Editor’s Note: An elk hunt, especially a mountain elk hunt, is the hunt of a lifetime for many folks. Nothing’s more beautiful than getting above the clouds and looking at the beauty of a mountain range for as far as you can see. However, I wish I had known several things before I went on my first elk hunt that will help you if you’re hiking and/or climbing mountains to reach your elk or mule deer to hunt.

Whether your guide is a professional guide or one of your buddies who thinks he’s a guide, be frank and honest with your guide before you arrive and before you leave camp on the first morning of your hunt. Tell him all your medical conditions, including allergies, physical disabilities, and/or that you’re not in tip-top shape. That information you give to the guide is very important. At the end of the hunt, if you haven’t taken an elk, you don’t want your guide to say, “Well, we could have reached that bull if you’d been in better shape.”

I learned two things from Chad Shearer when I hunted with him in mountainous country. Shearer explained that, “A guide who had been guiding for elk and mule deer for many years told me these two secrets to being a successful guide. Consider your hunter your gun. Without your gun, you can’t harvest a bull elk. Regardless of where the elk or the mule deer is that you want your hunter to take, if you reach the place where the hunter needs to be to take the shot, and you’ve left him behind because he isn’t in shape to get to where you are, then you don’t have your gun to take the elk. Lesson number two is that no matter how big the mule deer or elk is that you want your hunter to take, what you have to decide before you go get that animal is if your hunter will be able to get to where you need to go and have enough time to rest before he takes the shot. If your hunter can’t get to where you’re wanting to go, then find another elk or mule deer that your hunter can reach, and have time to catch his breath after he reaches the spot to take the shot, regardless of the size of the critter.”

When I hunted with Shearer, we had another hunter with us. After I took my mule deer, I went out on the hunt with the other hunter. We saw several nice muleys that anyone would have been proud to take. But Shearer would say, “No, we can’t get to that one.” What he really was saying was that Shearer could get to that muley, but his hunter couldn’t, and that there was no point in torturing the hunter to get to that muley, knowing he might not get there in time to take the shot. Then after Shearer studied another mule deer with his binoculars, he might say, “Okay! Let’s go, we can reach that one.” Smart guides will test your physical condition on the first and/or often on the second day of your elk hunt. They then can make better decisions on where you can hunt, and the bull or buck they may be able to find for you in that area.

So, don’t lie to your guide or the people you’re hunting with about your physical condition and any limiting factors that may cause you not reach the places where the guide wants to take you. Most guides who work for quality outfitters have several different areas where they can take a hunter, and there’s a reasonably-good chance he’ll see or hear the animal he wants to take. The sooner the guide knows about the truth of your physical condition, the quicker and easier he can get you to a place where your chances are greatest for hearing and seeing a bull elk or a high-racked mule deer and being able to get to the animal in time to get the shot.

To learn more about hunting elk successfully, check out John E. Phillips’ book, “Elk: Keys to 23 More Hunters’ Success,” available in a Kindle, print and Audible versions at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09B2H9V6Y/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p5_i2. To learn more about mule-deer hunting, look at John E. Phillips’ book, “Mule Deer Hunter’s Bible,” available in Kindle, print and Audible at https://amzn.to/2Kg62w5.

Also, check out “Bowhunting Deer: The Secrets of the PSE Pros,” now available in Kindle, print and Audible at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BKBKKM9T/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taud_p3_i2 as of mid-October, 2022. You may have to copy and paste these clicks into your browser. When you click on the books, notice on the left where Amazon allows you to read and hear 10% of the books for free. On the right side of the page and below the offer for a free Audible trial, you can click on Buy the Audible with one click.

Tomorrow: Understand the Distance to Elk or