What time are you at it in the morning?

[jmorr]

How long before first light do you like to be in position, and how do you know what your position is if you are a ground hunter? We typically camp pretty close to where the elk are so if I go tromping through the woods in the dark with a flashlight on to where I think they will be, there's a pretty good chance I'll blow them out of the county. Until you have the elk pinpointed, how do you position yourself without bumping them, and how much do you use your flashlight? (very thick where I hunt).

[Swede]

I rarely head out before daylight. Usually I am hunting as soon as I leave my pickup. Rarely do I just walk out of camp, because I camp away from where I expect to see elk.
If you head out in the dark, you need to know your area well, as well as the elk and have a plan. Bumping elk while going in is a risk. The risk of bumping out elk needs to be less than the advantage of going being far from your starting location super early. Going in on ridges and upper slope trails is often a bad idea because the diurnal winds will take you scent down to where the elk are likely still feeding. If they scent you, they may leave and you are not even aware you were busted.

[Fridaythe13th]

We hunt out of a base camp also and are all over the board on wake up call. We hit the trail at 5 am and sleep in till 8. Mostly sleeping in the day after the 4am wake up. We don't wake up next to elk and are walking from a 1 mile to 4 miles before we slow down and get the bows ready. But that has backfired before chasing elk to the next drainage as we walk the trail.
It is my vacation and some days my feet are tired and so am I so I sleep in.

[Trophyhill]

Depends on where I'm hunting. Even more importantly, depends on where the elk are in relation to where camp is.

[saddlesore]

If I plan on sitting, I like to be at that location 1/2 hour before light. If I know I have to get into the timber to still hunt,I start in right at first legal shooting light.
I am using in the saddle at 4:30 AM to ride to where I will be hunting for the day.

[BrentLaBere]

Like others have said. It depends on the distance to get there. But I want to be in position to kill an elk when its legal. Not before. I don't use head lamps unless its completely necessary. If its a decent hike, ill get up and have an hour or more to spare just so I dont feel rushed hiking in. No sweating, no huffing and puffing. Quiet and cool walk listening for animals and people. Its pretty simple to understand why the elk dive off in the timber after hunting season opens. Sitting on a mountain top early morning is very easy to pick off hunters making noise and shinning their headlamps everywhere. Not hard to avoid that if you're an elk. And talking too LOUD! I was amazed how clear you can hear people talking up to a mile away.

[saddlesore]

I ride 4-6 miles with a head lamp. Not for the mule , but to keep limbs and such from hitting me in the face. I have used a red headlamp to get into my hunt area from where I leave the mules. Last year, I did so. Sat down and waited for legal shooting hours and watched 15 or so elk. As it got light enough to shoot, I killed a nice bull at 7:15. I have killed four elk from that spot, all using the same tactics.One bull was a bit further away, so it took a few more minutes to grow horns on it.I have done this for quite a few years with the same results

Swinging your head around up and down and flashing the head lamp in all directions is what spooks elk.Keeping it pointed down right in front of you does not. Thrashing around in the timber or brush without one seems to spook them too.

Once I get to the general area I am going to hunt, there are no trails. My experience only YMMV

[>>>---WW---->]

I'm usually on my way to my elk area well before daylight. I don't worry too much about using a walking light so long as I keep it pointed toward the ground in front of me. I never flash it around. Keep it pointed down. If that bothers you, you can always use a red light. Elk are used to seeing lights at night. ( Farm or ranch pole lights, star light, And in some cases even town lights far below on the mountain). Actually, using a light can be a safety issue especially when you think there may be other hunter in the area. We have all heard stories about so called sound shooters, guys that hear a noise in the brush an shoot at it. My biggest concern is working the thermals on my way in.

Looks like saddlesore and I posted at the same time.

[Fridaythe13th]

Funny story. We were walking in 1 morning I would say about day 5 and 1 of the hipper (AAD) guys in our group stop walking and told me their was a person sitting in a tree stand in front of us with his head light on. I look at him and said it was the moon he looked again and said that is for sure a person sitting in his tree stand. Well were are going that way so maybe we well chase the elk that way. Lol. About 5 minutes later as we are not getting any closer to the light he looks back at me and said that must be the moon. Lmao

He needed more sleep it was his 1st year of elk hunting

[elkstalker]

Like many others, it depends. I usually wake up, one cup of coffee, hot oatmeal, get dressed, start hiking. My favorite hunts are spot an stalk, in these cases I'm hiking to a high point or ridge, sometimes 1/2 mike, sometimes 2-3 miles, so I start hiking so I can be there 10 minutes before shooting light. If I'm still hunting the timber or edge of timber, I'll leave the truck at first light and begin hunting immediately.

[7mmfan]

This totally depends for me. If elk are in a known location and I need to be in position to intercept them, I'll be there not long before daylight. Or if glassing for the morning, no sense in making to early of a start just to sit in the dark. However, last year for example, I wanted to hunt a basin that was 5 miles from the truck. We were also camped about 40 minutes from the trailhead. We were up and on the road by 3:30, walking by 4:30 for a 7 am shooting light. Killed my elk at noon, and last load hit the tailgate at 11:00 pm, back to camp at midnight, dinner and in the sack at 1:30. Long day.

[Lefty]

It doesn’t take me long to get dressed and ready to hunt.
Our first set up is often under 300 yards from camp
Since were in grizzly country we don’t leave camp until legal shooting.

When I hunted the desert I would sit in camp and just listen then head out to where I would start glassing with enough time to snack a little before it was light enough to glass so maybe leave 15-30 minutes before I would be glassing

I’ve been known to be in a goose pit at 2:00 AM
I’ve left camp 3 hours before shooting to be in. Position to glass or shoot .
Left home at all hours and rest an hour or two before lst

Now with what I now do and use to do
I’ll camp and sleep near where I’ll start hunting
I no longer have the stamina for those crazy long day hunts