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I seem to be a master at finding where the elk used to be, but ultimately, persistence pays. Worst case scenario, you get to spend a week in a kind of freedom that can be difficult to attain anyplace else. Best of luck!

I've hiked into canyons in the mountains for the first time and after flying it on GE so much it almost felt like I had been there before.

Hunter pressure is #1 factor in Co OTC hunts, figure out where those elk go to get aay and you are ahead of the game. Sometimes we just lace up our boots and cover as much rough ground as we can- and we usually get into them. Tats where GE comes in, nice to have an idea of what the country looks like, access points, fire roads, etc. Best of luck.

Best advice I can give you is go to a hiking shop and spend a few bucks extra on a pair of boots that are comfortable on YOU.. No one else can tell you what boots to buy, you need to try them on. Once you buy some boots spend time wearing them to break them in and make sure they're comfortable. If your feet are happy you'll have a fun time!

Also if your going to hunt from a spike camp you'll want to invest in quality light weight gear. Don't over do it and try to get the best everything.. If you need a gear piece by all means get quality stuff the first time so you don't have to upgrade it later. Just don't sacrifice on a pack or tent as those are two items where you can shave pounds as compared to cheap gear..

Also don't take too much clothing, you won't use it. One pair camo and a few pairs of underwear and socks are plenty. Anything more is a waste. Try to keep your pack weight around 35#, that's a healthy number.

FOOD- experiment and figure out what you'll want (mountain house/bars/trail mix).. Bag it in gallon zip locks, each one is the food for one day. Makes life simple..

Don't forget to take pics and don't forget to take it all in.

Josh

I learned something from every DVD, but especially like ELK101 "Elk hunting University"with Corey J. and Elknut.com instructional video on elk sounds.

I would say to watch any dvd you can find, yes they are usually shot on private ranches where the bulls don't respond to calls the same way they will on public land. but you can learn alot about how elk move, interact with each other and how they act when nervous. study their behavior not just the celeb kill shot.

reason I say this is as a whitetail hunter when I moved here 25 years ago I found myself on the side of a mountain with fresh tracks in the snow and it dawned on me that I didn't know anything about how their behavior differed from the deer I was used to hunting.

learn to use a cow call and elk nuts vidios are worth every penny.

elk country is huge, finding the elk is the hard part, but I usually find elk in the same areas year after year. if your contact is willing to tell you where he's killed or seen elk it can be very helpful. we hunt the same drainage every year and more than half the elk killed by friends and family over the years were taken within a 300 yard radius. combination of being an area the elk use and a natural funnel.

don't give up before you start, if there are elk where your hunting, close encounters are pretty easy to come by. capitalizing on those encounters is the problem. good luck, but be careful because elk hunting is addictive.

Get a light wt boot and nice thick Merino wool socks and have an extra pair so you can put in a dry pair and dry the other one out alternating days. Another pair in a ziplock for sleeping in.

Elk archery season is more hot than cold. Maybe chilly at night/AMs, but walking uphill for me is uncomfortable in anything past 50 degrees.

A tent is important to- I like my Big Agnes fly creek utra light 2... Weighs 2 pounds and change and can find it for around $300 or a little less.

Ditto what was said above, there are many ways to skin a cat..

Josh

Read up on and practice taking a frontal shot. It may be the only shot you get.

Practice shooting from your knees, out to 50 - 60yds

At the minimum, learn how to cow call.

Being last year was my first time elk hunting I had no way of gauging the level if fitness I would need to get in for a quality outing. Buffalo1 knew I was hitting a treadmill and suggested that 4 miles per hour at a 4 degree incline for 1 hour would get me into ok shape. He was spot on but ok shape wasn't nearly good enough for the pace I was trying to keep.

Bulgmin maybe you can pm some of those guys and find out where I was when I killed my elk and meet me there. You can help me drag another one out. If you can find out where I killed it I will call one up for you.

1) Conditioning. Hike hills, up AND down, with a 40# pack. 2) Practice with your bow. Extend your range if you are not comfortable out to 40 yards. If you are solid at 40, get equally good at 50. Practice quick shots. Practice kneeling, sitting, standing with all weight on one leg (there's not much flat ground out there), and while twisting at the waist to the right and left. You may only get one shot opportunity in a week, so make it count.

Backpacking will tell you most of what you need to bring physically (and even mentally) to your elk hunt. Make sure you maintain the fitness you gain backpacking by continuing to do strenuous hill hikes with a loaded backpack leading up to the hunt. Give yourself a few days to get used to the altitude before you go all in. Try to stay warm, hydrated, and well fed, and (can't believe I'm saying this) as TBM said, if the elk aren't where you are at, go in deeper, higher, harder, or move entirely. And remember, just because you are 30 yards away from an animal you worked harder for than any animal in your life, it doesn't mean you have to or should take the shot. Elk will soak up bullets and walk or run away - it's gotta be a real high percentage shot to squeeze the release.

- Make a plan on your physical fitness, so you build up to the hunt and not destroy the body you will need on the way. You should also mix in shooting your bow with your physical training.

- Gear is a plus, but it doesn't need to break the bank. As it was said before "boots" will can make or break a hunt. So a couple of good broken in pair will be take you along way.

- Find out the area you will hunt, and start doing map studies, google earth, and understand the terrain you are going to get yourself into; in addition understand elk habitat, don't overlook areas you don't think elk are there. I've seen elk below cliff bands and right next to major highways. Elk are where you find them.

