Epic Pack Outs

[jballa34]

If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough

My most epic pack out was actually my very first "backcountry" hunt. Up until this excursion I had always been a dayhunter who returned to the truck or the boat once it got dark, never venturing too far from basecamp. Well my dumb ass, fresh out of my parents front door and in my first semester on my own, figured I could handle a weekend hunt with all of my heavy car-camping gear strapped to the outside of my dayhunting pack.

I could probably write 20 pages of what happened next but I'll keep it relatively short;

I managed to bag my buck at 0800 of the first morning and true to dayhunting style, I chose to gut and drag my buck back to the truck. Usually not a problem but I had about 60lbs worth of gear crammed into/onto my little internal REI dayhunter and ready for the long weekend. I will say this, that pack is as tough as nails, however, I'd rather eat my dads old xtra-tuffs than ever use that pack to haul any amount of weight again.

Almost exactly 12 hours after the shot, I finally made it back to the truck. The physical damage was pretty bad, hands and shoulders blistered to hell, but psychologically I was beyond done. That little adventure was a huge learning experience and I'm very fortunate that I wasn't injured or worse.

Believe it or not, this hunt was what sparked my addiction to backcountry hunting and ever since, I've been pinching my pennies and saving every little bit I can to put towards a Kifaru pack. I think that at the end of this month I'll be putting in an order on a bikini + highcamp!

 

[tstowater]

Stone sheep hunt in BC. We started at the bottom of the mountain at 8:30 in the morning looking at the sheep. We figured that they were approachable. Bad part was that the sheep didn't cooperate very well and it was 5:30 in the afternoon before the ram we wanted was on the ground and a long ways up the mountain. We took about a dozen pictures and the guide said that we needed to get the sheep in packs so we could get out of the boulder field before dark. We did make it out of the boulders before dark and slide, stumbled and crawled through the rest of the trip down the mountain. I finally got tired of the pitch black and dug out my headlamp so I could see what was ahead. Since I hadn't taken trekking poles along, my rifle shows the results of the trip. Crawled through the crap and made it to the base of the mountain at midnight. By that time, we had been out of water for at least 6 hours and becoming a little disoriented. By 12:30 we made it to the glacier fed river and gulped down 1 1/2 quarts of water. At least I was smart enough not to water log or over do it as I was concerned about hypothermia. We found the horses about 2 and made it back to camp close to 4. Ruined a pair of hunting pants. Legs hurt for days. Ended up loosing the toe nail on my big toe on my right foot. Guide said on the way down that we just needed to take our time as he didn't want to camp overnight on the mountain eventhough I found several places that would have made good camp sites. At least I can now say "been there, done that" and got a darn'd nice ram out of the deal. Should have known better after the "camp out" on the previous Stone hunt and we all about froze.

 

[realunlucky]

These stories make me realise what a true softy I am. Or maybe being unlucky far from the truck is really lucky

 

[larryschwartz]

Sounds like an overnight setup needs to be in the boat

dotman, that was EXACTLY what I was thinking when I read that bit. People don't realize, or think about, all the things that can make the decision to spend the night the right choice to make. I am sure that Mike is experienced enough to not do this, but magine if they had gotten there just 15 minutes too late and decided to risk running the rapids in the dusk and then capsized because they didn't have their survival gear on them at all times.

 

[shanevg]

This has to be my favoite thead yet on this website!

 

[Becca]

dotman, that was EXACTLY what I was thinking when I read that bit. People don't realize, or think about, all the things that can make the decision to spend the night the right choice to make. I am sure that Mike is experienced enough to not do this, but magine if they had gotten there just 15 minutes too late and decided to risk running the rapids in the dusk and then capsized because they didn't have their survival gear on them at all times.

This is the very reason we try to carry emergency bivy gear and some food with us every time we are away from camp. Knowing you have the gear to stay warm and dry overnight is often the difference between taking unnecessary risks and making the safe choice. Luke and I were Goat hunting on Kodiak last fall with two hunting partners, and our party ended up with 2 goats down just before nightfall. Camp was 3 miles away through a boulder field and alders. Luke and I opted to say where we were since we had bivy gear and didn't want to pack those kinds of loads in the dark, but our partners did not have sleeping equiptment and opted to struggle back to the tents, getting lost twice and arriving after midnight. The next day, We slept in and fleshed capes while they made a return trip 8 hours later to help us pack the goats back...

