Got my 1st archery bull tag. Need equipment advice

[DUG]

Tell me your hunt stories. What did a typical day of hunting involve? Did you stay out the whole season? Any special gear that helped your hunt? How many miles on foot a day did you cover? Let's hear it!

[KaibabHunter]

Early hunts are long days. Last year HyNoon and I averaged 7-9 miles a day I think with a 0330 wake up and a rough 5 mile ranger ride in, back in camp around 9-10 pm. Chased bugles in the morn, sat wallows mid day or checked new areas for sign, and chased again in the evening or sat a tank. Ended up finding a tank getting hit hard, sat it and he killed his first bull on day 8. Could've killed smaller bulls sooner but passed. I take the whole 2 weeks off to hunt. Mind the wind.

[HuntHarder]

Similar to Kaibabhunter. We get up early, listen for bugles, determine their direction of travel and get considerably ahead of them. Hike in and chase bugles all morning. Usually return to camp for a quick lunch and back in the field around 12:00 - 1:00pm. I sit water, wallows are travel trails almost every afternoon. Get back to camp around 8:00 - 9:00 pm, eat a quickly prepared meal. We like pasta's with pre-cooked meat that we need to just warm up.

[AzDiamondHeat]

You can hunt as hard or as easy as you want and still be "successful". You do have to make the effort to be out in it though. A lot depends on the unit also. If you are trophy hunting, what was said above is dead on. If you just want to kill a bull, it CAN be a lot easier than that. Great advice above regardless.

 

2 years ago I helped out calling for some old guys who couldn't hike very hard or far. Mostly walked roads and hiked plateaus. They all had chances to shoot "good" bulls. They only spent 3-4 hours in the morning "hiking" and then sat water in the afternoon.

 

Best advice I can give is learn to communicate with your calling partner and learn how to setup properly for a good shot when they come in. bad setups ruin a lot of call ins.

 

PRACTICE

 

Good arrow and broadhead and it's a done deal.

 

and have fun. If you can't smile at the end of the day you are doing it wrong.

[AzDiamondHeat]

Oh, and find some large beefy dudes that owe you a favor to pack it out.

 

or shoot it close to a road .....

[HyNoon]

Yes it does depend on your capabilities some and the way you want to hunt , but it was definitely long days, all day out in the field for us like kiabab hunter said , but we actually killed on Day 10 of the hunt. Here's my bull. Ton of help from kh, great hunt , with a great friend.

[Delw]

I liken it to bed fishing for bass with a 5 year old. your going to see a ton of bulls call in a ton of bulls and have an absolute blast. the only problem is getting that perfect shot. sometimes you do sometimes you dont, but it doesnt make any difference cause being out there that time of the year is a blast.

we hunt differently do lots of walking,calling, and glassing till Dad (me)gets tired at about noon then head to camp and back at it at 3 till dark.

we always carry stuff in case we are out very late lots of snacks and a ton of water. In the am I was bringing 2 bottles of water and my daughter bringing 2. now we bring 4-6 each per hike, nothing like looking at a soup green smelly butt cattle pond thinking man this is going to taste good.

one spot we hunt is along a canyon to the end about 8-9 miles then back again. takes us till about noon-2 with a bunch of elk in between both ways.

 

best advice I can give you is bring plenty of water and start scouting now and every weekend you have avail. at the very least just to get familiar with the area. very few people will scout early and wait till 3-4 weeks before only to find out work and house stuff prevents them from getting out. then you end up on the internet doing the escouter thing.

Oh yeah watch for freaking rattle snakes when your out there in sept. not as many as you see while bear hunting but there out there,

[tanclan4]

find an elk, SHOOT!

[Anaconda]

Get a Flatline map.

[wildwoody]

Hope it gets cold with little humidity

[300RUM]

I like to pack light and be very mobile while still having everything I need to stay out all day if necessary. Even if the herd is traveling at a casual pace it can cover lots of ground. They can take you for quite a walk. It is a major adrenaline rush to head out in the dark while they are bugling like crazy and get yourself close so you can begin to stalk at first light. The last bull I got took me 10 days of hard hunting 5 months after recovering from a badly broken ankle. I picked some gentler terrain than I usually hunted and was glad I did. If you intend to chase bugles pick terrain you can move across day after day without beating yourself up to bad.

[DUG]

What about clothes? Did you go wash clothes in town or take enough with you? Do you guys recommend using scent killer spray? Anybody hunt in running shoes?

 

Thanks for all the replies so far!

[AzDiamondHeat]

Some of the guys I know will use sneakeez or whatever on their boots. I tried it once and didn't like it. I am more of a "call them to me" kind of guy rather than a "sneak over to them" guy. If I know I am not hitting the steeps, I will wear trail shoes. My boots are pretty light an agile though.

 

I have plenty of camo that I don;t need to wash them while out, but I do go back home a few times during the hunt and I will wash everything then.

 

Scent spray is a waste of your money. Just my opinion.

[MULEPACKHUNTER]

Clothes I brought my scent free wash stuff and washed them in camp. I brought a few pairs of camo also. I hunt in boots always but my partners wear running shoes. Never had any issues either way.

Typical example day was up at 3 am quick burrito and coffe in the truck the sat still by the truck until we heard bugles then off in the dark to get close.

Of course we hiked in to a few spots in the dark but where we were there were a lot of roads.

Per my partners wishes we went to camp for lunch each day and back out for the evening. Usually got back the the truck well after dark so headlamps and batteries.

Each evening we had pre made meals and replaced our day packs and loaded the truck up. In bed by 9 or sooner and back at it at 3am.

Bring 3 or 4 wind checkers.

Plan on covering a lot of ground to play the wind.

I went into this pocket 4 times scouting and made notes on the wind so we knew where to enter and we got screwed several days and had to hike or drive around to get the wind right.

Also be very sure on what you will do when you have a shot, my buddy passed some bulls in range and we left

Empty. Had a blast but I know he regretted holding off. 9 year wait and he could have killed one or 2 different times.

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