Opening Day Guide
- Thread starter BangBang
- Start date
Annihilator
Emissary
Good article and good link.
Here's my opening day gear guide.
Rocky Mountain big game hunting is hard work. It becomes geometrically harder as you gain elevation.
Big game animals become massive when you walk up to them. At your feet is all hard work.
The most sure way of screwing up a Rocky Mountain big game hunt is to kill a huge deer or elk. You kill it, you get it out. Killing a really big head of big game is all hard work. Hence, it's very importable to think before shooting. "If I kill that beast, how the heck am I gonna get it out?"
While I've never let very hard work stop me from dropping a hammer on an animal for which I had a tag and it met my expectations, I have expanded by bad word vocabulary getting animals out of remote, dense locations. I've had to hit confessionals after moving dead big game.
This year, I past on a small mule deer buck. If I'm going to endure hard work and pain of getting a buck back to camp, he darn well better be worth my effort and pain.
Here's what I've learned the painful way:
it's a good idea to know of an outfitter who'll get really large animals (elk, moose) out for you. $500, even a grand is cheap compared to sustaining permanent injury.
Carry blaze orange tape to mark location of animals.
GPS location your trophy.
Carry canvas game bags.
An external frame backpack is wise for deer-size game.
Use a Havalon. Carry a suitable container for used blades.
I'm sold on quartering animals. Know your game laws reference edible meat.
Pulleys and parachute cord are good ideas if game has to be hoisted to protect it from marauding thieves (coyotes).
A flashlight if you have to leave at night and return in the am.
During a 2014 trophy bull elk hunt, I was almost certain that I was gonna spend the night at 9000+ feet elevation, in remote wilderness, to protect my trophy bull elk. My guide returned around 9:00 pm with his cavalry to quarter that massive beast. We didn't feather until around 1:00 am.
Have a blast, but do not sustain injuries. No big game animal is worth permanent injuries.
If you kill it, you gotta get it out.
Success to all during the 2020 big game season.
Rocky Mountain big game hunting is hard work. It becomes geometrically harder as you gain elevation.
Big game animals become massive when you walk up to them. At your feet is all hard work.
The most sure way of screwing up a Rocky Mountain big game hunt is to kill a huge deer or elk. You kill it, you get it out. Killing a really big head of big game is all hard work. Hence, it's very importable to think before shooting. "If I kill that beast, how the heck am I gonna get it out?"
While I've never let very hard work stop me from dropping a hammer on an animal for which I had a tag and it met my expectations, I have expanded by bad word vocabulary getting animals out of remote, dense locations. I've had to hit confessionals after moving dead big game.
This year, I past on a small mule deer buck. If I'm going to endure hard work and pain of getting a buck back to camp, he darn well better be worth my effort and pain.
Here's what I've learned the painful way:
it's a good idea to know of an outfitter who'll get really large animals (elk, moose) out for you. $500, even a grand is cheap compared to sustaining permanent injury.
Carry blaze orange tape to mark location of animals.
GPS location your trophy.
Carry canvas game bags.
An external frame backpack is wise for deer-size game.
Use a Havalon. Carry a suitable container for used blades.
I'm sold on quartering animals. Know your game laws reference edible meat.
Pulleys and parachute cord are good ideas if game has to be hoisted to protect it from marauding thieves (coyotes).
A flashlight if you have to leave at night and return in the am.
During a 2014 trophy bull elk hunt, I was almost certain that I was gonna spend the night at 9000+ feet elevation, in remote wilderness, to protect my trophy bull elk. My guide returned around 9:00 pm with his cavalry to quarter that massive beast. We didn't feather until around 1:00 am.
Have a blast, but do not sustain injuries. No big game animal is worth permanent injuries.
If you kill it, you gotta get it out.
Success to all during the 2020 big game season.