Come along on a DIY elk hunt with me this year in Colorado. Pictures added

[SKITCH]

Hey Gil...great stuff...keep it going!  Making me really miss the mountains of the Northwest!
By the way, what kind of camera do you carry with you?  Any suggestions along that line?  If you already mentioned it...I don't remember!  

Thanks again,
Patrick

[Gil Verwey]

Fred I am glad you posted those pictures. That gives me a good comparison to talk about another issue.

If you look at Fred's pictures you will see a lot of healthy green timber. If you find green timber you find elk.

Look at the pictures I posted. Most of the timber looks like sticks. That is because of the pine beetle kill in Colorado. You can not believe the devastation this little beetle has done to the timber out there. It covers large portions of Colorado.

You have to be weary of this because of where you are going to camp. There are so many dead trees it is hard to find a safe place to camp because of widow makers.

We chose our second camp and tried our best to stay clear of widow makers. One thing we neglected to think about is wind direction. If you are in area like this it is easy to determine the prevalent wind, because you will notice nearly all the trees fall in the same direction.

Well we (I chose this one) chose our camp and yep you guessed it, we set up in the wrong direction.

All the trees had fallen in the direction of the camp in the past. The night we had that heavy wind we thought about it then. We had a restless night that night too.

If you notice all the trees fell from right to left in this picture. We even used one we used to tie off some our Tyvek.

 

This one is even better. You can see behind camp how this monster fell in the same direction and would be right on our camp! Isn't it cozy though?

 

Be very careful setting up your camp in regard to widow makers, the prevailing wind and water. You don't want to flood your camp by being in the wrong spot in a downpour.

[Gil Verwey]

Patrick I had a Nikon Coolpics. I wouldn't recommend it though.

It takes batteries that have to be charged in a charger. It doesn't take that good of pictures either.

I have another cheap Camera I bought at Walmart while on the way to another hunt, because I left the Coolpic home. It takes better pictures and uses AA batteries. It is a Kodak easyshare C1450. This camera takes the best pictures I have ever taken. I think it was $39.

I am also going to bring the Sport Vu camera this year. I am hoping to catch an action money shot when I shoot my BIG bull. It has a remote to start and stop it too. It looks like a car remote to open your car door. I am going to attach the camera to the side of my hat.

[awbowman]

WE did see quite a few elk Gil, but they outsmarted the newbies last year.

Oh, and the mule deer, OMGosh there were mule deer galore!  Nothing spectacular but the numbers were crazy.  We did manage to see a bachelor herd of 8 with a couple of 180-190ish deer.  I had to control myself!

[Gil Verwey]

I had to post a few trad shots too.

This is my buddy crocodile. I love this two piece longbow. A two piece is very handy while back country hunting or any big game hunting for that matter.

 

Here I have my bow in the camo sleeve in my Arrowmaster quiver. A two piece longbow, a two piece bow sock and Arrowmaster quiver are great to free up your hands to backpack or drag out a deer. You can probably do the same with a 3 piece also. I had many A&H bows and I bet they would fit fine also.

 

It is going to sound corny, but when I hunt with a longbow I feel like I am hunting with a friend. Any other bow feels like a tool to me. Enough of that before I get sentimental and cry again.

 

[stujay]

Gil have enjoyed reading your thread and your pics do bring back memories of some great country.
Think you will enjoy the Alaskan hunt next year. A drop along a remote river for moose and caribou, and the raft does the lions share of packing your gear and meat. Kodiak Island for deer is also a great remote hunt often with no other hunters to contend with.
Will look forward to your report and pics after the elk hunt!

[Gil Verwey]

Clothes! I always hunt in wool, unless I am hunting in hot areas like South Carolina or Georgia.

From my experience in Maine it is well known that wool can save your life. If it gets wet it still retains insulating value. Plus it is quiet and since it is made from natural fibers, I believe it blends in better and is less noticeable by wildlife.

