How Many Miles Do You Walk While Hunting?

[elkhunter11]

I saw someone talking about this on another thread, and am curious as to how far the average hunter walks in a year while hunting. I hunted 33 days for upland birds last fall, and I averaged around 4 to 5 miles per day for somewhere in the 130-150 miles range. I also walk 2 miles per day with the dog, every day when not hunting, for another 650 miles or so.

[******]

On my elk hunting trips last fall I did about 10-20k per day and on my mule deer trips in the south I was doing 10-30k per day depending on how much I was glassing. I had 23 days in the mountains and 7 down south. No idea what my total was over the year. GPS is old and doesn't log that kind of thing.

[wildwoods]

I like to hunt out of pre made ground blinds so walking is basically to and from the stands. I'll pick the best one for the day as per what the wind dictates and or movement of the animals. Maybe 4-7 miles a day while hunting. Sometimes a lot less sometimes more

[calgarychef]

First off I think many people overestimate how far they walk. A good long ways for me is about 6 miles in the hills. If I hunt farmland it's usually just a walk until I find a spot to make a blind, a few hundred yards. On the southern prairies I might do 10 miles on a really long day.

[Mikeham]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

I saw someone talking about this on another thread, and am curious as to how far the average hunter walks in a year while hunting. I hunted 33 days for upland birds last fall, and I averaged around 4 to 5 miles per day for somewhere in the 130-150 miles range. I also walk 2 miles per day with the dog, every day when not hunting, for another 650 miles or so.

On my unsuccessful elk hunt last year, we did 12km a day. On my deer hunt in November, it was 14km. Lots of elevation change.

[LJalberta]

Average was 8km last year based off my step counter, not GPS. The most I did in a day was a little over 15km.

[58thecat]

Too many hunting down south...up here trudging around usually means not seeing a thing!

[2 Tollers]

Using a step counter and check to a GPS --- non hunting daily I am doing on average just under 12 km -- two walks per day with the dogs. Peak on weekends will be approximately 15 km

When upland bird season opens this drops down to around 7 km max. Big game can vary depending on still hunting for the day or spot and stalk.

One of these days I will put a counter on one of the dogs as I sure they are covering 3x what I do.

[Bassett]

When hunting elk up north i average 16-20km a day for 11 days, then shoot my elk 500 yards from camp every year.

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

[Bigwoodsman]

I'd have to guess 6-8km/ day upland hunting and 3-5 daily walking the dog split between to walks.

BW

[marlin1]

just a few kliks each way but seems always uphill

[last minute]

well if i had to count i would say 3 miles a day on foot one way maybe 12 days total in a season .

[guywiththemule]

I`ve never kept track of how far the horses and mules have walked unless I spot a ram. Different story then ! "Shanks pony" takes over then,and sometimes for many miles !

[Bulldog Edm]

We averaged 12 km a day. 2 days we were at 25 km and 1 we did 36 km. I'm hoping to do the same this year or more. Never a bad day out in the great outdoors.

[Passthru]

Originally Posted by 58thecat

Too many hunting down south...up here trudging around usually means not seeing a thing!

Yep. I usually just walk to my blind/ stand/ lawnchair and sit. When I'm scouting then I travel.

[bowhunter9841]

I would say on average, at least 5kms, but never more than 10-12kms. While hunting. At work I average between 10 and 16 kms. Per day. Within the last year since I bought my Fitbit, I have logged over 3200 kms.

[Prairiewolf]

Average about 6-8 km on a good day. If I'm backpack hunting I may take 10+km getting back in on day 1, then <2-3 km/day since I've gotten to my glassing spots.

[alpineguy]

Good idea for a thread.
I tend to hunt mountainous or big foothill areas so the walking can be a little tough.
On average I would say about 4 - 6 km a day with some days being less and some being substantially more.

[Fur]

Originally Posted by Bassett

When hunting elk up north i average 16-20km a day for 11 days, then shoot my elk 500 yards from camp every year.

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

Aint that the truth!

I average 2-5km per day. I have to be honest, I find most game near roads/trails. Anytime Ive gone for big hikes I see nothing and then when I am 100-200 yards within my camp/truck bingo.

