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Get off my back!

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Get off my back!

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 01 04, 2019 •  [Post 1]

For those of you that pack your elk out on your backs, how do you do it? Well, besides the obvious scenario where you place a huge chunk of dead weight in your packs and crawl up out of the hell hole the elk decided to dive into at the absolute last second before he expired. For the purpose of this ultra-scientific "how to do it" thread, we'll set the stage by saying you hunt with a partner, and, the expired elk is a 5X5 bull. OK, good shot, good tracking job, there he is, bull down! A few high fives later, it's time to really get to work. All that hiking/hunting the previous days was merely a warm up.

How do you break down your elk (method, bagging system, cooling method, etc.) and how do you pack it back out to the truck, quad (or camp) say 1 1/2 miles away (what goes out first, how heavy are the loads, how many trips). Let's go; we're burning daylight!
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Re: Get off my back!

Postby Elkduds » 01 04, 2019 •  [Post 2]

Gutless method yielding 4 bone-in quarters, backstraps, tenderloins, neck meat. For me a pack load is a rear quarter and some neck meat or a front and more loose meat: backstrap, loins. The rest hangs in the shade in game bags. My Badlands 2200 pack carries one load out. Back @ camp I bring my packframe in for the remaining loads. The hardest job you'll ever love.
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Re: Get off my back!

Postby Swede » 01 04, 2019 •  [Post 3]

At 1.5 miles I will do gutless and boneless too. I usually don't hunt that far in. Hell holes get the gutless boneless treatment too. For closer less than 3/4 mile average packs I have gutted and packed out real quarters. I am starting to go with more gutless butchering, but if the pack is routine, I leave the bone in. I always carry all of my meat on my freighter. Two years ago I started using a Kuiu super pro pack frame, or whatever it is really called, with meat hauler. I like it better than any other set up I have used.
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Re: Get off my back!

Postby jmez » 01 04, 2019 •  [Post 4]

It would depend on which of my two hunting partners I was with at the site. One of is a bigger strong guy and the other is much smaller framed and not as strong.

We would do the gutless method as well as bone the meat out. Rear quarter and half trim meat go into two bags, hang in the shade. Front quarters and backstraps into two bags.

If only 1.5 miles in then the bigger guy and I would take it all out in one load. If I was with the smaller partner we would bring out the hinds and trim. I would then go back in alone and bring the rest out myself unless he was tagged out as well. If he had already tagged out then he'd come back in and help.
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Re: Get off my back!

Postby Tigger » 01 05, 2019 •  [Post 5]

same as Elkduds here.

But I will throw in a curveball......if it is grizzly country, does that change your thinking/method? :shock:
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Re: Get off my back!

Postby Trumkin the Dwarf » 01 05, 2019 •  [Post 6]

I'm rocking the gutless method, with bones out. I carry Citric acid powder to mix with water in a spray bottle for bug control and bacteria control in hot weather. All the meat winds up in game bags. If it's bear country, I'm shifting all the game bags several hundred yards to an open spot before I start packing. With two bigger guys I'm going to try to pull the whole thing out in one load. Worst case scenario I'd leave the antlers and a front quarter for the second load.
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Re: Get off my back!

Postby Lefty » 01 06, 2019 •  [Post 7]

Ive been lucky most of my game was on BLM where we could drive to it. Public land with over the snow, close to an 2 track, an atv trail private ground, down hill snow covered drag. other guys showing up A fellow with an empty pack horse,....

My last deer pack out I completely cut up, boneless Good cold night , packed out the best meat first

We have a number of plans in grizzle country . Over night meat: we go in as a group with shotguns and maybe dogs and horses
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Re: Get off my back!

Postby Wyo67 » 01 08, 2019 •  [Post 8]

Elkduds wrote:Gutless method yielding 4 bone-in quarters, backstraps, tenderloins, neck meat. For me a pack load is a rear quarter and some neck meat or a front and more loose meat: backstrap, loins. The rest hangs in the shade in game bags. My Badlands 2200 pack carries one load out. Back @ camp I bring my packframe in for the remaining loads. The hardest job you'll ever love.


^^^ This. Only exception is I have a Badlands Sacrifice to carry out the first load. Don't have any plans to hunt in grizzly country, but would move the meat a few hundred yards away and make sure they are visible and come back armed and with spray. Another factor is weather. If the meat is a couple miles back and there's bad weather forecast to come in, we'll pull an all nighter to get it out. Walking out in slippery/sloppy/icy conditions with a load on your back isn't fun...
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