How many days to you devote to an elk trip?

[BuckeyeRifleman]

I’m marking off 11 days on the calendar for this year in WY. Four of that gets soaked up driving. A day of scouting, six days hunting.

I did 11 last year for Montana and felt like it was plenty of time. Filled my elk tag on day two of hunting. Tried to fill my deer tag as well, but by my last day, I was pretty beat and ready to come home.

Year before that (prior to kids) I did 14. We dealt with some really nasty cold weather, but we ended up coming home a day early. I honestly felt like it was too long by a day or two. Just hard to really get after it every day for longer than a week.

I sorta feel like I should try to negotiate with the wife and bump this trip up to 14 given WY is such a hard to get tag these days, but I’m not even sure if my buddy could swing it.

How many days do you normally devote to a hunt?

 

[jimh406]

I guess it depends on how hard you plan to hunt. I can only hunt hard a few days. Intensity impacts time. I’m not my young self though. I can also hunt a few hours every day for pretty much the entire general season. But, that’s not even needing to drive from the house.

I suggest spend the first day or two resting, then hunt, then rest when you get back. My guess is DW won’t mind you resting once you get back, so that should be a focus. However, if you have a place to hangout that’s comfortable, maybe you take a midhunt break. It’s probably something to account for if there is potential bad weather, and for WY that’s always a variable.

 

[Slugz]

As many as you can.
So many variables out of your control. Time spent/planned is one you can control. I know it sounds simple but as many as you can and keep all the family happy.

 

[Huntnnw]

completely dependent on how far the area is from home is it OTC, draw tag or multiple elk tags spreading your time thin. Lotta variables for me. If I draw a good tag its my priority and usually will take the whole hunt off

 

[Indian Summer]

The entire season in units where rifle runs from the 15th to the 25th. The issue is when it starts late in the week like this year. That means missing an entire week of work before the season even starts on a Friday. We have two days of driving on either end. Have to set camp cut/split/stack wood. I need a day to ride up and show a rookie or two the lay of the land and a few bulls. That keeps them from thinking about shooting a cow early in the hunt and gets them started for day 1.

On years like this that means missing 3 weeks of work. When it comes to punching my tag there are no compromises.

 

[HunterJoeMI]

2 full weeks - I am all archery for elk.

 

[cgasner1]

My favorite spot it’s 4 hours door to door when I connect


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[Tpmahler1]

I try to devote at minimum 7 days plus whatever time is strictly for driving. As much as you can because sometimes it take the whole time and others it’s done sooner

 

[Laramie]

3 - 1 - 3 model works pretty well for me coming up in elevation. Hunt 3, take a lazy day, then hunt 3. I still hunt the lazy day but it's usually pretty dang relaxed. 7 days hunting has historically been more than enough on most occasions.

 

[diamond10x]

As long as it takes. I can't stand cutting trips short so I will take off plenty of time to get it done, usually end up getting back and not using all of the days I had blocked for taking off work.

 

[Skerhunter]

When hunting with other tag holders, I try to plan for 3-5 days per hunter. Typically I'm taking 2 weeks off in september.

 

[rambo2345]

Eight to 10 days is usually all I can handle physically.

 

[Poser]

1st rifle is 5 days of hunting. I pack in for 8-10 days.

 

[Dos Perros]

2019: killed on day 4
2020: killed on day 14 or 15, something like that, last day last hour
2021: killed on day 4

Years previous when I wasn't successful I still had opportunities or wounded bulls in 3 or 4 day's time.

Really, my approach is, I'll hunt as long as it takes, and as long as I can.

If you're wanting to base your time on some % chance of killing, Wyoming does publish hunter*days data.

Is your tag a rifle tag?

Why 4 days driving? I'm guessing it's ~24 hours drive, that's one day. If you drive straight through that's two extra days hunting right there.

 

[Z Barebow]

2 weeks. When I obsess about it for the entire year, any less and I feel I cheated.

 

[WeekendWarrior89]

Great thread for first timer trying to plan my trip. I like the 3-1-3 lazy day in middle idea.

 

[Gerbdog]

Depends a lot for me whether im going solo or not. Some dudes are built for solitude for long periods of time, i did a week and a half in the woods solo one time and i dont think ill be doing that again. I've done a week and a half with buddies and its way more manageable. If you ever see me on Alone i'll be leaving after a week and a half when i start talking to chipmunks.

Second thing for me is what kind of time i can get off of work. My hunting spot is only 4 hours from me, so i usually do long weekends, 3-4 days of hunting with trips in the dark on either end to get to and from before/after work.

Other then that, too much variation, those elk can be there in the first hour of the first day and the last hour of the last day, you never know when your opportunity is gonna come up, just be ready and hunt hard while your there.

 

[deerhunt1988]

minimum 2 weeks. ~2-3 days total drive time. have always ended up back home earlier and saved a couple vacation days.

 

[ScottR_EHJ]

It really depends on the hunt. If it is a hard to draw tag well I am hunting for as long as possible. With a couple of recoup days in there. If it is an OTC general tag well that is a different story.

 

[svivian]

Every weekend I can from September 1st through till Thanksgiving plus random days off.