Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Lessons learned from your first diy hunt?

There are no shortcuts, short of hiring a guide......but, you'll learn alot more about elk, hunting on your own. If bull hunting, be prepared to eat your tag for a season or two.....OTC tags in particular. A cow tag may be the best way to learn about elk hunting, and have a better chance of going home with elk meat.

Perhaps look into a NM land owner tag. Cow tags can be had alot cheaper than bulls.....get some OJT, then upgrade to bulls later.

Andy3

Physical fitness is crucial but mental toughness is whats going to make or break you. Especially backpacking.

My very first night in the mountains we went from 50 degrees no wind and clear to 20 degrees 40 mph winds and snow! Lots of frozen water! Buddy killed an elk that evening and we processed it the next morning and made the trek out. Within sight of the vehicle he slipped on a patch of ice and went down sideways hitting his temple on a rock. Severe concussion later all I can say is thankfully he had good friends to assist in the rest of the pack out.

My first 48 hours in the mountains were a mental workout.

I've packed a bunch over the years, but the calendar catches up with the best of us. Sooner or later you'll have to find an easier way to get it done.

Yep and the sooner you figure that out,the longer you will hunt.

I will be 79 this coming season.I have hunted since I was 16. Aside from maybe carrying meat 100 yards or so to get to pack animal, I have never packed a deer or elk on my back and that is 50+elk.. I have seen there results of people carrying elk quarters. Slips with broken legs and ankles, broken ribs, heart attacks. Many times, meat spoilage from not getting meat out quick enough.

2-3 years ago in NW Colorado,a hunter went missing near where I hunt.They found him by the smell lof the dead spoiled elk.They back tracked and found him face down with a quarter on his back. Heart attack.I think he was in his 40's.

That same year,I was 76 or so, I killed a 6 X bull about 6-7 miles back in the West Elk Wilderness area north of Gunnison, CO. Solo hunt, just me and two mules.I was tired at the end,but no big problems. Guys might think they are tough outdoorsmen, but get a big dose of reality when they walk uo to 600 pounds of dead elk. Every year,those elk weigh more.

The first year I elk hunted, we rented two pecheron horses for 3 of us.Opening day,we had three bulls down by 7:30. We got back to camp at10:30 that night and packed the bulls out on the two horses the next two days and the camp the third day. So it can happen on a newbie's first trip . Be prepared for any eventuality.

When I was about 60, I told my wife that I needed to start looking at some kind of pack animals before I was too old to hunt. We looked at them all, then my wife came home with 3 llamas. None of them were worth much as packers but I learned a lot. I don't have any of the original 3 now but I have 5 good geldings. Over the last decade, they've moved a lot of meat for me.

Damn that's amazing they don't make them like you anymore

First DIY elk hunt musts…

Good, dependable flashlights/headlights!

Reliable GPS and be competent with a compass just in case the gps won’t receive where you’re at.

If you’re hunting in high altitude, hydrate like there’s no tomorrow…altitude sickness sucks!

Be prepared to more work than you even figured on.

Be prepared for worst case scenarios.

Shoot the first legal bull that presents you a shot you’re comfortable with. Unless you MUST have a monster.

Last lesson…it’s all totally worth it, even if you don’t fill your tag!

Doc_Holidude

DYI elk hunt

Most elk country is bigger and higher than you think.
It’s not uncommon to hike 10+ miles in a day.
If you’ve never hiked at high elevation the lack of oxygen will surprise you.
Get in “cardio” shape and show up a few days early to hang out and get used to it.
Remember, 10% of the country holds 90% of the elk.
If you are not seeing elk, or very fresh sign of elk, move.
Be ready for extreme weather, it can go from warm and sunny to freezing blizzard in a moment.
Carry plenty of water and basic survival gear EVERYWHERE, all the time.

