I hope the synopsis of this very brief hunt can be helpful for someone, if not, at least y'all can chuckle at a couple non residents.
A hunting buddy and I went on our first out of state hunt this past week to western Wyoming in search of black bear. Leading up to that point I had done a ton of research on the area we planned to hunt. I thought i knew what to expect for weather and thought I had my gear dialed into what was needed vs what I wanted to bring. Neither of which turned out to be true. We left the from the Dallas area around 2pm Saturday afternoon, it was 103 degrees when we left, and arrived in Laramie, Wy around 0430 the next morning. Tags and snacks were bought; we still had 6+ hours to drive. We finally rolled into the hunting area around 12pm. First stop was at a stream to filter water; at this point it was raining and ~ 50 degrees. Another 20 or so miles in we got to base camp at 8600ft in elevation; rain had stopped at this point. Tents were set up and we headed out for our first hunt. Coming into this trip I knew I was not as in shape as I should be (mistake #1) and hiking uphill at 9k feet had me out of breath pretty quick(flatlander living at about 400ft). We made it about 1.5 miles in that evening when we began to hear thunder and decided to make our way back down to the truck. On the way out it began to rain but I decided against stopping to put my rain jacket on (mistake #2). By the time we got to the truck it was 40 degrees and we were both soaking wet. Back to camp we go. We rushed to get a makeshift shelter up and get a fire started to warm up and dry off. Surprisingly a regular ole blue tarp tied to bed hooks on the truck and guyed out with trekking poles made a half decent shelter with a fire under it. The rain stopped, we changed into dry clothes and decided to call it a day before the sun went down. Being awake for 36+ hours and a couple tylenol PM did the trick that night.
The next morning we awoke to temperatures around freezing and partly cloudy skies. We did lots of glassing in areas that I'm sure didn't hold bears, but this was my first time seeing mountains and I just wanted to soak it all in. Mistake # 3 was not bringing our water filters with us, 2L each was not enough water. By the end of the day we had hiked 8-ish miles, gained 1k+ feet in elevation and I was exhausted. We saw moose, mule deer and heard several bugling elk. Back at camp i used my inreach mini to check the forecast. The next day called for 60% chance of precipitation beginning midday with heavy winter precipitation the next evening/following day at higher elevations. Our original plan was to hunt through Thursday morning, but with the new forecast things weren't looking great and was really going to cut into the 4 days we had to hunt. Unfortunately we did not come prepared for that kind of weather(mistake #4). It was a tough decision, but with how things were looking weather wise, we decided to head home the next morning.
Roughly 15 hours of hunting for 48-ish hours of driving was a hard pill to swallow, but looking back completely worth it. We both learned so much this trip and have a much better idea of what to expect next time. We also got to test out new gear and figured out quite a few things that worked and didn't work. Overall I would call it a success and am already looking forward to donating more money to Wyoming Fish and Game next year. Will definitely invest in a good set of rain gear and probably a tarp to carry with me for next time. Also need to get that cardio in.
Honorable mention of things that worked well:
Sleep system worked great, Seek Outside Silvertip, REI Magma 15 bag and Thermarest xtherm pad. Had Freezing rain the second night and woke up sweating, could easily be comfortable into the low 20's with this set up (i sleep cold).
First Lite Guide pant- These got soaked the first evening but dried out fast.
Stone Glacier sky 6900- kept everything dry inside despite the heavy rain.
Kenetrek Mountain Extreme 400's with gaiters- Feet stayed warm and dry.
Katadin gravity water filter- Lightweight and filtered water significantly faster than my buddy's MSR hand pump filter.
Garmin inreach mini-worked great, was able to stay in touch with wife/family at home and kept us up to date with the weather.
Things that didn't work well:
Being out of shape
Bringing a rain jacket only, and not putting it on when raining
In general not being prepared
A hunting buddy and I went on our first out of state hunt this past week to western Wyoming in search of black bear. Leading up to that point I had done a ton of research on the area we planned to hunt. I thought i knew what to expect for weather and thought I had my gear dialed into what was needed vs what I wanted to bring. Neither of which turned out to be true. We left the from the Dallas area around 2pm Saturday afternoon, it was 103 degrees when we left, and arrived in Laramie, Wy around 0430 the next morning. Tags and snacks were bought; we still had 6+ hours to drive. We finally rolled into the hunting area around 12pm. First stop was at a stream to filter water; at this point it was raining and ~ 50 degrees. Another 20 or so miles in we got to base camp at 8600ft in elevation; rain had stopped at this point. Tents were set up and we headed out for our first hunt. Coming into this trip I knew I was not as in shape as I should be (mistake #1) and hiking uphill at 9k feet had me out of breath pretty quick(flatlander living at about 400ft). We made it about 1.5 miles in that evening when we began to hear thunder and decided to make our way back down to the truck. On the way out it began to rain but I decided against stopping to put my rain jacket on (mistake #2). By the time we got to the truck it was 40 degrees and we were both soaking wet. Back to camp we go. We rushed to get a makeshift shelter up and get a fire started to warm up and dry off. Surprisingly a regular ole blue tarp tied to bed hooks on the truck and guyed out with trekking poles made a half decent shelter with a fire under it. The rain stopped, we changed into dry clothes and decided to call it a day before the sun went down. Being awake for 36+ hours and a couple tylenol PM did the trick that night.
The next morning we awoke to temperatures around freezing and partly cloudy skies. We did lots of glassing in areas that I'm sure didn't hold bears, but this was my first time seeing mountains and I just wanted to soak it all in. Mistake # 3 was not bringing our water filters with us, 2L each was not enough water. By the end of the day we had hiked 8-ish miles, gained 1k+ feet in elevation and I was exhausted. We saw moose, mule deer and heard several bugling elk. Back at camp i used my inreach mini to check the forecast. The next day called for 60% chance of precipitation beginning midday with heavy winter precipitation the next evening/following day at higher elevations. Our original plan was to hunt through Thursday morning, but with the new forecast things weren't looking great and was really going to cut into the 4 days we had to hunt. Unfortunately we did not come prepared for that kind of weather(mistake #4). It was a tough decision, but with how things were looking weather wise, we decided to head home the next morning.
Roughly 15 hours of hunting for 48-ish hours of driving was a hard pill to swallow, but looking back completely worth it. We both learned so much this trip and have a much better idea of what to expect next time. We also got to test out new gear and figured out quite a few things that worked and didn't work. Overall I would call it a success and am already looking forward to donating more money to Wyoming Fish and Game next year. Will definitely invest in a good set of rain gear and probably a tarp to carry with me for next time. Also need to get that cardio in.
Honorable mention of things that worked well:
Sleep system worked great, Seek Outside Silvertip, REI Magma 15 bag and Thermarest xtherm pad. Had Freezing rain the second night and woke up sweating, could easily be comfortable into the low 20's with this set up (i sleep cold).
First Lite Guide pant- These got soaked the first evening but dried out fast.
Stone Glacier sky 6900- kept everything dry inside despite the heavy rain.
Kenetrek Mountain Extreme 400's with gaiters- Feet stayed warm and dry.
Katadin gravity water filter- Lightweight and filtered water significantly faster than my buddy's MSR hand pump filter.
Garmin inreach mini-worked great, was able to stay in touch with wife/family at home and kept us up to date with the weather.
Things that didn't work well:
Being out of shape
Bringing a rain jacket only, and not putting it on when raining
In general not being prepared
