Claims of a 20 mile packout

[roosiebull]

Notice to all 20 milers:
I think I am just going to my tree stand, 1/2 mile from where I park the truck and wait while you go out and enjoy a hunt. I don't care if I don't get an elk, I will enjoy my hunt, and I am not packing an elk 20 miles. Please don't ask me to help you with yours either. You kill it back there, you are on your own. The truth is that I am more likely to get one than those that believe the elk are 20 miles back in the forest. I hate those long pack outs.

maybe there is a reasonable explanation though... a fabrication mixed with truth? I remember in my younger and less smart days (can think of 4 off the top of my head) where I have killed bucks over 5 miles from my pickup (2 were mine, one was my sis in law's ex boyfriend, the other was her next boyfriend who is now her husband) before I hunted with a pack I could haul meat in (probably were important in me getting a good pack I could hunt out of and haul weight)

I used to wear a light day pack then come back with a pack frame... by day's end, they were over 20 mile days, and a critter was killed and packed out

the internet can be a funny thing with no accountability, and lots of BS. luckily around here it's nearly impossible to 3 miles from a road (there are a couple wilderness areas on the south coast you may be able to) and even at that, it would be completely unnecessary....

being that I mostly hunt solo, and don't count on getting help (though I normally do, having a few friends that will drop what they are doing to help like I will for them) I always prepare to do it by myself..... some areas I would push this distance, but in general, I won't kill one beyond 3 miles from where I can get my pickup.... 3 miles packing an elk solo is tough, and would take all day or more if killed in the morning. usually not necessary.

my wife's bull this year would have been about 4 miles, and she has back problems, so I knew I was packing the whole thing.... I ended up packing it downhill about a mile (mostly easy walking besides about 200yds of slash) to the river, went home and got my boat..... there is often an easier way than the way you went in, and that's usually factored in before something is killed far away.

there aren't any spots I could think of that I would hesitate killing a deer, because it's coming out in one trip, but it would be tough finding a spot that 10 miles was the shortest path back, and I have never done that, no reason.

I do know some regions have way more vast wilderness, but I also know there is a reality of what the 99% majority are capable of, and it takes a unique situation to want/need to go 10+ miles into the backcountry, and it's probably not happening for elk solo

 

[Thomas11]

I think the most remote place in the lower 48 from any given road is like 23 miles in a spot in Yellowstone. I think on the southern end in the Thorafare

 

[Wapiti1]

Yep, Thorofare and the dead middle of the Bob Marshall are the most remote in the lower 48. Its about 40-45 miles across the Bob as the crow flies.

Jeremy

 

[Dustin the wind]

The best elk hunting i’ve ever been in is all within 200-1000yds of where I park and that’s the way I like it. I wish I could still hunt there instead of running around the mountains nonstop.

 

[Jbehredt]

While not IMPOSSIBLE, a September hunt that deep would require walking several miles down the road in North Idaho to meet those claims.....and given the possibility of hest and injury, it sounds like BS.

I'd bet there are not many places in the 48 that you can actually be 20 non internet miles from a road.

Exactly how far is an internet mile? Something on the order of 100 yards I’m guessing. Perhaps it’s a range rather than an exact distance.

 

[ShortMountain91]

What's funny to me is I put in 14 miles one day last season. Came up empty that day. The next day I shot my bull 1200 yards from the truck.... Then he ran a couple hundred toward the truck. Probably easiest pack out I'll ever have

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[Walkersoccer]

I packed a bull out 22 miles myself, once. Took about 8 rough hours.

The year was 1998, back when I still rifle hunted. I pulled up to the trailhead and parked my Jeep blocking in a Subaru that was already there because that was my spot I had been hunting and scouting my whole life, so they didn’t belong there anyway. I pulled out my 6.5 creedbadassmore topped with my 4-77x80 nightforce tacticoolbro scope and loaded some of my handloads in which are about 8 grains over the max in the hornady book for more range, about 3900 yards. I had been hitting the 18” steel plate at 300 from sandbags at the range so I’m good out to the 3900 yards. None of the cases were reusable though, not sure what that’s about.

After the rifle was loaded I pulled out my kifaru pack. With all the essentials, Mt Ops supplements, the lead sled with 35lb weight, it weighed just a hair over 93lbs. I’ll tell ya that kifaru pack makes 93lbs feel like 12.

I hiked in on foot and passed a few groups on horses that were headed in as well. Good thing I trained the last month and a half or else they would have beaten me back there. After a few hours I passed mile #21 and knew that now was the time to start hunting. I noticed a ridge next to me that had a great glassing spot about 7900ft of elevation away and a half hour later I was in position.

