Old guys packing elk!!,

[Fullfan]

59 years young here, was part of 4 pack jobs in Idaho 3 weeks ago. Mine died 5.5 miles from a road, yet it sucked but that is all part of it.

 

[Ross]

61 here did two packs on my bull just kept them manageable and wrangled my young beast friend to assist. I bought him replacement sour patch kids and gave him a quarter the barter system worked well for both and he gets me to call for him next yr

 

[mtnbound]

My last bull took me 16 hours to get it out solo, and it was worth every minute of the suck.

 

[Finn16]

57 here.

Absolutely debone. I tend to prefer going a little heavier vs. making more trips. Even an empty trip can have some wear and tear. Not so heavy as to risk injury though. 3 or 4 trips for ~225 lbs of meat, possibly hide and/or antlers. If pass someone on horseback they can be very helpful!

The last bull I packed out, ~5mi each way with one crazy steep climb, made me realize I need to be honest about my knees, distances, and slope. Or just hunt Mule Deer!

You must have been totally exhausted. My knees and back ache thinking about this pack out especially when you start doing the math: 250 total lbs. - 225 lbs of boned out meat and 25 lbs. head/skull. If you took 25 lbs. on the 5 mile return trip to the truck along with your gun and other gear that leaves 75 lbs. / trip for the remaining 3 trips. So you did 35 miles of walking on that pack out and 15 of it with 75 lbs. on your back. That is quite an accomplishment. Don't switch to muleys, just hunt closer to the truck as you get older!

 

[bz_711]

Went solo for the first time this year...and went with the usual debone for meat. Ended up with 6 games bags of meat and pretty solid antlers to be packed out.

About 1.75 miles from vehicle - took out 2 bags first night at dark...then made 3 round trips the following day. Weather was beautiful and I enjoyed every second.
Although I felt good the whole time and kept snacking and drinking electrolytes...i ended up feeling pretty run down and hardly able to eat the next 24 hours following pack out - just think I'd pushed it pretty good.

But overall it opened up news doors for me to know I could go solo and can still get a couple miles from road and get full bull out in 24 hours.

 

[mike.adams.467]

I packed one out solo this year, 1.5 miles from the truck. Two trips the first day, and I also moved the rest of the meat about a half mile from the carcass (in Island Park grizzly country). Finished the job the next morning. I also assisted in 2 other pack jobs for buddies. I'm 64.

 

[KHNC]

I always bone it out to pack, but my hunting partner likes to do bone in. I also never pack out an entire bull head and antlers either. I cut off the skull plate.