Contributors to this thread:
With all of the emphasis on hiking in farther than other hunters, are we leaving close elk behind and closer to the truck?
I am hunting OTC this year. I normally hike in 2-4 miles to hunt. But I have also identified a spot just over 1 mile in. It has everything, including you cannot see it from the road. Hike is modest elevation gain (only 500' before you bail off into the draw). Access is not from a trailhead.
Everyone has access to GE and other internet tools today. Additionally the fitness hunter craze is full tilt. But how many hunters in any unit are "road hunters" who still drive around and won't hike over a ridge? Are we missing great hunting "in between" the road hunters and Cameron Hanes?
Yes yes and yes. Lots of elk within a mile or the road! Some times a lot closer. I would check it out for sure. Best of luck. Hunt
I've been saying this for years. . . My buddy and I have killed 5 OTC elk in CO from .75 to 3 miles in from the nearest parking lot. We RARELY see other hunters, and then, only on the pack trail.
The guys we see are on horses, heading in 7 miles deep. We never see the guys who hunt from the trailhead. And we know there are some who do it, because we've seen their rigs there as we've made trips out, and they camp there at times.
It's a little sweetspot. . . too far for the campers at the trail head, not far enough for the horse guys. . .
We got a good chuckle last hunt. Saw two guys on horses right by our camp that is at the 2 mile mark from the trailhead. They told us they were heading in 7 miles. They pointed at a huge thick hillside where we've killed 3 elk, one of them a 280ish bull. . . and said "We never see elk on that hillside. It's not even worth hunting."
We sat down and watched them to be sure, and sure enough, saw them cross a rock slide about a mile past "our" hillside :) :)
I focus on forage, water and shelter not distance. If there is a hole that meets these parameters 500' from a road I still check it out......sometimes its 5 miles from the road.
This first weekend I was about a mile from the road in an area I'd seen lots of elk sign and no sign of humans....and ran into 2 hunters, one of which said he saw at least one other hunter in there. It was like hunting at Walmart.....sucked.
You never know until you go.
I believe the location also plays a big part. I'd be much more inclined to start hunting right off the road in ID than I would be in CO. I don't believe there is a right or wrong answer. I personally don't want to camp at a campground or a trailhead that might as well be a campground. Part of the experience to me is not seeing, hearing, or smelling (campfire) other people. Yes the ultimate goal is to kill an elk, but the process of getting there is also a big part of it.....
I agree 110% with hunt. I'm trying to avoid trailheads as much as I can.
Can't wait to hear how your hunt turns out.
Sshhh! Elk are always really far back! Never close to roads!! :)
I hunt every season I can in the same spot. The group of rifle hunters I go with consistently kill elk 4 to 600 yards from where we camp at the road. Last year one of the guys grabbed his rifle and shot a cow from camp while he was helping me bone out my cow, about 65 yards from the road.
Last year we shot 3 bulls and one cow, no more than 300yds from our trucks.
Go deep boys, go deep.
I will never forget...one of my first years hunting Colorado and we were going over a well known Pass on a major hwy...and there was a herd of elk feeding not 300yds away.
It was an eye opener as we had just packed a bull out 6 miles and were whipped.
It certainly depends on where you're hunting, but three constants always remain the same. Elk require food, water, and security. That may be six miles in, that may be 100yds from a major mountain highway. Granted, those close places that consistently hold elk aren't everywhere, but neither are those places 6mi in...and the idea of packing an elk a short distance vs. 6mi has always appealed to me. ;-)
Of the 40+ elk my hunting buddy and I have killed, the furthest packout has been 3/4mi.
Rob you just blew my mind!!!!
Andrew, in the area I hunt, it's hard to get too far from some kind of road or trail. lol!
Shhhhhhhush! All Elk are at least 4 miles back... ;-)
To be honest other than my first bull I can't recall killing elk more than 3 to 5 air miles from my truck. Hunt smarter not harder.
Well, first you need to understand that there are few places in the lower 48 where after hiking in 4 - 6 miles you're not actually hiking back out the other side if you continue.
when you go "far back from the roads" you are simply walking past all the close elk. the whole idea is a myth and overrated. I'm glad some people do it though.
like several have noted....I have hunted very few places that 3 miles didn't have you running into people coming from that other direction.
I hunt next to canyon hell holes...if someone is coming from the other direction they are a STUD! LOL
I simply go until I cut fresh sign in areas I've identified have the big 3 needs for elk.....then I hunt. It is as far as it is. Elk are where you find them. I always find them. Maybe someday I won't hesitate and actually shoot one.
Sadly have to admit I've only dropped string on one elk in 10 years of hunting them, despite many many opportunities......and then saw my arrow hit a branch I failed to see in the evening gloom and and shoot straight up 1 foot from the cow's boiler room. sigh.......other times I've hesitated while over analyzing the situation and the opportunity has passed. I plan to get over that.
:)
7th year hunting, Rifle: 5 cows, Archery spot & stalk: 4 bull elk, 2 deer, 2 antelope longest pack out was 1.25 miles and it was pretty steep. Closest was lope and i could drive up to it. I would be scared to loose meat at 3 miles, but thats just me.
To be honest, I thought this was another Levi Morgan thread based on the title of the subject. ;0)
