The hardest thing about elk hunting

C

cnelk

New member
Mar 23, 2017
5,542
We all know that elk hunting is tough, but in your opinion, what is the hardest ONE thing about elk hunting?
 
The hardest thing has to be getting up at 3:30 every morning. But once that pack goes on my back and my bow is in my hand, I\'m hunting and that is the easy part. But man, that 3:30 stuff really sucks :downthumb:
 
For me it\'s that 328 days waiting between the end of season & the start of a new one. Elk hunting is hard & sometimes physically exhausting but I eat sleep & breath that stuff. To brighten everyone\'s day...only 168 days to go!! :clap:
 
I think Buglemaster has the right answer!

But AmericanBwana has the right answer for during the season ... MENTAL TOUGHNESS.

Elk hunting -- for me, anyway -- has been about near chances. It\'s like playing a football game that I \"should\" win ... we only need one big play ... and yet it seems like the refs only call ME for holding, only see ME when there is an offside call. My inner \"coach\" is the one who gets penalized for yelling at the refs, too.
 
Keeping your head in the game specially when you are not seeing much. And the morning thing is tough, I am no where close to being a moring person.
 
OK ... I\'ll give my \"real\" answer ... if I come home without an elk this year, it\'ll most likely be secondary to not timing my draw correctly.

Bowhunting alone leaves very little in terms of forgiveness for movement.
 
The single hardest thing about elk hunting is being out there all day and continuing to believe that the next 5 seconds could change the entire game. You never know when or where it\'s going to happen, how the elk will respond, if they will respond or you\'ll end up walking right into the middle of them. But the way you handle the next five seconds and the five seconds after that will sometimes make all the difference in the world. Staying positive and continuing to hunt when you think nothing is going to happen - those are hard to do, but they are the traits of successful elk hunters.
 
Over the years, I have determined that the hardest one thing for me is packing up camp and coming home.
Even being successful or not, this is hard.
The conclusion to the year\'s hunt, the memories, all of it seems to wrap up in one day.
Its not something I look forward to
 
I am a bowhunter.

#1 Finding them after opening day Muzzleloader. Due to my hearing loss, I cannot use a locator bugle to find them.

I have spent 3 summers now trying to find an alternative GMU for after opening weekend ML. I did have a 6x6 come past me on opening ML one year. So opening weekend ML is still ok in my current GMU.

Herds in thick cover are hard to find. Solo elk roaming are easier for me to encounter because they are more spread out. Therefore, opening week has yielded most of my elk encounters.
 
I know the mental toughness thing has been said multiple times, but I have to agree with it. I think waking up in the morning goes hand in hand with that mental toughness. It is so easy to wake up opening morning and so much more difficult to do it every day after. It is amazing to think that realistically, you should have a better chance at taking down an elk with every day spent in the woods, but mentally it is very difficult to believe that.

With all that being said, Brad you make a good point as well. I hate leaving camp, driving home and knowing I have another year to wait and plan. If only there were spring and fall seasons like they do for turkey hunting! :)
 
Its only open for 1 month. This is BRUTAL for me waiting all year to cram in 20 days of life at its finest. Honestly, I love every tough part about elk hunting from the offseason workouts to the back-breaking solo packouts :angle:
 
Dana said what came to my mind when the thread first came to my attention and went over the lead in question. I would have referred to it as Patience and Persistence. It is believing that things can and likely will happen if you just hang in there.
Another difficult obstacle for many inexperienced hunters occurs when the elk is right there in front of them. It is a problem for hunters with rifles and bows and everything in between, but more so for some bow hunters. It is making the kill. It is waiting for the perfect moment, drawing, taking careful aim with good form, and releasing. After that it is okay to get nervous.
 
Physical and mental toughness. They go together. I\'m not 30 anymore, so no matter how good of shape I\'m in when the season starts, after 18-20 days of pounding it, I start getting really run-down in body and mind.

Even though I fully understand that the last fifteen minutes of the season can be as productive as the first fifteen minutes, humping up that mountain gets more and more challenging as each day of the season passes.

So going-forward, I\'m adjusting by hunting smarter, not harder. I\'m geared up to spike closer to the elk when I find them, to minimize the wear and tear on the body. The year before last I was putting on 8-10 miles every day, which at age 58 - with a cracked rib and an untimely cold caught during season - seemed sort of stupid after awhile. After last season I\'m no longer focused on killing the biggest bull on the mountain (unless, of course, there\'s a 370\" bull on the mountain, then maybe...? :shock: ) so I\'ll be happy with the first legal bull, like back in my younger days.
 
\"cnelk\" said:
Over the years, I have determined that the hardest one thing for me is packing up camp and coming home.
Even being successful or not, this is hard.
The conclusion to the year\'s hunt, the memories, all of it seems to wrap up in one day.
Its not something I look forward to
Click to expand...

I agree!
At the end of an elk season I know winter is coming on and a new year is approaching.
They come to end all to quick.
 
\"Jaquomo\" said:
After last season I\'m no longer focused on killing the biggest bull on the mountain (unless, of course, there\'s a 370\" bull on the mountain, then maybe...? :shock: ) so I\'ll be happy with the first legal bull, like back in my younger days.
Click to expand...

Lou, welcome back to where I\'ve always been :oops:

I am the raghorn master :upthumb:
 
Finding elk. Most of Colorado west of I-25 looks \"elky\" but finding them on any given day isn\'t exactly easy for some of us.

(Unless you are at the Stanley Hotel...)
 
For me (ya you can call me a baby) being a flatlander where nothing can eat you, is going out solo into the unknown. Last fall went out solo on a bivy hunt and that first night setting up the tent and trying to fall asleep is a little nerve racking to say the least. After the first night the nerves settled down a little bit.
 
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