What I’ve Learned After Helping Hundreds of Hunters Book Their Dream Hunt

I’m going to be honest with you about something that most people in this industry won’t say out loud.

After helping hundreds of hunters book guided hunts over the years, there’s one pattern I see over and over again. And it’s the kind of thing that eats at me, because by the time most guys figure it out, it’s too late to do anything about it.

Here it is: Most hunters wait too long to book the hunt they actually want.

They spend their entire lives dreaming about a backcountry elk hunt. A horseback ride into wilderness nobody else can reach. A mountain goat hunt above timberline. A Dall sheep hunt in Alaska where you’re sleeping on a ridge at 6,000 feet. They talk about it at deer camp every year. They watch videos. They save articles. They tell themselves “someday.”

And then someday comes. They retire. They’ve got the money. They’ve got the time. They call me up ready to go.

And I have to be the one to tell them: the hunt you’ve been dreaming about for 30 years? Your body can’t do it anymore.

The Hunts That Won’t Wait for You

Not all hunts are created equal when it comes to physical demand. Some of them require a level of fitness that most people simply don’t have past a certain age. And I’m not talking about being in “pretty good shape for 65.” I’m talking about the kind of physical output that challenges a fit 35-year-old.

Let me give you some specific examples.

Backcountry wall tent elk hunts. This is the big one. The dream hunt for a huge number of guys. You’re packing into the Colorado high country on horseback, setting up a wall tent camp at 9,000 to 10,000 feet, and then hunting on foot from there. That means hiking steep terrain at altitude every single day, often before daylight, in snow and cold. Your lungs are burning. Your legs are screaming. And when you kill a bull three miles from camp, the real work starts. We offer a horseback elk hunt in Colorado that’s exactly this kind of experience — and it’s the kind of hunt you need to do while your body can handle it.

Mountain goat hunts. These are some of the most physically brutal guided hunts on the planet. You’re climbing above timberline in British Columbia or Alaska, scrambling over rock faces, glassing from ridges that would make most hikers turn around. There’s no trail. There’s no horse getting you up there. It’s your legs and your lungs, period.

Dall sheep hunts. The ultimate mountain hunt. Ten days in the Alaska Range, camping on ridgelines, covering miles of vertical every day with a heavy pack. Guys train for months for this hunt, and even then, plenty of fit hunters tap out early. If this is on your bucket list and you’re not doing it in your 30s or 40s, you’re gambling with your body.

Backcountry mule deer hunts. The big old bucks live in places that are hard to get to. That means steep country, long pack-outs, and days of glassing from high points that require real effort to reach. A Southern Colorado elk hunt is another example — you’re in rugged, high-altitude terrain that demands real fitness.

Horseback wilderness hunts. Even though the horse does a lot of the work getting you into camp, don’t fool yourself. Once you’re in there, you’re hunting on foot in steep, roadless country. And riding a horse eight hours through mountain passes isn’t exactly a spa day, either. You need core strength, balance, and enough cardio fitness to hunt hard once you arrive.

Why Guys Keep Waiting

I get it. I really do. Life is busy when you’re in your 30s and 40s. You’ve got kids. A mortgage. A job that doesn’t exactly hand you two weeks off. And guided hunts cost money — real money.

So the plan becomes: “I’ll do it when the kids are grown. When I’ve got more savings. When I retire.”

And look, I understand that logic. But here’s what that logic doesn’t account for: your knees don’t care about your retirement plan. Your lungs don’t know you’ve been saving up. Your back doesn’t give a damn that you finally have two free weeks in September.

The guys who come to me at 65 wanting to book a backcountry elk hunt — they’re not lazy. They’re not out of shape for their age. They’re just dealing with the reality that a 65-year-old body isn’t going to do what a 38-year-old body can do. Two bad knees. A replaced hip. Lung capacity that’s half what it used to be. It’s not their fault. It’s just time.

And it breaks my heart every time, because these are guys who’ve wanted this their whole lives.

The Math on Making It Happen Younger

Here’s the thing nobody wants to hear: you don’t need to be rich to do this. You need to prioritize it.

