My fast learning curve for packing a 'not so big' elk

[mjbskwim]

OK so I have hauled a few deer out...at about 300-1000 feet elevation. Not so bad,not too far from the truck. Easy peasy gut and haul.
Hahaha,now my first elk.She was a big girl... but not huge... we were drinking in,
Oh that's another story
She wasn't a huge matriarch cow but not a runt. I got her rolled in the direction I needed to gut and then to "try" to pull down hill. So not so bad.
But 200? pounds of dead animal doesn't just slide and especially when rocks and sage brush are in the way.
I have looked at the carts,both 2 wheel and 1 wheel and they do look interesting. I had a nice older pack my buddy gave me in the garage at home.Along with a couple other things I could have used
I was thinking about a tarp of some kind. Maybe with a plastic toboggan type slider ? Something I could roll up and throw in the pack board. I heard they were made but can't find the right 'key word' to google.
Next 1 I will definitely consider boning it out instead of even trying to haul it by my lonesome
Besides horses or mules and your teen age sons,what do you use if you are by yourself,to haul out your elk?

Thanks
Mike

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[DMax]

 

[mjbskwim]

Pics of what? The cow?
I forgot my phone every time I went back up the hill and I have no clue how to post pics and I refuse to learn after trying 100 times

 

[Velzey]

Oh boy been there done that! If I am alone out there I take the time to bone it out. Ive tried all kinds of carts, two wheel, one wheel. Yah no thanks! I left a two wheel cart way down in Big Sheep Creek over in the Imnaha unit! Good grief what a hassle with 150 lbs of meat on it. Bent one of the rims straight away, then an axle bent...Thanks Cabelas!

I bought myself a good pack and have it almost empty! Meat bags, knife, water and some jerky. I load my pack up with about 80 pounds or so. Make several trips!
Head comes out first, and I debone the whole thing. Very little waste!
I will warn you tho, if its a big one and your alone plan on spending the night out there with it. Critters will come and haul it away unless you hoist it somewhere in a tree.

 

[jbett98]

Is this what it looks like?

 

[jbett98]

This guy managed to load up his elk. How hard could it be.

 

[mjbskwim]

I left a two wheel cart way down in Big Sheep Creek over in the Imnaha unit!

Now that's funny right there. How far did the thing fly,if I may ask?

Is this what it looks like?


View attachment 268076

Yeah the second pick could be my freezer

 

[Velzey]

That cart was last seen cart wheeling 30' in the air and traveling at 100 mph.. On it's way down to the bottom it spooked about a dozen chucker and a few blue grouse!
$200! Junk

The next year I felt guilty about leaving it so I went down with my sawzall and cut the whole thing up and packed it all out.. It made it all the way to the bottom!

 

[Caveman Jim]

$$$$$$$$

 

[Certaindeaf]

Just go full-pull.. camp out a couple a days and make jerky out of it all. lol

 

[nextgenar]

A lot of very good questions here. For starters, I have killed a lot of elk over the years, enough that I have lost count, it's more than a dozen but less than 25 I would guess. First off I never pack out bone, even if I can ride a quad right up to the animal, I bone it out. Getting a really good pack frame is one key to painless elk packing, it needs a thick padded kidney belt along with good shoulder straps, if you have to pack it out, tie the meat as high up on the pack as it will go, not down on the load shelf. If I have to take the animal down hill all the way to the truck and it's relatively steep, I carry a length of paracute cord, I skin and bone the animal, place the meat in 2 elk bags then place the bags on the hide, with a good sharp knife, poke holes about every 4 inches around the perimeter of the hide, then using parachute cord start threading through the holes directly across from each other and start cinching the hide shut over the bagged meat make sure you tie a solid knot, then begin rolling the meat ball down the hill, you would be surprised how far and fast the harry meat ball will roll before having to give it another push, it may sound weird, but it does work.

 

[Craig O]

A lot of very good questions here. For starters, I have killed a lot of elk over the years, enough that I have lost count, it's more than a dozen but less than 25 I would guess. First off I never pack out bone, even if I can ride a quad right up to the animal, I bone it out. Getting a really good pack frame is one key to painless elk packing, it needs a thick padded kidney belt along with good shoulder straps, if you have to pack it out, tie the meat as high up on the pack as it will go, not down on the load shelf. If I have to take the animal down hill all the way to the truck and it's relatively steep, I carry a length of paracute cord, I skin and bone the animal, place the meat in 2 elk bags then place the bags on the hide, with a good sharp knife, poke holes about every 4 inches around the perimeter of the hide, then using parachute cord start threading through the holes directly across from each other and start cinching the hide shut over the bagged meat make sure you tie a solid knot, then begin rolling the meat ball down the hill, you would be surprised how far and fast the harry meat ball will roll before having to give it another push, it may sound weird, but it does work.

You need to video that LOL

 

[mjbskwim]

http://skedco.com/category/sked-rescue-stretchers/

$$$$

I'm sure that's the material I'm looking for and that Ranger rolls up nice. But for $550 msrp,I'll continue 'hunting' for something
Gotta find a toboggan store

 

[Oregonhunter5]

Horses. Mules. Get either or both.
If you don't have it, and your alone, and way the freak out there, bring a pulley and yank it up a heavy branch.
Or you could do it like my friends dad. Get a trailer with about 3000 foot of cable. Get above the animal, have a kid take the cable and head down hill. Strap the cable to the head, and have the kid ride on top. If it gets hung up on something, tell them to get the hell off, cuz there gonna be on a loaded missle. Works pretty good. Kinda spendy to get set up, but saves your back.

 

[mjbskwim]

Trust me,I have thought of buying a few hundred feet of the new winch 'rope'. It isn't as heavy or cumbersome as cable. Then with or without a winch,I could get the last 'few' hundred feet to the truck easier
There are some locals that just take elk in the ideal situation.They get a cow tag and talk to local farm owners that will let them hunt their fields.Ten they can get a tractor or truck to the animal to haul it home.If the farmer has a couple hundred elk in the fields, they may want to get rid of them.
I just need to get to know the farmers!
Another guy my age (57) said he was too far back and decided he just wasn't capable of hauling the elk to where he could get horses.So he went closer to home. He walks out his back door to hunt BTW
Point is,hunt where you are capable of hauling the animal out without killing yourself
Or worse,injuring yourself
Thanks for the replies and keep them coming.As there are many more fools out there that need help

 

[Oregonhunter5]

Or you could pay $45,000 and get your helicopter license.

 

[kenboy]

Bone it out. Bag it. Hang in tree. Drink one beer. Start walking with full pack back to camp. Sleep.......repeat. Been there done that

 

[Certaindeaf]

You know you wanna try helium balloons.

 

[jbett98]

There's a lot of hunters this year that wished they had your problem.

 

[jbett98]