Summary in Short: Elk hunting requires both physical and mental preparation, as it involves long hikes, steep terrain, heavy packs, and challenging conditions. Hunters should train for endurance and strength while also practicing shooting accurately from realistic field positions rather than relying only on benchrest accuracy. Thorough preparation is also important, including researching the terrain, weather, gear, safety concerns, logistics, and guides. Most importantly, success should not be measured only by harvesting a trophy elk, but by appreciating the experience, challenge, time outdoors and the opportunity to bring home quality meat.
1. Physical Fitness Is Essential
I grew up hunting whitetails in the Midwest, and while I thought I was in “elk shape” on my first western hunt, I quickly learned that chasing elk at high elevation requires an entirely different level of fitness. You’ll likely hike for hours, oftentimes at high elevation, and many of trails you’ll follow are filled with deadfall and uneven rocks. If you’re fortunate enough to fill your tag, the real work starts.
I don’t say any of this to scare you away from hunting elk or to indicate that you must train like an Army Ranger in order to fill your tag. You should, however, be in the best physical shape possible. That means regular cardio and weightlifting routines, and you may want to toss in some plyometrics and stretching as well. Just don’t sit still. My back, arms, and chest are sore after a successful elk hunt, but it’s my legs and lower back that really scream in agony. There are lots of elk hunting workout routines, but they should include walking with a pack and hiking uphill until your quads are burning. If you’re in good physical condition you’ll be able to hunt harder, and you’ll enjoy the elk hunting experience far more if you aren’t sucking wind after day one.
2. You Have to Be Mentally Tough, Too
A good cardio routine and replacing dessert with an apple will help you achieve the level of physical fitness required, but elk hunting is a mental game. For starters, there’s a good chance you won’t be in elk every day, and I can tell you from experience that crawling out of a warm sleeping bag into the cold morning air isn’t particularly appealing if you’ve been hunting for a week and haven’t heard a bugle. The reality, though, is that many elk hunters give up when the going gets hard and they aren’t successful early in the hunt. Guides talk about this mental fatigue frequently and develop tactics for pepping up a hunter who has just about reached their mental limits. Your outlook and attitude impact your enjoyment, but remaining focused and hunting hard may also lead you to success late in the hunt.
The mental gymnastics really start when you’re butchering and packing out an elk. All the elation you feel when you find your elk down may fade away when you have to pack that third quarter up a steep mountain under the cover of darkness. Elk hunting is hard work, and you must—as my military friends say—be comfortable being uncomfortable. That’s part of the process. Sometimes elk hunting is easy. More often it’s a tough process that requires a lot of heavy lifting and work. When you appreciate the effort involved, you’ll begin to make wiser decisions. Perhaps you won’t decide to haul out two quarters at once trying to impress your buddies. The key, though, is understanding and accepting that elk hunting can be a tough way to fill your freezer.
3. Being Able to Shoot in the Field Is More Important Than Benchrest Accuracy
Modern centerfire rifles are marvelous, and advances in materials and machining make them very accurate. But I get a bit concerned when I listen to someone tell me how well their rifle shoots from the bench, but they haven’t spent time learning to shoot from field positions.
I’ve spent a fair amount of time in elk country, but I’ve never seen a benchrest in the wilderness. Sometimes you get lucky and you have ample time to set up on your pack and shoot the animal. More often you’ll be out of breath, short on time and unable to find a nice, secure surface from which to shoot.
If you can’t find a secure rest you’ll have to build one, and there are some tricks that can help you. First, my elk rifle wears a bipod, but I never count on being able to use my bipod because the angle of the shot and terrain features may preclude it. If possible, I carry a light squeeze bag that I can throw on a rock to stabilize the front of my rifle or slip under the buttstock for a second point of stabilization while using my pack or bipod. If you’re kneeling or standing, a stable rest under the elbow of your shooting arm helps a lot, but I’ve found that the vice-style tripods used by many shooters are simply too heavy to carry up a mountain. I shot my last elk using 4 Stable Sticks while standing and they worked beautifully. They’re also light and double as a de facto trekking pole.
The moral of the story is that you need to be able to shoot accurately from a variety of positions. A field shooting course like the ones taught at FTW Ranch and Gunsite help greatly, and entering a few NRL hunter matches will teach you a great deal about building stable shooting rests in the field. It’s far better than carrying a benchrest while elk hunting.
4. Do Your Homework
Once you’ve drawn your elk tag or booked your hunt, it’s time to start ironing out details. When you aren’t performing squats or practicing shooting from field positions take some time to learn as much information as possible about the upcoming hunt. Study the terrain, look at weather trends, and identify water sources and land boundaries. You’ll probably pack very differently for an elk hunt in the Glass Mountains of Texas than you will for a Wyoming backcountry hunt, but you need to prepare for success well ahead of time.
Speaking of packing, let’s sort out the stuff that you really need from what you can do without. You’ll need emergency supplies and perhaps a GPS. If you’re deep in the backcountry, a satellite phone is worthwhile, and if you’re successful you need gloves, game bags, and a good knife with extra blades or a sharpening tool. Do grizzlies roam where you hunt? If so, do you know how to avoid confrontations and how to prevent losing your camp larder to these large carnivores?
You’ll also need to consider logistics. Are you driving to the hunt and, if not, what are you going to do with the meat, cape and antlers? I’ve stumbled into some pretty sketchy meat processors early in my elk hunting career simply because I didn’t call ahead to see who does good work. If you’re on a guided hunt the guide should be able to help walk you through all this, but you may have to ask them directly.
Speaking of guides, I’d encourage you to do your homework when selecting a guide. Don’t believe everything you read on the web and check references. There are lots of great elk guides, and they’ll do their dead-level best to find you a good bull. However, there are also swindlers who care very little about your experience once the check clears.
5. Redefine Success
My intention with the information above was not to dissuade anyone from hunting elk. On the contrary, elk hunting is one of life’s greatest experiences and I have enjoyed my time in the mountains immensely. You’ll enjoy it more, though, if you’re prepared for the realities of the hunt.
I recommend that you consider the requirements of a “successful” hunt, too. If killing a bull elk is the definition of success then I have failed far more than I have succeeded. If killing a trophy bull is the yardstick buy which you measure success I have failed even more frequently. Poor is the hunter who measures his experiences by inches of antler. Guides and outfitters know that they’ve got a problem when a hunter demands a bull of a certain size.
Instead, enjoy your time in the wilderness and appreciate the entire experience. Being cold and saddle sore isn’t fun (especially when you can’t find elk) but it’s part of the hunt. For me, filling the freezer with fresh elk meat is a major benefit because I have a source of lean, healthy protein to feed my family. If you do your homework, select a quality guide or outfitter, and prepare mentally and physically, you’ve done everything possible to make your hunt productive. You may or may not tag an elk, but the experience will be one that you’ll never forget.
