Backpack Elk

[GregB]

Trying to do a solo hunt backpack hunt in Idaho next year and looking for any advice on good units to try. I’ve read a ton of posts and understand people are everywhere and requires a lot of time to figure it out. Just looking for anyone that might know hard to access spots. Interested in hiking in up to 15 miles if need be. Can email me at [email protected] is that’s easier. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

So you just joined the forum today and want people to tell you where to hunt? On top of that you are planning on packing in 15 miles and going another 15 from there. Even with friends and doing it in one trip that is 60 miles 30 of it loaded. I don't think you have thought this through.

 

[307]

Does your blue ox have some sort of pack saddle to help get the elk out?

 

[Farrisryan3]

Just packed in and out 10 miles one way and it was rough. I consider myself in good shape and it’s was still very very difficult. The mountains in Idaho are very deceiving. Packing a elk 10+ miles would horrible with a full pack. Better b in excellent shape. Good luck hunting.


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[Team4LongGun]

Sorry, you’re missing something. Getting an elk out with a couple friends 15 miles in isn’t happening without stock.

Young guys in great shape can push into the 5-7 mile range for packouts. Some country would prevent that. Idaho is rugggged country. Anything over 10 miles without stock is just getting ridiculous for guys who aren’t world class athletes.

Spot on. Heed this advice!

 

[Wrench]

How much vert can you pull with 80# in 4 hours? If your answer is less that unlimited. ....you my want to revisit your qualifications for advice. Lots claim to put in 1500' a day only to have their bubble popped when they learn it was only 600.

In 15 miles, unless you hunt the desert floor.....you're in for some painful vert. The problem is 5 trips x 15 miles is 150 miles.....sounds unrealistic to me.

But I've only killed 20 sum elk.

 

[cnelk]

I think he's jerkin your chain guys.

 

[fatlander]

Serious question. . How’d you get a moose out 15+ miles deep on foot? I would say the mountains are way steeper in real life than they seem on the map or google, but I’m sure you already know that.


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[kiddogy]

That’s really where my question comes in. Everything I see isn’t even big enough to go that deep without hitting another road. Trying to find out if there’s any places that it’s even possible.

the church

 

[Newtosavage]

I was just joking. Seriously, though, how would you get a bull back to the truck if you're backpacked in 15 miles by yourself?

This is really the point. A lot of us "could" go in 15 miles (if it was possible, but it isn't) but then you gotta start counting miles that add up when you are packing out meat - AND consider how you're going to care for that meat in the meantime.

So, let's say it was possible for you to go in 15 miles... (you can't, but let's just say you can)

15 mi. in
5 mi./day hunting x 3 days = 15 mi.
kill an elk and pack out a quarter = 15 mi.
hike back in = 15 mi.
pack out another quarter = 15 mi.
hike back in = 15 mi.
pack out both shoulders = 15 mi.
hike back in = 15 mi.
pack out head and cape = 15 mi.
hike back in = 15 mi.
pack out camp.

Grand total = 150 miles in 6 days, half of which you'll have 50+ lbs on your back.

I hope for your sake your name is Clark Kent.

 

[Poser]

So, I actually hiked in right about 15 miles leading up to 1st rifle season this year. I didn’t have to. My partner, who went in a couple of days earlier, only hiked a handful of miles from another TH. I mainly wanted to go that way to do some additional scouting for possible backup locations. It was 15 miles of well established trail, a good chunk of which was cruiser, with the ~1700 feet of elevation in steep rollers. From there, we went off piste for 2 miles and Our packout ended up being about 4.5 miles or so.

With that said, even if there is a moderate trail that runs 15 miles in a direction that still leaves you 15 miles from the nearest TH, you’re not going to pack an elk+ camp and hunting gear out by yourself. Also, if that trail exists, there will be hunters on horseback. For context, many of the very fastest Thru hikers in the Rocky Mtns, say the CO Trail or the Continental Divide trail cover around 20-25 miles a day. These are skin and bones hikers carrying sub 20lbs backpacks. The average on these trails is more like 10-15 miles a day. You’re not going to do that with 100# loads. You might do 5 miles and feel like you did 15 miles. Off trail can be extremely slow. We have an off trail area we sometimes hunt that is only about 1.5 miles and a little under 2,000 feet climb from the nearest trail. We’ve made that journey a dozen times and tried every variation to shorten the trip and make it less cumbersome and it’s a solid 4 hours each way. That’s about an 1/8th mile an hour. You’re not going to pack an elk out 15 miles on foot on or off trail unless you have a group of at least 4 people dedicated to the task. 15 miles is an arbitrary number and, unless you have very reliable friends in great shape who have schedules that allow them to drop what they are doing and make a 30 mile round trip hike, I wouldn’t rely on help because that’s asking for a HUGE favor. I have exactly a pool of 1 friend that I would rely on for such a feat. Let this idea go and formulate a new plan: it’s not realistic, such an option may not even exist, and it’s not going to happen.

 

[UpNorth89]

I'd like to see all of these areas where you can pack in 15 miles or even 10 for that matter without being closer to the other side. From my observations you don't need to go very far to get away from people and see animals. I just got back from Idaho in a general area and found that if you got out of a vehicle or off of an ATV you already out hiked 95% of the people.

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[chops24]

The more and more i read this i feel like this guy has to be a troll, but it does make for a useful thread for other people doing research on backpack hunting. i just off the top of my head thought of one of the most remote places i regularly hunt an it looks like 22 miles can be done to the next road but F THAT NOISE!

 

[JG358]

those 15 miles gonna be uphill both ways in 3' of snow?

 

[wyosam]

The more and more i read this i feel like this guy has to be a troll, but it does make for a useful thread for other people doing research on backpack hunting. i just off the top of my head thought of one of the most remote places i regularly hunt an it looks like 22 miles can be done to the next road but F THAT NOISE!

But that means you can only get 11 miles in, then you start getting closer to the other side.


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[Poser]

those 15 miles gonna be uphill both ways in 3' of snow?

The real question is:
ears inside our outside of your flat brim hat?

 

[Newtosavage]

But that means you can only get 11 miles in, then you start getting closer to the other side.


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Excactly.

I wonder what the furthest one can actually get from a road would be in the lower 48. On public land. I can think of some places on private land in W. Texas that are probably more remote, but for the sake of discussion, what would be the most remote (from a road) point in the lower 48?

I figured the Frank Church Wilderness would be it, and maybe it is, so long as you don't count airplane landing strips as roads. LOL

 

[wjruss]

Excactly.

I wonder what the furthest one can actually get from a road would be in the lower 48. On public land. I can think of some places on private land in W. Texas that are probably more remote, but for the sake of discussion, what would be the most remote (from a road) point in the lower 48?

I figured the Frank Church Wilderness would be it, and maybe it is, so long as you don't count airplane landing strips as roads. LOL

Google says 22 miles.

 

[Newtosavage]

Where?

 

[wjruss]

"The only place you can be 22 miles away from road in the contiguous states is a spot in the southeast corner of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming."

 

[KHNC]

Most of the elk in the west are only 12 miles in, not 15, so you should be ok.