andy_o

I was looking into taking a trip and getting a guide for a hunt and have heard alot of people talking about bad experences and high prices. I like hunting solo. I also dont like the thought of only having a week and only being able to go to one camp and coming back to it every night. I want to do an elk hunt that I can take a pack and tent and go in deep. I know its not always a smart thing to go into the woods alone, especially if there are grizzleys in the area. But im pretty confident with a .44mag.

Does anybody do this? And if so do you use public lands or do you try to get premission. The other thing about getting premission how do you find out who the landowner is? This is goin to have to be a trip out of state and I cant just go out ahead of time and scout and check for landowners.

If I went through a guide and they could tell me whare to go, would I be able to hunt the land?

keystoneanglers

The one question you have to ask yourself if you are going in on your own is first "what happens if? " Injury, etc.

The second question is how are you going to backpack all of your gear in and then if you do harvest an animal 10 miles in or so pack out all of your gear and a huge elk.

I would try to answer these questions before making this journey.

cherokee_outfitters

Hunting on your own is probally the most self satisfying time you will have while hunting. Theres no buddy pressure or a guide pushing you to move on and look some more. If you want to sit down and enjoy the afternoon looking over a canyon its all up to you.

I would tell someone where I'd plan to camp and have a contact time later in the week. That way if something did happen they know where to start looking.

Private lands today are a bear to try and get access on. You can do alot of research on your hunt before ever going. Contact the state wildlife agency for some pointers they love out of state money so they are very helpful. I'm sure on this site all you have to do is ask someone about the area you want to hunt and someone has hunted it. Topo maps are a great research tool if you know how to read the terrain. Like getting away from atv trails and looking for small meadows up in rough places where the elk have both vegatation and cover.

If you are backpacking I would suggest going reasonably light. Taking cooked meat and dry food. Those packs can wear a man out to where he doesn't want to hunt much after packing in. You can also contact an outfitter in the advent of taking game and have it packed out if its a ways from your vehicle. I would set this up before the hunt so they might expect your call. If the weather is warm I would also find a meat processor or meat locker in the town closet to where you will be hunting.

Setting up all the things you can think of will make your hunt a wonderful experience and not a nightmare. If you are going into griz country I would take somekind of backup gun if your not carrying a rifle already.

Enjoy your hunt and good luck

Speedgoat

Andy,
Not all the Elk are 10 miles in off the roads. If you pick non-wilderness country, you can have success within 3 miles of a road. Get a forest service map of the area you intend to hunt, and look for ways to get inside the private land on forest service. Another method i have used requires 2 vehicles. We look for an area from 7 to 10 miles between roads, drop a vehicle on one side, and head in from the other with compass and pack. If there is more than one person making the hunt, spread out, maybe meet at a common point halfway in. This can be productive. To get elk out, i built a game cart with a front tire from a motorcycle, and welded conduit with double handles on each end for a basket frame. I kept the hand brake on one end to slow on the downhill stretches, unfortunately, it takes good old leg power on the uphill grades. But it works great, you can snake it through thick country right on a game trail. It's alot more comfortable to have a camp set up right off an access road, and hunt in every morning, over a weeks time you can cover different country within a 10 to 20 mile radius until you figure out where the elk are. Elk hunting is not like deer hunting, they are not spread evenly across the country side. You have pockets of elk with lots of country in between. Half the fun of hunting them is figuring out where they are.
Good luck

Dirt2

You're talking about my favorite form of hunting. I take 16 days off in September and backpack in on a solo bowhunt. I have three alternate areas that I can hunt. I'll take 8 days of food into the first area, then if that doesn't work out (too few elk, to many hunters, or the food runs out) I pack out and head into the next area.

Previous posters have given great advice. I'd add that if you're going to hunt where you'll pack an elk out, be in shape. I'm talking marathon-running condition if the packout is more than a couple miles. If you're not in that kind of shape or not very experienced at backpacking, stick closer to roads and civilization. Definitely leave as specific an itinerary as you can with someone close to you. Write down where you're base camp will be, give landmarks. Write down any possible alternate camp locations, elk hunting is a fluid game - they move around, so will you. Set up a phone call checkin time. If you're going in for a week, make sure they know to expect your phone call on day 7. If they don't get it, they start the search parties.

