Hunt logistics are no fun

[Addicting]

Great to have a good deer, elk, and antelope tag. Being 1700 miles away, a 1000 miles and weeks apart is quite the quandary.

Flights to do them look amazing right now. 108 bucks round trip to Denver with no layover!

Except renting a 4wd vehicle and lodging absolutely kill that idea. 1236 for the car for 10 days and lodging up near 120 a night make that over 2500 per stop on the trip.

We have the perfect camper built for this but pulling it at 7 miles per gallon adds up quick.

Tenting it saves money but not enough to cover the cost of the tent. Also, tent life sucks.

This is only 3 tags, I can only imagine what @Big Fin white board looks like, and the amount of money spent on dry erase markers.

 

[Scott85]

Where are the hunts?

 

[LCH]

A good tent, cot, and a fuel efficient vehicle are necessities for the frugal traveling hunter who also desires some degree of comfort.

 

[Scott85]

Get a full size suv and sleep in it.

 

[2rocky]

How many hunters, how much time, Hunt location Highway miles to destination?

Tent cost is Amortized over 5 plus years. Incorporate it in Summer vacations as well.

4 guys driving 1200 miles each way =600 miles/7 mpg per guy. 85 gallons per guy @5.00 = $428.00 per person for fuel.

Pre made Dinners frozen from regular grocery budget. Freeze half for at home to make life easy for them while you are gone. Potato flakes - add water. Instant rice, Pasta, Purchase Salad before head into camp.

Liquor to your tastes,
Granola and sandwich ingredients for lunch on the hill
Gatorade, propel and lemonade flavor packets for water. (flavored water in bottles not bladders).
Salami and Cheese and crackers while dinner is heating.

 

[2rocky]

DIY Western Elk Hunt for $1,000 Budget

If you want a DIY, fair chase elk hunt in the West, all you need is 7-10 days and about $1,000 for tags and transportation to get out to elk country.

www.backcountrychronicles.com

 

[Addicting]

DIY Western Elk Hunt for $1,000 Budget

If you want a DIY, fair chase elk hunt in the West, all you need is 7-10 days and about $1,000 for tags and transportation to get out to elk country.

www.backcountrychronicles.com

That price tag sailed years ago for anyone driving out of state.

 

[2rocky]

That price tag sailed years ago for anyone driving out of state.

4 guys with one 4 door truck pulling a trailer can dilute down that fixed cost....been doing it for 15 years.

 

[Addicting]

How many hunters, how much time, Hunt location Highway miles to destination?

Tent cost is Amortized over 5 plus years. Incorporate it in Summer vacations as well.

4 guys driving 1200 miles each way =600 miles/7 mpg per guy. 85 gallons per guy @5.00 = $428.00 per person for fuel.

Pre made Dinners frozen from regular grocery budget. Freeze half for at home to make life easy for them while you are gone. Potato flakes - add water. Instant rice, Pasta, Purchase Salad before head into camp.

Liquor to your tastes,
Granola and sandwich ingredients for lunch on the hill
Gatorade, propel and lemonade flavor packets for water. (flavored water in bottles not bladders).
Salami and Cheese and crackers while dinner is heating.

One hunt is with friends and worked out to around 700 each not including tags. The other two tags are solo, I may give the elk tag up.

The deer tag is in AZ and will be solo, that is the one I am working on now. Being is remote country lends itself to a tent. But November at 9000 feet says leave the tent at home. I’ve done the Spartan style hunts before and as I age I find them not to add anything memorable to a hunt. I would rather spend some more for comfort good sleep.

 

[Addicting]

Get a full size suv and sleep in it.

I’ve tried that before and found it quite miserable. Every car driving by or person checking on a “abandoned” vehicle wasn’t fun. Plus there is a risk of carbon monoxide death if using the car for heat.

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

Great to have a good deer, elk, and antelope tag. Being 1700 miles away, a 1000 miles and weeks apart is quite the quandary.We have the perfect camper built for this but pulling it at 7 miles per gallon adds up quick.

Tenting it saves money but not enough to cover the cost of the tent. Also, tent life sucks.

I know this problem all too well. What the solution is I don't know to be honest. I've always wondered if a more efficient vehicle, maybe a diesel 2500, is a better choice to make the math better, or is it a lighter and better pulling camper that can help?


