I would love to elk hunt with you sometime...

[cohunter14]

I am sure that those who live in a state that holds elk, like me, have heard this line before. My question is, how do you handle it? Our camp has been as small as two people at one point to having ten people and being a little out of control. So what do you do when a good friend that may or may not currently be a hunter utters the phrase \'I would love to elk hunt with you sometime\'? I initially invited a couple of good friends into our camp who were not hunters initially. I thought it would be great to introduce them to the sport and get them hooked. The problem is, you cannot continue to do this without your camp becoming too large. So what do you do when this phrase comes up? What is your maximum amount of people for camp?

 

[Colorado_Lew]

Over the years Bullnuts and I have invited several folks to share our camp and to mentor them in our style of elk hunting.
The problem is some of these guys who swore not to bring anyone else into our little bit of the elk woods broke these promises. :evil:
Now when someone ask about elk hunting, I basically tell them there is a lot of public land in Colorado and much of it is OTC. Do some homework and pick an area, put boots on the ground, and hunt it in the fall!
We do not open our camp to anyone but family and a few trusted friends anymore.

 

[cnelk]

Colorado_Lew

BINGO!!!

Over the years I too have opened up my camp to \'friends\' and sometimes relatives.
Relatives arent as bad as the friends tho.

Here has been my response to a NR friend that inquired about hunting with me...

\"Yo Brad, Looks like you have a lot of fun and do well out there hunting elk.
I would like to come out and join you sometime.
What do ya say buddy ol\' pal?\"

\"Hey JimBob. So you want to hunt elk huh? Why is that?
Do you have $1000? Because thats whats its gonna cost you to buy a tag and get to Colorado and back home.
You will 7-10 days off work and away from family.
We get up by 4am and bed by 10pm. You will need to be in shape.
There will be camp chores, meals to cook, dishes to do, firewood to cut by everyone
You will have to practice shooting alot. Learn how to call.
I will tell you 5 words while hunting - KEEP UP OR CATCH UP.
This is my hunt too. I have waited 50 weeks to do this so my expectations are high.\"

After this little conversation takes place, I usually dont hear from them again...

 

[archery bum]

sounds like a great time when are we going BUDDY OL PAL!!

 

[bnsafe]

i get the same question from lots of \"family an friends\" from back in mo. most of them are just talking an wont come out even if i would take them. mostly i just tell them if they wanna come i will help them figure it all out an leave it at that.

 

[Billy Goat]

I plan to hunt elk every year I am able. As such, I maintain a list of guys who share this interest.

I coordinate the hunt plan for our group every year. The hunt logistics end up \"optimized\" on a given group headcount.

Every year, someone who planned to go, cant and so I end up trying to replace them with someone who can.

as of yet, this has worked out.

its a major decision to go:

$2k all in trip budget
gone from home 10 days
7 days of vacation
helluvalot of prep work in the other 50 weeks

the fear of the above runs most folks off, but does represent what it\'ll cost a prospect to attend.

2008 was our biggest group ever, with 7.
2009 we didn\'t hunt (still in recovery???)
2010- 4 men
2011- 3 men
2012- 4 men
2013- 4 men
2014- (still not sure if 3 or 4)

apparently.... our group is optimized at around 4 hunters....

 

[Swede]

This thread makes me think of E-Harmony.com. I will respond as though I am looking for a match. Cnelk is definitely off my list. Sorry Brad, I want to enjoy my hunt, not kill myself. :lolno: I even refuse to read magazine articles by marathon man Cameron Hanes. I am not even interested in his story. I am also not interested in hunting the forests fueled on prunes and pinion seeds.
I want a serious hunter that will stick it out, have fun, not complain, and not get discouraged. I want a companion with persistence, and not some selfish ego maniac. My hunting companion has to hunt alone for the most part. Due to fairly poor eyesight, I am a tree stand bow hunter, so my hunting companion must bow hunt. I have a very low tolerance for an unethical hunter. I do not want a person in camp that has to fling an arrow at every critter that they have a tag for, or more, regardless of the likelihood of making a clean kill. The adage \"if you don\'t shoot, you are not going to get anything\" is an excuse for risky shots. If that is a person\'s attitude, hunt somewhere else and don\'t tell me about it.
Being a good cook is always a bonus.

 

[TetonStorm]

I think we all gravitate to people we get along with, otherwise they wouldn\'t be friends. That being said, when someone new wants to be included in your elk hunt, you probably know their tendencies as a person and have a pretty good idea as to who they are going to be out in the woods and at camp. You\'re a good judge as to what type of friends you\'d want out there with you, whether they are hunters or not. I go by that thinking when someone asks if they can come elk hunt with my brother and I. Some get the nod :thewave: others dont :mg: !

