But for those of you heading out for elk, particularly those who may be horsepacking for the first time this season, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has release a simple list of tips to keep your trip safe and enjoyable.  Take a look at this list, and if you feel like it, share some of your own tips and recommendations for neophyte and experienced wapiti hunters alike! 

Horse Riding, Packing Tips for Greenhorn Elk Hunters

MISSOULA, Mont.—If you’re a tenderfoot looking to use horses for your elk hunt this fall, do yourself—and your horse—a favor. Follow these 10 tips from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and longtime supporter Smoke Elser, who’s been guiding and outfitting in Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness for more than 50 years.

1. Consider taking a riding lesson before your hunt. Learn the basics of mounting and dismounting, reins, leg cues, proper balance and body position. A horse is not an easy chair—a little preparation and skill are required.
2. Be realistic. Even though your horse can carry you over difficult terrain, it cannot carry you over impossible terrain. You’ll need to hike across the steepest, roughest areas. Hopefully, you’re in shape.
3. Stirrup length should be adjusted at the trailhead. Don’t be bashful about insisting on a comfortable fit that allows you to stand up slightly in the stirrups. Having your knees hunched up can be miserable for you and your horse.
4. Horses are a means of transportation from point A to point B, not to the elk. Don’t expect to shoot from atop your pony like Buffalo Bill. In fact, firing a rifle anywhere near horses can be disastrous. Your actual hunt will need to be on foot.
5. Think about clothing. Bring boots that fit easily into stirrups and wear clothing that allows you to mount and dismount easily. For example, coveralls constrict motion and should be avoided. Keeping quiet and warm are factors, too, and wool clothing is both even when wet. Also bring a broad-brimmed hat to help ward off branches to the face and snow down the neck.
6. Let your guide do the saddling and unsaddling. Often hunters want to help but end up improperly cinching, dragging saddles through mud, disassembling bridles down to the last buckle, etc., causing extra work for the guide. Don’t pretend knowledge of horses and tack if you have none.
7. Always let your guide tie up your horse for you. Improper tying can result in a dead or injured horse if they get choked or tangled. More commonly, hunters return to find only the guide’s horse still there. That could mean a long hike back for one of you.
8. Bring a rifle that fits easily into a scabbard. Oversized scopes or bipods will require disassembly and are impractical. If in doubt, ask your outfitter to recommend appropriate rifles and other gear.
9. Bring what you need, but you don’t need the kitchen sink. Nearly every elk outfitter has funny stories about hunters who insisted on packing things like ice skates, bowling balls, bathrobes, business suits and other nonessentials. But it’s really not funny—overloading is hard on a horse’s loins and kidneys.
10. Wallets in pants pockets tend to work themselves out when you’re riding a horse. Keep your elk tags and personal identification inside your shirt pocket.

Information and tips about elk hunting are regular features inside the Elk Foundation’s bi-monthly member magazine, Bugle. An annual membership, which includes a subscription and base-level support for RMEF habitat conservation efforts, is $35. To join, call 800-CALL ELK or visit www.rmef.org.

About the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation:
Snowy peaks, dark timber basins and grassy meadows. RMEF is leading an elk country initiative that has conserved or enhanced habitat on over 5.6 million acres—a land area equivalent to a swath three miles wide and stretching along the entire Continental Divide from Canada to Mexico. RMEF also works to open, secure and improve public access for hunting, fishing and other recreation. Get involved at http://www.rmef.orgor 800-CALL ELK.

Good stuff, I think.  Horses are wonderful animals, and I don’t think anything compares to the experience of riding horseback through elk country.  However, lack of preparation can make a horsepacking trip into pure, physical torture.  It’s not quite as simple as it looks on TV.  Physical and mental preparation are requisite, or you’ll be aching in places you didn’t even know you had. 

It can also be dangerous.  They seem sweet and gentle, but horses are still 1000 pounds of bone and muscle, driven by a prey animal’s brain.  Stuff happens fast, and a little prep time in a local arena can help prepare you for those sudden, trailside rodeos.  Your guide or wrangler can help avoid the worst problems, but it’s also up to you to pay attention and do what they tell you.

A key point is to ask your outfitter BEFORE you go, and then pay attention to what he/she tells you!  NEVER GUIDE THE GUIDE!  They are the experts, and that’s what you’re paying your hard-earned money for… their expertise. 

Good luck to all you wapiti hunters this year.  I look forward to reading your stories and seeing your pictures, so please don’t be shy… send them to me here at the Hog Blog, and maybe I’ll even make you famous.

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