Josh: My first post was directed to the "get you there and back safely" elements of elk hunting. I'll now talk a little about shooting an elk. My knowledge on this subject is limited, and in my first elk hunt this past October -- a solo do-it-yourself hunt in Colorado first rifle season in unit 75 -- I did not even see an elk. I'm not an expert. Others know more than I do, obviously. I still have a few comments I'll share with you.

Have a plan. Have a back-up plan. Having a back-up to the back-up plan might be wise. I had a plan but no back-up plan. By noon opening day I was flushed out of my plan and left to improvise for the remainder of the hunt.My plan had been to backpack into a wilderness area and hunt about 2 miles in, thereby to avoid the pressure of hunters who won't stray far from their vehicles and yet not as deep in as outfitters and horse enabled hunters are liabel to hunt. There was a substantial amount of snow on the ground when I arrived at the trailhead at 11,400', and heavy snow began falling about 4 AM opening morning and continued all that day. I decided I didn't want to risk getting snowed in by staying overnight, so by noon I began packing out my camp. I had pre-scouted a segment of the wilderness area, but now I was stuck staying in a hotel in Durango, Colorado, driving up into the mountains, parking my truck, and hunting unscouted areas from the road. This was a low probability of success activity.

You can't know in advance what the weather conditions will be during your hunt and the weather conditions may change over the course of your hunt. Thus, your plan should be flexible enough to adopt to changing conditions. Snow is an issue. Heavy snow may push the elk down the mountain. Maybe more importantly, heavy snow may affect your ability to hunt the elk and force you to hunt lower on the mountain in a place that has less snow. Food availability and water availability can effect your hunt.

It seems most people think the best strategy is before first light to get onto a high place with good visibility into the surrounding country. At first light be glassing to find elk. When you spot elk, then you divise a plan for approaching them by stealth, bearing in mind that they are liable to finish eating soon and go into the forest to bed. To support this activity, you should have located several such good glassing spots before the season starts, for example by having gone to your hunting area in July or August and scouting. Have such good glassing spots picked out at several different altitudes on the mountain, so you can adjust to snow conditions if need be. Also, it may be that other hunters may beat you to a location, so you may need back-ups in case some other hunter takes your plan A location. Find the elk, using your eyes, for example aided by binoculars. Then you hunt them.

Some elk hunters who know a particular area perfectly can predict in advance where the elk will be, how they will respond to typical hunter pressure opening morning, and station themselves and their crew advantageously to ambush the elk as the opening day hunters push the elk. That requires deep, lengthy experience of the hunting ground which you almost certainly will NOT have on your first do-it-yourself elk hunt. This can be the situation, however, if you hook up with an outfitter/guide. If you have the $$$ hunting elk with an outfitter/guide has a lot of advantages.

When I went on my hunt there was fresh snow just about every day. I saw lots of elk tracks in fresh snow; a bedding spot one day; a fresh rub one day: I knew I was where elk generally were hanging out. I just did not see the elk. One morning there was super heavy snow falling which stopped sharply at 10 AM. I left a clearing I had been watching and began climbing up a ridge looking to cross some elk tracks. I found some and was excited because they could have been no older than 30 minutes, given how heavy the snow had come down and when it stopped. I followed them up with dispatch, but never saw the elk. Some have told me that if you follow tracks to rapidly the elk know you are back there and keep ahead of you; if you move more slowly they will move more slowly and maybe let you get within 100 yards where you can get a shot. I don't know. I just know that while I always got excited about seeing elk tracks and followed them, I suspect that this was an unproductive, nieve tactic.

Talk to experienced elk hunters. Ask them what hunting tactics work for elk. You will want a relatively flat shooting rifle of .30 caliber or larger. Almost everyone agrees the .30-06 shooting 180 grain bullets is adequate for elk; some like bigger medicine such as .338 Winchester Magnum, .300 Winchester Magnum, .300 Weatherby Magnum. When you start talking about using .270 shooting 150 grain bullets, then the disputes begin -- some saying they personally have killed a gazillion elk with this load, others saying they have seen hard hit elk escape after being hit with this load. Take a powerful flat shooting rifle with a quality rifle scope. Have scope covers to keep out the heavy snow until just before you are ready to take your shot.

Hope this helps. Though I failed in my do-it-yourself elk hunt, it was extremely satisfying to me. It was the toughest hunting I've ever done. The scenery was beautiful. My only disappointment was that I knew I was at a big disadvantage not having any good plan in place after I got kicked out of my Plan A.