Ep. 38: How to Plan Your Elk Hunt
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Uh, we get a lot of questions as far as I'm coming on my first elk hunt or they've experienced maybe some lowland front country and they're wanting to expand. They're wanting to go a little bit deeper. They're wanting to try new areas. Um, so we're going to just, I'm going to go ahead and take some user questions and then I'm just going to go over, uh, seven, eight different points that I think can really help you as you prepare for your, um,

you know upcoming elk hunt this year so the first uh thing we're going to jump into like i said user questions um i'm going to go ahead and answer these and if you have any questions of your own for us here at cutting the distance either myself or our guests feel free to email us at ctd at phelpsgamecalls.com we'll do our best to get those questions answered you can also message us on social media if that's easier

So the first question, what elk sounds should I be able to make and how good of a color do I need to be before I head into the woods in September? So in my opinion, you can go into the elk woods with just a, I mean, you can count them on one hand. I would say, first of all, you need to be able to make a location bugle without getting too deep into it. I would say just any bugle. If you can make a location bugle or a challenge bugle or one or the other,

that's going to be fine. I'll do a little bit to explain the difference between a location bugle and a challenge bugle. So a location bugle is typically a three note, two to three note, very high note bugle. And it's not going to have a lot of rasp to it. It's going to be very clean. And I usually keep it about two to three seconds so then I can hear to make sure that a bull is going to respond. So if we were to

describe a location bugle. It's two to three note, very high. We're not adding a lot of voice. We're not adding the growling at the beginning. Just a very clean note that's intended to travel very far across the canyon, down into a canyon. And

I've always said that if I know I'm doing it right, when that high note is ear piercing, when it's kind of rattling my own brain, when it's kind of getting to my, you know, it's a, it's almost an obnoxious ring. When we get that location beagle to that volume and that pitch is really where it seems like we get the best response from the elk. And to be honest, that's the call that we're going to use probably, you know, over the

75% of time, three quarters, maybe even up to 90% as you're walking ridges, as you're walking trails, as you're in the woods, you're going to just be using location bugles for the majority of the time. If I'm on maybe, you know, warm sign or I can smell elk or we've got fresh tracks, I may locate with a cow call or a loud cow call off of specific points. But most of the time we're using location bugles as we walk by.

Second of all, you need to be able to make just your typical cow call your, your mule. Yeah, that's all we're doing. You need to be able to make a clean cow call. If you can do that, you can put a little more pressure on the reed, shorten it up and get your calf call. Not as important in my opinion, but if you can have that cow call, you're going to be able, able to, to replicate that and use it where needed. Third, I use estrous wines a lot and there we can argue all day amongst guys that, that, you know,

that term what each call is and what his name should be. But in my opinion, an estrous wine is when a cow is coming into estrous, she needs a little more attention from her bulls. So instead of the typical, you know, our typical cow sound, it's going to be wavy. So it's going to go high, low, high, low. Yeah.

And we're going to use those estrous wines to then tell that bull to come over here. I need some attention. Come pay attention to me. So I go in with an estrous wine. And then I would say like the fourth sound we need to be able to do is do some sort of a challenge bugle. A little more aggression. It's got some of that growl and throatiness in the beginning. You're going to add some voice back into it.

you know, using your throat, your uvula, you know, using that back of your throat to really, you know,

you know, add some of that growl and real realism to the call. And then I also like to be able to either add grunts or, or chuckles onto the end of that bugle to add some realism. And aside from that, that's really what you need to be able to make those four sounds. So on the bugle side, a location bugle, add a little bit of aggression and, and, and the grunt. And then on the cow side, if we can go out with a good cow mule and then like an estrus wine, uh,

we're going to be really, really well off. And I would say we throw some other stuff in like screams, bark, chuckles, you know, estrous buzzes. There's some other sounds that we will throw in that we will make at certain times, but for the majority of time, they're not necessarily needed. And then we've answered this a lot before, but how good of a color do you need to be in? In my opinion, it's much more important to know

When to call and kind of what to say and how to react to the situation than it is on how good you are. Yes, it's important. A lot of times we'll use mimicry as some of our strategy. It makes a lot of sense to be able to mimic that animal and it takes some skill to figure out or know what you need to do to that diaphragm to be able to make that sound.

