Gastro Gnome - Eat Better Wherever

A Rollercoaster Ride Through The CO Alpine

Always good to end on a high note. Cool-looking bull, too. Congratulations!
 
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Love the write up; wish I had your writing skills

Congrats on a great bill and great hunt
 
Great story man, definitely a hunt loaded with excitement. Congratulations on a awesome bull
 
What a recap. Great hunt, great bull. Thanks for taking the time to share all the ups and downs.
 
The Pack Out

I'll keep this brief after my previous saga. I made quick work of the bull, besides cutting the bejesus out of my thumb while skinning out the head (I really hate replaceable blade knives). I hung 3 quarters and decided to leave my camp and take out a heavy load straight to the truck that night.

20230912_102019.jpg

That first load of a rear quarter and the scrap bag, plus my gun and basic day hunting gear was the worst of my life. I plowed 2 miles and 1,600 ft down through a maze of deadfall and mucky wallows and springs. Following a creek crossing and 3 more miles on trail, I got to the truck around 11 pm that night.

Suffering
20230912_114919.jpg
More Suffering
20230912_155938.jpg

The next morning I went back up, packed the two fronts down to the creek, built a platform over the water and laid them down on it with branches and a sweatshirt on top. I then went back up a last time, got the last rear and the head, packed it all the way to the truck, then went back, beer in hand, for the two fronts on the creek. I was done by about 10:30 pm. In all the day involved 15 hours and 20 miles of packing.

Double front quarter load
20230912_192606.jpg
 
Appreciate you all following along. Sorry it was so damn long, but when I joined HT I learned a ton from the recaps that explained situational decision making and strategy, and that's what I tried to do here. Thanks for your patience and interest.

Looking forward to the inevitable slew of badass stories and animals to come from you all this fall.
 
Appreciate you all following along. Sorry it was so damn long, but when I joined HT I learned a ton from the recaps that explained situational decision making and strategy, and that's what I tried to do here. Thanks for your patience and interest.

Looking forward to the inevitable slew of badass stories and animals to come from you all this fall.
You’ve left some big shoes to fill.
 
The Pack Out

I'll keep this brief after my previous saga. I made quick work of the bull, besides cutting the bejesus out of my thumb while skinning out the head (I really hate replaceable blade knives). I hung 3 quarters and decided to leave my camp and take out a heavy load straight to the truck that night.

View attachment 292763

That first load of a rear quarter and the scrap bag, plus my gun and basic day hunting gear was the worst of my life. I plowed 2 miles and 1,600 ft down through a maze of deadfall and mucky wallows and springs. Following a creek crossing and 3 more miles on trail, I got to the truck around 11 pm that night.

Suffering
View attachment 292765
More Suffering
View attachment 292766

The next morning I went back up, packed the two fronts down to the creek, built a platform over the water and laid them down on it with branches and a sweatshirt on top. I then went back up a last time, got the last rear and the head, packed it all the way to the truck, then went back, beer in hand, for the two fronts on the creek. I was done by about 10:30 pm. In all the day involved 15 hours and 20 miles of packing.

Double front quarter load
View attachment 292767
Oh man, that’s brutal! With all that deadfall no wonder you were in the elk.

I can’t believe you didn’t debone those suckers. That had to be some rough mileage
 
Oh man, that’s brutal! With all that deadfall no wonder you were in the elk.

I can’t believe you didn’t debone those suckers. That had to be some rough mileage

I really hate deboning, especially with big loads. The lack of structural integrity is somehow more painful to my knees and back, even if I cinch the hell out of it, than the extra weight.

But I will admit I did consider that maybe I should have deboned on the first load simply because it was so damn heavy. I really don't know how many of those I have in me.

At one point I was stuck knee deep in spongey wallow muck with deadfall behind and me in a way that was jamming backpack forward. I considered how long I could live there just cooking bits of meat I could reach off my back and cook with the bic lighter in my pocket, and how that future might actually be less painful than the next mile or so down that damned slope.
 
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I really hate deboning, especially with big loads. The lack of structural integrity is somehow more painful to my knees and back, even if I cinch the hell out of it, than the extra weight.

But I will admit I did consider that maybe I should have deboned on the first load simply because it was so damn heavy. I really don't know how many of those I have in me.

At one point I was stuck knee deep in spongey wallow muck with deadfall behind and me in a way that was jamming backpack forward. I considered how long I could live there just cooking bits of meat I could reach off my back with the bic lighter in my pocket, and how that future might actually be less painful than the next mile or so down that damned slope.
I hear you on that one. Check out the stone glacier load cell bags. They are a perfect load shelf bag perfect for any pack manufacturer. They keep everything together in the bags so it doesn’t move around. I took out two cow hinds and a heart in one trip last year. It sucked but they all fit in the one bag and didn’t move around.

Have let friends with mystery ranch and exo packs use them and they worked just as well in those packs.

It’s worth a thought. Those bones are heavy!
 
I hear you on that one. Check out the stone glacier load cell bags. They are a perfect load shelf bag perfect for any pack manufacturer. They keep everything together in the bags so it doesn’t move around. I took out two cow hinds and a heart in one trip last year. It sucked but they all fit in the one bag and didn’t move around.

Have let friends with mystery ranch and exo packs use them and they worked just as well in those packs.

It’s worth a thought. Those bones are heavy!

2 hinds in one load??? Thats nuts and I just vomited in my mouth a bit thinking about that prospect. I will happily check it out, thanks for the recommendation!
 
I really hate deboning, especially with big loads. The lack of structural integrity is somehow more painful to my knees and back, even if I cinch the hell out of it, than the extra weight.
This is the same way I’ve always felt. I have always struggled with packing deboned meat. I catch hell for not deboning but 90% of the time I’m packing alone so that’s how I prefer it.

Awesome story. It’s always fun to read and follow along with ones that are written in a manner that make you feel as though you are there.

Congratulations
 
I hear you on that one. Check out the stone glacier load cell bags. They are a perfect load shelf bag perfect for any pack manufacturer. They keep everything together in the bags so it doesn’t move around. I took out two cow hinds and a heart in one trip last year. It sucked but they all fit in the one bag and didn’t move around.

Have let friends with mystery ranch and exo packs use them and they worked just as well in those packs.

It’s worth a thought. Those bones are heavy!
I’m going to be looking into those load cell bags now. The extra weight in bones is substantial enough that I’d pay extra for something if it actually works.
 
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