How Far Was Your Elk?
Elk
So how far was your last elk taken from the nearest road or trailhead? What time of day was it taken? It doesn't have to be this years elk, just your last elk.
Mine was just under 2 miles from a dirt road & was taken at 2:30 in the afternoon.
ElkNut1
Mile and a half from the truck. Shot right at day break.
Approx 7 miles in and killed one hour after sun up.
1 mile from my Jeep. Killed less than 10 minutes after legal light. Trkyslr, how many trips did it take you to pack all of your elk 7 miles? It would probably have to break 350" for me to shoot it and pack it 7 miles on my back, either that, or I'd have someone with horses on standby. That's some serious packing. I guess at least it wasn't a moose. =)
2.75 mile hike from the trailhead. Taken around 8:30am.
3/4 mile from camp (base camp truck camper). 11:30am
20+ miles from the nearest trailhead, 3 miles on foot, two tired hunters and one long night.
2002 Elk (Bull) - 15 Yards off road (main crossing) morning 2003 Elk (Bull) - 15 yards off road (main crossing) morning 2009 Elk (Bull) - 200 yards off road 2013 Elk (Bull) - 200 yards off road 2015 Elk (Bull) - 200 yards off road
I hunt in highly developed farm land
1 mile from TH shot around 10am.
My last one died less than 30 yards from the road. Was able to back the truck to it. Decent 5x5. Then the one prior to that was a 338 bull less than 400 yards from truck, Furthest I have packed an elk was right at a mile.
2.3 miles, at first light
1 mile. 29 minutes before sunrise.
HuntEasy- Your Bowsite name is a lie! LOL!
1.75 miles from the truck. 8 AM.
3mi from the truck, 1 mile from spike camp. 1:30PM
2.5 miles taken mid morning
3.5 miles to the trailhead.
Taken about 9:30 AM
1/3 mile uphill. Shot in the evening and got to the elk at 6:00PM. The pack out seemed like it was a lot farther.
Mine was 9/1 this year at 3pm. 2 miles from truck, first treestand bull.
2.5 miles from trailhead. Heard him bugling in the dark. Chased him for a while, shot him about 8 a.m.
I think he heard me running over a ridge and thought I was another bull. Because he bugled at me. We had a little screaming match and I beat up a tree with a stick. He didn't like it much, but wasn't coming. I let out one cow call and instantly saw him coming at a fast trot. About 80 yards at that point. I drew when he went through a little low spot, and he stopped about 30 yards away.
I know that's more information than you wanted, but I couldn't help myself. My first and only bull.
Was hunting solo in NM. Passed on some shots because of distance from camp. Ended up killing at 7:30 am and 0.47 mi from truck. Truck was also mostly downhill! Still was a ton of work, but worth it!
Great to see you back on here, by the way, Elknut!
6 miles in. 9:30am. Lucky enough that I have horses that will step out.
1/2 mile off road and 10:30 am
1 mile, maybe a bit more. At daylight. Downhill pack too. God Bless
GPS said .71 miles - I'm guessing about 1.5 miles from camp... one of those "can't get there from here" walks.
Shot was about 35 yards, mid morning - about 10:30.
My first rifle kill!!! I DROVE to it!
This year, 1 mile from camp, 5 miles from TH. Shot right around noon, using the "regather" on a blind set-up. Thanks Elknut, that call has got some action going for me several times. Horses did most of the work.
Last bull I shot on a old logging road, he died on it too.
It has been about a month from another solo Wyo elk hunt and did 10.82 miles in one day, hunting up/in, harvesting, boning out, hiking out to my truck to exchange back pack for pack frame and mule cart, back in to harvest site and packing out my elk.
I am out of here this Sunday for another Solo week long elk hunt!
Whew----haha
Good luck, Robb
My last elk was standing on a trail at the shot and made it less than ten yards!
1/4 mile from the road at first light. Shortest pack yet.
About a mile from the truck, 40 yards from a closed FS road. It was all downhill on the closed road so a fairly easy packout.