So, uh, not as important of being a good color. More important is knowing when and how to react to situation, read it and know when you need to call, um, when to add some intensity, when to move and some of those things. Um, and then the, it wasn't really in the question. You can accomplish all of this either through, um, diaphragms through, if you can't use that, you can use some of our external calcals like the easy estrus, the easy sucker, uh,

If you can't run a diaphragm through just a standard beagle tube or grunt tube, we've got the easy beagler that will then also allow you to be able to make those beagles. So there are a lot of combinations you can use to be able to make those four elk sounds that we talked about that I just mentioned. You need to be able to make as you head out into the elk woods. The second question, how do I decide where to go elk hunting? So, you know, we get these questions a lot from people back east, you know,

Even people around home that have only ever hunted around home, they're just trying to figure out where can you go elk hunt, where are there opportunities. And as cliche as it sounds, you have to have that elk tag, you have to have the opportunity before you can go hunt these elk. And so the first way is through most of these western states, even some of the eastern states now that are starting to get reestablished herds of elk.

is you'll have to have points for most states with Idaho and New Mexico being the exception, but they also don't allow over-the-counter opportunities. So you have to make sure to get into those draws. Idaho requires you to one, either jump into their, I would call it their waiting room lottery on December 1st, which has already passed us. So you're not going to be able to get that elk tag for this year, but it's held pretty steady that date for the last two years.

New Mexico doesn't have points. So it's also already past us, but you also have to front the money for the tag up front. So it detours a few people, I would say, from applying. So those two states don't have points. The rest of the states across the West have points. So you're

uh, your Nevada, your Utah, Wyoming, uh, Colorado, everything requires, um, some points. Colorado does have a lot of over the counter, which I'll also get to, but Colorado has points. Um,

And then there are these states that don't have points. So, and it's, it's, it's, this list is becoming smaller and smaller as years go on, as people implement systems, as they add units to the systems. So, and I may be a little bit incorrect here, but, but for the, I would say for conversation sake and the majority of the opportunity, the states that you have an over-the-counter opportunity in right now are Washington and

And that would be West and East. But I would say when we consider over the counter in Washington, they're mainly talking about Roosevelt's West of the Cascades. There is some decent Eastern Washington opportunity, but you're going to be hunting spikes or in units that maybe don't have high densities of elk.

You have the same in Oregon where you now need to apply, but you can do over-the-counter on the west side. Colorado has a lot of over-the-counter opportunities, and there are a few places in Utah where there are some over-the-counter opportunities. But that's really, if you haven't been in the draws or don't have a tag and you're wanting to get out this year, you need to kind of focus your efforts on those three states, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah.

Um, and, uh, that, that's how you're going to have to find opportunity. Wyoming used to be as place you could go hunt maybe every two years. Um, looking at the drought numbers this year, it looks like it may be four, four and a half, maybe even five points now just to hunt general in Wyoming and, uh, fingers crossed as a non-resident. Um,

that they don't implement the 90-10 split there because I feel that we would bump that number up just six, seven, eight years to draw a Wyoming elk tag. And Wyoming is a special place to elk hunt. Really, really enjoy it. But they're making some changes to potentially get their residents

uh, additional tags, which I can't fault them for, but it would hurt me as a non-resident. Um, so yeah, either got to be in the point game. You got a few States you can do over the counter and that's, you're going to have to figure out where to get that tag, um, so that you can go, go on your hunt.

Would you recommend going with a guide for your first elk hunt? I've always said the best way to learn elk hunting is to go with someone who knows what they're doing. You can cut years, five, 10, 20 years off of what it may take to get to that experience level.

