I primarily hunt alone, and some in very high grizzly country. I usually take my hound Wylie with me and he just hunts around while I'm walking, and I keep him close when near elk.
I would really have a quick plan on getting all your meat 200 yards or so away from the kill site, even if you shoot one at dark. It's best to get it out of there a couple hundred yards. Or even gut and cut the carcass in half and drag it away from the gut pile. You can gut an elk in about 10 minutes and have the back quarters off in another 10-15 minutes. Front shoulders take longer, if you saw up through the spine, but it's simpler to just skin out the front shoulders and take out the upper backstrap, and neck meat.
I would put your quarters in an area that you can see and walk in downwind. Last year we left two gut piles/carcass in a infested area for grizzlies for two days and kept on glassing the gut piles and nothing but birds came in during the times we glassed it.
This year if I shoot something in there again, I'm leading in two horses after I get it quartered and it out in one load. Quicker the better, they can have whatever is left.
Carrying two really sharp knifes, sharpener, small saw, and a hatchet makes for quick processing.
I have a question for guys that use bear spray, how does it do in windy conditions? I'm going to buy a couple containers and practice with one of them. I just don't want to engulf myself with bear spray
I would really have a quick plan on getting all your meat 200 yards or so away from the kill site, even if you shoot one at dark. It's best to get it out of there a couple hundred yards. Or even gut and cut the carcass in half and drag it away from the gut pile. You can gut an elk in about 10 minutes and have the back quarters off in another 10-15 minutes. Front shoulders take longer, if you saw up through the spine, but it's simpler to just skin out the front shoulders and take out the upper backstrap, and neck meat.
I would put your quarters in an area that you can see and walk in downwind. Last year we left two gut piles/carcass in a infested area for grizzlies for two days and kept on glassing the gut piles and nothing but birds came in during the times we glassed it.
This year if I shoot something in there again, I'm leading in two horses after I get it quartered and it out in one load. Quicker the better, they can have whatever is left.
Carrying two really sharp knifes, sharpener, small saw, and a hatchet makes for quick processing.
I have a question for guys that use bear spray, how does it do in windy conditions? I'm going to buy a couple containers and practice with one of them. I just don't want to engulf myself with bear spray