[omega50]

Try to keep it to under 100yds from the Centerline

But have been known to go out as far as 200

[doughgoat]

Originally Posted by calgarychef

First off I think many people overestimate how far they walk. A good long ways for me is about 6 miles in the hills. If I hunt farmland it's usually just a walk until I find a spot to make a blind, a few hundred yards. On the southern prairies I might do 10 miles on a really long day.

Totally, might feel like 25 km to your body but it aint really. Where are all these people walking to so far away anyway. To cover that much ground in one day you gotta be huffing it and making a lot of noise. These people must be heading into the bush at 3 am to walk the 10 km to be in their spots for sunrise? People like to think they are walking a long ways but in reality I bet most walk less than 5 km/day.

[wildwoods]

Originally Posted by doughgoat

Totally, might feel like 25 km to your body but it aint really. Where are all these people walking to so far away anyway. To cover that much ground in one day you gotta be huffing it and making a lot of noise. These people must be heading into the bush at 3 am to walk the 10 km to be in their spots for sunrise? People like to think they are walking a long ways but in reality I bet most walk less than 5 km/day.

I could see this being reality in the bush and on the bald prairie.
I hunt farm/bush quarters so it's pretty easy to tally it up at day's end.

[alpineguy]

^^^^Maybe I'm an exception but I am very aware of distance going into an area. I will predetermine the distances between landmarks from maps and Google Earth. At 54 I do not want to hike beyond my capabilities because through the years I have learned how much it hurts coming back to camp.
I'm not saying I don't push myself beyond my comfort zone only that I try and keep things manageable. Just this past year Kmciassac and I spotted some elk way up the valley and decided to chase. After not connecting we were faced with a very long trek back to camp during which I endured back spasms from carrying my pack through such a long and tough hike.

[Big Grey Wolf]

When I was younger would average around 20km per day when scouting for elk. When you find them down to 1-3 km of still hunting to catch them in their bed.

[kedive]

Depends on what I'm hunting. Elk hunting I probably easily put on 10km a day. Deer I usually put on 3-4km a day because of the different terrain. Most I've done is 35ish km and that was cause I got a bit carried away and got way to deep into the mountains chasing a elk herd. Realized on the way out how screwed I'd have been if I had got something. At my furthest I was 13km from the truck as the crow flies it took me 4hrs to get back to the truck after sun down.

[Mike_W]

Id say on average 2-5km some days over 10km some days less.
Hunted out of my Treestand over 20 times this year my walk in is half a mile so those days are only a hilly 1km

[winger7mm]

For chasing elk my average would be somewhere around 18km/hike, Lotta km get put on trying to find them things.

Chasing mule deer its 3-4km, Lotta glassing from the truck.

The whitetail hole iv been hunting the last few years sees me going a little over 1km.

Birds, well that varies too much. Some days if my shooting is on I get my roosters not far from the truck lol.

I had somewhere around 50-55 days spent in the field.

[wwbirds]

But the step counter was very interesting before hunting season. I was working 4 dogs last summer and some days did 23000 steps around the farm although 18000 was the average. Once we added hunting in the fall we averaged 21000 steps. 1300 steps to a km is considered the norm. 21000/1300 = 16 km on bad ankles

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by wwbirds

But the step counter was very interesting before hunting season. I was working 4 dogs last summer and some days did 23000 steps around the farm although 18000 was the average. Once we added hunting in the fall we averaged 21000 steps. 1300 steps to a km is considered the norm. 21000/1300 = 16 km on bad ankles

I am actually going to look into a step counter, just to see how conservative I am in my estimates. I know that we walk the perimeter of a field larger than 1/4 section every day, so even walking in a perfectly straight line would be at least two miles. I base my hunting estimates on a comparison of how long I walk on our daily walks vs the amount of time I walk while hunting. I do stop from time to time while hunting; but I also walk much faster than normal at times, especially when the dog is on a bird

[Bulldog Edm]

You can use your phone as a step counter. Most phones come with some sort of fitness app pre loaded. At least Samsung does.