Picking days to hunt

Which days would you pick


  • Total voters
    31
Flying used to scare me for hunting and now that I've done it 3 times going to Alaska, I'm way less scared. However, my experience each time has been with Alaska airlines and if there is one airline that knows a thing or two about flying hunters, I'd like to think its them. The people we deal with all seem to get it.

Get soft coolers for your carry ons. We stuff 50-60# of meat in those bad boys.
Might do that. My young cousin is going with probably just buy some Coleman extremes at Walmart and either gift them to him or sell on marketplace for half price when I get back.
 
Might do that. My young cousin is going with probably just buy some Coleman extremes at Walmart and either gift them to him or sell on marketplace for half price when I get back.
You will be able to take more advantage of this packing than us having 3 people rather than 2. Not sure what airline you are going and the baggage rates but if we can do 2 bears, 31 crabs, 2 bear hides and 2 bear skulls, one elk should be a piece of cake :)

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21 hours of straight through driving would suck. But my experience is airlines also suck : Landed in Utah for an elk hunt to begin the following day - my rifle was finally located in NYC. Landed in Montreal on my was home from a hunt- my rifle was finally located in Los Vegas. Loaded three coolers full of elk and mule deer on a plane in Durango Colorado. The coolers arrived at my home destination 5 days later … EMPTY !!!!! My new top- of-the-line LL Bean gun case arrived at destination with huge holes punched through it (luckily the two muzzle loaders were not damaged).
 
Oh, one more : landed in Montreal coming home from a caribou hunt. My three meat boxes arrived with me. My rifle and all my clothes arrived several days later !!
 
If you decide to fly I highly recommend you put these in your bags. https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-airt...8482_pcrid_77721935056169_&cid=aos-us-seo-pla

We did this on our trip this spring and it was a peace of mind like I have never had before while flying.

I'll never fly again without putting them in my bag. My one bag got lost at the Atlanta airport coming home from Canada and the TSA lady kept arguing with me at "Lost baggage claim" that they didn't have my bag and finally I got pissed off and said, "Look Lady....the bag is within 100 feet of me right now....in your possession....SO FIND IT!"

5 minutes later I had my bag in my hand. They had "Misplaced it".

Without having that air tag in my bag, I would have had to drive back to Atlanta to try to find my bag at a later date. Overall, I rank the Atlanta airport experience on par with getting a hemorrhoid surgically removed with a dull boyscout knife.
 
If you decide to fly I highly recommend you put these in your bags. https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-airt...8482_pcrid_77721935056169_&cid=aos-us-seo-pla

We did this on our trip this spring and it was a peace of mind like I have never had before while flying.

I'll never fly again without putting them in my bag. My one bag got lost at the Atlanta airport coming home from Canada and the TSA lady kept arguing with me at "Lost baggage claim" that they didn't have my bag and finally I got pissed off and said, "Look Lady....the bag is within 100 feet of me right now....in your possession....SO FIND IT!"

5 minutes later I had my bag in my hand. They had "Misplaced it".

Without having that air tag in my bag, I would have had to drive back to Atlanta to try to find my bag at a later date. Overall, I rank the Atlanta airport experience on par with getting a hemorrhoid surgically removed with a dull boyscout knife.
That's a good idea. I'll have to find one android compatible but I'm sure they're out there.
 
Flying used to scare me for hunting and now that I've done it 3 times going to Alaska, I'm way less scared. However, my experience each time has been with Alaska airlines and if there is one airline that knows a thing or two about flying hunters, I'd like to think its them. The people we deal with all seem to get it.

Get soft coolers for your carry ons. We stuff 50-60# of meat in those bad boys.
What size soft cooler are you using to get 50-60lbs of meat in them?
 
I'm voting for A. For super short duration hunts like that I have even skipped an entire day of hunting to get more scouting in, getting all the false starts out of the way on scouting days and hitting the ground with a good plan on opening day is a way more productive way to fill tags, and way less stressful than figuring out that there's no elk in your plan A area on opening morning and having to pivot to plan B, which you also haven't checked out...

I'd also echo @seeth07 and say that you could kill an elk at last light Wednesday and make a Thursday flight without issue, especially with three guys, I've tagged out the last afternoon and been pointed home the next morning a couple of times now solo, it's not fun but it's totally doable.
 
Add a day in the rear for packing out and taking care of the meat. Or cut your hunt a day short because you don't want to deal with a dead elk hours before your flight home. I'd drive and find a way to get more time off.
 
I went B. I've noticed hunting in NM the first two days will be busy then things will slow down as the week starts. I'd rather be there on those last few days to the bitter end with pack out time then have a extra day of scouting. Honestly anything you turn up in a day and a half of scouting will probably already have a couple guys watching it. My plans last year were blown apart from the opening day rush. When I killed my deer on the last day I was alone on the mesa that was crawling with hunters opening day.
 
Whats the elevation?
Might need an extra Midwest guy to pack, especially at the last hour.😁
Kidding.

Are you going in to this area cold turkey, or do you have a solid idea where to roughly start? Guess that might direct my plan, giving myself enough time to get the lay of the land, maybe some good glassing locations.
 
Whats the elevation?
Might need an extra Midwest guy to pack, especially at the last hour.😁
Kidding.

Are you going in to this area cold turkey, or do you have a solid idea where to roughly start? Guess that might direct my plan, giving myself enough time to get the lay of the land, maybe some good glassing locations.
Little of each. I was there but it's been a LONG time. A friend has a cabin there and has a grasp on where to look so not cold. But not like it's my backyard either.
 
Whats the elevation?
Might need an extra Midwest guy to pack, especially at the last hour.😁
Kidding.

Are you going in to this area cold turkey, or do you have a solid idea where to roughly start? Guess that might direct my plan, giving myself enough time to get the lay of the land, maybe some good glassing locations.
Also the elevation always gets me the first couple days even mule deer at 6k feet.
 
I voted B. That gets you 3 full days during the week. Sounds like there may be alot of hunters so scouting 2 days before a saturday opener may not be as beneficial as a half day weekday hunt. Anyway, thats my reasoning. Hope you have a good hunt.
 
B.
1 scouting day is worth 2 hunting days…at least. I know you can feel the pressure on a short hunt, but still discipline yourself to scout as if the season isn’t open yet. I’d spend opening day and the following AM dedicated to scouting. In the chance you happen to have eyes on an animal and a good stalk opportunity you can go ahead and take it, but otherwise just pretend the gun isn’t there.
 
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