I'm a newbie to elk.  Been slaughtering southern stuff for decades.  Don't know jack about elk.  Guys in the hometown Colorado forum are helping me out with tips and legalities.

I'm going this year.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Need gear.  I'm gathering up a extra shekels through hard work and ingenuity but still need to keep things well under tier-1.  

So, let's say YOU have a good tent, weapon, clothes, and boots.  1.  You need some decent optics for you and probably a son.  Spotter, binoculars, and tripod(s).  You have $1500--$1800 MAX for these items.  What do you buy and why?

I would skip the spotting scope.  I have two, and they never get use outside the range.

Good binos in the 8 to 10x, and a good chest carrier.

Binos. Maps. GPS. Compass. CamelBack.

$25 CraigsList vintage Coleman Peak 1 ABS/plastic pack frame to haul out quarters.

Put OnX on your phones.  Download maps.  
You probably have enough gear once you get the binos/carriers.
Put in a bunch of cardio starting now.   E-scout via OnX, pick 4-5 likely areas, and find a half dozen campsites.  They are easy to pick out with sat imagery.    
Unless you get here a couple days early, those camps will be mostly taken.

As stated, Binos as good as you can afford. Finding a good pair of used or factory demo Vortex Vipers or similar. OnX on your phone for sure. Double and triple check your boots and socks. Many miles will be covered in some rough terrain. A good pack with a bladder and a filter is always on my short list. Can never have enough water when chasing elk.

I have carried a spotter on a couple hunts but for elk hunts they are optional.

Good luck!

Just got an email for these binos on sale. I am a Zeiss fan so I wouldn’t hesitate to try them at this price. Leaves a bunch in your budget too.

https://www.eurooptic.com/Zeiss-Terra-ED-10x42-Black-Blaze-Orange-Binoculars-524204-9905-000.aspx?&utm_campaign=campaign%3A+Email+for+2%2F23%2F2022+-+40%25+OFF%3A+Zeiss+Terra+ED+10x42+Orange+Binocular+%2863f78dbd2750e0001e806a4c%29&utm_medium=email&utm_source=omnisend&omnisendContactID=6381396502c7cb0019d110ec

Skip the spotter with that total budget. I made the mistake of buying a $1500 spotter and in hunting situations it didn’t offer me much advantage over my 15s. But took up space in my pack and added unnecessary weight.

Buy some 15s for the tripod if you are hunting out west. For the money the leupold santiam 15x56 are decent, not as good as Swarovski but better than vortex kaibab. You can find them used for around $700.

For closing the distance carry some 10s personally I wouldnt go less than a vortex viper 10x42 quality. Those can be had for the $300 range. Tripods we primarily use slik cf634. They can be had with a head for around $200 if you shop around.

Another option for a decent all around bino in that price range would be to shop around for some 12x50 vortex razors. The 12x is enough to glass pretty far on a tripod and stable enough to glass off hand. If I could only take one bino it would be the best 12s I could buy because of the versatility.

Your choice of optics will be dictated by the terrain you will be hunting. The elk hunts I have done in OR are more than covered by 10x42’s. If you are hunting bigger country, 12x or larger are your friend if quality is high enough. Why? A good bino will help you I’d a Bull vs a cow at a good distance. A really good bino will help you I’d a good Bull vs an average Bull at distance. This is important because you may spot a Bull across a canyon that is 1,000 yds away. To get to that Bull you may need to hike 2 miles in the steep and deep. Good glass can save you that hike.

FWIW, I hunt with vortex razor binos. This summer while hunting in AK I spotted some bulls 3 miles away. I knew they were worth moving on because I could tell they were bulls. The spotting scope confirmed that and we moved on them. From that point on the spotter was dead weight in some rough country. Good glass saves miles.

I concur with those who said a spotter is a waste, except for some specific scenarios related to the terrain.    I have hunted elk in South East British Columbia and North Idaho for the last 20ish years.   I gave up carrying a spotter with me years ago.  Just so few places where it did me any more good than a good pair of binos.    Also, spotters that don't suck above about 20x zoom will eat your whole $1500 budget and then some.    

To be clear, if you are hunting open country where you can get to a mountain top and see for a mile or three in any direction (without fighting 10 other hunters for the spot to glass from),  then a spotter is great.   But if you don't have something like that where you can see a long ways and a lot of country, it's just a waste of weight in your pack.

I carried a spotter on my first hunt out west, barely used it. I brought it for my first elk hunt last year and it stayed in camp the whole time. Decent binos and a decent tripod go a long way.

While proper gear is important, especially your sleep system and clothing/boots; learning elk ecology and how to e-scout is more important.

Also if you’ve never been up in elevation or even if you have, altitude sickness is real. It really got me this trip.

Those are my quick tips as a relative new western hunter. If you want I can send you some links on my more in depth threads on another forum.

Top 3 items I recommend for new elk hunters:
Quality boots, broken in
Quality sleeping bag
Quality Binoculars (10x42)


After that:
Merino socks
Layers for temp management
Good partner with a good attitude

PM if you want more detail.

Skip the spotter. I have hunted elk in CO for 22 years now. It only goes along on pre hunt scouting trips when I don’t have the weight of a rifle with me.

GOOD binos are key. Mine are 10x40 Swarovski but I won’t them in a raffle. Previously I used a set of 10x Luepold’s.

As several posters above said.

Good quality warm gear for sleeping and layering is as important as everything else.

Keep an eye out at Midway. They have been running some crazy close out sales lately.

Being a “poor” is not about income. It’s about it’s about attitude and how you live your life. You don’t make excuses and are working at a dream hunt with the budget you have. That is not the attitude of a poor.

One thing I am going to reccomend to you is try and amass some cash that stays with you as well as some room on the credit card.  The reason for this is if you come accords a deal you can pounce on it then and there and not have the deal disappear on you while you gather funds. Deals don’t line to wait.

I am curious as to why part of the state you are planning g your hunt in. I personally hunt south of Craig, CO and have been very successful there. The state has the largest elk herd in the country.

Shooting/walking sticks.

Even a single pole like the Primo Pole Cat  could turn out to be a huge help.  I've used mine on two of my last three animals.

These are invaluable.

I prefer the tripod style of sticks but everyone is different.

Practice with them now so you are used to them at hunting time.