Don't you love packing out an Elk?

[Deleted member 16014]

Hmmm...have had some dandies. One thing that is common among all of them is the mental game gets stretched, that's the crux.

 

[noharleyyet]

My hunt bud took a bull the morning of the second day of our 4th year chasing them. We gutted, skinned, quartered, and bagged by the book (literally).Hauled the last load into camp at 4:30 that afternoon, laying the game bags on our trailer ramps to cool. A breakfast of elk heart and eggs never tasted so good. I remember every facet of that hunt.

 

[onpoint]

I'm most proud of the ones that I figured out an easy way to get out. There's a lot I don't want to remember and the hardest pack of my life so far was 1/2 a mule deer and my gear. It's been 3 months and my back is still not normal.

That muley in the top picture, ain't bad. But you actually had to go back for the other half? Get a bigger pack frame.

 

[stu_manji]

luckily this one died on this big rock...er.....loading dock....literally stood just above it and fell over dead on the rock. Likelihood of that ever happening again?

 

[stu_manji]

I paid for it though this year, had about a 200 yard pack up to the road

everybody else on here would probably say I'm not a real elk hunter since I've never done the death hike. But honestly, who doesn't like them broadside in top pin range, less than 500 feet from the road? Anybody not going to take that shot?

 

[jcneng]

Stu_manji: That epitomizes shot placement!!! Near a road and up above the pickup bed, awesome! I will take that over a death march any day! Last year was one of my worst, a little over a mile with a skiff of wet snow in a beetle kill forest with downed trees and lots of wet grass! Two deboned cows in one trip, two guys, brutal! But I would do it again in a heartbeat!

 

[Deleted member 16014]

A quick mental tally comes to at least a dozen scaled 100-115# loads ranging from 3-9 miles. Another half dozen or more if dropping the to 80#+ threshold. The 112# load on a 30+ mile weekend with a broken metatarsal may be the most painful and difficult mentally, but possibly just due to being relatively recent and also alone. I don't think most people realize that guys like greenhorn who have more than doubled that number with a backpack are very unique athletically.

At 30 I hope to have another 15 years of hard backpack hunting, though I can't say my body owes it to me between the hunting loads, dozens of backpacking trips, and some 20-50 mile day hikes that have taken their toll. The trick of it all is that I feel when you tend to hit your stride in hunting knowledge, the body is thinking about heading downhill. Some of that can be mitigated, some is just luck.

 

[5Speedjim]

It's been a couple years since I packed out an elk. I shot one just before dark and cut it up and bagged it by myself, and carried out the loins & scraps that night and got back to camp around 1:00 a.m. The next day my nephew and I packed out the rest of it. It was 10 hrs round trip and there was no way my 24 year old nephew was going to hit the road before his 48 year old uncle. I never would have heard the end of the old man comments. He thought he was in better shape than he was.

 

[Pagosa]

I don't particularly enjoy packing out elk, but I'd rather fill a tag and enjoy some elk steaks and a trophy, than being unsuccessful. I've had several elk that could be retrieved by a ATV or truck, two were retrieved by horses, and multiple elk by sleds or backpacks. If the conditions are good and it's mostly downhill I'm a believer in a good ice fishing sled. Another thing that helps is to break up the trip in segments instead of packing individual quarters all the way to the truck/camp. Secondly, having beer or cold soda and some quick good food at camp is a great reward.

 

[Gerald Martin]

That muley in the top picture, ain't bad. But you actually had to go back for the other half? Get a bigger pack frame.

Ha! I'm not man enough to carry a bigger pack frame.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

My brothernlaw shot a bull in a nasty blow down, 3 miles and 1000feet down a gully, when he was in high school. Everyone in the family was gone that week except for my motherinlaw, who proceeded to pack out a hind quarter and the head in simples (read clogs) and yoga pants. This occurred at night and of course it started raining... there was also a unfortunate debacle with a wasps nest that got stuck on a tine.

Needless to say she has never packed out anything else nor been asked too and he always gets her exceptionally good Mother's Day presents.

 

[NavajoHunterNM]

This my first elk killed about a mile from the road. I've always been lucky enough to have my brother inlaw with me on most hunts. I married into a hunting family so when you need help they are always willing to help out. Plus feeding your packout friends or family a steak dinner helps too.

 

[windymtnman]

Wow, I never dreamed when I started this post there would be so much feedback and interest....

