- May 20, 2014
- 15
- 0
I just returned from my first elk hunt, OTC archery in Colorado. The unit that I hunted had an average of 200 archery hunters per year with an average of 10 bulls killed over the past few years. I am posting this to provide some facts for those that might be interested in in your first hunt being over the counter archery.
Gear- you can not do enough research on your gear. I spent ten months researching everything that I used. It turned out to be one of the most important investments that I made for my trip. I had a test subject with me, my buddy who decided to go two months prior to the trip. The gear that I chose was, Kennetrek Mountain Extreme boots, Cabelas Micro Tec pants and shirt, KUIU merino base layer, marmot rain coat, browning down liner jacket, eberlestock x2 pack. My sleeping bag was a Kelty 0 degree. Throughout the course of 5 days, I changed socks everyday but otherwise did not use any of the other clothes that I brought. I did change out base layer shirts, I used technical shirts that I get at half marathons and they worked great. The rain coat and the down liner compressed nicely in my pack with minimal weight. Our camp was at 10,600'. The sleeping bag was perfect.
My partner brought a 40 degree northface sleeping bag and literally slept in all of his clothes every night. He had trouble with his base layer-under armour cold gear being too hot with hiking. He also had under armour boots. They worked great for the trail walking but he had a lot of trouble side hilling. He ended up using a lot of clothes due to not having a layered system. He made it fine for the week but he did not seem to be nearly as comfortable as I was.
The allstar purchases for the trip goes to two item, titanium cup and spork, and katadyn hiker water filter. I went with three other people. One hunted with me and the other two stayed at base camp, camping. Having the cup and fork would have saved a ton of money and trash on paper products. I used it for everything and cooking ramen noodles in it for lunch in the field was the best pick me up feel good thing that we did each day. I chose to go with the water filter in lieu of the tablets just because i would rather drink water than drink flavored drinks. It worked great and we were able to fill our water sources up with no problem all day long while hunting. For day pack hunting, the weight isnt a huge problem. I would probably go another route if I were living out of my pack.
Fitness-If you think that you are fit enough for the hunting--you are not. I live in Louisiana, the elevation out west with the terrain are no comparison to what you think you are training on. I spent a lot of time getting ready, I ran between 25-20 miles per week, I hiked with my pack loaded with 50lbs for four weeks prior to going, I worked out 3 days a week, and I lost 5lbs before I left. The cardio that is required to travers 1500' per day up and down, coupled with the steepness of what you are walking is no joke. I am telling you, just because you can walk five miles in the snow barefooted following a white tail has no bearing on what you are going to be up against if you are going to get off the road hunting in Colorado.
Animals- There are a lot of good hunting shows on television depicting how you can call and kill a bull elk. They always start with someone either calling or someone glassing an animal. It is no different than watching a white tail show. You see a guy shoot a trophy animal and it makes it look easy. There is nothing easy about ELK or elk hunting. There are individuals who go out west and kill an animal their first time. Count em up, I can assure you they are the minority. For anyone like myself who has whitetail hunted their entire life, I know that it takes hours of scouting and lots of work to put an animal on the ground with a bow. I now know that it takes the same amount of effort with ELK and the only difference is that instead of covering 300 to 400 acres to find the sign I am looking for I had to cover 3-4 miles vertically.
I did manage to get on two different bulls. It took me almost 40 miles of walking and when I found them in two seperate locations they were located in some of the roughest terrain you could imagine. It took me 2 hours to get out of one of the drainages. I had to locate bugle to even know they were there. There was no cow calling or herd talk or even noise. The saying that Elk are where you find them is the truest statement I have heard regarding elk hunting. The primary truth is that YOU HAVE TO GO FIND THEM, they dont come find you. One other truth that needs to be in your mind is that they are not like whitetails, you dont go walking through the woods and jump them and then go look for the big one. They are either there or they arent.
Mental Challenge- You better get your mind right before you step foot in the woods. The terrain, combined with the weather, cold in the morning raining in the afternoon will make you want to quit.
