Elk 101 AK hunt

Joined
Mar 26, 2022
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I’m new to this website and forum. You are all talking about watching a film. Just wondering where to find it? (YouTube, specific TV channel, etc??)
 
Joined
Aug 10, 2015
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2,543
Great cinematography in this film.

I can't believe they walked away from camp in southeast Alaska with full rain gear and some insulation layers.

It seems like I've only seen one of two videos of those hunts where guys don't lose meat or have some sort of close bear encounter.
 
Joined
Nov 16, 2017
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Central Oregon
Looks like a cool place to go. Couple take a ways from me.. you should never hike 7 hours from camp without some back up gear.. in case you have to spend a night on the mountain. Also tarp your meat. Gotta at least make an attempt to keep it dry.
Why don't you put your meat in a cooler on ice when you get to the truck?
How the heck do people keep saying water hurts meat?
Biggest myth out there imo.
 

Marble

WKR
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May 29, 2019
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Why don't you put your meat in a cooler on ice when you get to the truck?
How the heck do people keep saying water hurts meat?
Biggest myth out there imo.
Guys do. But they try not to soak it in water. It can change things with the meat. So usually a closed system of jugs instead of poured ice in an ice chest is better. Or dry ice.

The goal is to let the outside of the meat seal up to protect it from lots of things. It neeeds to be dry to do that.

Nothing wrong with actually getting it wet or washing it off, but I wouldn't want to soak it.

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Joined
Nov 16, 2017
Messages
8,576
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Central Oregon
Guys do. But they try not to soak it in water. It can change things with the meat. So usually a closed system of jugs instead of poured ice in an ice chest is better. Or dry ice.

The goal is to let the outside of the meat seal up to protect it from lots of things. It neeeds to be dry to do that.

Nothing wrong with actually getting it wet or washing it off, but I wouldn't want to soak it.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

I've ended up with meat all kinda ways. And it all tastes the same.
Id like to see some actual science behind it.
Because I believe it to be folk lore at this point.
 

Dalen88

Lil-Rokslider
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Mar 26, 2020
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East Kootaneys B.C
not done watching the film, 50min, great so far but can someone with some incite chime in as to why after they broke that elk down they didnt bring a load back to camp with them? I get being tired from not sleeping all night, I myself would have thought you might as well bring a load down with you if your headed back to camp.
 

Catchfish

WKR
Joined
Jan 21, 2019
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415
I’ve got some problems with this video and really feel like they made some huge mistakes.

They are in Alaska and hunting southeast, I felt that the 90lb loads going up the mountain was probably to heavy. My normal setup for this would be more a 60lb pack setup. I know I don’t carry camera equipment but shit that’s to heavy.

1. Never leave camp without rain gear no matter how nice it is. It’s at least part of your emergency survival to have that equipment on you.

2. Hunted to far from their camp

3. They went back to camp with their first trip and didn’t carry any of the elk back. Big mistake they didn’t have the weight of camp because they were unprepared so why not bring meat out on their first trip.

4. Leaving their meat untarped to sit out in the rain while they went back to base camp for the day. To me that is the beginning of a wanton waste case.

5. The fact that they continued filming tells me that it was made a priority over doing some of the above items that I feel are a requirement.

6. Not impressed by this video, I hope many people can learn from their mistakes

7. The reason the success rates are low on some of these hunts are because people are smart enough not to make a lot of these mistakes and bite off more than they can chew.
 
OP
C
Joined
Nov 27, 2013
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1,908
4. Leaving their meat untarped to sit out in the rain while they went back to base camp for the day. To me that is the beginning of a wanton waste case.

The bear was their golden goose. AK laws and meat salvage are not to be taken lightly. It didn’t look like they got much off that bull.

I too thought why no meat out on the first trip back.

Regardless, great adventure, but a lot of takeaways on that trip.
 
Joined
Feb 26, 2018
Messages
440
Location
Nebraska
I’ve got some problems with this video and really feel like they made some huge mistakes.

They are in Alaska and hunting southeast, I felt that the 90lb loads going up the mountain was probably to heavy. My normal setup for this would be more a 60lb pack setup. I know I don’t carry camera equipment but shit that’s to heavy.

1. Never leave camp without rain gear no matter how nice it is. It’s at least part of your emergency survival to have that equipment on you.

2. Hunted to far from their camp

3. They went back to camp with their first trip and didn’t carry any of the elk back. Big mistake they didn’t have the weight of camp because they were unprepared so why not bring meat out on their first trip.

4. Leaving their meat untarped to sit out in the rain while they went back to base camp for the day. To me that is the beginning of a wanton waste case.

5. The fact that they continued filming tells me that it was made a priority over doing some of the above items that I feel are a requirement.

6. Not impressed by this video, I hope many people can learn from their mistakes

7. The reason the success rates are low on some of these hunts are because people are smart enough not to make a lot of these mistakes and bite off more than they can chew.
You act like they didn't know what they were doing? They said they had one good day to go after those elk and they knew they wouldn't be making it back to camp that night if they shot one. I wouldn't suggest people do what they did (not much gear that far from camp), but they knew what they were doing.
 
Joined
Aug 11, 2017
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Florida
not done watching the film, 50min, great so far but can someone with some incite chime in as to why after they broke that elk down they didnt bring a load back to camp with them? I get being tired from not sleeping all night, I myself would have thought you might as well bring a load down with you if your headed back to camp.
My guess is they weren’t sure where they were packing the meat yet. They seemed a bit overwhelmed and were likely trying to decide if there was an easier place to pack the meat, but had to communicate with pilot to see where else he could scoop it? Also, they seemed to be in a bit of survival mode at that point.
 

Pro953

WKR
Joined
Sep 27, 2016
Messages
594
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California
I recommend you listen to the ElkTalk podcast when he discussed the hunt. It will give you a fair bit more insight to what and why some of the decisions were made.


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weaver

WKR
Joined
Feb 25, 2012
Messages
1,203
Wondered about not packing a load back to camp as well.
I got the impression that they never packed the meat that way but a more direct route from kill site to the lake.
Also I t’s easy to armchair quarterback. Perhaps mistakes were made but we weren’t there.


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Joined
Aug 4, 2020
Messages
612
not done watching the film, 50min, great so far but can someone with some incite chime in as to why after they broke that elk down they didnt bring a load back to camp with them? I get being tired from not sleeping all night, I myself would have thought you might as well bring a load down with you if your headed back to camp.
I have been to the island three times. I have been twice for hunting and once by boat just to scout for a campsite. For what its worth we never went farther from camp than we could return before dark but we did pack a complete set of gear from the skin out to rubber rain gear, fire starter , tarps food etc. I have yet to see an elk there. Sounds like I needed to hike a few more hours. As to not packing out some that day the terrain is brutal. I know everyone says that but until you are there it's hard to understand. Everything is slippery, steep and covered in down logs and devils club. There is almost nothing resembling trails. Your pack comes off several times to either hand it over logs or push it under. Hard to tell in the photo but beyond the river what you see is what you get. Well I cant seem to get a picture to load. I have resized and saved as PDF. Any pointers?
 

SDHNTR

WKR
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Aug 30, 2012
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So what happened to the Mohawk guy that made him sick? Was it a resurgence of his bout with COVID? Or did he pick up some other bug along the way?
 
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