Elk Hunting - Equipment Help

[tealitup]

I am headed to Colorado this year to hunt Elk.  It gives me the added benefit of buying some more stuff!  What are your thoughts on boots?  I am looking for something lightweight and stable for the terrain.  Has anyone heard of or used Zamberlan boots?

Next, I am thinking a solid user friendly GPS.. I have really no experience with a handheld unit.  Thoughts?

I will be shooting a 7mmWSM with a 3x18x44 Leupold V6

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Powerstroke]

I don't personally have any die hard committment to boot types, but depending on the terrain and time of year of your hunt you have a lot of choices. 

I can't hardly even think of brands at the moment. Kennetrek and Meindl come to mind. My favorite boots so far were Asolo boots, but I'm due for a new set and I'm looking at other stuff. I have heard of Zamberlan but I don't know anything about them. 

As far as GPS, goes, I use my cell phone with the huntGPSmaps app. Its the same as having the chip in a GPS. There are some pros and cons to using the cell phone. The cell phone has a bigger screen and faster processor. It also doubles as my camera and I download books and or music to it too. Lots of uses. Cell phone uses more power and if you're not returning to the truck every day, then you need to use a solar charger to keep it topped off. That is what I do with my Goal Zero Nomad 7 panel and Guide 10 battery pack. It works great and I always have a full charge on the phone. A handheld GPS will run for days on a single set of batteries and is more rugged and likely waterproof. The choice is up to you. 

Seems like Garmin still leads the pack in that category. Most people I know have the 64 or 64s. 

How will you be hunting? Is it a motel hunt, base camp or backcountry?

 

[tealitup]

I will be starting in a camp and back packing for three days. The season is from oct 10-14 so pretty short. 

[Powerstroke]

I just got back from my bacpack elk hunt in Wyoming. My hunting boots are Danners. Hardly a mountain boot, but they are a hunting boot and they did just fine. We hiked 2-5 miles every day, climbed over 1000 feet every day and I had no blisters and no problems. I used the same boots last year in New Mexico and they worked fine then too. 

Also, I used my phone with the OnXmaps app again and it worked flawlessly for 6 days in the mountains. 

Have you picked out your new boots yet. You've only got a few weeks to get them broken in. 

[tealitup]

No, I haven't. I bought some dannner boots but they are the 800 gr thinsulate pronghorns. 

 

I just bought a pair of crispi guide boots. 

Did you find you had cell service? I'm afraid I won't have service while in the wilderness  to use as a gps

[Powerstroke]

YOu don't need service to use as a GPS depending on what you plan on using for maps. 

The Onxmaps app allows you to save amps to your phone for offline use. Thats the best way I've found to do it. MY buddy just makes sure to look at the area on google maps right before and it saves the map also, but you only get one level of map. Either way, you don't need service for the GPS to work, At the end of the day, we always had paper maps. It was fairly easy to place the two maps side by side and see exactly where we are. 

My Danner's are the 400 gram and they were fine for me but I know everyone's feet are different.