pre6422hornet
Handloader
- Jan 24, 2012
- 974
- 12
Congrats Tom!
For starters, coming from a fellow Easterner who has taken a few elk and mulies all with the legendary .270, grab some Partitions. No I am not bashing the BT's. I have just personally seen what the Partitions have done out of a .270 to elk at 200 yards and 30 yards, mulies the same. You are investing too much time and money into this hunt to be worried about shooting one hole groups at 200 yards. The Partition will get the job done each and every time. And I bet they are just as accurate. My .270s shoot both the Bt's and Partitions identically.
Boots/socks. What ever you do, wear the same combos as you are training that you will be wearing in the mountains. Your feet will thank you. I personally wear poly pro liners and BAss Pro lifetime 99% merlino socks. Never felt better.
Something I learned in 2015 while elk hunting 5.5 miles from the truck/trailhead. Dip/soak your feet every night in a cold ice bath. We used the 37 degree Jack's Creek up in the Pecos Wilderness. Yeah that first 10 seconds sucks, but when your feet slide right into your boot in the morning without being the least bit swollen you will smile. Learned that trick from my hunting partner who has spent more nights in the back country than me and the next 10 people will in a combined lifetime.
Don't buy into the Cliffbar/energy crap. Look at some of your favorite candy bars. Snickers gives you more calories per oz than most food out there. Hey its a Snickers!!! I packed way too much food for our trip, now granted you are staying in a cabin where were carrying every in 5.5 miles, but OZ's add up to pounds.
Wear your pack. Wear it to cut the grass. I did absolutely zero cardio before my 2015 hunt. Zero. I did wear my pack 5-6 days a week while hiking 5 miles a night/morning while the pack was loaded with 60 pounds of tire chains and a 15 foot long tow chain. My back and legs never felt better and my legs/back never gave out or felt tired. Yes I was sucking wind while hauling a load, but everyone does at 11,000 feet, no way around it. When we got back and had a chance to relax I asked my partner how I did. My exact words were.. " i want a no BS assessment of how I performed on this hunt". Again he literally has lived in the wilderness for months at a time and he is 8 years younger than me. His reply " I have hunted with men 10-15 years younger and they all lacked one thing..... They didn't practice with their pack loaded. You did fine in my book and could pack circles around each of them." That meant more to me than if I had dropped a 350 inch bull.
By some trekking poles. Practice using them. They literally are a humans way of " switching into 4 wheel drive". Especially going downhill. I lost my balance going downhill on the edge of a pretty steep hill when coming out, about a mile from the truck, tired, with about 80 pounds in my pack and if I hadn't had poles, they would have found me at the bottom pretty broken up.
By some trekking poles.. Yes it is that important.
Be prepared to shoot something where the extract is tough. Them animals are smart and by the time you are out there they will have been chased for over 6-7 weeks by archers, muzzleloaders, etc....
When walking into the wind trust your nose. Literally. You will smell them before you see them. That musky smell is one that any elk hunter can close his eyes, take a deep breath and let if waft over the olfactories. ( you guys all did that too just now I know
)
Tire Chains. The Colorado highway patrol will shut down I 70 if you don't have chains if it is snowing hard enough. Cheap insurance. And practice putting them on too...
Can't think of anything else right now.
For starters, coming from a fellow Easterner who has taken a few elk and mulies all with the legendary .270, grab some Partitions. No I am not bashing the BT's. I have just personally seen what the Partitions have done out of a .270 to elk at 200 yards and 30 yards, mulies the same. You are investing too much time and money into this hunt to be worried about shooting one hole groups at 200 yards. The Partition will get the job done each and every time. And I bet they are just as accurate. My .270s shoot both the Bt's and Partitions identically.
Boots/socks. What ever you do, wear the same combos as you are training that you will be wearing in the mountains. Your feet will thank you. I personally wear poly pro liners and BAss Pro lifetime 99% merlino socks. Never felt better.
Something I learned in 2015 while elk hunting 5.5 miles from the truck/trailhead. Dip/soak your feet every night in a cold ice bath. We used the 37 degree Jack's Creek up in the Pecos Wilderness. Yeah that first 10 seconds sucks, but when your feet slide right into your boot in the morning without being the least bit swollen you will smile. Learned that trick from my hunting partner who has spent more nights in the back country than me and the next 10 people will in a combined lifetime.
Don't buy into the Cliffbar/energy crap. Look at some of your favorite candy bars. Snickers gives you more calories per oz than most food out there. Hey its a Snickers!!! I packed way too much food for our trip, now granted you are staying in a cabin where were carrying every in 5.5 miles, but OZ's add up to pounds.
Wear your pack. Wear it to cut the grass. I did absolutely zero cardio before my 2015 hunt. Zero. I did wear my pack 5-6 days a week while hiking 5 miles a night/morning while the pack was loaded with 60 pounds of tire chains and a 15 foot long tow chain. My back and legs never felt better and my legs/back never gave out or felt tired. Yes I was sucking wind while hauling a load, but everyone does at 11,000 feet, no way around it. When we got back and had a chance to relax I asked my partner how I did. My exact words were.. " i want a no BS assessment of how I performed on this hunt". Again he literally has lived in the wilderness for months at a time and he is 8 years younger than me. His reply " I have hunted with men 10-15 years younger and they all lacked one thing..... They didn't practice with their pack loaded. You did fine in my book and could pack circles around each of them." That meant more to me than if I had dropped a 350 inch bull.
By some trekking poles. Practice using them. They literally are a humans way of " switching into 4 wheel drive". Especially going downhill. I lost my balance going downhill on the edge of a pretty steep hill when coming out, about a mile from the truck, tired, with about 80 pounds in my pack and if I hadn't had poles, they would have found me at the bottom pretty broken up.
By some trekking poles.. Yes it is that important.
Be prepared to shoot something where the extract is tough. Them animals are smart and by the time you are out there they will have been chased for over 6-7 weeks by archers, muzzleloaders, etc....
When walking into the wind trust your nose. Literally. You will smell them before you see them. That musky smell is one that any elk hunter can close his eyes, take a deep breath and let if waft over the olfactories. ( you guys all did that too just now I know
) Tire Chains. The Colorado highway patrol will shut down I 70 if you don't have chains if it is snowing hard enough. Cheap insurance. And practice putting them on too...
Can't think of anything else right now.
