Horseback hunting questions

[khart_6882]

A brief backstory. In 2019 a buddy and myself got the hairbrained idea to do a pack in horseback hunt in the Frank in early October and what a disaster. The majority of the wrecks were my fault, I didn’t do much pack horse training throughout the summer. I borrowed a solid mountain horse to ride and packed 2 of my team roping horses. In the 21 mile ride in and out we had more wrecks and rodeos than I care to remember.

To top it off we didn’t even get to hunt from our camp; the first morning we woke up in the wall tent my buddy got a severe winter storm warning on his In-Reach and since we’d already had to chain up the pickup just to get to the trailhead, we elected to ride out the next day to get the truck and trailer over the 8500’ pass before the storm. And good thing we did since it snowed 15” overnight after we’d made it back to civilization.

5 years later my anxiety over packing on horses has finally dropped to a manageable level and I’m ready to give it another go. The coming year will be tons of pack horse training and getting everything dialed in to where hopefully the packing aspect goes relatively smoothly.

The plan will be to go in light, basically a glorified backpacking camp with a few more comforts. We’re planning on late September of 2025 so grazing grass should still be plentiful, I’m thinking 5lbs a day per horse of grain should be plenty of supplemental feed along with a hotwire corral at night along with hobbles so they can graze on grass. Since we’ll have to be camped down low for water my thinking as far as hunting goes is to wake up early and ride up to the top of some drainages, tie the horses and hike to glassing areas. Likely not an abundance of game near the trails so if possible we could ride along ridge tops to get to other areas or just walk. However, I’ve never actually hunted off horses so I have some questions for the guys with more experience.

I’ve seen a bunch of YouTube videos on setting up a high line but they never mention how long to tie your lead rope to the high line. Long enough so they can graze right under it but not get a foot over the rope? Or shorter, just like you’d tie them to the trailer?

When you take off hunting in the morning do you bring your saddle horse and an empty pack horse for meat every day? Just tie them to trees (or set up a quick high line) then take off hunting on foot? If so, do you unsaddle them when you leave them or just loosen em up?

I was thinking of setting up a ridge pole between some trees at camp to put saddles and tack on during the night with a tarp over them in case it rains. Decent idea or is there a better way?

I’ve rarely had an animal I shot die in a convenient place so I was thinking I could bring my framed backpack tied to the top of my pack horse in case I need to carry quarters to a better place to load them onto a horse. Anyone do anything like this or leave the framed pack at home?

Lashing quarters in game bags onto my riding saddle so my poor pack horse doesn’t have to carry all my gear and a whole elk back to the trucks seems like a logical idea. Anyone done it?

I’m sure I’ll think of more but those are some things I was curious about. Thanks


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[bmart2622]

Ill give my 2 cents. I high line at night and have the lead rope long enough so that they can eat taking into account the stretch of the highline when they bed down. Make sure to use swivels so they dont get twisted up, I run a fuse also so if they have to breakaway they can and not take the whole highline down.
Whether I take my horses with me in the morning just depends on the area. When I do, I take a rider and a pack horse and just tie them up to trees. I dont unsaddle them but will loosen cinches and sometimes pull bridles.
Finding a way to keep saddles up off the ground and covered from precip is a good idea.
If I had to pack an elk on a riding saddle I would probably use panniers. Im not a huge fan of them because most hang too low on the horse and most are one piece. There are some that are individual (left and right) that work better. I have a set from Chris Tornow that I like a lot, they can be used on a riding or pack saddle depending on how you configure straps.

 

[khart_6882]

Ill give my 2 cents. I high line at night and have the lead rope long enough so that they can eat taking into account the stretch of the highline when they bed down. Make sure to use swivels so they dont get twisted up, I run a fuse also so if they have to breakaway they can and not take the whole highline down.
Whether I take my horses with me in the morning just depends on the area. When I do, I take a rider and a pack horse and just tie them up to trees. I dont unsaddle them but will loosen cinches and sometimes pull bridles.
Finding a way to keep saddles up off the ground and covered from precip is a good idea.
If I had to pack an elk on a riding saddle I would probably use panniers. Im not a huge fan of them because most hang too low on the horse and most are one piece. There are some that are individual (left and right) that work better. I have a set from Chris Tornow that I like a lot, they can be used on a riding or pack saddle depending on how you configure straps.

Thanks for the information, I appreciate it. So the panniers that you have that can be used on your riding saddle, do you just fold them up and keep them on your pack horse until you need them?


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[bisblue]

I'm new to the whole thing, but my buddy loves these for packing meat on a saddle.

Pack Lite Meat Pannier

We continue to lead the way when it comes to packing with equines. Our Pack Lite Meat Panniers are built tough yet lightweight; only 3.2 pounds a set! These 25" tall x 30" wide nylon panniers are perfect as a spare set to keep your primary panniers clean or as primary cargo carriers. We upgraded...

www.mountainridgegear.com

I bought their packlite panniers and really like them.

 

[rayporter]

always tarp your saddles at night. and yes, have a plan to pack your rider. going in the extra pannier will be on the packer.

i made a couple different sets of panniers for my saddle that work ok. too many of them hang too low for my taste.

if i take the pack horse out i do put the stuff on it.

