It's No Picnic Up There

[WapitiTalk1]

Elk country, real elk country, is no picnic.. It's unforgiving. The elevation changes, the unpredictable weather, the terrain itself, is unlike anything most hunters who do not live in one of the elk mountain states have every experienced if they don't live here. There are "walls" of alder brush that are impenetrable, to go 1/2 mile across a draw as the crow flies may take several hours or more, the rocks in the bottom of a two foot stream are like grease, shale slides if not negotiated carefully will take you on a ride that will shatter bones.... It's not quite like the beautifull pictures we post up and are strewn all over the inernet. It's tough, very tough country, and one must be acutely aware of each step and certainly, where you're heading for the day's hunt and how the heck to get back outa there. Modern day western state elk hunters know this as they live in God's country. We take nothing for granted and ensure we are in the type of physical shape it takes to spend any extended amount of time in the elk woods. I grew up in NW MT logging, working in mills, mines, etc. and in my younger years, was always in top shape because of the type of work I did.. The kind of shape which hardly breaths hard when packing out 100 pounds on a wooden packboard for miles. Now, as I'm a bit older.. (not quite as old as Elknut but close).. ... and, having been there/done that, I know the kind of shape I must be in to successfully scout, hunt, kill, and get an elk out of the woods.

My point? If you're planning a western elk hunt... you really must try be in the best shape of your life when you step into the elk woods.. Not pilates, not merely cardio vascular endurance on an eliptical or treadmill, but very.. very... good shape or you'll pay the price. If you have a draw tag, or, are picking up an OTC tag for one of our great elk states... you need to be throwing a ruck on your back now..and at least 4-5 days per week for the next few months. This my friends, will make the difference betwen a great, memorable hunt or perhaps, something else. RJ

[Texasgamehunter]

Eye opening words of wisdom. Thank you sir, I believe I will take that advice.

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[Ryan Conkle]

Never been more true words' spoken... take them seriously today or wish that you would have in September!

[Swede]

No argument from me, but I am no longer able to handle what would have been routine even 30 years ago. I wish I could stay young as long as the Lord wants me here, but that is not God's will for any of us who grow old. Just don't count me out.

[saddlesore]

For sure and blowed down timber so thick, you go a hundred yards without touching the ground. When younger, I could run up and down mountains with the best of them. Fifty years of doing it has taken it's toll. I can't do all that now. When a person gets to that point, they have to hunt smarter , not harder. I have a small acreage that I can keep two mules on and it keeps me busy and moving. That permits me to keep hunting. I don't do anything ,except working around the place, walking two miles a day and riding 10-15 miles a week, weather permitting, to keep in reasonable shape. I hunt two 9 day elk seasons every year, plus short deer and antelope hunts. For elk, I ride in every morning 3-5 miles from where my little camper is, and hunt within a mile of where I tie up the mules. I have been blessed to have taken at least one elk every year one for several years. Not 350 class bulls, but raghorns and cows. Some years two. Last year I tagged a five x bull elk, a cow moose, small whitetail buck, and a doe anelope. Not big trophies for sure. What I want to convey is that if you are young and able,your hunt will be more enjoyable if you get in shape and stay there. However, don't stay at home and figure you are too old or gimped up to hunt. It is all a matter of drive and desire. I will be 73 come this elk season. Two bad shoulders that can't be fixed, two 8" titanium rods along my spine, butheld in with lag screws in my vertebrae and pelvis, bad lungs and a few other maladies, but I will be in elk camp, God willing, this coming year with muzzle loader and centerfire rifle chasing elk. I would rather be hurting there than on the sofa at home.

[WapitiTalk1]

Very solid and inspiring words Vince. Gives middle aged guys like me (just turned 57 on Memorial Day) confidence that just maybe, I can do the thing that I love the most for many more years. Now for you young bucks, get that ruck on and get to hiking .

[Lefty]

Elk country, real elk country, is no picnic.. It's unforgiving. The elevation changes, the unpredictable weather, the terrain itself, is unlike anything most hunters who do not live

Saddle sore made the comment about hunting smarter.
Like most extreme endeavors it is a huge mental game. Look at the huge percentage of long distance runners, mountain climbers, sailors that are over 50 and 60 years of age.
Why? Older fellows have a better mental game. And we need it because most of us cant do those 5:00 minute miles.
for me I quite enjoy the adversarial outdoors, the tactileness ( ok I think I made up a word; being able to feel stuff) there is something about sore muscles, feeling the cold air on your cheeks.
My wife is an Idaho girl. She lived in Minnesota a few years before we met. She use to comment about how nice the weather was after a true( compared to media type blizzards) blizzard of extreme windchills that the calm after the storm, the bright sunshine the still air at zero degrees was wonderful. And how people walked around with there jackets unzipped just plain happy to greet others.
The mountains can kill you and have killed many men who were unprepared physically and mentally.