As for a few that somehow think less of others that use pack animals rather than carrying an Elk out, I guess this is my sentiments on that. Next Fall, I'll be 67 years old. I'll be hunting about 2 hours walk from where you can park a vehicle. This is steep Colorado country, and my backcountry camp will probably be up somewhere around 11,800 ft. or so. When you're my age, feel free to criticize using pack animals. Pretty sure I could still get one out of there, but why would I want to? When I retired, I built a ranch and got 2 horses and a mule. I'm out spending time with my "boys" on and off all day long. Here, on Feb. 7th, I rode my horse for about 2 hours in the mountain foothills where the snow wasn't too deep. There is NOTHING I'd rather do than head down the trail on horseback with my other two boys packing panniers. So, packing an Elk out is an appreciated adventure. In fact, I've packed Elk out for friends, just because of the adventure aspects of it. When you love the outdoors, and being with your horses/mule, it's frosting on the cake to be packing one out!

 

[Big Tex]

I was definitely overly optimistic about our ability to hunt way back in the wilderness and extract our bulls. Well After about 8 miles and 2600 feet down to the truck with this load on my back, I've had a packer with horses on the ready for every other backpack hunt. This was one long grueling day. Thank goodness for good friends so we could get it out in one load.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Wow, I never dreamed when I started this post there would be so much feedback and interest....

As for a few that somehow think less of others that use pack animals rather than carrying an Elk out, I guess this is my sentiments on that. Next Fall, I'll be 67 years old. I'll be hunting about 2 hours walk from where you can park a vehicle. This is steep Colorado country, and my backcountry camp will probably be up somewhere around 11,800 ft. or so. When you're my age, feel free to criticize using pack animals. Pretty sure I could still get one out of there, but why would I want to? When I retired, I built a ranch and got 2 horses and a mule. I'm out spending time with my "boys" on and off all day long. Here, on Feb. 7th, I rode my horse for about 2 hours in the mountain foothills where the snow wasn't too deep. There is NOTHING I'd rather do than head down the trail on horseback with my other two boys packing panniers. So, packing an Elk out is an appreciated adventure. In fact, I've packed Elk out for friends, just because of the adventure aspects of it. When you love the outdoors, and being with your horses/mule, it's frosting on the cake to be packing one out!

I don't think anyone here thinks less of someone who uses pack animals. That would be like some fly fishermen who are purists and look down on those of us who use bait.
If I ran into somebody who offered the use of their animals when I had a load of elk on my back I would gladly accept.
My brother bought a horse for the specific reason of packing out elk. It was over 20 years before I drew an elk tag and while we did use that horse to pack out a few deer all those years of feeding and vet bills before the elk tag were not worth the hassle. I've also had horses of my own and they can find countless ways to hurt themselves no matter how careful you try to be. IMHO they are just more trouble than they are worth and they have to be fed everyday all year round whether you are using them or not. They're just not for us.
Also for many years we had to choose between hauling the horse trailer or hauling a camp trailer, to us comfort always won.

 

[onpoint]

Love this pic, NavajohunterNM. In this era of designer camo and $500 packs, here's three dudes in carhartts and jeans - blood allover 'em - hell one kid wearing tennis shoes in the snow. Packing out meat on plain old frames, carrying a chunk by hand. Even probably told the truth about the actual distance Packin out using human stock exemplified....

 

[Smokepoler63]

I love to hear stories like this. I've done the same, and received help the same way. Whether you believe in karma or not, I feel good receiving help, and great giving help.

 

[Smokepoler63]

As hard as it is on me physically, it is soothing salve for my soul! As physically painful as it is, time and distance dull the pain and my memories become so very sweet. I'd love to have pack animals, but can't justify owning them. As hard as it is packing on my back, I keep coming back for more. ps. it does help having a friend and a 29 year old nephew that is as stout as an ox! wink, wink!

 

[NavajoHunterNM]

thanks onpoint my first ever elk, it was a special hunt for me.

Love this pic, NavajohunterNM. In this era of designer camo and $500 packs, here's three dudes in carhartts and jeans - blood allover 'em - hell one kid wearing tennis shoes in the snow. Packing out meat on plain old frames, carrying a chunk by hand. Even probably told the truth about the actual distance Packin out using human stock exemplified....View attachment 67759

 

[onpoint]

Great memory. Hell, my 1'st elk ever was a calf. Drug it whole to the truck, loaded it up and got home before anyone could catch me with it in the bed of my truck ......
Big tough hunter shot a twerp.....guess I was younger then and had a more fragile ego.......