- Don't leave elk to find elk, on your first trip it will be overwhelming, beautiful, tiring...tiring, but take the first legal, ethical shot you have.

Since you are already an experienced hunter, set your expectations fairly high and you might work harder to meet those expectations. Tell yourself you're not going to settle for anything less than a bull but maybe you'll shoot a cow on the last couple days.

If you decide to kill the first elk you see you could be done the first day. If that's what you want then so be it, but you won't learn much about elk hunting if you kill a cow on the first day and your experience will come to a premature end. Nothing teaches you more about elk hunting than actually hunting elk and chasing bugling bulls.

My first elk hunt was in '98 and my buddy and I told each other that our goal was just to see elk and hopefully one of us would get a shot. Deep down inside though, I really wanted to kill a bull. Which I did as a result of hard work and not being satisfied with just seeing elk.

I agree that knowing an area can help but I don't think it's critical. I've killed 8 bulls the first time I ever hunted a unit and my success rate is actually better the first time I hunt a unit than it is if I return to that same unit. I think that's because the first time in I have an open mind and keep moving until I find elk. On a return hunt I think it's human nature to repeatedly return to places where you have seen elk before and that can be a counterproductive waste of time; elk are where you find them. The point is, don't fret because it's the first time in the unit, it doesn't bother me a bit.

I think however that studying and understanding topo maps and understanding how elk relate to terrain contributes greatly to success the first time in a unit. I'm a land surveyor and have worked with topo maps for years so when I look at one I actually see a 3D image.

This might also be a little unusual but all the time I have spent glassing in 16 years of elk hunting could probably fit into one half day. I know it works for a lot of guys but I'd rather spend my time covering ground, learning the unit and finding elk that way. It seems like a lot of the "glassers" that I know try to find open terrain to bowhunt for elk. In my experience, bowhunting in open terrain doesn't work that well and I prefer to go into the timber and find them and that has worked well for me. Any time that I have glassed or found elk in open terrain I have never been able to get close enough for a shot. Finding where the elk are "right now" is the best way to kill them and for me that works best in the timber.

Be in shape physically and probably more importantly, mentally. You don't have to be in marathon runner or Ironman shape and being an Ironman won't help if you're not mentally strong. Being mentally strong can really come into play when the going gets tough or when you're hunting solo.

Elknut's Playbook is good (BTW, it was my idea and I own signed copy No. 1) :^)

Buy high quality boots and break them in. No other single piece of equipment will affect you more if you cut corners. I personally like (uninsulated) Lowa Tibets and Renegades with Smartwool socks. I don't like liner socks, they seem to make my feet feel more clammy. I can't imagine trying to elk hunt in September with insulated boots.

Hunting out west is a good excuse to become comfortable shooting longer distances like 60 and 70 yards which has a lot of benefits, but in reality most shots will be under 30 yards.

You mentioned aggravation? If you get the sh!ts when elk hunting, it's a weight loss program you won't likely forget.

I work for a US-owned company here in Britain, and get the feeling that my American colleagues are quite suprised when I say I'm away for a fortnight; they near pass out when my European colleagues in France and Italy take THREE weeks off in August!!

As and when my darling wife and I make it to elk country, I reckon to take three weeks off; it will take us flatlanders a good few days to acclimatise to the altitude if nothing else [the highest peak in the UK is 4409']

I am giving serious thought to going guided for a week in CO's Flat Tops wilderness, and learning as much as I possibly can; if I can fill my tag, then that will be awesome...if not, I can then hunt DIY in an OTC unit for another week...

Is the Flat Tops guided hunt in an OTC unit?

A lot of the Flat Tops is in draw units although very easy to draw. If your guided hunt is in a draw unit then I'm pretty sure you can't also hunt OTC for another week. You could however hunt the same unit that the guided hunt for another week.

I always take 2 full weeks of vacation plus a day or two on each end of the 2 week period. A couple years when I drew tags in 2 states I took 3 weeks off.

Think hard about advice given by people who've hunted many years with no or few elk kills, or advice given by people with only a few hunts/kills. Which includes my advice as well. . .

I may be flamed for this next one. . . .but here goes. . . .

I believe there's a tendency by many hunters to over-inflate the difficulty of an elk hunt. Yes, the terrain can be tough, and if you're hunting where the elk aren't, you'll think they're the toughest damn animal to hunt in the world. They aren't deer, not every patch of elk habitat will hold elk while you're there.

Some writers would have us believe that you must be 7 or more miles from the nearest road to have any chance of killing an elk. It just ain't so.

Have fun. It's addicting

http://www.elknutforums.com/Hunting/viewforum.php?f=3

My rec regarding other tags is elk country generally aint deer country. Unless you have extra dough burning a hole in your wallet, stay focused on the elk Chances are you'll be sipping tag soup like 90% of us anyway, but you don't want to bounce around and lower your odds even further. Then again that radio collar study of bears trailing hunters to claim the spoils, maybe you have something there.

2. My experience has been that research, scouting, and picking the right spot has trumped being in Superman shape...although that does come in handy. The area I hunt I have all the confidence in the world I can kill elk into my 70's with minimal exercise. They aren't always on steep slopes or extreme elevations.

3. If you are going to kill an elk then concentrate on that...at least on your first hunt or until you get a vibe for the other realistic opportunities there are in the area you are hunting. You have 7-10 days, so why make things harder worrying about what fly-rod to pack, or what other tags you should pick up? Focus on killing an elk, spend your time trying to do that and only that, and you'll have a better hunt.