A backcountry elk hunt isn’t $50,000. We’ve got options. A DIY elk and deer hunt in Colorado starts at $2,500. That’s a week in the field with meals and lodging included. If you’re a 35-year-old guy who spends $200 a month on stuff he doesn’t need, that’s one year of saving. One year.

Even the more premium guided hunts — $5,500 to $7,000 for a fully outfitted horseback elk hunt — that’s achievable if you plan for it. Skip one vacation. Sell some gear you’re not using. Pick up some overtime. If you want to get into the strategy of picking the right caliber or figuring out how the Colorado draw works, start doing your homework now.

The point is, you can find the money in your 30s and 40s if you make it a priority. What you can’t find at 65 is a new set of knees.

What If You’re Already Older? It’s Not Over.

Now, I don’t want this to come across like I’m telling every hunter over 55 to hang it up. That’s not the message at all. Plenty of guys in their 60s and 70s are having the time of their lives on guided hunts. The key is matching the hunt to your body.

There are incredible hunts that don’t require you to be a mountain athlete:

• Africa plains game. This is one of the best bucket list hunts for any fitness level. You’re hunting from blinds or doing short stalks on flat ground. The animals are unbelievable — kudu, gemsbok, wildebeest, impala. And the cost might surprise you: an Africa plains game safari starts around $3,500. You don’t need to be a triathlete to have the hunt of a lifetime in Africa.
• Tree stand whitetail hunts. Sit in a heated blind or a comfortable tree stand and wait for a mature buck to walk by. It’s classic hunting, and your fitness level barely matters. Some of the biggest whitetails in the country are killed by guys in their 70s.
• Turkey hunting. Set up, call, wait. You need to be able to sit still, not run a marathon.
• Ranch-style elk hunts. Some outfitters run elk hunts on private ranches where the terrain is manageable and you’re driving between spots. Not the same as a backcountry hunt, but you can still fill a tag on a great bull without destroying your body.
• Driven hunts in Europe or South America. Red stag, wild boar — you’re posted at a stand and the animals come to you. World-class hunting experiences with minimal physical demand.

The point isn’t that older hunters can’t hunt. It’s that older hunters need to be honest about which hunts fit their body. And there’s no shame in that. A kudu taken from a blind in South Africa is every bit as much of a trophy as an elk taken at 10,000 feet in Colorado. They’re just different experiences.

How to Prepare If You’re Going for It

If you’re in your 30s or 40s and you’re reading this thinking “he’s right, I need to stop waiting” — good. Here’s what to do next.

Start training now. Not next month. Now. The number one thing that separates a good mountain hunt from a miserable one is cardio fitness. Get on a stair climber with a weighted pack. Hike hills. Run. Do squats. You don’t need a fancy program — just start moving uphill with weight on your back, and do it consistently for 3-6 months before your hunt.

Pick your hunt and book it. Put a date on the calendar. Having a deadline makes the training real and the saving real. Vague plans stay vague forever.

Don’t wait for the “perfect” year. There will always be a reason not to go. The kids need braces. The truck needs tires. The timing isn’t great at work. It’s never perfect. Go anyway.

Start with what you can afford. You don’t have to book a $15,000 sheep hunt as your first trip. Start with an elk hunt. Do a DIY hunt to keep costs down. Get out there, get the experience, and build toward the bigger hunts. Browse our guided elk hunts to see what’s available at different price points.

The Bottom Line

I talk to hunters every single week. The ones who went on their dream hunt in their 30s and 40s? They never regret it. Not once. They tell those stories for the rest of their lives.

The ones who waited? They don’t regret the hunts they went on. They regret the ones they didn’t.

If you’ve got a hunt on your bucket list — a real one, the kind that keeps you up at night — stop planning for “someday” and start planning for next season. Your body has a window, and that window is open right now.

Don’t let it close.

If you want help figuring out which hunt fits your age, your fitness level, and your budget, reach out to us. That’s literally what we do. No pressure, no sales pitch — just an honest conversation about what’s realistic and what’ll give you the experience you’re after.

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