When to Leave?

[BigT]

We are starting to do the fine tuning on our anual elk trip and this question was brought up today. We have a 19 plus hour truck drive so what time do you want to leave the house? Do we leave at noon and get there at 0700am and just start our hike in? Do we rest that day, go into town and get a good dinner then start fresh the next day? Do we leave at 3 am in the morning and get there at 1000 pm at night, sleep at the truck, and start fresh in the morning? ect.....

Time off work is not a factor. And camp is an 8 hour walk in.

 

[Bitterroot Bulls]

I would give yourself plenty of time and rest. Especially if you are heading into high elevations coming from Oklahoma. Pushing the limits of exhaustion is a good way to get injured and not have a hunt at all.

My recommendation is to leave early (say 6 AM), get in late (1 AM), sleep in the next day, relax, get a full nights sleep, then hit the trail fresh and early the following morning.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

I would give yourself plenty of time and rest. Especially if you are heading into high elevations coming from Oklahoma. Pushing the limits of exhaustion is a good way to get injured and not have a hunt at all.

My recommendation is to leave early (say 6 AM), get in late (1 AM), sleep in the next day, relax, get a full nights sleep, then hit the trail fresh and early the following morning.

Yep..thats what I would do.

 

[jenbickel]

^^ I agree with them.. Definitely give yourself plenty of time to rest!

 

[TuffBuc]

Also depends on how many are going and if you can get some sleep in the vehicle. I would leave at 3am and get there at 10pm. That way the majority of your driving is during daylight hours, much safer that way. Also if you get there in the morning, you wont rest like you should and will start out a long hard week of hunting on short rest. Not a recipe for success.

 

[BigT]

I agree also with the getting there early, getting rested, and getting used to the altitude. Always fun coming from 600' into 7-10000'. We talked and i think we are going to start out at night so we get thru the big cities while people are still asleep and traffic is light. As you can tell by my post i am on nights at work so the night time travel doesnt bother us. We are only going 2 in our truck so not much sleeping on the way up. (been woke up by the grooves on the I40 when buddy driving to Colorado not fun but better than an energy drink to wake you up and that buddy is not riding with us this time)

Sounds odd but we have a blast on the long road trips up to the mountains. I guess it just the fact that it is that time of year and we are finally getting to hunt the elk.

 

[mmac1318]

Go man go. Who needs the rest.
Just kidding it really is just personal preferance and how much time you have. I have done it a few different ways. We come form MI and have hunted ID,WY and MT. MT was only 19 hrs or so, it wasnt too tiring we got there and got too it. Where we hunt in ID its about 28 hrs with a little time to stetch the legs and fuel. On that drive I prefer to get a days rest before getting serious into the hunt. Unfortunately this year I am student and I can not get much time off so we will be driving there hunting 6 days and driving back on time for me to get to class that evening. It will be tough but its the only way I can squeeze a hunt in this year.
We can rest after hunting season right? Good luck on your hunt.