No one is saying it is NOT a significant chore. I believe most are just stating that in their experience predator proofing is not a high priority because it hasn't happened with the way they are or have been doing it.
I don't prioritize predator proofing because the dozens upon dozens of times I've left meat in the woods including in pretty heavy grizz country I have never had an issue with meat hung chest or head high or even laying across logs. Why would I waste time and energy doing something where the risk to reward is so low.
However, if you have a system that works well in the conditions you mention feel free to share and educate.
I carry a few 50 foot sections of dyneema cord and wire gate carabiners. I’ll use this same cord for hanging my food. With a lot of practice, I’ve found a dedicated rock throwing bag to be useful because I’ve trashed tent stake bags and similar by using them. You often need a pretty heavy rock to get a cord 15-20 feet up over a limb.
When I get animal down in the evening, I’ll usually look for a place to get a hang up first because getting one up in the dark can often be incredibly frustrating. If you are looking to get your cargo at least 8 feet off the ground, then you’ll usually have no choice but to initiate the cross section of the hang at about 15 feet or more. Once you get some stretch in the system and flex of the trees and, depending on the distance between your 2 trees and how long your meat bags are, that’s just the reality: you’ll loose about half of your vertical.
So, you have a basic PCT style hang up with 2 ropes, one providing lateral adjustment and one providing vertical adjustment. You have some choices here: you can hang all of your meat on one cord. You can run 2 or more separate pieces of cord through the vertical carabiner, or you can hang multiple carabiners on the vertical cord and have individual pieces of cord through their own dedicated carabiner. This may depend on your cord and how much friction it can handle.
If you have 2 guys, you may be able to hoist it all on once piece of cord, but you’re not going to be able to hand over hand that kind of weight. Find yourself a (very) strong stick about 8-12 inches and tie it into the cord so you have something to pull on. Due to the mechanical physics of the situation, getting the meat off the ground will be the most difficult. The higher your get the meat, the easier this task will become.
If you are unable to hoist the meat off of the ground, you’ll need a 2nd anchor point to add leverage. Tie a carabiner to a nearby tree and run the rope through it and then stand opposing to that anchor. Your cord will be in a “Z” shape between the 2 carabiners (anchors). Start hoisting. If you are still unable to get the load moving you have 2 choices: add a 3rd anchor or split the load up. If you add a 3rd anchor, you can double the rope through these 2 anchors and build a 5:1 ratio. A 5:1 should reduce a 200 lbs load to 40 lbs of actual pulling. A reasonably strong individual should be able to pull this load but this assumes you have enough carabiners and enough cord. Also, pulling 40lbs of deadweight off the ground with cord is still “hard” pulling.
You could use pulleys (those Wiser pulleys posted above look slick) instead of carabiners and you will experience less friction, however a pulley won’t pass a knot if you have to tie 2 pieces of cord together. (It’s also a bitch to pass a knot through a carabiner under load but it will work).
Now you are under load and hoisting the meat up. Get that rope around a tree once your meat reaches height and the friction of the tree will greatly reduce the load. Tie it off, but tie it off in a way that you can unload the weight to untie the knot. This may require some engineering.
I don’t know if that is the “best” way, but that’s what I have adopted over the years. I use to be a serious rock climber BITD and did some big walls like El Capitan, and we hauled our gear using various ratios vs. our Bodyweight. If you can get your meat up on a PCT style hang, you’ll have no concerns about something getting into it.
There a number of scenarios where this would make sense: have another tag? Leave it hanging and keep hunting. Waiting for horses which may take 2-3 days? Your meat is safe. 3 loads and 3 days of hiking? Your meat is safe. Piece of mind? Your meat is safe.
Now, I’m curious if there are some other hacks out there to improve efficiency in such a system.
