drop camp elk hunt a bust

[lord grizzly]

edit:  scratch all that.  No need for me to make stupid references and sly remarks.  in the end, crap situation all around, crappy elk dates, crappy location and expectations from all parties.  Let's just hunt and I need to be more positive.  Continue on...

Exactly. I feel for Vande that his trip didn't turn out like we all hoped it would, but hunting this early is a roll of the dice at best. The location could have been good, but wasn't. Elk could have been there (I know people that hunt the general area each year) but they weren't. It was a roll of the dice that didn't pay off. I just see both sides of it and can't say it was all the outfitters fault. Vande was put in an area that can be productive, but it just wasn't this year/trip. There's not much an outfitter can do at that point, schedules are full of packing people, packing meat as the need arises, wrangling stock, and each trip is wear and tare on equipment and animals... Just a crummy situation all the way around.

Exactly this!!!
I have hunted this general area in the past, and always chose to be on top so i could go 3 directions. It was very common for us to put on 14 to 17 miles in a day running all over the country side locating elk. I have hunted the caps quite a bit, and i don't recall any time being an easy hunt. Sorry for the poor trip.

why anyone would want to hunt elk up hill is beyond me. thats another gripe i kinda left alone in the post. the tops where you want to be and that outfitter put him there. hunt down hill, thats another kinda 101 elk hunting thing. t least i thought it was...

[vandeman17]

edit:  scratch all that.  No need for me to make stupid references and sly remarks.  in the end, crap situation all around, crappy elk dates, crappy location and expectations from all parties.  Let's just hunt and I need to be more positive.  Continue on...

Exactly. I feel for Vande that his trip didn't turn out like we all hoped it would, but hunting this early is a roll of the dice at best. The location could have been good, but wasn't. Elk could have been there (I know people that hunt the general area each year) but they weren't. It was a roll of the dice that didn't pay off. I just see both sides of it and can't say it was all the outfitters fault. Vande was put in an area that can be productive, but it just wasn't this year/trip. There's not much an outfitter can do at that point, schedules are full of packing people, packing meat as the need arises, wrangling stock, and each trip is wear and tare on equipment and animals... Just a crummy situation all the way around.

Exactly this!!!
I have hunted this general area in the past, and always chose to be on top so i could go 3 directions. It was very common for us to put on 14 to 17 miles in a day running all over the country side locating elk. I have hunted the caps quite a bit, and i don't recall any time being an easy hunt. Sorry for the poor trip.

why anyone would want to hunt elk up hill is beyond me. thats another gripe i kinda left alone in the post. the tops where you want to be and that outfitter put him there. hunt down hill, thats another kinda 101 elk hunting thing. t least i thought it was...

I personally would MUCH rather hunt up hill and then either pack or hike back to camp downhill.

[Igor]

edit:  scratch all that.  No need for me to make stupid references and sly remarks.  in the end, crap situation all around, crappy elk dates, crappy location and expectations from all parties.  Let's just hunt and I need to be more positive.  Continue on...

Exactly. I feel for Vande that his trip didn't turn out like we all hoped it would, but hunting this early is a roll of the dice at best. The location could have been good, but wasn't. Elk could have been there (I know people that hunt the general area each year) but they weren't. It was a roll of the dice that didn't pay off. I just see both sides of it and can't say it was all the outfitters fault. Vande was put in an area that can be productive, but it just wasn't this year/trip. There's not much an outfitter can do at that point, schedules are full of packing people, packing meat as the need arises, wrangling stock, and each trip is wear and tare on equipment and animals... Just a crummy situation all the way around.

Exactly this!!!
I have hunted this general area in the past, and always chose to be on top so i could go 3 directions. It was very common for us to put on 14 to 17 miles in a day running all over the country side locating elk. I have hunted the caps quite a bit, and i don't recall any time being an easy hunt. Sorry for the poor trip.

why anyone would want to hunt elk up hill is beyond me. thats another gripe i kinda left alone in the post. the tops where you want to be and that outfitter put him there. hunt down hill, thats another kinda 101 elk hunting thing. t least i thought it was...

I personally would MUCH rather hunt up hill and then either pack or hike back to camp downhill.

That's what my dear old Dad always taught us.........always hunt uphill from camp or from the truck.

[ctwiggs1]

You guys are nuts.  Me and my buddy Shane B have learned to set camp in a mobile home with a shower and always hunt the pasture.  Going up or downhill is for amateurs.

[h20hunter]

Oh my. 

[Matth]

edit:  scratch all that.  No need for me to make stupid references and sly remarks.  in the end, crap situation all around, crappy elk dates, crappy location and expectations from all parties.  Let's just hunt and I need to be more positive.  Continue on...