Everything changes after Labor Day. They're scattered far and wide all summer. When the rut starts around Labor Day, they start to bunch up and when the rut ends, the cows will bunch into even bigger herds. The bulls will often disappear. They'll be there, not too far away, probably in small bunches, but they stay hidden. It can be really frustrating to see 100 elk and not an antler in the crowd.
Scouting in the summer doesn't help much to figure out where they are unless you're hunting a pre-rut season. It sure helps for learning the country, though.
However, there are no rules to what an elk will do. This is all generalization because an elk will do what it damn well wants to.

Thanks Rock, the older I get the more I care more about spending time with my friends then the end result

I have a spreadsheet I use to capture "all" my relevant elk info in.

one of those tabs is -"Lessons Learned". it has 582 rows on it after ~13 trips.

if I ever write a book, it'll be titled "elk stuff I messed up".

the list is way too long to share, and I've spent $35k (according to the "costs" tab, same spreadsheet) gathering that compilation of stupidity!

Elk are big, but one can pack true quarters. Moose are huge, and one must generate more pieces.

Ya if ya shoot an elk and don't see it go down, stop wait 45min to start tracking or it could easily turn into a really tough rodeo.......

I tell people elk hunting is a series of failures punctuated occasionally by a lucky success. But the fact that you have a document (hopefully password protected) that would tell your spouse how expensive hunting really is certainly is scary & never something I’ll undertake. If you count truck ownership I’m sure it is more than that.

If they are still standing I’m still shooting. I hunt canyons that make a few running elk yards hours of extra packing out.

Hunt where the elk are. Sounds stupid, but a lot of people spend a lot of time hunting where the elk were....

Geez....It's been 55 or so years since I started hunting on my own. No way I could remember any lessons learned.

This question could take a few cocktails…

*Elk related as that’s most of my experience - easily apply to Deer. I remind myself of these thoughts every single day hunting in VT & Maine after a career of Western hunting. I’m no different than you but perhaps have done what you’re asking about for 35+ years.

Be physically strong, stay physically strong, endlessly encourage your hunt mates, enthusiastically hunt the tough spots that look intimidating, pack lighter, spend more on core rain & sleep gear, know that at your mental toughest, you’ll need to be even mentally tougher to be really successful. Define what will make you happy ahead of time & set that as a goal. Under no circumstances should you complain or accept complaints - stay silent during others complaints & eat as good as you can. Imagine you don’t see elk, any game, for 7 days of a 10 day hunt. Plan for that. Prepare for that. The suck-meter might crack the glass but you keep hunting. Never stop hunting. Jump up every morning thinking today IS the day - regardless of weather & yesterdays results.

Always remember that Elk & great Deer don’t disappear they just hide.

Invest in boots & sleep system.

Rifle & cartridge is dead last imo - elk are pretty easy to knock over with a decent shot.

You asked 😜

Did I mention boots & sleep?

If you're hunting an early Sept season, you might see something that I've observed a number of times. About Labor Day, when the rut starts, a bull will collect 2 or 3 cows. The cows will decide who is the lead cow and it appears that her 1st duty is to find more cows for her bull. She'll take off on a cross country run that will go for many miles. The herds that I've seen are usually trotting with the bull dragging behind with his tongue hanging out and trying to keep up. They appear to be trying to cover as many miles as possible to find more stray cows to increase the herd size. One time I spotted a herd of about 6 or 8 cows coming straight down a very steep hill. The bull was at least 100 yds behind them. They got to the bottom and went into a patch of quakies. The bull hadn't any more than caught up with them when the lead cow took off again, straight back up the way they'd just come down. The poor bull was really sucking air. A bull only gets some action a few times a year, all in Sept, and he'll do what it takes to make the most of it.

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That seems to be the case here. We get a number of Either Sex RO LO authorizations, and have a resident population with good calling opportunities during early rut. But later if a big snow storm is about to hit, we've gotten 200 to 500 elk blasting through our place from higher elevations, in front and in back of the house. And when the weather improves, they meander through our place on the way back "home".