Get fit, take the right gear, be safe, shoot straight.

Elk hunting is strenous, but it is not running a marathon either. It helps if you have been in the mountains and have some familiarity with what you will be up against -- climbing steep hills with less oxygen available. For first rifle season generally the elk will be up high -- close to timberline -- say between 10000' and 12000'. Just to put a precise figure on it, say at 11000' in Colorado. With heavy snows the elk will be pushed down out of the mountains and public lands to lower, flatter ground usually privately owned. Work on aerobic conditioning and also strength conditioning. The aerobic conditioning is to develop stamina and endurance -- the ability to hunt all day long for 5 days straight. The strength exercises should focus on your legs: squats, lunges, and other leg exercises. Climb the stairs at work if that is possible. Wear weights on your ankles and repeatedly lift your legs up so your knees are as high as you can lift them -- say 60 repetitions with each leg for one set and do three sets. Sit-ups. Laying on your stomach and arching your back to hold your upper chest and lower legs off the ground for 60 seconds to 120 seconds is a good exercise. Work into your execise routine slowly, don't overdo on the front end. An injury may sideline you for 6 weeks -- like a calf muscle pull. Manage your diet. If you need to lose weight, do that. In either case, make sure you get enough protein.

You can encounter a wide range of weather while elk hunting. This being the case, plan to wear layers of clothes so you can shed and put-on clothes as needed. I like an inner layer of wicking fabric such as polypropylene -- long underwear bottoms and long sleeved polypropylene top. My second layer is wool -- army surplus wool trousers (M-51 medium weight wool trousers can be bought for about $20-$30 per pair and are very well suited to high mountain elk hunting) and Pendleton wool shirt. You can buy Pendleton wool shirts on line for about $20-$30. Wool retains much of its warmth when wet, it is silent when walking through the woods, and it dries out quickly. I like a heavy wool vest as an insulative layer over the shirt when it gets colder. Mine is a Filson vest that cost $110 new. Maybe you can find something less expensive. I also have a wind proof/water proof hooded parka that goes over all this. This outfit keeps me warm to about 20+ degrees fahrenheit when I'm sitting still. If you are walking, I would guess this would be good down to 0 degrees. I do not bother to try to prepare for hunting at below 0 degrees -- if it is that cold I'll probably be back in the tent. My parka is strictly speaking an anorak -- a pull-over with no front zipper or buttons. This does work for me -- but it is a pain in the butt to pull on or to pull off. I guess it has some theoretical warmth advantages. Have a good warm head cover, both for hunting and for use when sleeping in your tent. I like a balaclava, aka "ski mask." Have good hunting boots. I like Meindle Perfekt Hunters. There are other suitable elk hunting boots available. Make sure yours are broken in and fit your feet well. Take extra socks. I use an innner thin sock of wicking material -- polypropylene for example -- and a heavy outer sock such as wool. You may consider taking a rain suit so you can hunt in the rain. On the other hand, you may just choose to hang out in the tent on a rainy day. Have good cutlery. Most people recommend taking two sharp knives, stout knives. I recommend the Wyoming Saw for cutting bone, such as cutting through heavy shin bones to cut off hooves. Have sunglasses and sun screen. If you have to spend much time out in the daylight in snow fields you will be glad you have both, particularly the sunglasses. Did I say don't forget your sunglasses? Take lipbalm. Take some toilet paper. Take a GPS. It doesn't have to be an expensive, fancy GPS. I think you can get good service from a simple Etrex at about $120. This will work to enter waypoints (your camp, your hunting spot, your kill, where you stopped for lunch, etc). When you want to find your way back to -- camp, kill spot, lunch spot -- you just tell the GPS to find the subject waypoint. This simple GPS can also tell you your altitude, the time of sunrise and sunset at your location, how far to your favorite bar (if you enter that as a waypoint), and other useful information. Of course, if you invest in a more sophisticated GPS you can display topographical maps on your GPS and even roast a guinea hen if you so desire. Depending on where you are meeting your outfitter, you may wish to have tire chains or tire cables for your vehicle. Also, you might consider using a four wheel drive vehicle. If your outfitter is picking you up at 5000' and packing you in on horses, these considerations may be irrelevant.

Be safe. Be careful walking. When trees or saplings fall over downhill and get covered up with snow they make for excellent foot-slides. Watch out carrying heavy loads: you can blow out a knee very easily when you slide on a piece of snow or a patch of mud and put a sudden load on a knee that is located in an awkward position. When using your knife, take care, particularly after you get tired and/or cold.

Practice with your rifle so you know your limits. You don' thave to be able to drop your elk at 1000 yards. You don't have to drop your elk at 400 yards. You don't even need to drop your elk at 200 yards. Learn where your limits are and don't shoot beyond them. I'm, comfortable shooting at 200 yards. Under the right conditions I might be comfortable shooting elk at 300 yards (good rest, physically rested, not out of breath, not too much coffee, etc.), but then it might be a question whether my .30-06 has the umph at 300 yards. The elk I killed in 2009 was shot at about 75 yards, and there weren't any problems with limitations of either my shooting capabilities or my .30-06 180 grain bullet. If possible, check your rifle's sighting once in your elk camp. Probably sight your rifle to shoot about 3" high at 100 yards.

You should find out when your outfitter will be checking in with you and make sure of what he provides and what you need to provide. Is there a canvas wall tent? A heater? Does he provide cut firewood or is that on you? What about food and water? Will he pack out your meat? How often does he come by to packout meat? How do you get your meat from your hunting area back home?