Different Ways To Pack Elk!

[ElkNut1]

Most of us here use our packs to get our Elk & Deer out of the woods, what other means have you used to help the pack a bit more tolerable? (grin) Let's see & hear some of your creative ways!

Here's my grandson, his dad & I with his 1st elk a couple years ago, we had a 3 - 1/2 mile drag & pack out with it. I have a hindquarter on my back in a badlands 2200 & tanners dad (Jerry) is pulling the sled with the rest of the elk in it, you can see we are the only ones out there as we break the trail ahead with the sled. It worked slick in the snow there. Let's see yours!

ElkNut1

[Z Barebow]

Not an elk, but a deer. Last day of season (Dec 31st in MN) I think it was in the year 2000. Shot this deer (bow) in the middle of a section (1/2 mile walk) and the snow was DEEP. 20-24" on the ground. Came out on Jan 1 with my daughters sleds so I could pull the deer out. No snowmobile available.

[cnelk]

Those black sleds rock!

[cnelk]

game cart and sled in action

[Swede]

I have forded a chest high rain and snow melt swollen stream, with an elk in tow, slid an elk down a grassy slope, tried a game cart, and maneuvered my truck well off road to get close, but my best effort came when invited my friend Tim to hunt with my son and me. Tim can pack as well as a good mule and actually seems to like it. Tim has been a great find on every aspect of hunting, except he leaves too soon. Like some others, he has this work issue that interferes with his hunting. In other words Tim can be gone when you really need him.

[Indian Summer]

Other than the sled method I think I've tried it all. Mules and horses of course. Backpacked what seems like a hundred of them. In 2012 and friend and I packed an entire bull out on a one wheeled game cart. Of course the situation was ideal. But my first bull was the most interesting. 13 miles in. Back then we didn't have fancy packs designed to carry quarters and we didn't have external frame packs either. We "Santa Claused" quarters over our shoulder. At about eh halfway mark our shoulders were pounded into submission so we dropped everything and hiked out to a friends place hoping he might know someone with a game cart. He didn't. So he gave us a two wheeled lawn cart with bicycle wheels. With 2 miles to go it completely fell apart so it was back to the Santa Clause method. LOL

One time on a mule deer hunt in Wyoming my brother and I tied an entire mulie buck to a 4 inch log and both shouldered it the whole way. The biggest problem there was it swaying left to right the whole way. I have some "vintage" video of that. UGH!!! Memories!

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My brother took a rookie hippie hunting once dressed in ski clothes and such. He got a cow. (wow!) They called me to go pack it out as he had experienced the reality of it the day before. When I got there he pointed into a pixie stix hell hole where, after roping one hind into a sled, a quarter nearly ran him over on the down hill and took off on it's own all the way to the bottom. When I got the rest of the elk on the mules he looked at me and said "sweet dude I guess that's how it's done huh?" lol I went one way and he proceeded to pluck the 1st quarter from the gates of hell and when I got out I drove around and picked him up at the bottom of his side of the ridge. He was beat up to say the least. A good laugh I had.

[WapitiTalk1]

Way back in the day, on a very steep snowy Montana mountainside, my father thought it would be a good idea to "skid" an entire elk (gutted) down the mountain side on a large canvass tarp. The elk was kind of rolled up/tied in the tarp with the front hooves sticking out downhill and tied off. It was my younger brothers job to keep the front legs up while myself, older brother, and my dad "lowered" the elk down the steep sidehill from ropes tied to the tarp and hind legs of the elk. Probably the hardest we've laughed while in a hunting/packing situation My younger brother looked like a snowman by the timed we got the elk down to the flats. The skidded elk pretty much avalanched over my kid brother several times as it got to sliding down the hill. I guess it worked and we all had fun.

[Trumkin the Dwarf]

A few years ago my grandpa and I shot two cow elk in the late afternoon. It was two miles of downhill to the vehicle, and there was about 18" of snow on the ground. So we cut the heads and lower limbs off after gutting, tied the front elbows to the necks, and drug them out in one piece. That was actually one of the easiest packing jobs of my life (I tend to shoot deer in really stupid places).

[cnelk]

This 'One wheel wonder' SUCKED!!!
I shot this bull 5 miles back in and this home-made POS damn near didnt come home with me.
The only reason it did was I borrowed it...

[Still Hunter]

You're all making it too hard. I just jump on the bulls back, and ride it to my Jeep. Then I shoot it.

Much easier.