 

[Barnesc6]

Personal thought is if you’re leaving your horse for any period of time they should be unsaddled on the high line and tied as you would to a trailer (high)… You don’t want a wreck- they shouldn’t be able to get a foot over that lead rope.

Keep in mind that it’s not legal to tie horses to a tree in most places… to unsaddle real quick, restroom break, etc… obviously makes sense but you’ll def get jammed by a warden if you’re leaving a horse tied up to a tree (for no trace reasons- damage to the ground around the trunk)

Davis Tent 325BL’s have worked great for me. They can be used on saddle as shown below or on sawbuck/decker…. If you want more info on them let me know. I’ve got 3 pair and looking to get rid of 2 of them - I just need one pair

 

[Barnesc6]

You won’t need to know any pack knots for these panniers as they have attachments that would mimick.

 

[Barnesc6]

I have a set of meat panniers that have worked great- light and small enough to roll up and tie behind my seat… made by Davis tent as well. I throw a box hitch over those to suck things up and add security though

 

[bmart2622]

Thanks for the information, I appreciate it. So the panniers that you have that can be used on your riding saddle, do you just fold them up and keep them on your pack horse until you need them?


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I dont personally use them that way because I always have a pack horse, but you could roll them up and tie them up behind your cantle until you needed them. I typically have 2 pack horses with me and put panniers on 1 pack horse with backpacks in the panniers of that horse and put the other set of panniers rolled with the backpacks. After I kill I put panniers on the empty pack saddle, fill with meat, throw a barrel hitch and use the excess to lash the horns on 1 and then top pack the backpacks on the other.

 

[bmart2622]

Tying your horse up correctly so they cant step over the lead rope goes without saying, Ive done it for years and never had an issue leaving them tied to a tree while out hunting, plus if your horse is trained, getting a rope around a leg shouldn't be an issue. My horse gets unsaddled when I am back at camp and done for the day

 

[Barnesc6]

Meat panniers tied behind seat

 

[bmart2622]

My favorite panniers are from Trailhead Supply that is unfortunately out of business. I won't use panniers that dont have straps that allow you to "lift" the load up. I tried the Mountain Ridge supply ones but the straps dont lift the pannier, it just secures the lid to the body of the pannier

 

[Barnesc6]

I agree with bmart- you want to be able to pull the load slightly off the animal or “lift” the load…. Keep in mind that can be done with a simple box hitch. Those 325bls have loft straps so if you don’t know pack knots it’s still able to lift the load. Below images are those meat panniers loaded with 11qt shavings bags… box hitch thrown over… very snug. Second photo you’ll see how bottom of the load is lifted away from the animal just slightly

 

[bmart2622]

Heres the trailhead supply panniers, you can see that they sit high on the horse, the bottom of the pannier is even with the half breed of the pack saddle. Plus some of the better panniers have a wooden dowel across the top to distribute the weight while a lot of the others dont and just dead hang from straps. I like the barrel hitch for that shape load best

 

[pbroski]

I've used both the Trailmax Saddle Panniers and the Mountain Ridge Pack Lite Meat Panniers, on a riding saddle for moose quarters. They get the job done.

 

[missjordan]

Heres the trailhead supply panniers, you can see that they sit high on the horse, the bottom of the pannier is even with the half breed of the pack saddle. Plus some of the better panniers have a wooden dowel across the top to distribute the weight while a lot of the others dont and just dead hang from straps. I like the barrel hitch for that shape load best

I would double check outfitters supply in Columbia falls. It looks like they have these panniers, or ones similar on their website. There just really expensive

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[Pony Soldier]

My meat panniers is 25 ft of 1/2" hemp rope per saddle. I quarter the elk with a meat saw and load them up.

My horses are tied to a tree for 4-6 hrs while I hunt on foot. They rarely disturb anything. When we hunted rainy country I had a cover for my saddle. Now I just cover the seat with my chaps.

I disconnect my reins and attach them to the saddle. I make my own lead ropes out of 1" to 1.5" cotton. I braid a loop into the end so my horse can't untie the knot. For a challenging horse I take an extra lead rope and tie between two trees.

I tie up in thickets tight enough that they can barely move and can't be seen from the outside.

 

[khart_6882]

Thanks everybody for the input, I appreciate it. Looks like I’ll be investing in some soft sided lightweight meat panniers to throw on my riding saddle to take some weight off my pack horse. Gonna do plenty of research since I’ve got 10 months to prep.

Last question would be on supplemental feed. Should be plenty of meadow grass but I figured I’ll bring some grain to put in feedbags. What’s everybody’s grain of choice in the backcountry? My wife’s uncle packed for years and is a fan of oats, tho I’ve always thought sweet cob probably has the most calories per ounce.


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[vaquero]

Thanks everybody for the input, I appreciate it. Looks like I’ll be investing in some soft sided lightweight meat panniers to throw on my riding saddle to take some weight off my pack horse. Gonna do plenty of research since I’ve got 10 months to prep.

Last question would be on supplemental feed. Should be plenty of meadow grass but I figured I’ll bring some grain to put in feedbags. What’s everybody’s grain of choice in the backcountry? My wife’s uncle packed for years and is a fan of oats, tho I’ve always thought sweet cob probably has the most calories per ounce.


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Best feed for horses for pretty much any situation is Total Feed Total Equine

 

[bmart2622]

Ive had good luck using a combination of Omolene 200 and packer pellets