This was an unfortunate situation a few years back. I learned later one woman had an health issue. The Ranger explained how the other woman likely died within hours afterwards overwhelmed by lava and was found with 3/4 and sight of the highway. Certainly she saw cars driving by, but sat down and died

ARCO — The recovered body discovered after two Boise women were reported missing in the Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve area, has been re-identified as Amelia Linkert, 70, not Jodean Elliott-Blakeslee, 63, as originally thought by authorities.
Linkert’s body was found by searchers last Wednesday evening.
Proper indentification was made after the Butte County Coroner requested assistance from the state medical examiner late Thursday. By Friday afternoon, the medical examiner made positive identification of Linkert based on dental records.
This development has not changed how officials determined the search efforts, or the thoughts on what led to Linkert’s death, according to Craters of the Moon public information officer, Taci Weaver. Ground crews, search dogs and a helicopter continued extensive efforts to locate Elliott-Blakeslee.
Helicopters inserted teams consisting of a handler, a dog and a tracker in to key search sites on Friday. Ground crews, aided by two cavers, also scoured an area in the Monument around Tree Molds Trail and sections to the south and west.
The search will continue Saturday with more than 50 searchers, including eight dog teams and a crew of 21 firefighters.
Elliott-Blakeslee, a physician at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Ontario, and Linkert, a retired special education teacher were supposed to return home on Saturday, two days after they arrived at the monument southwest of Arco.
Due to the continuing search, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve management staff have indefinitely postponed the Run the Rift 5K fun run scheduled for Saturday.

[Tigger]

It is amazing to me that many people don't take preparation seriously. Your body, your gear, your planning, whatever, many people from around here get all excited to go and I start talking about preparation and they just tune out. Heck yeah, your cotton socks and white cotton tshirt will work great in the mountains......some days. Other days, you will be miserable with blisters that ruin your hunt!

[ak32]

I feel like I'm relatively young at 34, but I find that being in shape, gear prep, having a plan and executing is a year round endeavor. I try to get outside for play/exercise time at least 5-6 days a week. I like to look at google maps/earth a lot at home, but what you see on the satellite is a lot of times not what you imagined when you put boots on the ground. For a lot of people hunting is something you do a few weeks out of the year and sit in a stand, but for western hunters I feel like it's a whole different game.

And yes, it is no picnic up there!

[Waygoner]

Many moons ago when I was young and ambitious, I spotted a herd of elk on a small peak across from camp. I knew of a trail that went up an avalanche chute to the top. I hiked that trail early one morning and found no elk. I decided to head back to camp straight as the crow flies. This would save me a bunch of time and miles. I dropped off the top and got into some nasty blow downs. It was like climbing over endless piles of lincoln logs. It was miserable. I kept thinking how easily I could snap my leg with one slip. I was grateful to get back to camp in one piece.

High country weather is unpredictable any time of the year. One of my biggest fears is getting caught in a storm above treeline. If you've ever experienced lightening at elevation you know what I mean. I've been hammered by hail and massive thunderstorms. I've seen frost on the ground in July.

Be prepared for the worst. Have a good 1st aid kit and know how to use it. Be ready to spend a night out if you have to. Have the means to filter water if you run out. Pack more food than you need. Have the means to start a fire. Be patient and use your head. The older I get the more I find myself hunting alone, so these things have become mandatory when I hit the trail.

[Brendan]

you need to be throwing a ruck on your back now..and at least 4-5 days per week for the next few months. This my friends, will make the difference betwen a great, memorable hunt or perhaps, something else. RJ

Very true. I don't think it needs to be 4-5x depending on what else you do, but at the very least 2-3x.

I've stayed very active in the offseason. Run a lot. Bike 16 miles a day 4 days a week. Run stadium stairs 1-2x a week. Lift weights including deadlifts and squats 2x a week.

Then, today I put my pack on and took a 2 mile hike with 75lbs on board for the first time in a long while. Man it sucked. You forget all those muscles that just don't get trained by doing other things. I'm sure it'll come back quickly for me, but everything else is not a substitute for putting a loaded pack on and getting out and hiking...