Also, get very well acquainted with taking care of an elk in the field. Saving that meat can be tough if you're not prepared - an elk is 10 times the trouble a deer is. Have good game bags - canvas beats gauze mesh. Be prepared to handle the animal however it falls, one guy isn't going to move the carcass around much. Either have two sharp knives, or one knife and a light hand sharpener. Have a game saw. Plan out every possible situation you might deal with. For instance, what do you do if the elk falls on a sunny south face in 70 degree weather? You will lose the entire animal if you don't have a plan for these cases. It sounds daunting but can be done. In the case I gave, gut it out, then skin the top side. Take off the backstraps and game bag'em. Filet off the front shoulder, then bag it. Then take off the hindquarter. This can be a real workout, but is easier if you have some line to tie the hind leg up with. (Last year, my bull came in out of a wallow, covered with black mud, and died in bare soil. By time I was done I felt like I'd been in the ring with a WWF guy who wasn't pulling his punches.) Once both topside quarters are off, you should be able to roll him over, although if he's a real monster you might go ahead and take his head off now, too. Then, repeat with the other side, bagging each quarter as it comes off. Finally, don't forget the tenderloin. Now, you're still on the south slope, and you need to get that meat out of the sun. Try to get it down in a deep bottom or a few feet up a north facing slope. At 70 degrees, you also need to bone that sucker out. Filet each quarter off the leg bone, trying to keep the whole quarter of meat in one piece. You have some things working for you in the high mountains, even if it's hot in the day. It'll cool down at night and the days aren't so long. Finally, either hang the meat to get complete air circulation, or build a rack on the ground. I "invented" the rack last year, you lay out deadfall lodgepoles 4-6" diameter, spaced about 6" apart, then lay the quarters out on the rack. This will allow air to circulate under the meat. It is crushingly important to get the meat out of ALL contact with the ground, as this will impede meat cooling to disastrous effect. Then start packing it out. I killed a bull in '99 10 miles in and took 5 days to get him out. Last year's bull was 7 miles in and took 48 hours - hotter weather so more urgency, plus I'm getting better at the process.

Allow time in your hunting plan for getting the critter out. E.g. if you're hunting 10 miles in where it's going to take, say, 5 days to get the elk out, you can't shoot that far in on the last five days. You may have to move closer to the road as the hunt progresses.

I hunt public land, it took me three years of summer backpacking to really get my scouting down, to locate some real hot spots. Then the past past three years, I have seen 6 P&Y bulls within 50 yards, the biggest a 340+ bull. The do-it-yourself approach takes some patience, especially if you're coming from out of state. You may have some trial and error figuring out a good area. But to me it's the only way to go. I'd rather fail on my own than kill a record book animal because some guide put me into it. (That's just my opinion, no attack on guides intended.) Go into it for the experience, and remember that most elk hunters eat their tags every year.

If you do go with an outfitter, consider a drop camp-type hunt. They'll drop you off in a furnished camp, then ride in and pick you up on the day appointed and pack out you and any game you have. If you do this, make sure you understand ahead of time exactly what they'll provide and what you still need to bring. Also, some outfitters will slough their drop camp hunters off into their worst hunting areas, saving the best spots for the full-paying clientele. Grill them on this point.

ELKampMaster

AndyO,

Dirt2 and Keystone Anglers have hit some key items right on the head, including "these ain't bambi you're hunting/packing". The kind of hunting you are proposing is typically done at the top of the elk hunting pyramid not at the bottom. You may want to make this a 5 year project and work your way up. "Way back in and alone" is no place for the un-initiated.

Good Luck and Good Hunting,
EKM

andy_o

Cherokee and Dirt2 seem to understand that the hunt is going to be about more than just scoreing a trophy. I find unsuccessful hunting and backpacking trips to be an equally satifsying time. Spending the time in the outdoors with no one but urself and mother nature finding the deep inside of yourself that you dont see much when your around people.


The having a call in time like dirt said is a really good idea. The real question of that is will I be able to get to a phone that dont require cell reception? I doubt it so sending a search party out imaditlly could be for nothing.

The meat packing thing could be a big problem if I was to shoot a big body bull. Is there any way to bag it up in air tight bags, mark the spot on gps and pack it out part by part?