[Elkduds]

At the start of my learning curve, long before I embraced the gutless method: I started with a headless, gutted carcass. I cut the hinds off in one piece, behind the ribcage, hide on. I tied a rope's ends to both legs, then stepped inside the rope. I started dragging with the rope across the front of my waist, not bad. The front half was more cumbersome. Down a moderate hill with shallow snow, a half mile to the truck. Hair dragged off the hide in places, the meat was undamaged. Necessity is a mother.

[>>>---WW---->]

I actually did ride and elk to the truck one time. It was my very first elk from many years ago. There was about 12 inches of snow on the ground. I field dressed the elk and managed to drag it to the edge of the very steep mountain side. I pointed him down hill and hopped on. There was no way to steer, you just aimed it and hung on for dear life. I had to get off several times to get it untangled from the trees and bushes and re-aim it for the next try. When the rest of the guys made it back to the truck they couldn't believe I had drug that thing down all by myself. They were even more surprised when I told them I didn't drag it, I rode it!

[Still Hunter]

There you go.

On a serious note. When I was younger I just quartered it out, and carried it out alone. Then I started to bone it out as I got older, and carried it out alone. Then as got even older I started to shoot cows, bone it out, and carried it out alone.

Now, that i'm older than dirt. I'm thinking of shooting a calf, bone it out, and get one of those sled thingy's. Soon, i'll just be hunting squirrels.

[elkmtngear]

I actually did ride and elk to the truck one time. It was my very first elk from many years ago. There was about 12 inches of snow on the ground. I field dressed the elk and managed to drag it to the edge of the very steep mountain side. I pointed him down hill and hopped on. There was no way to steer, you just aimed it and hung on for dear life. I had to get off several times to get it untangled from the trees and bushes and re-aim it for the next try. When the rest of the guys made it back to the truck they couldn't believe I had drug that thing down all by myself. They were even more surprised when I told them I didn't drag it, I rode it!

Bill, that's hilarious!

I know the feeling. We shot the bull in the pic on a crazy steep oakbrush slope, about four miles up and over the mountain from the rig. We decided to quarter it up, and try to get a buddy to bring his horses in for it.

Well, wouldn't you know it, we couldn't get the horses within 1000 yds of it. So our buddy had to circle his horses back around to the main trail and try to come up from underneath. And it started snowing. So I had to ride the bagged quarters down the slope like a sled down about 500 yds to a sidehill trail, took me a couple trips to get them all down.

My buddy could only get one horse and a mule down to the quarters. So we got them loaded, started walking, and the mule started to slide, like he was on skis. The mule sat down on his butt, and slid straight downhill for about 60 yds with a load of elk on, with my buddy hollering "Whoah Musket"! It looked like the mule was just playing or something, it was very comical!

Then it got dark, and the snow had weighted all the brush over the trails. AND NOBODY BROUGHT A FLASHLIGHT! We located the other horses by sound, and my buddy told his horse (named "Buddy")...go home, Buddy! That horse picked its way over some nasty trails in the pitch black, with me holding on to the tail of the loaded horse. It was so dark, the horse would stop, and I'd run into him. Wet cold and miserable, that horse took us right back to the trailer. Quite an adventure!

[WapitiTalk1]

I actually did ride and elk to the truck one time. It was my very first elk from many years ago. There was about 12 inches of snow on the ground. I field dressed the elk and managed to drag it to the edge of the very steep mountain side. I pointed him down hill and hopped on. There was no way to steer, you just aimed it and hung on for dear life. I had to get off several times to get it untangled from the trees and bushes and re-aim it for the next try. When the rest of the guys made it back to the truck they couldn't believe I had drug that thing down all by myself. They were even more surprised when I told them I didn't drag it, I rode it!

Bill, that's hilarious!

I know the feeling. We shot the bull in the pic on a crazy steep oakbrush slope, about four miles up and over the mountain from the rig. We decided to quarter it up, and try to get a buddy to bring his horses in for it.

Well, wouldn't you know it, we couldn't get the horses within 1000 yds of it. So our buddy had to circle his horses back around to the main trail and try to come up from underneath. And it started snowing. So I had to ride the bagged quarters down the slope like a sled down about 500 yds to a sidehill trail, took me a couple trips to get them all down.

My buddy could only get one horse and a mule down to the quarters. So we got them loaded, started walking, and the mule started to slide, like he was on skis. The mule sat down on his butt, and slid straight downhill for about 60 yds with a load of elk on, with my buddy hollering "Whoah Musket"! It looked like the mule was just playing or something, it was very comical!

Then it got dark, and the snow had weighted all the brush over the trails. AND NOBODY BROUGHT A FLASHLIGHT! We located the other horses by sound, and my buddy told his horse (named "Buddy")...go home, Buddy! That horse picked its way over some nasty trails in the pitch black, with me holding on to the tail of the loaded horse. It was so dark, the horse would stop, and I'd run into him. Wet cold and miserable, that horse took us right back to the trailer. Quite an adventure!