Because of weight I left my wool clothes in the truck. I will not do that again.

Last year I had two very light rip stop nylon hiking pants (one I wore and one was packed), a long sleeve camo tee shirt (worn on the way in and on some warm days hunting), two pairs of underwear (one worn one packed), two regular tee shirts (One worn one packed), two pairs of wool and two pairs of silk socks (one worn and one packed), one sage colored sweat shirt, two duofold tops and one duofold bottom, a light down winter underware top, light gortex rain gear and my hunting hat and a trapper wool hat. That was it.

When you only bring in that small amount of clothes you have to launder them occasionally. I time it to where my partner has to sit up wind and still gags during dinner. That tells me it is time to wash the old undies.

I will show you later some of the light very useful backpacking equipment we have for a solar shower, kitchen sink for laundry, backpackers towel and face cloth. These items are small they each pack down to the size of you wallet or smaller. They are very light and sturdy. I feel they are worth the investment. It will make your stay more enjoyable. Last year we went in for 11 days and worked very hard. Hygiene is important, at least that is what my partner keeps telling me. My affectionate nickname in elk camp is Stinky!

Next year I am bringing in my KOM Trapper shirt and a pair of lighter green wool Malone pants. Instead of the KOM trapper I may bring in one of Ron LaClaire's long hunting wool shirts. I have one of those also.

Another item I always feel is essential for me to bring is the turtle neck duofold tops. These are very warm and help cushion your neck from the straps on packs, quivers and bino straps.

[Gil Verwey]

Thanks Stu, for our first DIY Alaska hunt we are going to do a less expensive hunt, like we are used to doing. We always drive to where we hunt and carry our equipment this way.

Since we have to fly to Alaska we are packing our equipment and shipping it to a friend.

Our first hunt will be along the Tote Road. It is archery only there for 5 miles from the pipeline. We are going to rent or borrow a 4x4. We plan on backpacking in from the tote road quite a ways in. If by the time we are ready to go we don't find we will have good hunting along the Tote road, we have a connection to a good bush pilot that will fly us in.

I always wanted to do the float trip for moose. I will do that too, but not for the first time. Jay Massey hooked me on that idea too. I read his book 5 times. I bought all of his books from him as they came out back then.

[awbowman]

Hey Gil, ever thought of writing a book!

[Gil Verwey]

Never Fred!

The only reason I am writing this, is not to talk about my adventures, but to inspire others to make some of their own.

The best thing I ever did was meet up with my hunting partner. We both had the same dreams of this type of hunting and together we started to do these types of hunts. Each year they got more and more remote for longer periods of time.

He introduced me into DIY camping hunting trips.

There are so many people out there that feel like us and would love to do this, but are apprehensive about trying it.

This is not magic or rocket science. I am 58 and my partner is 59. I told you my reputation and if a 58 year old idiot like me can do this anybody can. It is not hard. It is not that expensive. I will cover the costs later too.

If I pass anything along in this thread it is this, you can live this adventure yourself right in your home state hunting your local big game animals or small game for that matter.

The best example I can give of this is the Fred Bear video The Oldest Game. Here Fred and Charlie Kroll go an a short backpack weekend whitetail hunt in Pennsylvania. They camp by a stream not far from the road. They set up a canvas lean-to built by Fred. Watch that video and it explains it better than I can, just by watching. You can even turn the sound off and still see what I mean.  

This is the type of hunting I am professing. This is the type of hunting that was the norm back then too.

I am saying to just give yourself the gift of time to hunt and enjoy the whole experience. For me the whole experience is staying out living in the woods while I hunt, even if it is for one night.

I would enjoy the following more than running out after work, scrambling to my stand for a few hours and shooting a big buck. That is great stuff too.

