Let's see, I killed an elk in Montana several years ago 4 miles from the end of a road. The 29" 8x7 mule deer that I shot (mentioned on the Colorado high country hunt thread that you posted on) was over 5 miles from the truck and we were totally backpacking that hunt. Killed him at timberline at 11,000 ft. That was a great hunt! Last year I hunted elk with a blackpowder over 4 miles from my truck in Colorado but was unsuccessful, and next fall I will be doing a southwestern Colorado bow hunt for elk. That will be a swap hunt, so I don't know exactly how far we will be in, but lets just say that my swap friends say we will be going where 99% of the hunters don't go, so it should be an interesting hunt also. Out of the last 8 years, I have hunted elk 7 times and mule deer once and killed 4 elk and 1 mulie. And for the record, all of these animals were taken on public land. So yes, I believe I do have some experience in the type of hunt you are talking about. None of which has anything to do with this thread.