 

[HellsCanyon]

dotman, that was EXACTLY what I was thinking when I read that bit. People don't realize, or think about, all the things that can make the decision to spend the night the right choice to make. I am sure that Mike is experienced enough to not do this, but magine if they had gotten there just 15 minutes too late and decided to risk running the rapids in the dusk and then capsized because they didn't have their survival gear on them at all times.

We'd debated bringing enough gear to spike out a few times while on the river. Only reason we did not is it's pretty tough to get lost in that canyon (Just head down) and you'll find the river trail. May be a few miles walk if needed but once you hit the river there's a trail that runs from Granite Dam all the way down to Pittsburgh landing (15+ miles). Luckily I've never been in a situation where I was forced to spend an unplanned night away from camp... Call it stubborn but that extra 3-5 lbs of gear/food for spending the night just ain't worth it to me for the hunts I do. I just can't see myself packing two camp setups into the mountains.

Mike

 

[fillthefreezer]

this one time at taco bell i had to carry like 28 tacos, 2 large sodas and a handful of hotsauces. i made it but it was pretty tough


sorry... back to the real stories

 

[Lukem]

this one time at taco bell i had to carry like 28 tacos, 2 large sodas and a handful of hotsauces. i made it but it was pretty tough

As if the pack wasn't bad enough, I can only imagine the recovery the next day...

 

[dotman]

We'd debated bringing enough gear to spike out a few times while on the river. Only reason we did not is it's pretty tough to get lost in that canyon (Just head down) and you'll find the river trail. May be a few miles walk if needed but once you hit the river there's a trail pthat runs from Granite Dam all the way down to Pittsburgh landing (15+ miles). Luckily I've never been in a situation where I was forced to spend an unplanned night away from camp... Call it stubborn but that extra 3-5 lbs of gear/food for spending the night just ain't worth it to me for the hunts I do. I just can't see myself packing two camp setups into the mountains.

Mike

I was mainly thinking keep a dedicated tarp in the boat, that way if you get to the boat late you can crash even if you have zero food, run the rapids back to camp in the morning. If you have an animal down just cook a little over a campfire and enjoy the sound s of the river . I wouldn't keep a full on camp setup but just some kinda shelter so your not rushed by the fading of daylight.

 

[shanevg]

One thing people may want to consider is a light weight bivy like ZPacks (or tons of other company's offerings.)
http://zpacks.com/shelter/bivy.shtml
ZPacks bivy is 5.5oz. If you already pack a down coat with you you could use that as your upper and then just stuf all your extra close down around your legs to warm your legs up. Overall, a pretty lightweight way to have an emergency shelter.

 

[HellsCanyon]

I was mainly thinking keep a dedicated tarp in the boat, that way if you get to the boat late you can crash even if you have zero food, run the rapids back to camp in the morning. If you have an animal down just cook a little over a campfire and enjoy the sound s of the river . I wouldn't keep a full on camp setup but just some kinda shelter so your not rushed by the fading of daylight.

Not a bad idea and we might actually have the boat setup sometime in the future where we could sleep in the boat...

Mike

 

[actionshooter]

I don't think my story is epic, More like stupidity.

When I was 18 (long time ago) a buddy and I decided to go on our 1st backcountry hunt, so we loaded our gear, and headed for the cascades. We just picked a trailhead where we thought we would camp from the truck, walking into the hunting area early every morning.
The walk was about 3 miles in before it was even an open area, but young and dumb was in full effect here. We were hunting with muzzleloaders, in Wa the high buck is open to modern and muzzleloaders.
3rd day of hunting, walking in every morning at 4am and walking back out at dark every night.
My buddy somehow got a 4pt, not huge , 23" buck. Not knowing this at the time, we were approximately 5 miles in, he killed it roughly about noon.
We got it gutted and in our infinate wisdom,since our packs were in camp, we decided the best way to get it out would be to drag it. :0

This isn't Iowa here, we are dragging that damn deer (by the horns) up and down hillsides, over ridges, over a pass.
Finally when we ended up in camp at 2am, having been out of water for hours. The skull plate had been broken, there was ZERO hair left on that buck anywhere that touched the ground, and being completely tenderized, the buck made it with us.