 

[Zpd307]

got a new guy saying the same thing..... would love to do it. but i can see it in his eyes when i talk about 2 weeks away from the family and the $1000 price tag...... i must be crazy :lol:

 

[cnelk]

Well, with my posts I got one guy that still would like to go and one that dont.

But my reply to these people is the hard truth.
What I didnt say is that it can also be easier, lots easier.
So easy even a Swede would enjoy it.

But if I told someone it was easy, and it turned out hard, too hard for them, they would ask me why I didnt tell them it was so hard?

To put it into perspective, I think anyone on this forum would manage and enjoy an elk hunt the way I do it.

But someone totally new, that you\'re not sure of their abilities, probably not so much.

 

[WW]

This thread makes me think of E-Harmony.com. I will respond as though I am looking for a match. Cnelk is definitely off my list. Sorry Brad, I want to enjoy my hunt, not kill myself. :lolno: I even refuse to read magazine articles by marathon man Cameron Hanes. I am not even interested in his story. I am also not interested in hunting the forests fueled on prunes and pinion seeds.
I want a serious hunter that will stick it out, have fun, not complain, and not get discouraged. I want a companion with persistence, and not some selfish ego maniac. My hunting companion has to hunt alone for the most part. Due to fairly poor eyesight, I am a tree stand bow hunter, so my hunting companion must bow hunt. I have a very low tolerance for an unethical hunter. I do not want a person in camp that has to fling an arrow at every critter that they have a tag for, or more, regardless of the likelihood of making a clean kill. The adage \"if you don\'t shoot, you are not going to get anything\" is an excuse for risky shots. If that is a person\'s attitude, hunt somewhere else and don\'t tell me about it.
Being a good cook is always a bonus.

Swede\'s comments are dead on 100% in my book. And for those very reasons, I find myself hunting alone 99% of the time. That\'s not to say I don\'t enjoy a partner in camp. And if one of us gets something down, I don\'t mind giving up a day of hunting to help out.

 

[Swede]

Well with cnelk\'s post, I am putting him back on my short list of people I would like to hunt with. Brad, just don\'t mess with my alarm clock when you leave camp at 4:00 AM. I am only able to maintain my awesome good looks by getting my beauty rest. I will be up in an hour. I am hunting for the whole season, so I don\'t want to burn myself out all in a few days. I will leave you a note so you can find me when you need help packing out. Consider, the best part is that I should be well rested.

 

[ronco]

I like to hunt by myself most of the time. Hunted 1990 until 2002 by myself, that\'s the year my horse kicked me and hit my left arm. Then started hunting with the son-in-law that had never hunted. Hunted with him till 2012 when he moved to Texas.
Seems like when someone wants to hunt with me I tell them I leave before first light and back after dark and no drugs and no booze until the guns are put away for the day. That usually results in a no thanks :downthumb: .

 

[Deertick]

My experience is that folks who haven\'t hunted elk before often don\'t understand what they are in for.

I\'d contrast them with people who DO know ... previous elk hunters understand quite a bit more.

Overall, I\'d say that elk hunting is just not for the \"occasional\" hunter who is looking for a chance to \"relax\" and \"get away from the wife\". It\'s not at all relaxing, I explain, and it\'s the one week of the year -- by far -- that exceeds all others in Calories burned.

I tell folks that I look forward to the elk rut just like the bulls do -- and I look about the same afterward, too ... I\'ll lose 5% body weight easily, and I\'m leaving everything out on the mountain. You don\'t lose 5% of body weight deer hunting in the flatlands.

 

[Anonymous]

I have hosted a few out-of-towners on elk hunts and enjoyed all of them. A couple backpack hunts and a stay-in-the-pop-up-camper type hunt. I enjoy meeting new people and showing them a bit about elk hunting and backpacking. When I take someone I realize that the spot I am taking them to is now theirs too. I have no notion that my spot will be kept a secret. If a newbie approached me to bowhunt elk or deer, I would bend over backwards to accommodate them. I am at that age where I believe it\'s time to give back and spread the joy. Now, I need to dance. :dance2:

 

[OldMan]

Anybody who knows me knows better than to ask me if they can come on my hunt.

However, I get asked all the time to go on their hunt, and I do that quite a bit. I can help much better when i\'m not hunting myself.