Young Guide, Old Guide, Talking Elk Hunting

[Jasher]

To many outfitters just get "guides" that have no idea of how to hunt the species they are going after. They are just telling the guides different spots to check out. The one and only guided hunt I went on the guide told the other hunter "elk prefer the dark timber because that's where the food is". When you hear that the first day your confidence level in your guide pretty much hits bottom. Not to mention the getting up really early just to get 3/4 of the way to the spot then stop and wait until after daylight to go the rest of the way. We're just getting into position for the evening.

 

[David58]

I was guiding an old guy for cow elk who swore he was good to 300 yards. We hiked back in and got into a herd of elk, a cow stepped out at about 150 yards, I used to carry a bog pod tripod for guys like this, it seemed better than shooting sticks. He hit her and she took off and piled up after about 50 yards. He turned to me and said, "thats the longest shot I have ever made."
We always made hunters shoot before we took them out, a few times we had to loan them our rifles because theirs were so jacked up.

I read an interesting article in Muzzle Blasts magazine years ago. Fella set up targets at various ranges, silhouettes. None were beyond 150 yards. Few of the shooters could accurately gauge the distance - most were guessing well over 200 yards, many at 275.

I am pretty danged good at distances up to 120 yards, due to my years chasing soccer players with a whistle. Kinda ok out to about 250, as I used to practice by sighting a landmark, guessing distance, and pacing it off along my way.

But I really like my rangefinder.

David
NM