Your Typical Day

[cohunter14]

After reading the \'what\'s for dinner\' thread, I found it interesting how many people came back for lunch. It got me to thinking about what a typical day looks like for each of us, because I know they can vary. So, what does your typical day look like? How early do you wake up before you leave? How early do you leave camp before sunrise? If there is a pattern to it, what kind of hunting are you doing throughout the day? Do you come back to camp for lunch? If so, when do you head back out? And finally, when do you typically arrive back in camp?

 

[Swede]

Generally I get up and eat, dress and drive out of camp. I arrive at the point where I will begin my hike a short while before daylight. I wait in the truck until it is light enough to see then head out. My hikes range from 10 to 45 minutes. I wait in my stand until 11:30 to 12:00, then go to camp for a couple of hours. I take off my hunting clothes and fix lunch and rest a while. I may shoot my bow a few times and then resupply my food and water for the afternoon/evening hunt. After deciding where I want to hunt for the afternoon I drive away from camp. Around 3:00 PM I want to be back in my stand. I wait there until it is nearly dark. Depending on how far I have to walk out, I leave my stand so that by hustling, I can arrive at the truck just at dark. Maybe that is not a routine, since I do it only about 25-28 times per season. Doesn\'t it take 30 times to become a habit?

 

[Zpd307]

I wake up an hour earlier than I plan to leave. takes that long to wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, resupply the pack, and work up my morning business. out of camp by 5 or earlier if the morning business comes early.... my hike was a hour in the dark to where the timber started. its uphill so I take my time to prevent sweating. once in the timber I go where I want to go unless I see or hear something to direct my travels. I hike around until I am hungry and eat lunch where ever. take a nap. and then continue hiking until I find something worth doing something about. a lot of my hiking in Idaho was scouting the area. and magically I stumbled across elk that gave me hours and hours stalking practice.

 

[bowhunter]

Some days I hunt like Gary. I leave before sunrise and get back after sunset. Some days I go back to camp and shower and eat lunch do laundry and such chores. I usually get back about 11 am and try to be in a good spot at 1:30-2:00 for some cold calling. It depends on the area and the weather. Swirling wind days are good times to be back at camp.

 

[elkmtngear]

I make myself re-stock the pack, and all other \"consumables\" the night before. I can get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, down a 5 hour energy and a liter of water, and head out in a half hour. My hike in is usually around an hour, a couple miles in general, and I try to arrive close to my intended hunting area at least 30 minutes before first light. The \"Morning business\" is usually somewhere along the trail...so I always put TP in my leg pocket the night before

I will listen for vocal activity before I launch a specific plan\'/direction. Wind will always dictate my direction of approach. If I fail to fall into an encounter early on, I slowly still hunt my way up to the top of the ridge, and lay low until the thermals shift. If I smell elk, I\'m on high alert, I\'ve walked into them at close range many times.

I may decide to set up and do some cold calling in the late morning after the wind stops swirling around. I try to set up near suspected bedding areas, pop the SLIP Decoy, stab in in the ground, and make some noise with my calls/rocks/popping limbs, raking, etc.

\"Slow\" days I try to grab a nap in the early afternoon...the SLIP umbrella is a great sun shade or windbreak.

I\'ll slowly work my way down toward feeding areas in the afternoon, and either sit a tree stand, or set up a ground ambush near heavily used trails. I\'ll head back up to camp at dusk if no action, making a plan in my head for the next day. And so on, and so forth.... :think:

 

[Zpd307]

yeah, but camp usually has the best bathroom log. i hate to get stinky again just after a baby wipe bath.....

 

[cnelk]

My typical day is almost Exactly like Jeffs @ ElkMtnGear.
I prep my pack and other misc the night before.

Depending on where we end up going, sometimes we leave the truck a 4am. And thats sometimes a 30 min drive to where we park
Legal shooting light is ~ 6:15am and I like to be there 1/2 hr before light, stopping along the way to listen.

If we go that far before light, the morning hunt will take us a few miles further and that means we get back to the truck about noon - 1pm.
10-12 miles for the morning.