Exactly. I feel for Vande that his trip didn't turn out like we all hoped it would, but hunting this early is a roll of the dice at best. The location could have been good, but wasn't. Elk could have been there (I know people that hunt the general area each year) but they weren't. It was a roll of the dice that didn't pay off. I just see both sides of it and can't say it was all the outfitters fault. Vande was put in an area that can be productive, but it just wasn't this year/trip. There's not much an outfitter can do at that point, schedules are full of packing people, packing meat as the need arises, wrangling stock, and each trip is wear and tare on equipment and animals... Just a crummy situation all the way around.

Exactly this!!!
I have hunted this general area in the past, and always chose to be on top so i could go 3 directions. It was very common for us to put on 14 to 17 miles in a day running all over the country side locating elk. I have hunted the caps quite a bit, and i don't recall any time being an easy hunt. Sorry for the poor trip.

why anyone would want to hunt elk up hill is beyond me. thats another gripe i kinda left alone in the post. the tops where you want to be and that outfitter put him there. hunt down hill, thats another kinda 101 elk hunting thing. t least i thought it was...

I personally would MUCH rather hunt up hill and then either pack or hike back to camp downhill.

I would 100% agree with this, until i was packed 10 plus miles into a wilderness, and had crawl 2000 feet up out of a hole to check a neighboring drainage. If the elk are not located in the bottom that you are camped in your kinda screwed, and i would guess they are not in that bottom because you are camped in it. Hunting out of a truck is a totally different story.

[theleo]

You guys are nuts.  Me and my buddy Shane B have learned to set camp in a mobile home with a shower and always hunt the pasture.  Going up or downhill is for amateurs.

We can't all be esteemed and wealthy land barons such as yourself.

[pianoman9701]

You guys are nuts.  Me and my buddy Shane B have learned to set camp in a mobile home with a shower and always hunt the pasture.  Going up or downhill is for amateurs.

My kind of elk hunt. Did you guys have the caviar, truffles, and vodka, as well? That does require some stamina.

[ctwiggs1]

You guys are nuts.  Me and my buddy Shane B have learned to set camp in a mobile home with a shower and always hunt the pasture.  Going up or downhill is for amateurs.

My kind of elk hunt. Did you guys have the caviar, truffles, and vodka, as well? That does require some stamina.

Due to safety concerns, we do not allow truffles on our hunts.

[theleo]

Unless there's a well used trail in the bottom of whatever drainage you're looking at, you navigate the Eagle Caps from the ridge tops. Don't give up elevation unless you have to.

[Matth]

Unless there's a well used trail in the bottom of whatever drainage you're looking at, you navigate the Eagle Caps from the ridge tops. Don't give up elevation unless you have to.

DING DING DING WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!! My Man. To steep, and deep to start in the bottom every day.

[vandeman17]

Unless there's a well used trail in the bottom of whatever drainage you're looking at, you navigate the Eagle Caps from the ridge tops. Don't give up elevation unless you have to.

DING DING DING WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!! My Man. To steep, and deep to start in the bottom every day.

For me, after dropping down in and hunting lower, it killed me hiking back to camp. No idea what the heck I would have done if I would have killed one down there. 

[Machias]

Good luck with the rest of your season!!

[Matth]

Unless there's a well used trail in the bottom of whatever drainage you're looking at, you navigate the Eagle Caps from the ridge tops. Don't give up elevation unless you have to.

DING DING DING WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!! My Man. To steep, and deep to start in the bottom every day.

For me, after dropping down in and hunting lower, it killed me hiking back to camp. No idea what the heck I would have done if I would have killed one down there. 

Bone it out hang it in a cool dark place, and call the packer to come and get it. I have hung them for several days in there waiting on a ride out. Honestly i'm not poking at your situation it is very unfortunate, i am just speaking from experience hunting the caps, and the country always seems to grow once you are actually trying to navigate it. In my opinion that country is as much a mental game as it is a physical one, it is huge and the elk move a lot. We took a guy in with us 3 years ago that hunted for the first 3 days, then sat in camp for 3 more waiting for us to tag out.

[theleo]

Unless there's a well used trail in the bottom of whatever drainage you're looking at, you navigate the Eagle Caps from the ridge tops. Don't give up elevation unless you have to.

DING DING DING WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!! My Man. To steep, and deep to start in the bottom every day.

For me, after dropping down in and hunting lower, it killed me hiking back to camp. No idea what the heck I would have done if I would have killed one down there. 

Bone it out hang it in a cool dark place, and call the packer to come and get it.

Bingo. If you paid money for a service, use it. No reason to pack meat up all that vertical when you paid someone to pack for you.