What Do You Value Most In Your Elk Hunting Partners?

[Sliverslinger]

Many of us who literally eat, sleep, and breathe elk are already preparing for the upcoming year. Some of us are getting up early and participating in the biggest loser challenger in an attempt to prepare ourselves to hunt hard up and down hills we already know that we'll find ourselves on come September. Others are pouring over Google earth, topos, and other maps trying to find potential new honey holes. Still other are already destroying leather looking for sheds that might provide clues to the elusive bull of a lifetime. Most of us have a hunting partner(s) where there is already an unspoken promise -  we will be hunting together next fall, and the one after that, and the fall thereafter and as a general rule, we won't be sharing our specific strategy with anyone else. Others of us find ourselves switching partners on a regular basis based on who we know that can get the time off, how congruent their preferred hunting style is with ours, or how well we may have gotten to know them over the past year outside the hunting world. For me, I have a best friend who sat down with me a several years back and we talked to old timers, looked at average snow levels, and literally scoured all kinds of maps looking for an elk safe haven where roads and trails did not cross. Several times we found what looked promising and backpacked in to see if our elk hypotheses were correct only to find out that the area was only sporadically used at best. It turns out that after many attempts and a lot of adjustments,  we found a dynamite area full with some huge bulls returning there each year just in time for the rut. After putting some serious boots on the ground, we found the specific drainage far from any human presence where we seem to do pretty well. In the entirety of the last two season we have seen not a single other hunter, but elk seem to be abundant. Unfortunately, after new babies, new jobs, and new commitments came along, my hunting partner was no longer able to go so last year I was faced with the choice: backpack all the way in there by myself and risk the very real possibility of injury or experiencing  a medical emergency while keeping the area a secret (knowing that if something happened, we'd seen no sign of people within 2-3 miles) or bringing a new partner into the mix. I started the talk with my old hunting partner and he said he had no problem with me taking another buddy into "our" area if the buddy promised not to give any information beyond the trailhead where we parked at most. Easy enough. But who to take? I had a brother in law who I had hunted with. Another buddy from the military who I'd even camped and hunted with from time to time. The thing was, I had spent a ton of time scouring over dozens of maps, I had put countless hours into the general area, and more hours into that particular drainage then just about anywhere else. I had never found a spot quite like that one. My best friend and I both agreed that I shouldn't go in alone, but we also thought that it was a pretty big decision who I invited. In the end, I invited a buddy of mine that I had grown up with and had known clear back since grade school. We had hunted before on occasion and I knew from experience that he was a guy who really appreciated the outdoors at a deep level, regardless of whether or not we pierced  an elk's vitals with our arrows. Last year we went and while he did not kill a bull, he got to see at 94 yards one of the biggest bulls a guy will see in western Washington. More importantly, he got to see some magnificent and incredible country that looks almost untouched since the dawn of time. My original buddy and I sat around a bar tonight and had a couple drinks and we started talking about that particular drainage and how we had explored it together, as well as some of the incredible elk related memories we had made in there. I asked him if he could go this year and he said he would try but that his time off was limited. Our other mutual buddy will be going up with me for the whole week, so hopefully at some point we will all meet up up there in the high country. Regardless, I can rest assured that whoever is up there with me will truly appreciate what it is we are experiencing, and while we will hunt elk with everything we have, kill or no kill, we will all come back with new life. All this to ask a simple question: When you are looking for a new partner, whether someone who wants to join your "group" (or you), or someone you are looking to go with, what characteristics are most important to you? What is about another person that makes you want to hunt with them? Is it their knowledge (learn from the master), or their complete lack of knowledge (a desire to mentor)? Perhaps its similar personalities. Maybe it is similar physical disabilities. For me, I originally found the spot and convinced my best friend to go with me and when he experienced it he was hooked. We went together because frankly, it is the most beautiful place either of us have ever been and because we both understood the deeper meaning of the hunt (we also got into a ton of elk each time).  When I invited my new (old, as in from grade school) hunting partner, it was based on that fact that I knew he would appreciate the area we were in, even if he did not kill anything. Long story short, what do you look for in a hunting partner and what do you value most in the person you will be sharing the hunting  experience with?

[skywalker253]

Holy long winded post. I saw the length and did not bother to read it.