But I would enjoy going Friday night after work to a State WMA and camp and BS around the campfire. Make breakfast the next day. Take my bow and go squirrel hunting. Stay out all day, have lunch and relax in the woods. Maybe I will bring my reactor stove and take a break and have a nice hot cup of tea or hot chocolate. Maybe instead of packing a sandwich I may bring a delicious Mountain House dinner and cook it up. Come back at dark. Meet up with my friends around a camp fire and have dinner. Maybe have a sun downer or two. Sit by the campfire and BS. If you haven't noticed I am very good at BS. I believe I have been told I have a honorary PHd in BS! Go to bed, have a nice breakfast and break camp to head home early Sunday.

You will feel refreshed and recharge your batteries. You will feel more like you hunted than ever before. You will feel like you went on a 10 mile back country elk hunt in Colorado. You will be hooked and look forward to squirrel season.

Many times we sit around and say, "man I would love to do that". Then we don't, because we think to hunt like that you have to be in an exotic far off spot with premiere game animals.

I am saying you can do the same thing we did around the block hunting squirrels, but we chose not to. The only difference between the back country elk hunt I am talking about versus the weekend squirrel hunt is time and distance. Think about that.          

I am not trying to tell anyone that they need to do a deep back country hunt for fulfillment. It is a rewarding hunt of a lifetime that will change you forever. I am trying to say you can add this same type of adventure to squirrel hunting.

I bet where you live there are mountains, you get rain storms, snow, lighting and wind during hunting season. You can still hunt squirrels and even call them in with a call like elk. You can use the same equipment to backpack in to hunt squirrels that you use to hunt elk. You can have all of the experiences hunting squirrels that you can hunting elk, if you don't have the time or money for the elk hunt. I even bet that if you hunted squirrels you would have beautiful scenery too like the fall leaves changing colors.

So I say why aren't you doing that? If you wait to do some exotic long distance hunt somewhere you will have missed out on a lot of rewarding local adventures close to home. If you never get to do the elk hunt, at least you will have experienced it for other game animals. Dreaming of doing it for elk, never going and missing out on the enjoyment doing it close to home would be a shame. Sometime we don't see the forest for the tress.    

This is not for everybody. A lot of people like to hunt out of a car or use an outfitter and are pressed for time. Some people love hunting and hate camping. I am not opposed to any of it. To each his own. Each has its own merits.

I am just saying that for those of you that want to do the remote elk hunt you don't have to wait, you can do it squirrel hunting and can gain experience for the trip you do make out elk hunting.

What is stopping you?

If you want to do a 10 mile elk hunt you start by taking one step at a time. Get some experience locally. You may wind up saying heck with the elk I love squirrel hunting.

There are a couple of old saying I know and use.

One is a question, "Can an ant eat an elephant"? The answer is, "Yes if given enough time".

Another is, "How does a man eat a cow"? The answer is, "One hamburger at a time".

Give yourself the gift of time and do it one hamburger (or step) at a time.

[Gil Verwey]

On to this years hunt. Colorado 2012 at Elk Heaven

We leave NJ on either the night of Wednesday September 5 or the morning of Thursday September 6. We will arrive sometime on Friday September 7. I have a hotel room booked for the the night of September 7.

Saturday September 8 we meet our packer and head in on horseback to Elk Heaven. We will set up camp sometime in the afternoon and hopefully have some time to hunt. Setting up the camp we have will take no more than 20 minutes.

Sunday September 9 is our first full day to hunt. This will give us 12 full days of hunting from September 8 through September 20.

Friday September 21 we pack out on horseback. I arranged a hotel room for the night of September 21. Saturday we will enjoy some sights and have nice meal. We will probably head out mid or late morning for NJ.

We will arrive back in NJ on September 23. I have Monday off to unpack and relax before I go back to work on September 25.

Then I have to wait for 2013 to roll around to do it again solo.

The expenses aren't much except for gas. For us in 4x4 pickup the gas and tolls winds up being around $700 a piece. The license is $500. Two night in the hotel is around $130 for both of us not a piece. The outfitter is $600 a piece to bring us in and out. If we shoot an elk and need it packed out it is another $500.

