Going on first elk hunt next year

[Rex Bellum]

Will that be enough for a 7 day hunt?

 

[NMframed]

6000 cu ft is more than enough for a seven day hunt and the chance of staying away from the truck for 7 days on your first hunt is minimal, especially if you say you’re going to stay mobile and move if you don’t find elk. Take a smaller day pack with you also. I have a mystery ranch metcalf that I can hunt out of for 5 or 6 days but would rather carry my kuiu 1850 if I’m hunting from the truck.

 

[Rex Bellum]

Thanks for your perspective. A lot of the post I found on here about pack size seemed to indicate 7-8k was ideal for my needs. I only want to buy one pack that can be used for many possibilities. If can do that with less pack, I'm all for it. A few of the Mr packs look good. I've seen people wish they had a bigger pack, but I haven't seen anyone wish for a smaller one. I'll do some more research

 

[AaronMColeman]

I live and hunt in Wyoming. The terrain is tough. I was a runner my whole life. It helped but not as much as I thought. My ”advices”:

- conditioning is key. I do HIIT (high intensity interval training) 20 to 30 min a day. I lost 20lbs this offseason and I can feel it. So I’d do intense training along with running.

on the same line, altitude will kill you and temperature too. Show up as early as you can to acclimate.

- scouting Is key. Again show up early and see if you can find them. It’s frustrating to scout and hunt at the same time.

escouting is great but nothing beats boots on the ground.

- calling can work late. Work on cow calls. Bugles are fun but not super effective late.

- gear don’t go overboard. warm and dry is all you need. A $1500 designer outfit is nice but isn’t necessary.

- shooting practice a lot out to 500y so 350y in the field is easy. I use a cheapy savage 30-06 I paid $600 for. It’s absolutely fine. You don’t need a $3000 ultra mag.

don’t sweat the small stuff. The big stuff to me is conditioning, shooting, and to adequate clothing.

 

[Rex Bellum]

Thanks for advise. Conditioning is a big reason why I'm pushing it back till next year, I want to be as prepared as I can be. The goal is 2 have 2 weeks to be there to able get somewhat acclimated to the elevation and to scout. E scouting is fine but I agree that real world scouting is important. The gear was the big reason I made this post, I don't want to do like you said and chase expensive gear if I don't need to. This was very helpful