Elk Hunting Bootcamp Experience: From Novice to Know-How

I lay prone in the dirt of an Idaho mountainside, gravel digging into my elbows. I watched a puff of dust dissipate in the distant air, 1120 yards across the gorge. A voice came from behind me.

“Just beneath his feet and behind him. Come up twelve and hold right for wind.” Said Joseph, in his familiar accent.

I gave my elevation dial a one-click turn and put my crosshairs just to the right of the deer’s painted steel nose.  I took a deep breath, and exhaled with intention. At eight-power magnification, my view was steady. Giving my rifle a firm handshake grip, I squeezed the trigger and my rifle went bang, sending its projectile across the valley at over 3100 feet per second. After a blink of recoil, I was back on target. I saw no puff of dust this time. The twelve men standing behind me were silent. Had I missed?

One-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand. 

Then, through the clear and quiet morning air, came a sweet sound, the unmistakeable TANG! of my .270 Winchester bullet hitting steel.

“IMPACT!” Cheered Joseph Von Benedikt.

The guys cheered, I smiled. I opened the bolt and picked up my ejected brass.

“I saw it hit, but I didn’t say anything. I wanted you to hear it.” Said Joseph from behind the spotting scope. “Nice Shot.”

That was it, my personal moment of achievement on the final morning of Elk Hunting Bootcamp. 1120 yards isn’t a shot I would take on an real animal, but the knowing makes lesser, more realistic hunting distances less intimidating. For me, that was mission accomplished. Before this I had never shot past 100 yards at my local range.

I’m a new hunter, I haven’t shot an animal since I was a kid with a slingshot in British Columbia, Canada. Now, as a middle-aged man, I’ve decided to pursue hunting as a hobby. Like many of my friends from coastal BC, I grew up fishing, hiking, surfing – but not shooting. Firearms were somewhat foreign, but self-sufficiency was not. We dug clams, picked berries, smoked fish. The closest I came to hunting was helping to skin and butcher a couple of small coastal deer. I still remember the jerky I made in my smoker as being the best I’d ever had. I wanted more. My inner boy-scout reminds me to always be prepared. 

So, in my personal quest to become a hunter, I needed knowledge. I took the required hunting education course in BC, and then again in Washington state when I moved to the USA in 2021. I bought a rifle, joined a range, and took some introductory shooting classes. I started listening to hunting podcasts and watching YouTube videos, and discovered a few favorite online mentors. Of course, this kind of ‘internet knowledge’ is theoretical, and shooting off the range bench at 100 yard targets is not the same as shooting an animal in the woods. Without a real-life mentor, going from theory to actual practice seemed like a big step. So what’s an aspiring hunter to do?

The answer to that question came in an episode of the Backcountry Hunting Podcast. The host, Joseph von Benedict, had become a favorite of mine because of his easy-going manner and honest, expert opinions. Even better was that one of his guests for the episode was another favorite from YouTube with all the same qualities, the infinitely kind Ron Spomer. These two fine gentlemen were joined by hunting guide and outfitter Tate Bradfield to discuss their all-time favorite hunting cartridges for elk. I had no immediate plans to hunt elk, but listened out of interest. After some friendly jousting about the .280 Ackley Improved vs. the 300 WinMag, They announced their inaugural and above-mentioned Elk Hunting Bootcamp They would both be there, along with Tate and his guides, to teach and share their knowledge about all things elk.

My ears perked up, my interest was caught. The course was a just over month away, and there was still room. It was, as Tate said, my chance to learn which mistakes not to make. With theoretical knowledge, you don’t yet know what you don’t know. I sent an email, Tate responded promptly. After a little bit of back and forth I was booked. Thirty-odd days later I was driving north from Salt Lake City into the sage-covered mountains of southeastern Idaho, keen to gain a little bit of the know-how that has been part of the entire history of human kind.

The Day Mountain Ranch Resort could take up another article on its own, so I’ll just say that I was very impressed. This 2300 acre ranch would be home for the next four days as a group of men from all over America, aged seventeen to seventy-five, would learn (almost) everything we’d need to know to get us on the path to a successful hunt. I won’t give away the secret sauce of the whole course, but our instructors covered elk hunting from soup to nuts. Ethics, pre-season scouting, elk calling, and setting up for the shot, followed by after-hunt specifics like field dressing, and packing out and caring for meat. In addition to this, each day had a shooting range portion led by Joseph, who is an expert, award-winning rifleman. I learned that the bullet I’d selected, while having impressive ballistics, wouldn’t have enough penetration for elk. I also learned first-hand just how effective a suppressor can be on a rifle, reducing sound and recoil. Again, I had read about this, but with so much of the internet dedicated to selling stuff, it’s hard to know the truth from the marketing. After hearing the difference between ten guys shooting suppressed and ten guys not, the truth was obvious. This theme of verification, of “I heard this” or “I read this” – True or not true – repeated itself for me throughout the course, and was exactly what I had hoped for going in.

Each day from dawn until well past dusk, Ron, Joseph, and Tate shared relevant stories and answered all questions. We patrolled before dawn and climbed up the watchtower at sunset. Twenty-two participants scanned the ridgelines for antlers and listened for the call of the wild. My mind was saturated with tactics and  info and I ended up covered in dust, with a full notebook and a lot of empty brass.

Process Based Hunter, Tate’s company, will be running this course again in 2025, and it’ll probably be even better the second time around. If you’re like me and you fancy the idea of learning to “hunt honest and shoot straight” as Ron Spomer says, give this course a look.