Then lunch, nap, rest and head to tree stands about 4pm with dark being about 830pm

 

[cohunter14]

A lot of similarities here to our typical days. Up 45 min to an hour before we head out. My pack is set the night before, so the time is used to make coffee and breakfast, warm the toilet seat up for the rest of my camp, slam breakfast and the coffee and head out. A typical day will bring me back to camp between 11 and 12 for lunch and a nap, although some days might be spent out of camp all day. Mornings vary from covering ground to sometimes sitting stands. The same can be said about the afternoon. Typically I am back in the woods by 2:30-3:00 and hunt till dusk.

I have to say that I am really considering stealing Brad\'s idea this year, covering ground in the mornings and sitting stands or glassing areas in the afternoons. Sounds like a good way to break things up. It also helps to make sure you stay out until last light. When walking, I would sometimes end up back in camp earlier than I predicted which I never liked.

 

[Baby Huey]

I also get my pack ready the night before - sucks to do it in the morning while you are still half asleep!

In the hunting area we drive to and set up a base wall tent camp, we have about a one hour up to 3 hour hike to differnet spots on the mountainside we hunt. So, many times we are leaving 1-2 hours before daylight to get to these spots.

If we backpack into other spots, then we are only minutes from the elk - shoot we even have them come through our backcountry camp spots. Typcially about a 2 mile pack in.

We used to make breakfast in camp and eat, but that always got us out to the field later than we wanted. So, we started to just get the muffins from Costco and have some coffee in the mornings before leaving camp. Then guys can pack other things for breakfast if they want more (I love to have the Mountain House biscuts and gravy or their breakfast skillets for my hobbit-like 2nd breakfast!). We also bring snacks for the day.

The entire group always stays out all day, not going back to camp for lunch. To me it makes sense to stay out for either hunt camp, but especially for the wall tent camp. We would be travelling back and forth to camp for lunch which would take 2-4 hours out of the day, and those extra miles add up to ones body fatigue. On the wall tent camp hunts, I always bring my travel hammock and take a snooze after eating a mountain house in the field. These are nice to lay in, as you are not on the hard ground (or sometimes wet ground).

My camelback holds around 80 Oz of water and I have a nalgene full of water for my MH meals.

 

[Jason Balazs]

Everything depends on if my wife is hunting with me.

Me: I get up and go. Usually a half hour before light I am tip toeing through my area listening like Brad.

Wife and me: Wake up, she wants coffee, waits for it to get ready, then she decides to get dressed, then has to do the duty, then, drinks a cup of coffee, then gets her pack ready, then drinks another cup of coffee. Then, (As I am yelling at her that I am leaving) walks out of the camper.

By this time I am so pissed off, that I tromp through the woods. She goes her way and I mine. I can\'t tell you how many bulls I have walked up on like that.. :mg: :mg: :help2: :help2:

 

[JohnFitzgerald]

Leave 1 -2 hours before shooting light. Back 1/2 after dark.

If the weather is hot and rut has kicked in, we might switch to what I call split shifts. If the elk are not vocal, we bull cruise(contact bugle) from points that cover vast areas. Usually we start at 3:00 AM till day break or until we pick up a hot bull. This is a tough time for callers because the bulls usually bed down soon after light. Usually push it till 8:00 AM then it\'s either off to a water hole or back to camp. Either way we try to sleep for a few hours. Then we start bull cruising about 1/2 before dark till 10:00 PM in hope to pick up something for the morning hunt. If we do, we get to sleep in a little extra. If not, up early again.

It\'s very tough when it\'s a full moon, hot, and lots of pressure. Spent your time wisely.....find the elk. Then put all resources on the area known to contain elk.

My 2-cents.

 

[cohunter14]

Very interesting JF. Never heard of someone doing those \'split shifts\', but it makes a lot of sense...

 

[JohnFitzgerald]

Very interesting JF. Never heard of someone doing those \'split shifts\', but it makes a lot of sense...

I\'ve discovered that no matter how harsh the conditions, bulls will readily bugle at night even if the are dead silent during the day.