A public THANK YOU to Realunlucky and his BIL!!!

[5MilesBack]

I was able to meet Rokslide member Realunlucky and his BIL while up elk hunting this past week. Just wanted to give a shout out and THANK YOU to them for helping me pack out my elk. Got home and weighed the five bags of meat at 268lbs. It took me all morning "solo" after shooting my bull around 0730 to debone it in the rain, and then skin it out to the head, hang the meat, and then haul the head with cape and rack to the truck. Got down about 2pm and they were ready to immediately head up and haul the meat out. I was already wiped at that point, but I agreed and off we went.......with me trailing most the way up, which was a first for me.

I can honestly say that this was the toughest (physically and mentally) single one day of hunting/packing in my life. At 51 I'm getting too old for those kinds of days. I also failed to eat that day (priorities), but did stay well hydrated. I'm "almost" recovered, but my back is still a wreck. Legs actually feel pretty good.

So, just wanted to publicly thank them for their generosity and help. Another great Rokslide member meeting and experience!! Two thumbs up!! Thanks guys.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Clap, clap, clap.
Obviously stand up guys.
Hunt'nFish

 

[dangerousD]

That's awesome! What a great community of backcountry guys on this forum! Kudos to them and congrats on the bull!

 

[JPHuntingAUS]

That's what hunting is all about, love the mateship. Top stuff @realunlucky

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[Northernpiker]

Congratulations on the Bull 5mile, I understand your name now "Realunlucky", nice help, hope you had a good hunt also.

 

[Manosteel]

That's great to hear stories like this! Congrats on the bull and realunlucky

 

[Ben Nicholson]

Strong work kids!

 

[luke moffat]

Congrats on the elk man!!!! And awesome realunlucky and his BIL were able to help you out when you needed it the most!! Great story all the way around!

 

[5MilesBack]

Not sure if they're back home yet, but I sure hope they tagged out this past weekend. When I left on Friday it was absolutely pouring rain, which had been off and on for the previous three days as well. Sure made things tough. It really looked sopped in too, but appeared to only cover the mountain areas.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Nice!

Curiosity question did you haul the head/cape first because you wanted to get the hide preserved against hair slip asap? I'm more of the euro or skull cap persuasion so getting the meat off asap is where I focus but sometimes I see folks hauling even just a head first (w/o a cap) and it hasn't made sense to me.

 

[les welch]

Nice!!

 

[les welch]

Nice!

Curiosity question did you haul the head/cape first because you wanted to get the hide preserved against hair slip asap? I'm more of the euro or skull cap persuasion so getting the meat off asap is where I focus but sometimes I see folks hauling even just a head first (w/o a cap) and it hasn't made sense to me.

I'll answer this for me, I'm not speaking for 5 miles, just myself.

95% of the time (or more) I do NOT hunt with my freighter pack. I like to hunt fast and light so my daypack is usually a very lightweight one that weighs a pound. I do have everything I need for the day and a some extra paracord and arno straps. This pack isn't big enough to (fill in durable here) to be hauling out a full quarter. I do try to get both backstraps, the inners, and maybe some scrap meat on the way out. I'll also strap my skull/rack whatever it is to the outside. I usually wind up with 45-50# on that first load out. It has nothing to do with the rack being more important than the meat, it's just the logistics of getting out as much as possible and not wasting that first trip out with nothing, if that makes sense.

 

[realunlucky]

Funny how things work out some times. Lucky we were around base camp that day. Cutting up an elk solo let alone packing all the parts and pieces back to the truck is a daunting task. All I had to do is visualize myself in that same situation before agreeing to help out. I'm truly blessed with my hunting partner a true teammate. No hesitation from him, we threw everything out of the packs and followed 5 miles to the trail head. We had hoped to make short work of the hike in and out and still make an evening hunt. Plans never seem to work out so smoothly and there was only 1 hour and 20 minutes of light left when we were finished. What now? Well we headed out behind camp with pretty low expectations but you can't kill them in camp. Long story short there was one in the woods behind camp

We found out quickly not everything made it back into the packs so we left him over night to pack out in the morning. Rain all night and hard the next morning turning into snow. Completely soaked though with more weather forecast we pulled camp and headed home. BIL is looking forward to having 5 miles call him in a elk next time (hope you meant it) as my bugle skills got almost completely snubbed in Colorado.

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[Grumman]

That's good karma right there!


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[5shot]

Funny how things work out some times. Lucky we were around base camp that day. Cutting up an elk solo let alone packing all the parts and pieces back to the truck is a daunting task. All I had to do is visualize myself in that same situation before agreeing to help out. I'm truly blessed with my hunting partner a true teammate. No hesitation from him, we threw everything out of the packs and followed 5 miles to the trail head. We had hoped to make short work of the hike in and out and still make an evening hunt. Plans never seem to work out so smoothly and there was only 1 hour and 20 minutes of light left when we were finished. What now? Well we headed out behind camp with pretty low expectations but you can't kill them in camp. Long story short there was one in the woods behind camp

We found out quickly not everything made it back into the packs so we left him over night to pack out in the morning. Rain all night and hard the next morning turning into snow. Completely soaked though with more weather forecast we pulled camp and headed home. BIL is looking forward to having 5 miles call him in a elk next time (hope you meant it) as my bugle skills got almost completely snubbed in Colorado.

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Hope you were able to recover everything that was left out of the packs. Way to go helping a fella out.

 

[5MilesBack]

That's awesome, Sam! Sure glad you guys tagged one.......karma really does pay off. And to think, we could have been sitting in a restaurant that night having a hot meal and drinking a cold one and you guys blew me off. LOL. Glad to hear it. Tell your BIL I'm all in to help him out next time he's here.

Pods8.......Les pretty much nailed it. A lot of times I'm hunting with just my day pack. It is not a hauler at all, but I can manage a full racked cape and head on my shoulders coming out as that first load. I was going to try and bring out the bag with back straps and tenderloins as well on that first trip, but it was still too much in my condition. I weighed the backstraps and tenderloins when I got home........34lbs. I even had to leave my bow hanging in a tree with the meat. The bow straps nicely to the back of my hauler with meat. I was debating even mounting this bull, but his cape was so gorgeous I definitely wanted to bring it all out. Super long black hair on his throat, his belly and legs were jet black as well. My taxidermist loved it as well.

I was already beat that morning even before I shot the bull, and my left knee had been swelling each night all week. So I was definitely not at full strength. After breaking down the bull in the rain, it was all I could do just to get the head, rack, and cape down in one load. I was wiped.

 

[Jeff Martin]

Congrats 5miles!!


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[elkguide]

Screw the news. There are good people out there.

Congratulations to all.

 

[Bubblehide]

Great read all the way around! My hats off to all of you.

 

[Chad E]

Congrats on the elk and love the story of the help out.