If you go with somebody that's been there before and teach you what to do and what not to do so you can learn by going with somebody that knows or an outfitter or a guide as long as they're good and reputable, they will knock off the learning curve and then you'll have that knowledge for the rest of your life. So I can only...

voice my opinion that if you've got the financial resources and the ability to go with a guide for your first elk hunt, I think it's a great way to go about it. If you're only wanting to go on maybe one elk hunt and you don't plan on going in the future, it would still be a good idea to potentially go with a guide or outfitter. The odds for success are going to be drastically higher than if you were to do it on your own. But on the contrary, it's

There's something special about if you were to go out, do it on your own research scout, which we're going to get into here in the, in the discussion. If you can put some of these things together and do it on your own, there's a lot more satisfaction potentially involved. Maybe, maybe you don't care how you, you know, how you kill an elk. And so it doesn't matter. And by all means, go with the guide outfitter, learn what they know, and then you can apply that for, for, you know, all of your future outcomes. So it's really just up to you, your finances. One thing I would definitely,

recommend is vetting your guide or outfitter. Make sure they're reputable. Make sure they do things the right way. Make sure they hunt hard. And I'm not going to lie. I don't dog on private land hunting, but an elk with a guide or an outfitter on private land where it's going to be a lot different than a guide or outfitter that takes you in the mountains and you're

You know, nothing's a gimme, nothing's patterned. Maybe I say nothing's patterned, nothing's patterned to the point of a lot of private land hunts. And you're going to have to hunt, you're going to have to work, you're going to have to, you know, and that's really where you're going to learn and kind of start to gain that knowledge base that will pay off year after year. So yeah.

That's my answer for those three questions. Once again, you have questions of your own. Feel free to email us at ctd at phelpsgamecalls.com or hit us up on social media, send us a message, and we'll try to plug these into the podcast. ♪

So let's assume that we've got the tag. Going off of that listener question, you got to find the tag first. Let's assume you've got a tag. What do you do once you've got a tag? You're either confined to a unit, you're confined to...

At general areas, Montana's got some tags that are 900 series that are kind of scattered all over the state. You've got Wyoming where you get a general tag and you've got kind of checkerboarded units all across the state you can hunt. A Montana big game, you can hunt a lot of units aside from the selected units. So you really just have to figure out

Now that you've got a tag, where are you going to hunt? Same with Oregon, Washington. You know, you've got a, you've got an over the counter tag. You've got a lot of units to choose from. How are you going to zero in on a place to park your truck, to camp, to go out after out? So one thing we're going to get into is looking at success, uh,

First thing I do if I was to draw a general tag is start to go through, you know, whether it's it's go hunt, whether it's the fish and wildlife website, brochures, harvest statistics, any of that. I'm going to start there and look.

What I'm trying to accomplish, if you're just looking to kill any legal elk, cows and bulls, I would go look at population densities. I would go look at hunter success. I would also, hunter success and hunter days in the field for success are two different things as well. So you can start to look at that. And if killing any elk is what your goal is,

Go off of that. Um, and then you're, um, we're going to talk about some other things here. You're going to want to vet that, confirm it. Um, and I'll give you some resources here in a little bit. Uh,

If you're wanting to hunt any bull, maybe your goal isn't to kill a cow, but any bull, you can then go start to look at percent by harvest by sex. And maybe you don't care if it's a six point plus bull and you're just looking at any bull, then you can start to weed through that information. If I'm going to a unit that has, or if I'm looking to harvest a bull that is,

you know six plus points or better I'm looking for something big mature I'm willing to then also sacrifice hunter success and 100 days in the field and like my main my priority is on percent of bulls that are taken out of the unit that are six point or better I typically want like lower hunter numbers so I want a unit that has big bulls doesn't have as many hunters and I'm really trying to look at some of that to figure out what unit I'm going to hunt

And another thing that's more, I would say maybe is even specific to me. There are some people that will go out there and they don't really care what they're hunting or what type of terrain they're hunting. You know, whether it's flatlands, whether it's rolling Hills, whether it's BLM, I coming from Southwest Washington, where I grew up hunting in what I would consider the jungle, you know, devil's clubs in the bottom ferns brush, just, you know, kind of that rainforest setting. When I leave, uh,

Washington or Western Washington, I don't want to go into a brush hole. So I'm going to avoid North Idaho. I'm going to avoid some of those places that are just thick and brushy. I'm looking for something above tree line. I want to get up in the mountains. I want to have a mix of alpine and subalpine and then creek and river bottoms.

So I'm also looking for something that's maybe even completely separated from the elk or the elk successes in that area. I'm looking for certain terrain and certain areas and, and Canyon country that I want to hunt versus say, um, rolling Hills, you know, or something like that. Now, when I, you know, I've hunted New Mexico before and we are, we're in, you know, rolling Juniper and you, you adapt to it. You make it work. It's elk hunting. I still love it. But for the most part, I'm also trying to find, um,

that I just like to be in. So we've looked at harvest statistics. I then look at places I want to hunt and that kind of starts to zero me in. And then some of these other points that I'm going to get into will then further that.

