Can You Handle an Elk Hunt? Here’s What You Need to Know.

Can you handle a wilderness elk hunt? It’s a serious question. It might look relatively easy on YouTube. In reality, it’s harder than most people think. You might be surprised at how often our guided hunters don’t hunt all five days. They miss entire days of their hunt because they’re worn-out, don’t have adequate gear for the weather, or just can’t give what it takes.

There are a few factors that hunters should take seriously if they wish to prepare for an elk hunt. One is shooting practice. If you haven’t already seen it, read our article on that subject here. Second is physical fitness. And third is mental toughness.

We would ask that all our hunters read through this information carefully…

Being Physically Prepared for an Elk Hunt

For many people, a Colorado wilderness elk hunt might be one of the most athletically challenging things you ever do. Hunters who want to be successful, will train like it’s a real athletic event. Do you have to be a marathon runner to kill an elk? No! But if all our guests trained as seriously for elk hunting as they would have trained for a marathon, we’d kill a lot more elk!

You don’t have to be a pro athlete to successfully hunt elk. But the truth is, the better shape you’re in, the more you will open doors to opportunities in the field.

We have a few hunting spots where we can take hunters with limited mobility and do an ambush-style hunt. Without having to walk very far, we set up on known travel routes to intercept elk. With enough patience and persistence through five days of hunting, a hunter with limited mobility has the chance to kill an elk.

However, if we spot elk out of rifle range, a hunter who has the physical ability to move quickly with their backpack and rifle through rough and steep terrain can greatly increase their opportunities for success.

All that to say, arrive on your hunt in the best physical shape possible. The better shape you’re in, the more opportunities you’ll give yourself. People often ask us, “What’s your success rate?” It’s a difficult question to answer, because a lot of that is up to each individual hunter. Can you shoot? Are you physically fit? And then, there’s there’s the importance of mental toughness...    

Being Mentally Prepared for an Elk Hunt

Physically, elk hunting can be hard. Mentally, it can be just as difficult. And that really surprises some hunters. Especially if you’re coming from whitetail country like many of our hunters do, it’s difficult to adjust to the size and scale of this landscape, and the low density of animals, compared to what they are used to.

While our White River elk herd is the largest in the world, this is very big, very rugged country, where we hunt a permitted area of about 80 square miles. Hunters must be prepared to work hard and cover a lot of ground.

What does it mean to work hard? On our elk hunts, we often eat breakfast at 4-4:30 a.m. We are then on the horses by 5-5:30 and we might ride for up to two hours along steep, rough trails. By the time we finish hunting at last light and ride back to the lodge, we might be eating dinner between 8 and 9 p.m. Then organizing gear, drying out clothes and getting ready to do it again the next day.

Elk hunting can be a real grind. The long days, short nights, rough terrain, and sometimes cold weather will take their toll on your mental state.

When conditions are favorable, we might be seeing elk every day. And that helps to stay mentally in the game. But it’s not uncommon to deal with poor conditions and go multiple days without seeing elk. When that happens, it’s all the more important for hunters to stay mentally in the game. When you’re discouraged, you might be tempted to “rest up” and sleep in one morning. But remember, the hunter who hunts hard, all five days of their trip, will give themselves the best chance for success.

Remember The Three “P”s

When the hunting gets hard, remember the three “P”s. Patience, persistence, and positivity…

Patience is critical. You might go days without seeing an elk. The weather might slow things down. That can all be a part of this game. Stick with it. This is not an instant-gratification hunt.

Persistence is just as important. When you’re tired and tempted to sleep in, remind yourself that you only have five days. Think of it this way – if you skip even one day of your hunt, you’ll reduce your in-field time by 20%! That’s a huge factor toward success.

Finally, stay positive. Self-fulfilling prophecies are very real in hunting. When you’re discouraged, you will let your guard down. And when your guard is down, you can easily miss out on quick shooting opportunities. But if your head is in the game and you’re prepared at any given moment, you’ll be ready to execute on even those brief windows of opportunity. There’s no doubt, positive hunters are more successful hunters.

When Patience, Persistence and Positivity Pays Off

In 2022 I had the privilege of guiding a gentleman named Loren on his very first elk hunt at the age of 78. It was a bucket-list type of trip, something he’d dreamt about for a long time. And he put in the work. He’d spent the prior year eating healthy, walking and exercising regularly. He certainly knew his limitations. But he arrived on the hunt as healthy and as fit as possible.

Loren was also a confident shot. He wasn’t a long-distance shooter by any stretch. But he carried a rifle that he knew like the back of his hand. He was sure and ready to use it.

Perhaps more importantly, Loren was mentally tough. He was willing to grind through the long days, short nights, cold weather and discomfort. He got up and did the work every day of that five-day hunt. And he enjoyed it.

On the final day of his hunt, after a 4:30 a.m. breakfast, tired and sore, we left the lodge on horseback in the dark to ride up a steep mountainside. We were headed for a spot where we’d seen elk in the days prior. After tying up the horses, we post-holed through knee-deep snow and bushwhacked to a rock outcropping that offered a good view, with shooting lanes out to 300 yards. We sat in the cold, glassed, and waited.

Late in the morning, just when we though the morning hunt might be a bust, several cow elk came running up the draw at about 250 yards. As the cows began to move out of sight, we saw another elk come around the corner. It was a bull. The shot rang out, and the bull tumbled down the hill.

Now from our perch on the rocky outcrop, the downed bull was a couple hundred vertical feet below us, through more knee-deep snow on an extremely steep incline. When I offered to go down and quarter the bull so that he could stay up high with the horses, Loren said, “No way! If it takes me all day, I’m going down there with you.”

If anyone was ever as deserving of an elk, it was him.

I’m glad it worked out, and it was an immense privilege to be a part of such a memorable trip. Unfortunately however, hunting isn’t always as fair. The mountains and the elk have no obligation to cooperate. Would a 48-year-old have had better odds than a 78-year-old? Sure. But no matter your age or abilities, these wilderness hunts offer far more variables than guarantees.

While no guarantees are made for anyone, hunters who show up prepared – both physically and mentally – will open themselves up to more opportunities.

Preparing For Your Elk Hunt Starts Now

Don’t wait to begin preparing for your elk hunt. Shoot your rifle. Eat healthy and get in shape. And prepare yourself mentally for the difficult grind.

If you have questions or need help preparing, please let us know. We are more than happy to provide recommendations.

What about bringing appropriate gear? That’s important too. But we’ll cover that in a separate article. In the meantime, get to work and we can’t wait to see you on a memorable wilderness elk hunt here in Colorado!