I love my camper for fall hunting, but hate pulling it! Maybe one of those new feather lite campers don't drag the mpg's down to mid single digits?

 

[seeth07]

I know this problem all too well. What the solution is I don't know to be honest. I've always wondered if a more efficient vehicle, maybe a diesel 2500, is a better choice to make the math better, or is it a lighter and better pulling camper that can help?


I love my camper for fall hunting, but hate pulling it! Maybe one of those new feather lite campers don't drag the mpg's down to mid single digits?

I have a GMC 2500 deleted and tuned pulling a feather lite 14 foot trailer made into a camper and we get about 14mpg so that isn't too bad on the wallet going cross country.

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

I have a GMC 2500 deleted and tuned pulling a feather lite 14 foot trailer made into a camper and we get about 14mpg so that isn't too bad on the wallet going cross country.

Amazing compared to me getting 6mpg in the wind with my 1500 gaser!

Difference really starts to add up when you're going a long distance

 

[LCH]

?

A canvas tent with a heat source, good cot, comfy pad, and a warm sleeping bag is peak comfort in my book after a long day of hunting.

I also never have understood why everybody's hunting vehicle has to be a big diesel truck? Sure they're cool, but do you need a 3000 lb payload capacity and 1000 ft-lb torque to haul out a deer? Lol.

 

[Addicting]

I know this problem all too well. What the solution is I don't know to be honest. I've always wondered if a more efficient vehicle, maybe a diesel 2500, is a better choice to make the math better, or is it a lighter and better pulling camper that can help?


I love my camper for fall hunting, but hate pulling it! Maybe one of those new feather lite campers don't drag the mpg's down to mid single digits?

I have a GMC 2500 deleted and tuned pulling a feather lite 14 foot trailer made into a camper and we get about 14mpg so that isn't too bad on the wallet going cross country.

That is how we ended up with a camper and a diesel 2500. The cost of pulling it was 11ish mpg. The cost of the mail on the diesel was outrageous. That ordeal lasted 2 years and we will never again own a diesel. These once a year trips in no way paid for the cost of ownership the other 345 days a year.

We just switched into a Chevy 1500 gas 6.2l with max tow package. I had to install airbag It makes the job of moving the camper effortless at the cost of MPG. We have pulled it around 800 miles so far and it did well. 3700 miles may be in its future but that is a hard call.

 

[Addicting]

?

A canvas tent with a heat source, good cot, comfy pad, and a warm sleeping bag is peak comfort in my book after a long day of hunting.

I also never have understood why everybody's hunting vehicle has to be a big diesel truck? Sure they're cool, but do you need a 3000 lb payload capacity and 1000 ft-lb torque to haul out a deer? Lol.

At elk camp I love staying in a wall tent with the guys. No one to mess with it and perfect sleeping weather.

When chasing antelope I find it too hot and us too far away to be comfortable. Sweaty sleeping and worried about its security drag on my mind.

For a solo hunt to go chase deer is not worth a wall tent if you don’t own one. I had a flex bow which would have worked well. However, due to not using it I sold it this spring. Now I wish I hadn’t, that is what it is.

I’ve been perusing the for sale ads looking at tents.

 

[seeth07]

These once a year trips in no way paid for the cost of ownership the other 345 days a year.

We have three vehicles and the 2500 sits in the garage right now always just hooked up to the boat. We exclusively use it only to tow the boat/trailer or if one of our two main fuel efficient daily drivers are being worked on. It was an investment decision we made thinking that if we are only using to to tow and the mileage on the vehicle only is from that, we should be able to keep this vehicle around and going for a very long time.

 

[Addicting]

We have three vehicles and the 2500 sits in the garage right now always just hooked up to the boat. We exclusively use it only to tow the boat/trailer or if one of our two main fuel efficient daily drivers are being worked on. It was an investment decision we made thinking that if we are only using to to tow and the mileage on the vehicle only is from that, we should be able to keep this vehicle around and going for a very long time.

Our mindset was similar but it was not meant to be, it was just too expensive to own. Glad you found a way to make it work.

 

[Addicting]

Where are the hunts?

AZ and WY

 

[woods89]

Check Turo for vehicles. It worked really well for me on my last trip.