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the first thing I do after that, I've kind of zoned in on an area and, and, and it's going to be called a biologist, but, but I don't want to call a biologist with a, an empty question. Um, how are the elk doing? Where should I hunt? Because when you ask that question, that biologist has given the same answer to everybody else that calls for that unit. Um,

I have a hard time believing that that biologist is like, you know what? Last time I told somebody to go to, you know, mountain a, and this time I'm going to tell somebody to go to mountain B. And then the next color I'll tell to go to mountain C.

You're getting a very generic answer of an area where he may know people harvest elk and people have harvested in the past, and they don't give you very good data. And they may not have good data when you bring them specific spots, drainages, or areas, but at least you're starting to ask those questions and you're not going to get the generic answer. So I always like to pick up the phone and call the biologist.

um, get a little bit of understanding on like, are these elk migrating? When do they finish their migration up into the high country? Um, what are the, what does the herd health look like? Um, and then maybe some of these biologists are really good and know their unit, or a lot of times if I give them areas they're not sure about, they'll give me a call back. They'll do some research, ask around. Um, so I like to call a biologist just to get a feel for it. It may not be the best information, but at least it's, it kind of adds to that portfolio for your hunt. Um,

you know what are they all doing maybe they've got good data on where you're at maybe maybe they don't so i always call a biologist get that out of the way

I then like to just kind of call the outfitters and I'm, I'm up front in the area. If there is an outfitter or a guide working the area, like, Hey, I drew a tag for this unit or I've got a tag for this unit or I've got a tag I'm thinking about, but going there, I'm just getting some information, you know, not wanting to step on your toes. We're looking to make sure we're not in the same area. You know, cause a lot of them even let you know what, where their camps are at, what drainages they're in, you know, even on their websites and whatnot. So,

A lot of times they don't want you to necessarily be in their area anyway, so they will give you good advice on maybe what drainage to try, what the pressure is like in an area.

They can give you some of that information without really hurting their clients' hunts and whatnot. So I always like to call outfitters or guides that are in the area just to kind of see what they have. And sometimes they'll give you information, sometimes they're tight-lipped and they won't. And then I always take what they give me a little bit with a grain of salt because you never know if they're trying to throw you off or send you into a dead zone or

any of that. So call the outfitters in the area, figure out what's going on in that area as far as heavy outfitter traffic. And then I try to avoid that and hope that they give me a good answer so I can avoid them as well. I also like to call the owner of the property, whether it's for service, whether it's a BLM, whether it's, you know, any, any of the following DNR,

And get their opinion on the area, how busy it is, what they see for rigs parked at gates or trailheads. What's my access and they're going to be like, because a lot of times I can see roads and whatnot on Onyx.

maybe they don't have a gate in the right spot or there's a lot of seasonal shutdowns where RMEF or a game department has, uh, partnered, um, with the owner and they shut a gate on a certain date, you know, September 1st, this gate shut. Well on the map, it looks like I could have drove another five or six miles or whatnot. So I like to call the owner of the property, make sure that my access that I had planned on, um, getting to is going to be there. And then, uh,

you know, just just kind of run that by them. And then once again, I'm I'm not necessarily scared of any traffic, whether it's, you know, driving four wheeler motorcycle, hiking, whatever it may be, but I don't want to just be in a very, very busy area. I'll take a moderate to light area, but I don't want to throw myself into an area that's just packed with people.

So calling the owner is great for that. I always e-scout and I'll do a lot of e-scouting probably prior to calling the biologist and the owner. I spend a ton of time e-scouting and I'm looking for the three things that elk are going to need. I'm looking for cover, I'm looking for food, and I'm looking for water. You know, an elk needs a drink. It's very...

I may be saying something that's very obvious for most people, but if you always tie everything back to that, it's going to work better. So they can't sustain. They can't be there without one of those three. So I'm always looking for where's their water source. Are they going to be able to drop to a creek? Do they got a pond? Do they have wallows? Do they have benches? Like where are they going to get their water from? They need to have some ability to escape hunters, predators, danger, heat, whatever it may be in September, whatever.

