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2017 elk trip

We were looking at zone 150 and 151. We hired bearpaw however and they convinced us to switch over to central idaho instead of montana. Whether that is a good decision is yet to be determined, but one of the guys is still an idaho resident so at least for him, the tags will be cheaper.

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And as for that cigar. I'll keep that invite in mind and bring some whiskey to go with it.
Gotcha. Well I'm just west of Missoula so I'm fairly near the Idaho border. Just let me know and I'll get ya a bunk ready.

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You're near my old stomping grounds. I grew up in Kellogg, and still hunt outside Wallace every 2-3 years.

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looks like you have all the basics down already so ill try to get your weight down a little further. i do a lot of multiday (6-7) day hunts in the Blue Ridge mountains and the biggest thing i ditched was the cooking stove, fuel, and utensils. My meals consist of

PopTarts
Honey Buns or some type of Danish
Bagel with olive oil (put the oil in a little bottle)
Giant Snickers
Tortilla with tuna or salmon(the packet kind and in oil) and hot sauce (taco bell packets)
trail mix and jerky if you need some varitey
powdered gatorade packets or get the big one and put serving in zip lock bags

i got all these from an ultralight backpacking article, i forgot the link but they all are dense in calories for their weight and require no water or cooking to prepare.
 
I just ordered a 3 day supply of mountain house MREs to take with me on a 3 day backpacking trip next weekend. Honestly all that sounds awful to eat lol. But if you can dish it more power to you..

... Think i'll give the MREs a fair shake before trying the ultralight route.
 
Mountain House meals are pretty good. I've eaten a lot of them. However, for dehydrated food, Pack-it-Gourmet is the best I've found. Have fun on your trip!
 
looks like you have all the basics down already so ill try to get your weight down a little further. i do a lot of multiday (6-7) day hunts in the Blue Ridge mountains and the biggest thing i ditched was the cooking stove, fuel, and utensils. My meals consist of

PopTarts
Honey Buns or some type of Danish
Bagel with olive oil (put the oil in a little bottle)
Giant Snickers
Tortilla with tuna or salmon(the packet kind and in oil) and hot sauce (taco bell packets)
trail mix and jerky if you need some varitey
powdered gatorade packets or get the big one and put serving in zip lock bags

i got all these from an ultralight backpacking article, i forgot the link but they all are dense in calories for their weight and require no water or cooking to prepare.
Everyone has their own way but my jetboil is light enough to make it worth carrying. I like instant coffee in the mornings when I'm camping and I don't even drink it during the rest of the year. I take snickers but it's the mini ones. Boiled water with beef or chicken bouillon is a nice treat when your cold. I use the jetboil as a cup, bowl, scoop, cooking pot and put stuff in it I want to keep dry when it isn't being used. I am also a fan of peanut butter and honey on tortillas and tuna but it always worries me. I can't think of anything that would tempt a bear as much as the scent of tuna or peanut butter. I think a mountain house meal and a danish are pretty close to the same weight. now true MREs where you add water and they heat themselves are on the heavy side to me. I will recommend trying anything you plan to use on the trip before you go. Some of the meal replacements and powdered energy mix doesn't settle well on some peoples stomach.
 
Did 12.5 miles this weekend in the pigeon river national forest this weekend using my tenzing 6000 pack. Definitely prepared well as I didn't go without anything. If anything I would have left a few items behind as my load out was pretty bulky, though he weight wasn't as much of a bother.

Learned a couple of lessons and a few neat tricks too...

First I shoulda just bought a zero degree bag. Mine is supposed to be rated to 20F but it's probably more like a 30F bag and I'm a hot sleeper. It was just around freezing both nights. Even with a few extra layers I felt the chill.

Second night a friend showed me a trick where you boil your water and pour it bag into you bottle and put it in the foot box of your bag. What a game changer! Stayed ultra toasty the 2nd night.

All in all pretty proud of how the trip went and a great pilot for a real western hunt!

Also got into some good morels - found 4-5lbs in a less than a few hours of picking!



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Got my tags!

We decided to try and hunt the sawtooth zone in Idaho. Tags went on sale this morning. There were only 160 non resident tags on a first come first serve basis at 10 am. I was ready to go when the buzzer sounded and was through checkout at 10:01. My hunting partner had a similar experience. Now to finalize some of the plans.. so excited.

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Just found out that I drew a cow elk and mule deer tag for GMU 12/23/24 in Colorado! Since this is my first time hunting out west I figured I'd have better odds going for those instead of an over the counter bull elk tag. It will be a learning experience for sure. Now it's time to get my a$$ in shape and finish up buying the last of my gear.
 
Leaving for Colorado in the morning! We'll be scouting and grouse hunting for a few days before the season. Next Saturday, opening day, will be a high of 27° with a low of 9°.... Gonna be awesome!

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Leaving for Colorado in the morning! We'll be scouting and grouse hunting for a few days before the season. Next Saturday, opening day, will be a high of 27° with a low of 9°.... Gonna be awesome!

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You're in for a great time. I really miss hunting out west. I'm jealous!

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Have fun! Just read through this whole post as I'm new to this forum. It's my dream to hunt out west. I've done a lot of ultralight backpacking locally and out west and a fair amount of hunting, but haven't mixed the two yet. I'm a flatlander in MN, but have in laws in Colorado and a sister that just settled down in Bozeman. I've been working on building up my kit for a western hunt and am getting close to getting everything I need. There have been a lot of great suggestions in this dialogue!! Anxious to hear some feedback from Ernie on his trip!


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