a packable down jacket in your backpack.That last 2 hr of sitting gets cold.Also a good GPS and maps.After 35 without missing a year of tent and camper hunting in colorado and Montana the older l get (68) l like my toyhauler more.Tell the guys walk slow and watch and cow call intermittently while walking and sitting.Good luck.Hope you have as much fun as my son,friends and l have had for years.l have always gone unguided and we have our share of elk under our belt.My son started at 12yrs old with a .270 win to tag a 360 class 6X6 with one shot.He then stole my .338 win mag and never looked back.

" the older l get (68) l like my toyhauler more." I'm glad I'm not the only one...

If you use a map program like OnX on your phone, it might pay to carry a power pack to recharge the phone. That aforementioned 2 last hours of sitting and playing solitaire can really drain the battery and leave you having to resort to a primative compass and paper map for the hike out.