So I'm looking for bedding areas. You know, I'm looking for stuff on the North slope. I'm looking for shade. I'm looking for, um, you know, spots where they can escape, be safe, not be seen. And then I'm looking for a good food source. Um, and that, that really depends on, on where you're hunting. Um,

you know if you're in the high country of colorado all their food may be green grasses and green shrubs above tree line if i'm hunting here in western washington i'm looking for green lush clear cuts where those elk are going to come feed and then they're going to go back to timber where that that example i used in colorado those elk are going to go up above tree line and then they're going to feed back down into the timber or into their their bedding area um

And then, you know, like that, that escapement, the bedding areas, you're looking for big timber, you're looking for pockets. You know, ideally there's a spring or water at that spot benches, but keep in mind that isn't always a telltale sign. I just prefer benches in an area because it, it,

It doesn't guarantee, but it gives me a higher percentage. I know where they're going to be bedding, but we've seen elk bedded on 50 degree slopes and they're just fine. They, you know, they've kicked out above a tree. They've got their bedding there. Um, so that, that, that will also, um, you know, they can bedding near anywhere, but we're looking for, for areas with, with, with all of those features. And then one thing that I really like to look for in an, a specific area is a good set of ridges that connect. Um,

I work pretty inefficient if I've got a drop off of a finger ridge across the canyon to get on another one. So I really like a high ridge line running through the area where I can cover a lot of ground or if I've got a trail towards the top of that. So one or the other, either I can walk the ridge fairly easy without being cliffed out or cut off, or I can walk a ridge trail that keeps me pretty high in elevation.

And I love to be able to call down into that Canyon, be able to reach above me and be able to cover that entire Canyon with my location bugle. So I'm looking for that more, um, Canyon country where we can call across, we can glass across, which is very, very important. Um,

for, for my elk hunting successes, I want to also be able to glass. And that's where I'm drawn to some of the Alpine sub Alpine stuff where we can get up, we can glass avalanche shoots above tree line and really kind of set up our hunt. And I don't intend to get into that, but that's something I'm looking in area glassing, good calling, and then be able to cover a lot of ground. And with those three things, it starts to stack the odds of success in my favor.

And then now that we've got all this, we've, we've picked an area, we've called the biologist, we've called the property owner. We've, we've, um, you know, did all of this. Um, the last thing that I do, and it's a brief check, it's just trying to figure out who has hunted it before and what their take is. And in order to figure that out, um, I, I will go cruise forums. A lot of times it'll be, you know, jump on Google, you type in, you know, unit,

X, Y, Z and elk in Colorado. And it will tell me, you know, a lot of times there are a forum or something that have talked about that.

And I'll just go read like what, you know, where people not seeing elk. And I always take that once again with a grain of salt, because I don't know how good the elk hunter is on the other side of the keyboard, you know, whoever typed that, but it just gives me a general consensus. Or a lot of times you'll see a guy pop up or, you know, a couple of people like, oh, you were in the wrong spot or you did it wrong, or you didn't hunt the right spots. And it just starts to let me know like, all right, it's obvious that maybe the densities are, uh,

in different locations in this unit are vastly different.

So it just starts to let me know, like, all right, I'm going to need to find spots. A lot of times people will talk about specific areas they went into and it was really, really busy or lots and lots of rigs, or they take a picture of a, of a trailhead. And I start to use that data to really hone in is my idea good, or do I need to go back to the drawing board, kind of redo everything we just talked about, pick a new area, pick a new, you know, go back, call a biologist, call the property owner and kind of go through that until, um,

um, the forums or social media, you know, you can search Facebook for the same thing. Um, you know, units, I go to YouTube, see if anybody's hunted it on video to get an idea. And then if all of this goes, you know, I like to look at the best looking spots, but then the other thing in the back of my mind, which we've talked about is the difficulty of getting there. Um,

If it's right off the road, it's probably going to be busy. If it's one to two miles in, you're probably still going to have 50, 60% of the guys in there. Once you start to get three to four miles off the road, I'm starting to be by myself. And then you kind of catch back up with the horse hunters around seven or eight. So I like to really plan my elk hunts first.

three to eight miles from anything seems to be kind of that sweet spot. It's still close enough to the truck. We can get it out in a couple, you know, a couple pack outs. But that's what I'm looking for. And so you'll do these iterations until you go back to the forum, social media, maybe. And I actually like when somebody doesn't talk about

the area that I'm in or that I've picked within a unit. But if they are talking highly of an area, I try to see how many similarities are in between the area I picked and the one that they're talking highly about. Like, all right, do these translate? Is that going to make my spot? Does it have all the same things, the same facing aspects, slopes, whatever it may be, and kind of put that all together to see if it's going to work out.