After glassing for 36 hours straight, which I wouldn’t have been able to do without my $9400 10x44 sworos, I caught a glimpse of movement about 3899yds away. I counted 7 points per side with a 1 inch spur off of point #7 on the right side. I strapped my rifle into the lead sled, dialed to 3400yds because of the elevation difference, and let it fly. The 130 grain Berger vld hit the bull right behind the shoulder, got a full pass through, and the bull dropped in its tracks!

10 minutes later I was taking pics of my 1300lb bull which field measured 477. Not quite as big as I wanted but it would do. I used the gutless method, pulled off the head and cape and strapped it to my pack along with two quarters and the backstraps. Again, that kifaru pack made 400lbs feel like 30, extremely comfortable.

Two hours later I was back at the jeep. The Subaru hippies were there looking triggered but In the presence of actual testosterone decided to leave. After i got back to the rest of the meat it started to snow. By the time my pack was loaded there was about 3 1/2 feet on the ground. Didn’t affect me much due to the fact I had on my Sitka gaiters. My feet and legs sliced through the snow like butter and I got back to the jeep in the same amount of time as before.

So yes, it can be done with the right mindset, and the right gear, and I guarantee somebody won’t read this entire thing and will try to tell me how I’m wrong.

That was great ! You nailed it!

 

[cnelk]

Back in 2003, while archery elk hunting, me and two buddies killed 3 elk one morning - 4 miles back in on closed closed logging roads.

We got them out in about 24 hours, I cant even remember how many trips, but I know we were toast.

 

[mtwarden]

I have to call bs too.

I've had a few long day hunts where I covered 15+ miles, but had I shot anything on those hunts my actual pack out would be be 5-7 miles tops (of course multiple trips if I couldn't get buddies to pitch in). I hunt the Bob Marshall w/o stock and I try to keep things at the very longest in the 5-7 mile range for packing out- that's plenty of pain for anyone

 

[jmez]

^^^^ When the mountain goat calls BS, it's BS.

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[Extrapale]

I've done a few long ones.

6 miles mostly on a closed road with a small Thanksgiving 4 point bull in Montana. Got him out in 2.5 trips. Took a shortcut with the first load that I got bluffed out in the middle of the night. Had to hang the meat sack and come back the next day. I drug my then late 60s dad with me and he took a little of the load the next day. Much easier in the daylight. So much easier I decided to shoot a whitetail buck about half mile from the truck. On the third day I went back for the rest of the bull. Took most of the day, but I stuck to the road this time.

Several with horses 10+ each way in the Oregon Eagle Caps. With snow, cold, and rough off trail with multiple bulls per trip I can't imagine that on foot.

Did a 28 mile day with 2 bulls on horseback a couple years ago in the Snake. It was a loooooonnnnngggg day. The horses were wasted, and my brother and I were a little frazzled from riding along verticle drops on rough trails in low light and dark.

20 miles each way on foot. Call me a skeptic.

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[luckydraw2014]

Does he bring 2 sets of boots? If the story holds true he is the Goggins of elk hunting. Much props.

 

[2five7]

20 miles in is tough, but how many of you have done 60 miles up????? That's where the men are separated from the boys yo!

 

[Poser]

20 miles in is tough, but how many of you have done 60 miles up????? That's where the men are separated from the boys yo!

I once killed a whitetail in GA, jumped on the Appalachian Trail and packed it all the way to ME, eating it along the way. I wiped my ass with Poison Ivy and wore a flat bill, too.

 

[roosiebull]

Back in 2003, while archery elk hunting, me and two buddies killed 3 elk one morning - 4 miles back in on closed closed logging roads.

We got them out in about 24 hours, I cant even remember how many trips, but I know we were toast.

Haha, that does sound like a long day! My first elk I killed was Part of a triple, lots of luck went into that, and it was the second archery elk for one buddy, and our other 2 were firsts... they weren’t 4 miles away though, about 1.5 miles from where we could get the pickups to. It was late archery cow season.

that was a long day and we didn’t have to go near as far. Back then we were all green, I cannot believe that all worked out and ended in us all filling our tags within 10 minutes of each other, none of us knew anybody else had shot until we meet back up. 2 were dead about 100yds away, and the 3rd was about 1/4 mile from the other 2

May have actually been 2003 also... within a year either way

 

[caballero59]

The part of camping a few miles in did make sense to me.

 

[Pwells10]

I've been 7 miles in (3.5 as the crow flies) to help pack a bull but usually I'm well within 2-4 miles from camp to where we will get into them

 

[DAOutfitters208]

I don't think most guys know how far a mile really is when in the mountains.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Is Facebook really still a popular thing? Figured it would have died out and been replaced by something else a long time ago now.

Genuinely asking here I don’t have any social media other than online forums.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

I think that vato's FitBit must be malfunctioned.