I really want to write this post not to challenge anyone's perception or to discourage anyone. I will be going back again and again and again. I just know that In my research I was looking for some truths prior to going and I didnt seem to find a lot of them.
Gear- you can not do enough research on your gear. I spent ten months researching everything that I used. It turned out to be one of the most important investments that I made for my trip. I had a test subject with me, my buddy who decided to go two months prior to the trip. The gear that I chose was, Kennetrek Mountain Extreme boots, Cabelas Micro Tec pants and shirt, KUIU merino base layer, marmot rain coat, browning down liner jacket, eberlestock x2 pack. My sleeping bag was a Kelty 0 degree. Throughout the course of 5 days, I changed socks everyday but otherwise did not use any of the other clothes that I brought. I did change out base layer shirts, I used technical shirts that I get at half marathons and they worked great. The rain coat and the down liner compressed nicely in my pack with minimal weight. Our camp was at 10,600'. The sleeping bag was perfect.
My partner brought a 40 degree northface sleeping bag and literally slept in all of his clothes every night. He had trouble with his base layer-under armour cold gear being too hot with hiking. He also had under armour boots. They worked great for the trail walking but he had a lot of trouble side hilling. He ended up using a lot of clothes due to not having a layered system. He made it fine for the week but he did not seem to be nearly as comfortable as I was.
The allstar purchases for the trip goes to two item, titanium cup and spork, and katadyn hiker water filter. I went with three other people. One hunted with me and the other two stayed at base camp, camping. Having the cup and fork would have saved a ton of money and trash on paper products. I used it for everything and cooking ramen noodles in it for lunch in the field was the best pick me up feel good thing that we did each day. I chose to go with the water filter in lieu of the tablets just because i would rather drink water than drink flavored drinks. It worked great and we were able to fill our water sources up with no problem all day long while hunting. For day pack hunting, the weight isnt a huge problem. I would probably go another route if I were living out of my pack.
Fitness-If you think that you are fit enough for the hunting--you are not. I live in Louisiana, the elevation out west with the terrain are no comparison to what you think you are training on. I spent a lot of time getting ready, I ran between 25-20 miles per week, I hiked with my pack loaded with 50lbs for four weeks prior to going, I worked out 3 days a week, and I lost 5lbs before I left. The cardio that is required to travers 1500' per day up and down, coupled with the steepness of what you are walking is no joke. I am telling you, just because you can walk five miles in the snow barefooted following a white tail has no bearing on what you are going to be up against if you are going to get off the road hunting in Colorado.
Animals- There are a lot of good hunting shows on television depicting how you can call and kill a bull elk. They always start with someone either calling or someone glassing an animal. It is no different than watching a white tail show. You see a guy shoot a trophy animal and it makes it look easy. There is nothing easy about ELK or elk hunting. There are individuals who go out west and kill an animal their first time. Count em up, I can assure you they are the minority. For anyone like myself who has whitetail hunted their entire life, I know that it takes hours of scouting and lots of work to put an animal on the ground with a bow. I now know that it takes the same amount of effort with ELK and the only difference is that instead of covering 300 to 400 acres to find the sign I am looking for I had to cover 3-4 miles vertically.
I did manage to get on two different bulls. It took me almost 40 miles of walking and when I found them in two seperate locations they were located in some of the roughest terrain you could imagine. It took me 2 hours to get out of one of the drainages. I had to locate bugle to even know they were there. There was no cow calling or herd talk or even noise. The saying that Elk are where you find them is the truest statement I have heard regarding elk hunting. The primary truth is that YOU HAVE TO GO FIND THEM, they dont come find you. One other truth that needs to be in your mind is that they are not like whitetails, you dont go walking through the woods and jump them and then go look for the big one. They are either there or they arent.
Mental Challenge- You better get your mind right before you step foot in the woods. The terrain, combined with the weather, cold in the morning raining in the afternoon will make you want to quit.
I really want to write this post not to challenge anyone's perception or to discourage anyone. I will be going back again and again and again. I just know that In my research I was looking for some truths prior to going and I didnt seem to find a lot of them.