Well I tried to give you and idea of what it is like doing a DIY elk hunt during the height of the rut. Back country is the way to go if you have a packer to get the elk out. If not, base camp in a place like I described earlier in Montana is an alternative. If you are going to do a base camp there are few ideas I can pass on that will help.

Well here is a toast to you and your next adventure. I will let you know how we do this year. If we can do this anybody can do this. Good luck this year with your adventures.  

 

[Gil Verwey]

I am planning Colorado 2013 already and have spoken to our packer. I am going solo in 2013 and since I will have to drive alone, I may ship my equipment to the packer, fly into Colorado and rent a car. This should give me two extra days of hunting making it 14 full days to hunt. This will be a good dry run for Alaska in 2014.

I anticipate that I will probably score the first morning in 2013, since I will be leaving my deer and elk repellent home, that being my hunting partner. Boy I hope he reads this now.

[awbowman]

You are right Gil.  CO public land for elk is a great deal and you can make it as hard or as easy as you want.  A week In the mountains and you will field you got your money's worth either way

[kennyb]

Very inspirational, Gil! I appreciate your story/advice/pics as it is all enlightening and telling. Your thread is very timely for me as I have been thinking/struggling about changing my hunting areas and habits! I feel like going on this adventure in Ohio, the one Charlie has invited us on. Life is short and I want to make more of my time in the outdoors and especially with my recurve. Thanks again and good luck to you!

Kenny    

[knobby]

This is an awesome post, Gil.  We used to do backpack hunts in Utah, and you've brought back some fond memories of those hunts. We tend to do base camp trips now, but both of us agree that the back pack hunts were some of our most enjoyable adventures. Thank you for this post.

[Bill Kissner]

This is an inspiration to all that have read this. If it doesn't make you long to do an elk hunt, you are hopeless. Although I started hunting Colorado in 1965, I have never done a backpack hunt. It sounds very romantic and I wold love to try it, but my physical ability and age tell me otherwise. I am already in camp here in the San Juans and will be here until after elk season but my hunts will all be from a main camp. I am a little envious of you backpackers though.

[Robert Honaker]

So awesome Gil! That si right up my ally...you may have crated a monster.lol

My brother has been to the mountains of colorado a couple times and we ahve been talking about this for a while.

I;m gonna make sure he redas this!

Thanks

[AWPForester]

Real good thread full of advice.  Good luck and God Bless

[Gil Verwey]

Thanks I am glad you found some good stuff here.

As I get this years hunt organized I will post other pictures of equipment and go over what we use and some tips for using some of it, especially the water filters.

Water is another important part of the back country experience and I will give you a few tips that saved us a lot time.

There will be more to come as we move to 2012 Elk heaven. The preparation is part of the fun.

Whether you back pack or base camp, if you go back a few posts and read what my purpose is for this thread, you are doing what I profess. It doesn't matter whether you are elk hunting or squirrel hunting or if you do it for one day or 20 days.

As I go through all of this you will see just how simple it is to do and how little equipment you need to do it.

You will also see that this is no harder to do than the full day hunts you currently do for other types of hunting.

If you hunt deer like me most of the time, I drive to my spot and park, I hike into my hunting area, I hunt all day and I head back to my truck at the end of the day. I drive home and do it again the next day. This hunting is no different than back country elk hunting.

Instead of driving to my spot and parking, I walk to my spot and set up camp. I hike into my hunting area and hunt all day and at the end of the day I head back to my camp instead of heading back to my truck. The difference is instead of heading back home to sleep, I am home when I get back to camp. It is that simple.

In big mountains it is pretty easy to navigate and get around. Physically it is tough, but you can prepare for it and the longer you are out there the easier it gets.

[Steve O]

Great job Gil.  Can't wait to see the big bull (or I would be happy with a cow!) at the end of all the preparation.