[slickmannick]

You forgot to name the location of this fantastic drainage Seriously though, sounds like your original hunting partner is the ideal type. Equal desire to put in the time scouting, appreciating the land and the value of keeping it secret unless agreed upon

[bwhntr350]

 Could not read. Paragraph's are your friend.

  What I value is my time alone, no partner. I tried one once, 10 years younger than me and by 11:30 a.m. he was begging me to call it a day and head in. I gave up 5 or 6 hours of hunting that day, for him, never again. Will hunt alone until I either die or quit hunting.

[Bean Counter]

The fact that I trust him and that he's there. Elk are too darned big to pack out yourself. In fine deer hunting but love having a partner for elk. As long as he puts in some effort and wants to be there.

Could not read. Paragraph's are your friend.

 

[boneaddict]

I appreciate how quiet my partner is.   Never says a word. 

[deerhunter_98520]

I like to take guys i can trust...thats a huge factor for me...when i find a spot i dont want anyone knowing and my huntin partner will take that info to his grave unless i tell him its ok to take someone else there....we just have that respect for each other....so far its only been my cuz....i want to be able to leave well before sun up and not come back till after sunset....oh and being able to pack a qtr helps alot    my partner will goto hell and back to pursue a screamin bull with me

[buckhorn2]

I like mine he always wants me to shoot first.

[Skyvalhunter]

Wants to pack out my animal by hiself

[GoPlayOutside]

I don't feel I need to cater to him.  We are on our own schedule, and we will both go thru hell to help each other pack an animal, repair a rig, or fix camp.

[HardCorpsHuntr]

1) Dependability - Don't deviate from the plan days prior to a trip.
2) Similar goals - Mature animals.
3) Maturity - Nothing ruins a hunt quicker.
4) Physical conditioning - Better be in great shape.
5) Attitude - Goes without saying.
6) Cost - Reasonably equally shared.

So, for the most part I hunt alone

[ghosthunter]

I enjoy hunting out of a camp with lots of folks. Even though I may hunt each day alone or with one or two. The larger the group the more difficult the mix. I mainly enjoy good natured people who can adapt and get along with whatever comes along. You never know. One time the tong broke of our equipment trailer. One guy panicked and threw in the towel saying just call a wrecker.

Another guy said hey lets use these racket straps to make repairs, which we did and limped in to a ranch where a farmer let us barrow his welder.
I like hunting partners who are not easy to defeat and ones that see the glass half full not half empty. I also like partners I can trust and who do not see a problem around every bend.

I like a partner who can see and understands another's view and respect that view without surrendering his own view.

But above all else dependable, honest, dedicated to the group, safe and legal.

[bullcrazy]

Possative attitude and "get it done mentality" ,the rest will come with time.

[cvandervort]

Slinger,

Sounds like you've been waging quite the internal struggle...
I'm going through a bit of the same thing, but for me, the number one thing is DRIVE. Am I going to give up all those miles on the boots and hours spent on maps to someone in hopes that they will want it as bad as I do? I think that anyone wanting to hunt with a partner sometimes have to roll the dice...or go solo, which will probably be the case for me this year.

Good luck!

[tbuck6568]

My elk camp is a group of 4 sworn to secrecy. We don't let ANYBODY else in. If there was a potential new guy, there would be some serious hashing over a few drinks and everybody would have to agree on the newcomer. I found my elk area by myself a few years ago. Then I decided that it was totally boring hunting by myself. So I found my closest friends who wanted to hunt, showed em the area and we've had a blast. One in particular had never hunted anything in his life (I mean ANYTHING) and got a 4x4 bull 2 years ago. He gets up with me at 230 in the morning and we go for it all day and he doesn't care when we get back. I got my bull last season fairly early, he helped me pack that bull out. It took over 9 hours just to get everything to a cache where we could START getting out. I ended up having to run around and fix a bunch of stuff after that, but he didn't wait up for me. He got back out there and just told me to get everything fixed and he'd call me if he needed help humping a bull out. Absolutely unafraid, eager, hilarious, doesn't bitch, and just enjoys the whole experience. I couldn't ask for a better hunting buddy. He's super boot when it comes to hunting, but damn he's catching on quick. The other 2 in the camp are great too. Father-son team. Both are there more for the sake of getting away from the house but they make that known, and they don't stress us out for makin a little noise when we get up early and they're great to have in the camp. Everybody has to bring something good to the table and then be enjoyable. Otherwise what's the point? I'd rather be alone and bored than with a group and miserable.