So much is determined by elevation change, weather, trail or no trail, downfall & thickets, distance, etc. We take most our elk inside 3 miles, few are more than that. We don't use trails & downfall is a way of life here in Idaho, it's everywhere & no way to get around it in our part of the state. The elevation change isn't horrible but far from rolling Nebraska hills! (grin) I've weighed a few of our pack outs but it's rare because we do not have a scale at camp.
It's common for my son & I when elk hunting together to carry the elk out in one trip, (similar to cnelk's photo) we can do this because we are Day hunters, our packs generally weigh under 15# to start, this includes food for all day & 80oz of water so as the day goes on the pack weighs less. With an elk down we take care of him & get him into game bags. The hind quarter is generally left on the bone for structure & put into its own bag, we bone out the front shoulder. (we do not take the sinew meat off the leg bone, it's worthless to us) The front shoulder is put in a 2nd game bag along with one side of backstrap, tenderloin & aprox 5-6 pounds of neck meat, this is the all in 2nd bag. We turn elk over & repeat. He takes two bags loaded down & I take the 2nd pair. Not sure of the weight but that's a normal packout for us. The average packout is 3 hours back. We've packed many out in the 6-8 hour range as well, those beat the hell out of you for sure but we don't have to return! (grin) I weigh around 148-150# & my son weighs 165# -- At 62 I'm sure these loads will lighten for me in the upcoming years but not yet! (grin)
If a hunter wants to be more balanced & he's alone he can easily pack an elk out in 3 trips, those would be very manageable weights as long as a hunter is in decent shape regardless of his age. Elk hunters are good suffere's! (grin)
ElkNut1