How do you pack

[Muledeer4me]

Ridge Runner,we have been taking care of our elk doing it the gutless way.
Your right you have to clean the carcess of all meat including the rib meat .

It easy to do once you have the hide skinned back.
Have game bags ready for all the meat you clean off the carcass.
We debone most of the time in the field as we don't have pack animal's ,it's usually just Steve and myself using pack frame's.

We get to the loin by cutting through the rib's once everything else is cleaned off.
You can leave the bone in the quarter's to hang it or use game bag's to hang the deboned meat.
Not gutting it keeps it cleaner and it's easer to roll over once you have that first front shoulder & hind quarter off.
Either way work's, just make sure it's cooling off and being kept clean.
We also don't like to pack out anything we don't have to on those large animal's.

 

[KC]

ARCAT:

A cross buck is a traditional frame for pack animals. Fairly simple to make, and many are hand made, but you can buy them also. The assembly is two wooden 2x2s bolted to create "X"s, which are then connected with 1x4s.

RidgeRunner:

I have hawled out many elk in a backpack, when it's less than 3 miles and I have help.

But I do something similar to what montanahunter does. I always make sure that I know a local source for renting horses just in case it's so far back in that I don't want to hawl it out on my back.

KC

 

[RockyDog]

Arcat, That 120 qt cooler method sounds interesting. Do you think you could put one of those on each side with a boned elk and a 12 pack in each

 

[Ridge Runner]

Montanahunter and KC thanks for the tip on looking into a local packer in the area just in case, i'll do that also while i'm looking into a place for a walkin cooler perhaps to hang some meat if we get lucky enough.

Heck I thought beings we are going to be hunting in Idaho I'd just call moosie as I here he can pack pretty good Again thanks all for some good tips and good luck to all this season

 

[Ridge Runner]

Thanks Muledeer4me.I am wondering if with the amount of meat on an elk if it cools easier say leaving the quarters whole and hanging them rather than deboning the quarters also. I have always hung our deer and got a bit of a rhine going to protect the meat a bit until we get it back and can process on the butcher table. Just thinking if it is cool enough weather wise then deboning is the way as we don't have access to pack animals either but if it is warm then just get the quarters off, hung and cooling, all other meat goes in bags, and quarters come out whole and taken care of when we process. I know there is more than one way to skin a elk just thinking out loud here. Thanks for all the info

 

[ARCAT]

Rocky I just throw the cooler over the top of the kitchen boxes perpendicular to the boxes. THe racks on the bulls I kill usually fit right around the cooler, and I can lash the rack to the handles on either side. Those Middle Fork bulls are sometimes too wide for this and i have to cut down a red fir to get it long eough to lash to the rack with twine, and keep from gowing a hole in a mule but I do what I can. If its the end of the season a hitching rail will work. The forest circus is constantly on my A$$ for widening out the trials, knocking trees down etc, but I just can't help it, I gotta get the bulls out of the woods some how.

 

[montanahunter]

Ridgerunner - If you are not hunting with pack animals you should think about making contact with some packers in the area who would pack an elk if you kill it farther in than you want to get it out. A mature bull can be boned and packed on your back in 5 70# loads, 4 meat one horns, head and cape. Cape the head and reduce the weight but be carefull as it is easy to mess it up. 5 trips 3 miles in, 30 miles - a herculean event. Always keep a plastic sled in the truck, Cabelas sells a light weight roll up one, mine was wrecked after one elk but they will replace. When boning keep your meat in as big of pieces as you can, any surface exposed to air will need to be trimmed. The best way to take care of an elk is to quarter it splitting it down the back bone, then seperate the front and hind between the 4th and 5th rib to keep the weight even - big shoulders little butt. This is more work than boning or no gut method, as it is a chore to split the back bone, an ax is the easiest way. Most of my elk have been boned out and back packed to the truck ASAP because of warm weather in archery season. I have two coolers full of jugs of frozen water where the meat can cool without getting wet. If your like me you will walk around the elk about 5 times wandering what the hell am I going to do now. Just think of him as pieces and get to work. If you have to leave him to get your pack frame take time to pull his motor in case you don,t get back right away. Good luck.

 

[Water Wapiti]

Sorry about the "story" guys. Misread the direction this one was goin.

Never used horses. Can't get them into much of the area I hunt, to steep and real brushy. I've packed all but one of mine out on my back with a pack frame, 25ft of 1/8 in nylon line, and laced the meat to the pack like lacing up a pair of boots. If you have access to horses and can use them, that's the way to go. Bringing it out on your back ain't easy, but it gets it out.

WW

 

[Ridge Runner]

WW... Good "story" and thanks for the detailed input. I am just looking forward to my first elk hunt so looking for all the feedback into the processing and packing of these big critters. Have done my share of work on deer but nothing on there big brother the wild wapiti. This year we will be hunting off our backs so all very good info and appreciate the input. Never thought of the dental floss in the pack which could be used for many tasks that when you need to tie something. I also carry some of the plastic cable ties that come in handy also. Thanks again and good luck this season.

 

[ELKCHSR]

This is the little guy I shot six and a half miles back,

Doug, his buddy Mark and I drug these two, two miles out by the necks. If any one thinks this is a fun task, you may want to bring a couple more people to help....

This one was drug only about a mile and a half, but I spent five hours doing it...

I have the other pics I was trying to download this morning, except it can't take bmp format...
So I will have to figure some thing else out..

 

[Elkhunter]

Killer......

And next time call for help before you get to the last 400 yards of the drag.

 

[RockyDog]

ARCAT, i have noticed that in the salmon the areas with really big bulls have trails that are really wide. I always wondered why, but now with your explanation of the packing methods guides use i can see why.

 

[ARCAT]

I just hate to split a skull or kill a mule getting a rack out. We order all our ford deisels with the exra wide extended mirrors on the sides to make sure the racks sticking out the sides of the truck don't hit anything on the drive down to salmon. It helps to have a cross cut handy for sawing out the odd tree here and there on tight corners.

 

[Horn Seeker]

ROTHFALMFAO!! Too funny Arcat.

Honestly though, a couple of these dump holes I hunt in are going to KICK MY ASS if I ever kill a nice big bull. I"ll have to hire a 3 man saw crew to go ahead of me and clear brush!

Cant WAIT!!!

You like that middle fork country quite a bit?? I have only been in there a couple times and haven't gotten into the critters. We were sheep hunting, didn't see jack for elk. SW side, Marble Creek country.