When i did this the first time on a cold morning I had on most of my clothes and got to a spot before shooting time. While sitting and sweating for about 20 min waiting for the sun a chill came over me being all sweaty and damp that my shooting ability went to 100 yds or less. I learned to go with very little clothes on, stop for 15 min cool down and change to dry hunting clothes from back pack.
Been Elk hunting since 1986, I f you are hiking in put your longjohns and heavy coat in your backpack and hike in. Once you get where you are waiting you will cool down and than put your dry warm clothes on. I personally dont head out until shooting light because unlike whitetail deer, If you bump into Elk into the dark they might change drainage's on you . Good Luck and enjoy!
Gotcha!
I had some Danners that had been resoled so many times, they said they couldnt do them anymore. Great Boots!
As a past avid backpacker whom has used both a hiking staff and hiking poles, I highly recommend a pair of hiking poles rather than the single staff because the poles use are much easier on the knees and provide better support, especially when going down hill. I also recommend a site that, even though area specific, has much good information for anyone hiking or doing wilderness camping - WhiteBlaze.com - Appalachian Trail Information and Hiking Articles
I’ve never thought of hiking poles.
And by the way I plan to finish my beer before coming down from the mountains. Lol
Toothpick, whiskey in a plastic flask would be lighter and last longer....just sayin'!
I’m not in good enough shape to pack beer out in the field. I was thinking about camp.
I will probably bring a good bottle of bourbon in case we need to celebrate.
They sell those bottles of oxygen all over in the mountains. I've wondered about trying one to see if they can help on a climb up the mountain. Not a spring chicken anymore so I'm curious if one of those might help. We hunt in the 8500' to 10,000' altitude.
10 years ago walking up and down wasn't an issue but every year gets harder.
My feet used to get so cold, I couldn't hunt. More and more layers to try and help.
What I found out was that more layers developed sweat getting the socks wet and creating the problem.
Now just use Marino wool socks in one layer and a boot big enough to walk in and give some air space. Feet warm now!
I use the walmart walking stick available in the camping section. Expandable to fit your height and the terrain. They have a dual tip. Flared for snow and a carbide tip so they will not slide off rocks. I remove the flare, but it's available.
When our group elk hunts, I'm usually the only one with a back pack. It's typically ditched half way up on a stalk to come back to later for knives, etc.
We hunt on a working ranch with access roads so recovery is by vehicle.
I bought and modified a big plastic sled that is used in the great lakes for taking supplies out to fishing shanties to recover elk either by hand or by ATV or SBS. It's been used successfully more than once.
One just has to adjust for the area/terrain.