All I can say is wow to both!

[pointysticks]

my favorite way.. bring friends.

i cannot imagine the luxury of using a truck..i would love to string up a bull in a barn with lighting, sharp knives..butcher table. i would get every morsel.

[Indian Summer]

This 'One wheel wonder' SUCKED!!!
I shot this bull 5 miles back in and this home-made POS damn near didnt come home with me.
The only reason it did was I borrowed it...

Brad... did you try to use that cart alone? If so holy $h1T man!!! Those are 2 man deals FOR SURE! I have one and love it... if it's the right situation. My handles are adjustable up and down for different height people AND because on hills the guy in the front needs higher handles while the guy in the back needs lower ones to get it to ride level. Also.. not sure about that one but mine has hand brakes which are priceless when taking much needed breaks on uphills. They aren't cheap I'll say that and they definitely require a learning period but once you get it down they are priceless. Mine looks a bit lighter than that one. Here it is loaded to the hilt with camp and gear going in. You can see the hand brake. The handles have pins that remove to rotate them high or low. A few inches either way makes a huge difference.

[cnelk]

Joe
I had help getting that out
He is the guy who took the pic

The unit was too tall. We had to hold on to the handles about hip high.
It was completely exhausting, it had a brake system, but didnt work.

I shot the bull in the morning hunting by myself. I hiked out, called my buddy who came up to help.
We hiked back in with the cart and packed it out.
That was a 20 mile day for me

If you look at the other pic of my cart in the snow, I built that.
Its much better

[Indian Summer]

"too tall", no brakes, hip high... yeah... that would qualify as sucky for sure!

[WapitiTalk1]

Haven't done this one yet but it's on my list I'm sure there won't be much pedaling involved, just walking the rolling meat hauler out.

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[Still Hunter]

I hope you guys know I was kidding? I just pack it out on my back. Bull or cow. Always have, and probably always will. It seems easier than dragging something up and down the mountains.

[kevin_t]

I did 4 quarters and a pelt and all other meat in one sled trip last year. It was dumping snow and great. The perfect opportunity.

This year I was far back in unit 43, and pretty high in November with a big weather system coming in. I was further and higher than I wanted to be, but I was finally in some un pressured elk. I was also very unfamiliar with the area, I basically had driven around and said that looks Elky and set off on foot. I had the Paradox Pack with me, and knew I could get 100 lbs fine, but my guess was I was 6 miles from the TH, thru some timber and up an avy chute. A one day on your back pack out of that (due to weather system the area might not be accessible anymore) would have set me back 24 miles in one day. sat on a ridge contemplating for about an hour, if I could tie two hind quarters together and attach them to the back of the frame and drag them down a side ridge while having everything else in the pack. I finally gave up on the idea, and tried to find some easier elk. I think the concept would have worked for a one trip, however, I took the ridge down and while the first mile or so would have been ok, the rest got into a lot of dead fall so it would have been a no go as well.

[ElkNut1]

Kevin, now that's some creative thinking there! (grin) In your predicament I would have had the wheels spinning too trying to figure out how to get the meat out or at least most the meat out on one trip as well, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do! (grin) Do you have any photos of a 100# or there abouts on the new Paradox Pack? Thanks.

ElkNut1

[Indian Summer]

" Soon, i'll just be hunting squirrels."

I just pack it out on my back. Bull or cow. Always have, and probably always will. It seems easier than dragging something up and down the mountains.

Bull or cow squirrel? I'd bone out the bulls for sure. They're heavier boned ya know.

You squirrel packer you!

[Still Hunter]

Hey! A fat squirrel can get pretty heavy.

[Indian Summer]

Hey! A fat squirrel can get pretty heavy.

Laugh all you want but when I'm out with the beagles I quarter every rabbit as I shoot them. 4 in the back of the vest IS downright heavy! I am serious!

[Still Hunter]

You can always bone them out to save your back.

[kevin_t]

Kevin, now that's some creative thinking there! (grin) In your predicament I would have had the wheels spinning too trying to figure out how to get the meat out or at least most the meat out on one trip as well, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do! (grin) Do you have any photos of a 100# or there abouts on the new Paradox Pack? Thanks.

ElkNut1

Several. Nathan has a photo with 156 on a paradox. A complete, gutted whitetail. Angie , my wife has a nice photo with almost 100 in hers. There are a few others floating around as well. I'll post some up in a couple days

[ElkNut1]

Kevin, thanks!

ElkNut1

[kevin_t]

Here are a few