Sounds great Dawgdad! I found when I passed 60 pounds the weight was much more noticeable. I used to carry 80 pounds for a day when I hiked with the Boy Scouts 10+ years ago.

Check your pack over good for "wear and tear". I was lucky that my strap broke the week before my last wilderness outing instead of when I was on the trail. It was not repairable.

It takes me a few steps to get my hips back in walking position after I take a heavy pack off. If I stick with the training plan I should not be the reason we don't get to the back country. I have a brand new Vorn day pack I am breaking in and my son just ordered a frame packs for the camping gear and meat removal. (Fingers crossed.)


Next question... my experience in public ground deer hunting say get off of the trails and roads to find the big deer. My prime public ground deer spot is just over a mile from the main road/camping area, across a creek and up a valley another 300 yards. It is about that far again to the next major trail/road access area in all directions.

I am hearing the number of deer in an area and the ground they cover is a bit less elk ? So - how far back off of a major trail head would you go?
Where would you set a spike camp to scout from? (Comfort not an issue for one week).

My son and I have already agreed that if we see a herd at sunset we should bivy out near them overnight and stay on them. Is that a good plan or would you pull out and try to slip back in at 0'dark hundred?

Maybe I missed this but is it a cow or bull tag?

topo map

Here is a topo link to one area we are considering.

Main highway is 2 miles down a fire road from an open area near a resevoir. (Long Slough). It is accessible by 4wd. Only about 200 feet elevation change on that stretch.

10000 feet elevation mesa plateau with north slopes and drainages. To the 9400 feet line is reasonable slope but gets steeper after that.

Forest service ground boundary is about a mile north of the 9400ft line and 1000 feet lower at 8400ft. Two track road access to the edge of forest service ground. It would be a hike up from there but that is the nearest access point to the north.

Never having been there or hunted elk before - My initial thought are to park my cargo trailer at the trail head and put everything needed in the bed of the truck, Drive up to the slough area and set up camp. Then park the vehicle back down at trail head. I would use the trail to Crum Resevoir as a west boundary and the 9400ft elevation ridge face as a north boundary and east to the 9400ft drop off on that side. That would be an area about 2 miles north to south and 2.8 miles east to west.

If we get an elk, we would quarter it out and pack meat to camp area, then go get the truck to load it out.

Am I thinking clearly? What am I missing? Is spike camping at the slough too close if the herd is on the north face of the mesa? should we camp close to the road and hike 4 miles in every day?

(no open fires, jet boils for cooking soup,stew and oatmeal and coffee)

Dawgdad, looking at Google Earth, it shows you can drive all the way into Twin Basins Reservoir. where you have "too steep" looks to be down hill at not a bad grade. Lots of pictures posted of the area if you want to see what it looks like on GE.

here is a screenshot

If you are hunting bulls, listen for their bugles and track them down. If you see a herd at night, I would move away some then come back in the morning. I use InReach as my device for keeping track of where I am and where I want to go. I pull the coordinates from my GE study and load them in the InReach memory before I head out on the trip.

Oh, I take shooting sticks with me for sitting position and practice. Makes a big difference when trying to shoot out to 400 yards with no place for a rest. tall grass often prevents use of prone and there isn't always a tree limb or trunk to use with a clear shot. I don't leave home without them.

I made mine using two carbon fiber rods with a strip of rubber tie to hold them together. change the spread to get the elevation you need.

Tip, you still have to use a good sitting position with elbow on knees to get a stead shot.

Slim -

your Google earth stops short of where I have labeled too steep. Your image ends about where the map sections between section 18 and 19 are on my map the 9400' topo line is almost another mile north of here..... and since I have posted that, my son said that there is nothing too steep.... (for him anyway).

We will be using GPS, phone downloads and paper maps to navigate.

I always use my bog pods coyote hunting so shooting from sticks is my most comfortable position other than prone with a sling.

Do that north slope in 3D mode......

Looking at the topo link you posted DD, that steep bit of ground you mention is a nasty climb, about a 25 degree slope. Climbing a slope like that at sea level is damned hard work, so at that altitude it will be torturous for you mate, especially considering you would be doing it on the return leg (if I read you correctly) with a full pack (hopefully).

Vince.... there is an access road at the bottom of that hill too.... drag the beast to the lower ground and drive around to pick it up....

What elevation do you live at?
I live at 100' ASL & four years running from 2006-2009 hunted CO unit 751 at between 8,000' & 11,000. The thin air really slowed me down & as we were camped at 9,000' it messed with sleeping too. The last year, I spent two weeks at 6,000' before the hunt & felt much better.
Dehydration was a real issue & I don't think I ever returned to camp with anything left in my 2 litre Camelbak.
Weight wise, I ditched everything I could & apart from water/Gatorade, carried an MRE, trail mix, rifle, 10 rounds, bino's, knife, small camera, trail tape & a two way radio, so not much more than 20lbs on top of the clothes I was wearing.

Checked our trail cams, had this bruiser show up. Looks like its going to be a very early rut this year, as opposed to last year when it ran very late (well into Oct).

Beautiful, too bad none of us have a tag. This is about 400 yards from where I killed my bull last year. He was around last year too, as noted by the cheater 7th point on the one side. Too bad I never ran into him first (although I never regret killing the bull I got).



I've been taking my boy out archery deer hunting. We've been hitting it from 7,000 to +10,000ft elevations and the deer are all at the very tops. I've yet to see any elk over 6000ft this year. Which is strange.


-DallanC