So we did all of this. We got a solid plan. I know some of us like it's very difficult to get out and scout all these places, but nothing is going to replace your boots on the ground. So you did all this. If you can, by any means, get out there and go improve this prior to season.

And when you're out there, some of the things that I like to look for the best telltale sign, because depending on what time you get there, you go out in July, that gives a whole lot of time that gives 60, you know, anywhere from 30 to 60 days for those elk to change their pattern.

And the greater distance between your scouting and your return, the greater the distance of those elk could be. I'm not saying it will be, but just remember if you were 60, I would be very nervous scouting in the 1st of July and coming back in September, especially the more mountainous elk that are doing some migrating, the more nervous I would be going back. Those cows are going to move faster.

Those bulls are going to move. And so the closer you can get, I would be much, much more confident. Of course, it's going to be very obvious. I'd be much more confident in my scouting the last week of August for an archery elk hunt than I would the first of July. Things are just going to move. And so take that with a grain of salt or just take that with a consideration as you do that.

When I'm out there scouting anytime prior to season, one of the most important things I look for is rubs. That lets me know in some way, shape, or form that oak were there during the rut, and I'm looking for concentration rubs. Like, how much time did they spend there? Was this a lone bull, you know, traveling through the mountains, or was this obviously an area, a bedding area? You know, and if you can put the rubs together with the bedding area, you've kind of got the...

The problem solved at that point, you know where they're going to bed. You know, they've got a lot of rubs around that because when you're out there, a lot of people want to see elk. They want to see tracks. They want to see, you know, scat. They want to see all this stuff on the ground. But guess what? That's where the elk are at right then.

If you can find rubs, that kind of guarantees me they're there somewhere in September, early October, and that's where they like to rut. So that's my, that's the number one thing I'm looking for out there when I'm scouting. I don't really care if I see elk. I don't, you know, it's always nice. I don't care if I see tracks, any of that. Number one sign I'm looking for is, is rubs. And when I find that, I then start to look, kind of scout around there. Like from here, where are they getting their food?

Um, if they're going to bed here, they've got rubs here, where are they getting their food, where are they getting their water? And you try to put that little, you know, mini puzzle together now that you've really, cause we've already dialed it down from having a tag. We've then selected a unit. We've then selected an area within the unit. And now we're down to like that macro of they, they're, they're bedding, they're eating, they're, they're feeding, they're, they're right here. Um, put that together is going to help you kind of figure those out. Um,

One thing to remember is if you are late, mid, mid August, late August, and you feel like those cows are kind of done moving as far as their location. Remember, whatever bulls you've seen or if you haven't seen any bulls, the majority of the time those bulls will go join up with the cows. So don't necessarily concentrate on where you've seen the bulls eating up the season. Concentrate on where the cows are at and start your hunt there.

Or the other thing that could happen is they might not be in either location. They may go to a spot where they are left alone during that breeding season. And it may be different than both of those places. But I'd always focus on cows first and then branch out from there to kind of finish finding where they're at.

Um, I'm going to cover a few pieces of gear and I'm not the authority on getting in shape. I've always just said, I'm, I'm, uh, too hard headed to ever quit. And I've, I've been doing this for, for 25 years and in the mountains and, and, uh, know what shape I need to be in. Um, but if you're coming out West or you're going to a new area or you're coming from the lowlands, um,

The first thing you need to do is, is get in shape for elk hunting. It's, it's not even a mule deer hunt. Um, there, there's a lot more added in. There's a lot more meat to carry out. Um, you know, you can hunt mule deer just as far, if not further from the road than elk, but,