Thanks for the comments, it's not surprising most are taking elk within 3 miles of their starting points!
patdel, no problem feel free to elaborate as much as you'd like! Congrats on your first bull!
ElkNut1
.8 mile to the truck ..as the crow flys .. as the say ..though 1.2 pack out,5x4 NM
4.3 miles from TH. Killed it at 12:15 got back to camp at 8:40. GPS log showed total of 17.47 miles that day and we actually rode the horses less than 5 of that. Closest we could get them was .32 from kill site, sure beat five trips in and out tho
My Oregon elk was 50 yds from road and 50 yds farther to my truck after hiking 2 miles.my Wyoming elk was 8 miles in and I carried the rack
Half mile from the truck, maybe twenty feet maximum elevation change half hour before sunset!
2.5 miles from the truck an hour after first light.... in the same spot patdel killed his!
Fwiw- just did some math... 15 archery bulls have averaged 3.73 miles. Longest was 7.5 and shortest was .75 miles...
My 2014 bull was 1.9 miles from the truck/trailhead, and 2000 feet down.
15 yards off the FS road and 5 minutes after legal shooting light.
gil_wy, yes sir & 30 are 3 miles & under! (grin) By the way nice bull I doesn't matter what you took it with, congrats! What caliber & far a shot?
ElkNut1
7.5 miles from TH shot in evening 15 minutes before last light. In griz and wolf country no less, but didn't lose any meat.
2014; shot 100 yards from road, last hour of light
2013; shot 200 yards from road, 12: noon
I chased the bull for about 3 miles. But ended up shooting him about 1/4 from another FS road. Got real lucky on the downhill and easy pack out. Shot was 2 in the afternoon.
During the packout ran into a hungry mountain lion. Yes, I'm positive he was hungry. But that's another story for another time!
1 mile from the road, 2 1/2 miles to the gate.
this year, 4 miles in at 8am straight up.
this seems about normal for me
One mile from nearest road. Shot at 2:15.
3.25 miles from the road. Shot at 9 AM.
11miles from the trailhead, 6pm, first day of the hunt.
2 miles from road @ 8:45am
Hiked around all day only to shoot my bull 448 yds from my truck with 10 min of shooting light left when I returned.
6 miles from the trail head. We back packed in the night before and shot him at 730 next morning. It was a grueling pack out but very rewarding!!!!
1 mile. 7 am. easy pack out. drinking by noon.
Oh and 7:30 am taking his cows to bed for the day.
This year was bull number 20 with a bow it was a return to using horses in wilderness. After 9 years of hunting limited non wilderness units where you are rarely more than 3 miles from a rd,I decied to hunt with horses while I still could. i am 63 now and I wanted to hunt where people and thier mechanical steeds the ATV, dont get to go. I think these conveniences are ruining elk hunting. But I digress, I was about 8 miles from trail head. next year I am going back to an old honey hole about 16 miles in. I still got it,I camped, and packed alone with two of my own horses.
1 3/4 miles from road, 20 min before dark.
I arrowed a cow way up on a ridge this year, but she fortunately ran straight down into the canyon I'd hiked up and she piled up near the trail. A landowner let me drive over to about a half mile away. It doesn't usually work that way for me it seems. :)
Just under 3 miles. Shot was taken at 12:10 recovered him 35min later. Four of us finished and got him back to camp at 11:30 that night...shoot straight
3/4 mile from the truck at 4:30pm on day 4 after many many miles.
3/4 mile from the truck at 4:30pm on day 4 after many many miles.
So what is the lesson here?
1. Most guys don't hunt far from the truck or trail?
or,
2. You don't have to hunt that far from the trail/truck?
I dropped mine actually on a logging road. Where we hunt here timber company is great hunting. All the gates are locked but it is easy walking. Logging roads every couple hundred yards cutting back through the mountains. This year I only averaged 8 miles per morning hunt. The pic she is laying on an old over grown road.