I didn't wake up until almost noon the next day and flat ass sick from dehydration.

I sure won't forget that one.

 

[tstowater]

actionshooter: what did you learn from that experience? How was the meat? Too funny, almost makes me cry.

 

[bbrown]

Not a grueling pack out but intense to say the least....

A good buddy and I were hunting a basin that is 11 miles from the trail head and 5 miles from our camp. We had hunted this area enough to know the escape routes so when we spotted another hunter we worked above the elk (and hunter) and set up just off their escape route. Sure enough the elk spooked and started heading our way. Well the lead cow busted me and stopped the whole elk train which just happen to put a legal (barely) bull right in front of my buddy who made a perfect double lung shot with his ancient Darton - not really that old but sure sounds like it...

*We were on the other side of the rock slide kind of next to the bushes.

We quartered the bull and had him hanging in the shade by mid morning and headed back to camp to grab the horses. By the time we made it back camp, ate lunch and saddled horses we could tell there was a storm building. Long story short we got back to the bull just as it started sprinkling and in no time it began to snow - last weekend in August mind you.
All of a sudden the lightning kicked in and it was one of the most amazing yet scariest thing I have ever witnessed. You could see it chasing sideways thru the snow and striking all around the basin without any mercy. We bailed away from the horses and took cover as best as we could. The whole time we were watching the horses (still saddled and tied) hoping they would make it. Weird thing is they could have cared less - grazed the whole time. After the storm passed, we got the bull loaded and hustled back below timberline.

 

[Jared Bloomgren]

I would have to say my WY archery backcountry mule deer hunt in 2009. After killing the buck that I was after in the morning I was caught in the scariest lightening, hail, and rain storm I have ever seen. I literally didn't know if I would make it out alive. The trees all around me had evidence of past lightening strikes. I had no choice but to remove my external frame pack that could acti like a lightening rod and get away from the trees and in the most open area I could find and get as low as I could without laying down. Then making the remainder of the trip with wet clothes and boots. Needless to say I got blistered pretty bad and had to return the next morning to break camp. In the end, I would do it all again!

 

[shanevg]

In the end, I would do it all again!

Isn't that the best part of these stories! We're all in the same boat!

 

[actionshooter]

actionshooter: what did you learn from that experience? How was the meat? Too funny, almost makes me cry.

Meat was fine,
I learned not to do that anymore

 

[Aron Snyder]

A few years ago I took a couple friends from Wisconsin on a backpack elk hunt. We killed a good bull on the first day (about 2 miles in) and got it taken care of quickly, but a 2 mile pack out is pretty tough on guys from sea level.

Anyway, a couple days later we were in the same area and friend # 2 killed another good bull just before dark. This was the first time I left base camp without my big pack and used a small fanny pack (Kifaru DayStalker). Anyone I talk to on the phone knows that I don't recommend doing this (taking a fanny pack), because when you kill something you're screwed and need to hike out to get another pack.

One of my friends had a Sitka Bivy 45 and the other had a Blacks Creek. We de boned the elk quickly and tried to figure out if we should make a couple trips or try and get it done in one. I'm not a two trip guy, so I told Jerry to take my Daystalker and load up my gear and his inside and I would use the Bivy 45 to take all the meat.

My friends were pretty tired from the pack out on the first bull, but I was good to go (no brains to headache), so we loaded up most of the elk in the 45 and off we went. The 45 was WAY OVERLOADED and you could hear stitching pop with every step. We were making good time (I didn't want to take a break or I wouldn't start again) and all the sudden I heard a loud POP and one of the shoulder straps ripped off and slapped me in the face! Not a split second later the other strap ripped off and I was flat on my back, looking up at the stars before I knew what happened!

Jerry was behind me and had a shit eating grin like I've never seen. He stood above me and said "what the F--- are you doing lying around for? We've got work to do!)

I said DUDE, I jacked your pack up! He laughed and said "you gave the POS to me, you deserve to be laying you your back!"

They helped me to my feet and pulled what was left of the shoulder straps over me and I held on to them with my hands. I hunched over and started hauling A$$ to the truck before my hands went numb!

I've had much worse pack outs, but this was one of the funniest I can remember!

The bag in front of me was in the pack and the bag to my left was tied to the top.....

The bull that destroyed the pack

The first bull we killed

 

[shaun]

That is no bueno