Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Altitude Acclimation

Thank you all very much for putting your thoughts down.

1. water - will bring and drink a ton of it while avoiding booze and caffeine

2. Take it easy - we're not in a huge rush, and I'll make sure to not sit idly by.

3. Feel the Burn! - this ones for you KC. The Yale Bowl is going to feel the wraith of my size 10's

4. Tums/Aspirin - I'm no chemist, but I trust you and people from the Air Force that tell you these things.

Again, thank you. It's a good feeling when a low-post rookie like myself can solicit advice from seasoned vets and get wonderful responses.

Good luck on your seasons whether it's in your backyard for whitetails or if you're heading out West for wilder beasts.

-Creek Chub

I just slept at close to 11k last night and I can never sleep well. Not altitude sickness but just restlessness. 8k and you should be pretty good. 9-10k can reliably bring symptoms in flatlanders. The treatment usually is going lower. If the surrounding town is a few k lower, sleep there for a few nights.

Water, water. water. And when you think you're well hydrated drink more water. You just do not understand how fast the altitude and the low humidity will suck the moisture out of your body. As stated if you're pissing clear you're on top of it so keep it that way.

Don't push it for the first couple days. Enjoy the country/experience at a slower pace. You ain't gonna run 'em down anyway.

My problem some years ago in going from 10 feet (Barrow, Alaska) to 9,000 ft elk hunting in Idaho was not wind, nor stamina, but blood. I'd done no "conditioning". Fug that - I'll deal with it when I get there.. I'm gonna ambush the things, not run them down. I'd hiked half the 35 miles in over 2 days (the horses weren't in shape either!), the party being short a mount.

2 miles from camp on the first day of hunting "pushing" as i was hiking back at dark my nose started bleeding. TP stuffed up there only partially staunched it. When I walked into the tent an hour after dark, the other guys thought I'd been shot...

20 minutes bathing my face down at the ice-cold creek, followed by a hefty Scotch made it all better....

Slowed down a bit, never had a problem the next 6 days. Except the friggin elk won. 50% of the time for the group< I didn't get one... It was a great trip.

Most of my life I just drank plenty of water. The last few years i've started to use this product, and it seems to work much better than plain water. Something to consider.

http://wildernessathlete.com/shop/energy-hydration/natural-hydration-drink/

If you're in good physical shape, you should be fine. Will you be able to tell you're at altitude? Of course.

I moved from Texas (approximately 700ft of altitude) to 6k ft. That was over a year ago and I'm just now getting to where it doesn't bother me. And I workout all the time (weights and cardio).

6k ft isn't too bad anymore. But 9k ft still sucks big time.

Magnesium is in most laxatives, so you don't want to be adding any of that to your diet when you are trying to add water to your system. Just saying.

Just for general knowledge, I can not find Rolaids in the east any longer. A few single packages are in some gas station/stores that are just leftovers. I think Rolaids went out of business or something. Tums are in all the grocery stores.

Tums bought Rolaids to corner the market on elk hunters coming out here to hunt the Rockies and looking for the magic potion........

Well, they're SOL ifn' they plan on funding the kids college tuition from me, 'cause I ain't coming to CO. I know that breaks your heart Smoke:)

It breaks my heart every time I hear another non-res. hunter say he's staying out of Colorado.

It bothers me as much as hunting in solitude.

Being in good shape beforehand helps immensely. Aspirin and antacids may help with altitude sickness, as will adequate hydration and avoidance of alcohol. That said, it takes about 6 weeks for your body to add enough additional red blood cells (to make up for the decreased oxygen) to compensate for that kind of altitude change.

Maybe to compensate 100%, but I can always feel a significant difference after about 3-4 days. The earlier one can get to altitude before the hunt the better, even if it's only a few days.



That kills me too, but don't the two go hand-in-hand?

Are you saying that it takes six weeks to recover from donating a pint of blood? I realize they are not the same thing, as the erythropoetin has to up regulate first but I wouldn't have supposed it took 6wks.

Whole blood can only be donated every 56 days.

My symptoms from altitude are the same regardless of how good of shape I am in. I get less tired and can hike farther when I am in better shape, but it does not change the fact that I have unwanted effects from the altitude. You can be an olympic athelete and still get altitude sickness

Yes, that was my point with some sarcasm thrown in. Do they really think we care if they don't come here?

Apprently, they do. I do regret the loss of income for the people who rely on NR hunters. But as a resident hunter who doesn't, it's always nice to have fewer people in the hill.

I'll be in CO at the end of next week. I'll do my part in chasing all the bulls on to private land for ya.