The list, with reasons. The brochure version on most outfitter sites lists what you need; this is what we've seen guys show up without and regret. Andre walks the gear shelf piece by piece.
By Andre7 min read
Every September I get the same call. A first-time guest, ten days from the hunt, going down a packing list and wanting to know which line items matter. Here's what I tell them.
Boots
The single most expensive mistake hunters make is showing up in new boots. Don't.
Whatever you wear up the canyon needs to have at least forty miles on it before you get to the ranch. Forty miles is "you've broken in the upper, the insole has formed to your foot, you know exactly where the hot spots are."
For our country — south slope of Pikes Peak, eighty-five hundred feet, mixed ponderosa and aspen — I run an eight-to-ten-inch lace-up insulated boot with at least two hundred grams of synthetic. Crispi, Kenetrek, Schnee's, and Lathrop & Sons all make versions in that range. Avoid the heavy mountaineering boots; you're not climbing crampons-on. Avoid the light hikers; you'll be cold by Day Three.
Bring a second pair of camp shoes. Not optional. By Day Four your hunting boots will be wet and you'll want your feet out of them at the lodge.
Layers
Colorado in late September swings forty degrees between three a.m. and one p.m. You will be cold at first light, sweating by ten, cold again by sunset. Plan for it.
The system that works for everyone:
- Base — merino, lightweight. Two sets. One on, one drying.
- Mid — fleece or wool flannel. Soft, quiet.
- Insulation — synthetic puffy. Down works but synthetic survives moisture better.
- Shell — hard-shell rain jacket and pants. We do get afternoon weather.
Don't bring cotton. Anything. If it gets wet it doesn't dry, and you'll be wet at some point.
Optics
Binoculars are not optional. 8×42 or 10×42 — whatever you're comfortable holding steady. Both work in our country. A rangefinder is also non-negotiable if you're shooting past a hundred yards. Bring your own: the ranch doesn't rent personal hunting gear.
Spotting scope is optional. We have one in the side-by-side and another in camp. If you have your own and like glassing, bring it.
The rifle
If it's a rifle hunt, you're sighted-in at the range two weeks before you fly out, not the morning you arrive. A hundred-yard zero. We'll re-confirm on the ranch range, but the work needs to be done before you board.
Most guests bring .30-06, .300 Win Mag, .308, or 6.5 Creedmoor. All of those kill elk dead on this country. The fashionable calibers aren't a religious matter for us — bring what you shoot well.
Bring twenty rounds, not the four in the box. If conditions are wet you'll want to keep a fresh load in the chamber. Twenty is more than you'll ever use, but it's a small box.
Archery
If it's archery, the bow needs to be tuned the week before and you need to have shot it at thirty, forty, and sixty yards in the same week. The east bench has open ponderosa with sixty-yard sight lines; you may take a shot at that distance. If you can't keep three arrows in a paper plate at sixty, plan to wait for a closer one.
Bring at least eight broadheads. Tipped, in your quiver, not loose. Practice with one of them at distance the week before so the flight matches your target points.
What you don't see on most lists
A pair of pruning shears. Three quart-size Ziploc bags. A roll of flagging tape.
Pruning shears for cutting shooting lanes through the willow on the lower meadows. Ziplocs for keeping batteries and electronics dry. Flagging tape for marking blood when you do connect — the country grows wet fast and a blood trail half a mile from camp at sunset is easier to find with twenty flags on it.
A small notebook. The successful hunters keep one. Wind direction, time, what was in the bowl, what wasn't. The bull I took in 2019 came out of the same draw as the bull I took in 2017, and the notebook is why I knew to be there.
What the hunt covers
So you don't bring more than you need: the hunt includes six nights at the ranch lodge, three meals a day, your guide (one guide for two hunters), field care and recovery of your animal, ground transportation from Colorado Springs, and as much coffee as you can drink.
You bring the rest. The ranch doesn't rent personal hunting gear — too much variation in fit and sizing — so pack your weapon, your ammunition or arrows, your optics, your clothes and boots, and your license. If you were born on or after January 1, 1949, bring your hunter education card too.
For the full official list see the trip planner page. For the rifle hunt itself see bull elk hunts on the south slope.
The packing is a small part of the trip. Do it right and forget about it.