But once you got one down, it's a whole different ballgame, especially if you're not hunting with a hunting partner or a group. I would venture to guess the majority of people are going to need to take at least four packouts, if not more. And that's going to be a pretty hefty load. So, you know, get in shape, whatever means that that is. And this is where the scouting really pays off or.

a mountain near you, just go test yourself. Can I do 2000 feet of elevation gain over four miles? Can I do 2000 foot elevation gain over two miles? You know, how long does it take me? Am I, you know, and, and just work at it. Um, you know, and there's, there's a lot of ways to do this and I'm, I'm not going to get into them. You know, you can be a long distance runner. Your cardio is going to be great. You can do CrossFit. You can, whatever it may be, um, get your feet in shape, which we're going to talk about boots here in a little bit. Um,

I can't stress that enough. We talk about shape as in muscular and cardio fitness. I've had, I've seen, I say I've had, I've seen more people fall apart on a hunt because of their feet than I have because of, you know, maybe their cardio or, or their, you know, physical, physical condition. So get your feet in shape. Yeah.

you know, be able to pack 80 to 90 pounds over long distances or over short distances. And you really need to kind of gauge the,

where you can kill an elk. Um, it's easy to walk two or three miles through country when it's only you and your backpack. Um, it's a lot different feet when you're doing it with 80 or 90 pounds on your back and you know, you've got to do it two, three, four more times depending on how many people are helping you pack. So, um, I'm going to diverge a little bit, but I'm getting the absolute best shape possible. It's going to make the hunt more enjoyable. It's

Just be able to get the animal out from from that location Talked about getting your feet in shape getting into the right pair of boots and having boots that are ready for Western hunting or elk hunting and and I'm not talking about your your lowland You know your elk hunts that are down around, you know, private lowland BLM, whatever I mean, there's steep private out there. So don't don't necessarily take that out of con, you know

Out of what I'm saying, but you know, there, there are different boots aren't as near as important on a, on a low land hunter, a front country hunt. You get up in the mountains, um, you know, and you're, you're half mile, mile off the road. Things, things can get pretty, uh,

Pretty brutal. And you're going to, you're going to want to have boots that are, that are kind of up to the task. One that fits your feet very well. One that are comfortable. One that you can walk six, seven, eight, 10, 12, you know, however many miles in that don't necessarily give you hotspots. And so getting your boots broken prior to the hunt, knowing that they're the right boot for you to, you know, climb straight up a mountain, the right boot to walk on a flat trail for, you know, miles after mile after mile, uh,

Make sure you got your boots dialed in and because it is, you know, much as it may just make sense or maybe you just have tough feet and it doesn't matter when your feet fall apart, your hunt kind of falls apart. So make sure you got the right boots on that are that are, you know, that are right for the hunt.

And then last thing is maybe different than other hunts is, is have a pack that's able to, to carry a decent load out on the first trip. Once I said, we're, we're, we're kind of taxing ourselves. We're pushing ourselves to the limit. And the last thing you want to do is, is the killing elk, um, break it down and not be able to take out, um, uh,

a decent amount of weight or a quarter or whatever it may be on that first load. Um, you want to be as efficient as possible. We're going to be wore out. We're going to get tired. So make sure you have a pack that's able to haul heavy loads, have a pack that, you know, you can, you know, hold a heavy load plus all of your gear that's on you at the time. And it's going to, that's going to be able to withstand and be durable enough to, to make trip after trip after trip. Um, so that's kind of, uh,

Those are just a few key items. When it comes to elk hunting, I think boots and packs are very important. You need to make sure that you've got those dialed.

But yeah, this is kind of the wrap on getting ready and planning for your elk hunt. Make sure you're stacking the odds in your favor. You're in a good area. You've got the right equipment. You're in shape and you're ready to go out and kind of tackle this area. And in part two, we're going to kind of expand on this now that we've got an area where

where are we going? Uh, when we get there, I said, where are we going? When we get there, how am I going to quickly break the area down? Proof what we've put together, um, on, on what we've talked about. We make sure this area is going to hold the elk. They are there, how you're going to hunt it and then put together some, um,

put together some plans on how you're going to attack the unit. So really appreciate you guys listening. This was kind of my planning for an elk hunt episode and catch us on part two of this episode on cutting the distance where I'm going to break down once you get there, proofing all this and putting a plan together and then some strategy.

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