Mike from MO
FNG
Hey all, been lurking for months as every elk-related google I have done seems to lead to the rokslide forums 
Relatively new to hunting, I'm an "adult onset hunter" as I heard it referred to on one of Randy Newberg's videos--I'm 37 years old and no one in my family has ever hunted. I got into whitetails 3 seasons ago via a good friend who invited me to deer camp and was immediately hooked.
Anyway...3 years later and I am now planning my first elk hunt for 2020 season. Started planning a few months ago, a DIY in CO, first season rifle, with a good friend that I know we are compatible (will also be his first elk hunt). While some may caution not to bite off too much, too soon I will say I am fanatical about research/scouting, and fitness, and also have experience hiking/camping (just never done it with the intention of killing something before). Also, despite being from MO I have spent significant time in CO and know how to adjust and handle altitude.
From what I've gathered so far, inability/unwillingness to cover rough terrain seems to be the consensus #1 reason people fail on their elk hunts, with lack of planning/scouting the frequent #2 reason. I/we will have those two issues covered in spades, so any failure to fill our tags will be just bad luck or bad hunting on our part.
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone's collective wisdom and knowledge-sharing. I have already benefited immensely and expect to continue to do so over the future as I prepare for this, and other hunts. Also, I need to get to 10 posts so I can start kopping stuff from the classifieds
I plan to make a number of posts in the fitness forum, if anyone is interested, as I see a lot of well-intentioned but misguided info about the best way to get in shape for backcountry hunting.
Cheers!
Mike from MO
Relatively new to hunting, I'm an "adult onset hunter" as I heard it referred to on one of Randy Newberg's videos--I'm 37 years old and no one in my family has ever hunted. I got into whitetails 3 seasons ago via a good friend who invited me to deer camp and was immediately hooked.
Anyway...3 years later and I am now planning my first elk hunt for 2020 season. Started planning a few months ago, a DIY in CO, first season rifle, with a good friend that I know we are compatible (will also be his first elk hunt). While some may caution not to bite off too much, too soon I will say I am fanatical about research/scouting, and fitness, and also have experience hiking/camping (just never done it with the intention of killing something before
). Also, despite being from MO I have spent significant time in CO and know how to adjust and handle altitude. From what I've gathered so far, inability/unwillingness to cover rough terrain seems to be the consensus #1 reason people fail on their elk hunts, with lack of planning/scouting the frequent #2 reason. I/we will have those two issues covered in spades, so any failure to fill our tags will be just bad luck or bad hunting on our part.
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone's collective wisdom and knowledge-sharing. I have already benefited immensely and expect to continue to do so over the future as I prepare for this, and other hunts. Also, I need to get to 10 posts so I can start kopping stuff from the classifieds
I plan to make a number of posts in the fitness forum, if anyone is interested, as I see a lot of well-intentioned but misguided info about the best way to get in shape for backcountry hunting.
Cheers!
Mike from MO
