Where to pitch my tent?

[mertzga]

I plan a trip out west this fall. I will likely do most of my sleeping near my vehicle in an effort to be more mobile if circumstances (lack of sign) dictate a move to another area. I have several areas circled on the map that would potentially be accessed from one parking spot. My question is if I find an promising area, a distance from my vehicle (say 2 miles)and I choose to return the following day a stay ?in country? overnight to reduce travel time. What should I consider as far as where to camp? Obviously I don?t want to camp on top of elk but in an effort to get deeper if that is where sign takes me what should I be thinking about?


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[mertzga]

It will be September archery.


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[cnelk]

I never hunt near my base camp. Sometimes I drive 20+ miles to the area I will hunt just for a morning.


I like to set my camp up like the of hub on a wagon wheel, and hunt out like the spokes.

 

[cohunter14]

It sounds like you are asking about taking camp in on your back if you find a promising spot? If that's the case, the biggest thing to think about is your wind. The last thing you want to do is camp in a spot where there is any chance of the elk catching your scent. The means you might need to camp on the other side of a ridge or something like that to make sure no matter which way the thermals or wind blows, they won't smell you. The other thing to keep in mind is water sources to make sure you can get enough water for yourself. Those would be my two main concerns.

 

[tiberiuswade]

Where out west are you planning to hunt? Utah, Wyoming, Colorado?
I've archery hunted Colorado a number times with success (packed in). I set up camp 1-2 ridges over from where I hunted down in bottom.  Camped once with bunch of outfitters (safety as there were always someone around, tent safe). I then drove over to area to hunt got up top hunted down...bingo got 5x5 bull as he was moving up away from the other outfit coming up on horses
Good luck camp close to water sources

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[Jason Balazs]

I shot my  biggest bull to date 200 yards from my camper

 

[mertzga]

I shot my  biggest bull to date 200 yards from my camper

That is certainly what I hope for! [emoji1]


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[ribo451]

Depends a little on the terrain. If I am accessing an area and using old roads or pretty good trails I would walk the 2 miles in and out every day and have nice camp to come back to. 4-5 miles in and I would think about camping. If the terrain is rough or steep then camping closer makes sense to me. I generally hike 12-14 miles a day on average unless I find elk closer than that. If I am not finding elk at all then there are usually a couple 14+ mile days till I can locate them. I hunt an extensive system of trails and closed roads so hiking that much isn't too big of a problem.

There are a couple other areas I hunt where I am more tired at the end of the day and the GPS will say 6 miles. If it's a horrible area to get in and out of then I take how I am going to get an elk out and temperatures pretty seriously.