[Lefty]

Since I am a a merit badge counselor for Wilderness survival here is the BSA priority list

[img] Survival Priorities
Knowing priorities in an emergency lets you start to work immediately and without confusion. Below are listed the 7 priorities you should have when in a survival situation:
1. Positive Mental Attitude. As attested by those who have survived wilderness emergencies, a positive mental attitude
may be the most essential element in survival.
2. First Aid. If an injury is life threatening, such as rapid loss of blood, first aid becomes the most important thing to do.
3. Shelter. Extreme weather conditions, too hot or too cold, make finding or building a shelter of top importance. At
such times even painful but minor injuries must wait until shelter is available. This is even more urgent if night is
approaching.
4. Fire. Often, along with shelter, you will need a fire for warmth and signaling. Fuel should be secured and the fire started
before dark.
5. Signaling. When you have taken the first steps in dealing with the emergency, you will need to prepare rescue signals.
6. Water. Under all circumstances, water is essential. You can live only a few days without it. Finding water is even more
urgent when the weather is hot and dry.
7. Food. A person can live several weeks without food; it does not rate high as a survival priority.[/img]

[sojurner 65]

you need to be throwing a ruck on your back now..and at least 4-5 days per week for the next few months. This my friends, will make the difference betwen a great, memorable hunt or perhaps, something else. RJ

Very true. I don't think it needs to be 4-5x depending on what else you do, but at the very least 2-3x.

I've stayed very active in the offseason. Run a lot. Bike 16 miles a day 4 days a week. Run stadium stairs 1-2x a week. Lift weights including deadlifts and squats 2x a week.

Then, today I put my pack on and took a 2 mile hike with 75lbs on board for the first time in a long while. Man it sucked. You forget all those muscles that just don't get trained by doing other things. I'm sure it'll come back quickly for me, but everything else is not a substitute for putting a loaded pack on and getting out and hiking...

Having done the "CO backpack in for elk" thing, I don't think anything you can do back east prepares you fully for the altitude.

[Brendan]

Having done the "CO backpack in for elk" thing, I don't think anything you can do back east prepares you fully for the altitude.

You're right, there is no substitute for Altitude. But being in the best cardiovascular shape you can does help. Hunting in the 7000 - 9000' range I noticed the altitude the first couple days, but it wasn't that bad. If I was hunting in the 10,000' - 12,000' range I'm sure I'd be feeling differently.

[saddlesore]

Try 13,000-14,000 for goats. Even living at 7600 ft,that kicked my butt

[Bow4me]

I live at 400' elevation in Arkansas and hunting from 10000' to close to 12000' in Colorado is tough. But I've noticed that the more I do before I head out the less it bothers me. I haven't found a pill to make it easy yet but every little bit makes it a little less painful. And I make my mules do most of the work and they have never complained about it bothering them.

[Charina]

I dropped off the top and got into some nasty blow downs. It was like climbing over endless piles of lincoln logs. It was miserable. I kept thinking how easily I could snap my leg with one slip. I was grateful to get back to camp in one piece.

That reminds me of a close call last fall. Having hiked around a lake, and finding a tangle of logs in my way, the lake on my left, and cliffs on my right, I decided to press forward through the web of logs rather than take the long way back around the lake. Walking along logs from one to the next, a chunk of bark sloughed off under my foot and I went down hard between a few trees. I was close to being impaled on any one of several broken branches sticking out of the logs - some rather long and rather sharp/pointy. Blow downs can be pretty dangerous places to traverse. Where I was at, it would have taken searchers weeks, if not years to find my body.

[Indian Summer]

Or you could rent a horse.

I am living proof that you can evolve to hunt smarter and not harder and you don't have to be an Olympian to do it.

My job is pretty physical and I guarantee it gives me more of a workout than anything I could set time aside for. Basically I work out at least 40 hours a week. But personally I could jog to Wyoming and back and I won't lose a pound. My confidence and relentless persistence is what gets my body up and down those hills. And those hills don't scare me one bit!

[blackwolf]

This "power exercise program" is a sour spot with me. Back in my 20's and 30's I did a fair amount of running so I kept in pretty good shape. I could run up and dow those mountains like the best. But then a certain individual on another main elk hunting forum said this wasn't enough, you have to put that pack on with 30-60 pounds and go up and dow hills, you need to run wind sprints. I was in my 40's at the time and still kept in pretty fair shape bur thought, Geez., I better try this to keep up. Long story short, I tore knee meniscus and tore quadriceps muscles. I say stay and shape but never "push it" once you are over 40, just do basics and stay in shape. I now do as much walking as possible, I have 2 knee replacements and 3 back fusions. At 62, I can't run and gun very good but I can hunt smart, picking good wallow, water areas to sit and picking a few prime locations to call from instead of trying to put on 8-12 miles like I used to in the "run and gun " game. With any exercise, do it very gradual but be especially careful about adding weight to a backpack and doing hills. This can be a recipe for disaster if not done carefully. Better to hunt a little slower than not at all!

[twinkieman]

It's always amazed me, I've taken others to my camp, and told them months prior they need to be in shape. The amazing part is that they don't ever believe me