121553

Good post dirt, now I know how you got your name.
I solo hunted in west yellowstone this year which was new terrain for me as well as an 8 hour drive. Prior to the hunt comes the homework, gathering maps/harvest reports,ect., you need several maps of an area because its impossible to get all the imfo off any one map. Coordinate all of these maps together and find state and forestry along with many BLM property thats availiable and it will cut down on a lot of foot work. Don't get me wrong, I went on many a wild goose chases and deadends and ate a lot out of cans and slept the nights in the back of my truck, froze my a$$ at night and burned up during the day and would hunt up to maybe 3 miles away from the truck, that doesn't sound far but none of it was flat, kinda like goat country and I felt a lot safer sleeping in the truck due the the amount of grizzly signs in the area and a visit by something one night I'm not sure of to this day. I packed a 357 and pepper spray and sometimes I never knew if I was hunting or being hunted, But I did manage to bag an elk in doing a solo hunt in new country, I must say it was the hardest fun I ever had. Just like someone esle said, you better have a way of dealing with it when you knock it down, thats why they call it Big Game, Bobby

ELKampMaster

The meat packing thing could be a big problem regardless. Even if you shoot a small bull or a large cow you are in for a big surprise when you go to move it.

Even at "just" 5 miles back in, figure 1 trip for your camp, and 3 trips for your elk if you debone it makes for 4 round trips, by your lonesome, self-contained, on foot.

4 round trips times (5 miles & 2 ways) = 40 miles and we haven't talked vertical gain and loss yet, altitude issues, blisters, or tweaked knees or backs, nor warm weather problems versus your meat. GPS is good. Air tight bags is BAD. At the risk of pissing you off, the "inexperience" factor is showing pretty strong. Again, way back in and alone is no place for the un-initiated.

At a minimum a drop camp would be a good idea and you can take your backpack set up with you if you want to "range around a bit" (though I guarantee you'll find elk country plenty big enough) plus arrangements could be made for a horse "pack out" for you and your game and with the added benefit that there will be someone who knows the area wjho can give you some direction plus they will at least know your plan and know where and when to start looking (or call the authorities) for you if it becomes necessary. Doing things in the backcountry inexperienced and on a shoestring (read no outfitter and cutting corners) can prove in retrospect to be penny wise and pound foolish. See if Cherokee can help you.

Good Luck and Good Hunting,
EKM

rambopacker

The guys above have given good insight and I won't repeat but I have a little story. My first elk(5x5) was on such a hunt up near Red River Idaho. I just picked an area where I knew had some elk and I packed in about three miles. I made two trips to get myself all set up with tent and food. before I went in I met some ranchers who had horses at the trailhead and I struck up a good conversation with them. The evening before opener I was sitting in my camp which was off the trail a ways and heard the elk bugling. The next morning I headed in the direction I had heard the bugling and found a lot of sign but no elk. The next day I headed back into the same area cow calling as I stalked thru the woods. The next thing I knew I had cows calling back to me and then a bugle. He came in and I got my shot. After I walked up to him and let out a yelp of joy it hit me. Now, up to that point I had only killed whitetails and some good sized ones. But standing over this elk was like having 4 big whitetails on the ground and three miles away from my truck. I was a little intimidated. I field dressed him and quartered him (It wasn't easy). I took off with the first load. It was well after dark and and everyone camped at the trailhead were asleep. Carrying the first load was a job and I was worried about being able to get the rest of the elk out O.K. Luckily it was pretty cold so I wasn't to concerned about the meat spoiling in the woods. I figured it would have taken at least two full days to get the meat out and I was worried about leaving all the meat in the back of my truck. Even though it was cold outside the sun beating down on the truck my meat probably would have spoiled and I was to far from town to make multiple trips to the locker. That's when I got smart and went over to the guys with the horses and just about begged for mercy. They had pitty on me and they wanted to help a fellow hunter. It took three of us and two horses six hours to go in and get my elk out. They said in order to pay them back, help another hunter some day. I did give them a bunch of beer money. I would have gotten that elk out one way or the other but they sure helped. I did have to make two trips in to get my camp out and that took half the day. Now I own horses and someday maybe I can repay them the way they asked. Before I bought the horses though I did more do it yourself hunts but was more careful how far from the truck I got. We owe it to the animals to make sure we can get the meat out. You mentioned grizzlies. Think twice about hunting alone in Griz country. Remember how long you'll have that elk on the ground. I seem to like testing the Darwin theory and have killed several elk in Griz country alone but it's not too smart and I don't recommend it.

I've been real lucky on my do it yourself hunts and all of the animals I've taken are trophies because of the way I did it. Good Luck.