1.5 miles from dirt road at 6:05 PM. Stayed there all night as I was hunting alone and after quartering, was too late to pack out to truck then drive another 1.5 hours to camp, plus gps was dead,so pulled an all nighter with a few naps beside a nice fire. Still got lost the next morning for about hours as fogged rolled in.
elk year before was 12 miles from TH. the year before that was 10 miles from TH.
My LAST elk hunt was different for so many reasons. The bull was only 700 yards from a restricted OHV trail (can only use ATV's to pack in a camp or meat out).The ATV ride in from the parking area was 8 miles. We camped just off the trail on a ridge top. He left his herd 1/3 from the top and went down to the bottom. We moved in close to his cows in and called him back up the valley to us at first light. Couldn't believe he traveled so far back up to us!
Just like gil_wy above, this was my first rifle elk (or antlered rifle kill for that matter). The entire situation was a blessing because I was still recovering from a broken foot that killed my bow season. Usually I drive a truck or ATV in 5 miles, then hike into spike camp in another mile or two and use that as a base camp.
12 yards, I'd say don't overlook areas within 1-1/2 miles from roads or trails. For us it means using areas to access that most hunters wouldn't. We rarely access our areas from a trail, we find most trail heads are fairly occupied with hunters!
If you can locate trails that are not being used then I'd seriously consider them!
YZF-88, beautiful bull sir! Thanks!
ElkNut1
Not far. I learned this year you don't have to walk past elk to find elk.
This last year Mine was shot about 1/3 miles from an open road. The time was right at 4:30PM
.19 miles above a drivable road. Shot at 10am
350 yds from a paved cr. and 800 from the gondola. 7:15am.
0.45 miles from a well traveled Hwy.
Glassed them closer to the pavement but by the time I caught up to them for the shot I had to go twice as far.
Shot about 100 yards from a dirt road recovered around 15 yards from same road, 6:45 PM.
OK, Ill play the game.
I shot 2 elk in 20 minutes last fall. First a cow and then a bull. The pack was 200yds to the truck. [Thanks for the help Aaron Johnson]
A couple weeks later, my son shot his bull that Aaron and I called in for him. It was a 300yds pack to the truck [Thanks again for the help Aaron Johnson]
I appreciate the photos guys! Brad great job on your 2 elk & a huge congrats to your son, great looking bull!
ElkNut1
Not sure which is bigger - the rack or the grin!
Good stuff.
I have no idea how many miles in we've gone to get our Elk - one for me, several for my brother, all killed with MLs and a whole bunch of close calls with archery gear.
I know the ridge is 3 miles from the nearest road, and 3,000 feet above it. From the base of the hill, it takes a solid 4 hours of hiking to get up to where we usually find them, and that's if you're just hiking and making time. Call it about 1.75 as the crow flies.
Trouble is, we're not Crows.
2015, cow elk.
two miles from the road but 1200 ft elevation change
Luckily, down hill.
Friend was available with 3 mules for the pack out.
my best, Paul
Fun times indeed, Brad! Especially the last day on Coles bull, unforgettable!
2010, Bull Elk
1/4 mile roughly from a dirt road uphill out of a canyon.
killed at 7am, by myself, long day packout to quad. Got to camp at 5:30pm.
What a great day!
1 mile from parking spot at 7:40pm
They do hang out by ATV trails too... Didn't mean to but this bull was shot about 400 yards from an ATV trail.
Was successful tagging a big cow back in Sept, just outside Steamboat Springs evening of 9/11 and about a mile uphill from where I staying. Have done a number of quartering and packing jobs alone in this area and its a GRUNT!! Luckily this time I had my son and his girlfriend coming to visit from Colo State Univ. Quickly texted and told them to bring their packs, as we had some work planned for the next morning. So down I came with nothing but tenderloins! Went back up the next morning with 3 helpers. Made it a real pleasure to quarter, bag, and pack! Came down light, but complete....and my knees were happy!!
