# of days for DIY archery Elk non res

[Osprey]

I was wondering what expereinced Elk hunters would suggest as the min number of hunting days for a non res DIY archery hunt. I've only been Elk hunting twice as I just started getting into Elk hunting in 2013 both times were Rifle hunts 13 was unsuccessful and 15 was successfull on a 5x5 both self guided hunts with this year being a solo hunt. Im looking to try and make 2 trips a year one for Rifle and one for Archery these would be in seperate states but I'm limited on vac time so I'm just trying to get an idea what has worked for others in the past. Obviously you can kill on day one and the more days you have the hunt the better in a perfect world I could hunt all season .

[Fridaythe13th]

We have a 20 hour drive. We pack up the trucks the night before (Thursday) and go to work the next day, work all day and leave after work 3:30 PM on Friday drive all night get to the woods Saturday around noon set up camp and if there is time go for a short hunting. we don't go to far because we are dead tired from driving and not sleeping. Sunday is the 1st day of hunting and we hunt 8 full days , pack up on Monday head for home. On a normal year we are home in the AM on Tuesday back to work on Wednesday.

8 days of hunting 7 days of vacation.

[saddlesore]

I sure think it would be at least 6 . I hunt 9 days. Sometimes in those short hunts you spend several days trying to even locate the elk and then hunt them. 2-3 days of bad weather can sure ruin your hunt if you don't have but a few days there.

I don't have to worry about vacation. I muzzle load hunt and then rifle hunt. I usually leave on the Wednesday before the season starts on a Saturday and plan to stay the entire 9 days of the season and come home the day after the season ends.

If vacation days determine the hunt, I would use all of them on one hunt and give it all you got. You could plan on a shortened archery hunt and then have 4-5 days for rife,but then get screwed with the weather and only have1-2 days hunting with the rifle, Doesn't sound like a plan to me.

[Pmcgee]

I've only went the last 3 years. The first two years we hunted 12 days. Last year we hunted 14.

[Indian Summer]

Why 2 different states? You most likely will not kill a bull every year with a bow. So I'd plan on going back to the place I had already hunted assuming it was worth hunting. You know what's going on there so you can pick up where you left off.

To answer your question though the minimum number of hunting days should be 7. That gives you a couple days to see what's going on, a few to be one step behind the elk, and a few more to get one step ahead of them. I would suggest hunting 9 or 10 but definitely wouldn't hunt less than 7.

Think about the rundown on a 5 day hunt. it goes fast! Day 1. You are trying to find elk while your body is acclimating. Day 2 you are sore. If you're lucky you know where elk so you can hunt them, if not day 2 is nearly the same as day 1. Day 3 you wake up and say my hunt is half over by mid day today. That's depressing! It makes you feel pressure to get something going. Hunting under pressure isn't good... for me anyway. Day 4 you wake up and if you haven't had a shot opportunity by then you realize how fast a day can tick away and that today and tomorrow will be gone in the blink of an eye. Day 5 you wake up and say hmm, I should have hunted twice as long!

I hunt one spot where the rifle season opens on September 27th. You could hunt 5 days of prime time archery and then 5 days of gun back to back. It makes for a heck of a 10 day hunt. There's no such thing as too much time. Especially if you only have a couple hunts under your belt. If you kill early you can keep going out and hunting with your camera. Learning during season is priceless.

[under H2O hunter]

It all depends on the time of the season you will be hunting. If they are talking then locating them is much easier and you can be on elk quickly so a 9 day hunt is possible with only burning 5 days of vacation. You said a solo hunt so you will be doing all the driving by yourself. This usually wears the body and mind especially on the drive back home. So take that into consideration. If you are looking to go early in the season then getting on elk that could pose to be a challenge and you may never locate them. If you are going early I would do at least 10 to 12 days total. How far will it be driving for you? How far into the back country are you looking to do? The reason I ask is this. Lets say you have a full day of driving. Then you have a half to full day of hiking in. You have 4 days wasted just on travel time. Now you get a elk down you can plan on another full day to two days to get it out. So if you are planning a 9 day total trip and you get an elk down on day 5 or 6 you are gonna be hurting and pushing to get back and deal with everything. This can be very dangerous especially if you are driving tired. Good luck

[Lefty]

I would say it depends on the number of days you can take vacation. if you have 10-15 I would look at two trips both for archery I would hunt the beginning of sept then the end and stay in the same unit
If you have 20 or more I would go 2/3 archery 1/3 rifle

[Osprey]

Thanks for all the reply's so far. I was thinking for the archery 7 days off bumped up to 2 weekends so 11 total as a min as of right now. I live in Indiana made the drive this year solo and hunted hard in 3rd rifle killing a bull day 7 of my hunt then drove back. I actually was limited on days that hunt missed the first day and a half for travel there since I only had 7 vac days I opted to hunt to end of season and miss the begining due to weather and I figured pressure would fall off. Ended up working in my favor as pressure became non existent and snow storm moved in mid hunt Elk movement was good all through the hunt but got better after snow. I got into bugling bulls several days in the timber and it really made me think as an avid archery hunter for Whitetails how much I would enjoy pursuing rutting elk with archery. I was thinking of doing two trips as I can hunt with my dad or friends however they don't really archery hunt so it would be rifle with them. Also I liked my unit in CO this year so that's why I was thinking multi state to let me hunt both sept bulls and CO 3rd season bulls. As of 2016 I get 3 wks vac and can defer holidays so that helps a lot. I do a 3 day turkey hunt every spring with my dad and vac with the gf for a few days each summer but I usually use a few defer holiday and a couple of my reg vac days for that. I might look into the late sept archery then rifle units I believe WY has several options. My dad could scout while I hunt archery until the rifle opened.

[DBLGBL]

Every day is precious in archery. I too would spend all my time in the same place/unit/state as long as there were elk. We do 10 days with travel on each end. You never know what day they will choose to die

2gbl