Sleeping on an elk(or other dead critters)

[Curtis C]

What are you gonna do if you kill and elk at dark and have to sleep on it?

This got me to thinking.

How do you spike camp hunters prepare for this possibility? Do you pack in an extra shelter for your daytime outings? Pack your sleeping bag and pad each morning? How is it you survive a night away from camp?

 

[dotman]

Golite poncho tarp and woobie.

 

[tipsntails7]

I've got a headlamp and I use it, process the animal, hoist it up In to a tree and take a load back with me. Me personally, I'm not sleeping next to a dead animal. If wolves and bears want it that bad, have at it, I'm not gonna stand in their way.

 

[justin davis]

If I stay out away from camp without a sleeping bag, I normally start a fire and keep it going all night for warmth.

 

[muleman]

I've got a headlamp and I use it, process the animal, hoist it up I to a tree and take a load back with me.

Did this on three animals last year.

 

[Curtis C]

I've got a headlamp and I use it, process the animal, hoist it up I to a tree and take a load back with me. Me personally, I'm not sleeping next to a dead animal. If wolves and beats want it that bad, have at it, I'm not gonna stand in their way.

Heading back to camp regardless of the hunt outcome has been my plan in the past.

If I stay out away from camp without a sleeping bag, I normally start a fire and keep it going all night for warmth.

Justin do you just sit up and keep the fire stocked or do you try to catch a few ZZZZ's here and there.


I carry fire starter, an emergency bivy and a thermalite reactor in my day pack. I know I wont be comfy in it but I should be able to survive a night out.

 

[justin davis]

I try not to do this. I usually hike back. But have been caught out a couple times. Usually the nights are fairly sleepless because of the cold. But yea I will catch a few ZZZ'z when I can. Usually on the ground curled up
In a ball. Haha. I carry a space blanket in my pack usually. But they don't offer than much warmth in my opinion or
From times I have used them.

Heading back to camp regardless of the hunt outcome has been my plan in the past.



Justin do you just sit up and keep the fire stocked or do you try to catch a few ZZZZ's here and there.


I carry fire starter, an emergency bivy and a thermalite reactor in my day pack. I know I wont be comfy in it but I should be able to survive a night out.

 

[amp713]

Unless you find it late at night after tracking all day i would mark everything you can in your gps as it starts to get dark and then head back to camp. Extra time for an animal to expire is alot better than jumping it up in the middle of the night...... Just my two cents.....

 

[Randle]

The last time it happened to me I decided to hike out, The way I see it the animal is hung up and away from the gutpile, and a slow safe hike out and get 4-5 hrs of good sleep is better then staying out and trying to get sleep over the next 8-9 hours in emergency gear. Now if I have to stay for emergency its a golite poncho and SOL bivy.

 

[amy hanneman]

I had this with a bear I shot just before dark a couple years ago and I did the same as tipsntails7 and quartered it, put it in game bags, hung it in a tree and hightailed it back to camp. I went back in the next morning and got the meat and hide out.

 

[Craig4791]

If I kill at dark a ways from camp I quarter it and hang it in a tree then I'll head back to camp and get a couple hours sleep and pack the meat the next day. I figure once I have something down the pressure is off so all I have to worry about is meat now. Get some sleep cause you will be packing the next day.

 

[Darren Best]

I had this happen about ten years ago, I arrowed a mule deer right at dusk and couldn't find him in the 5 foot tall huckleberry brush.

After going back to camp and getting my dad and a couple of lanterns, we looked until well after midnight and he happens to mention he is color blind to red.

Went back to camp and slept till morning and brought my step mothers dog up and he found the deer right away.

How ever, given the same scenario again, I would of kept going to find him the night before, he didn't taste so great when I got him all butchered up. It was pretty cold overnight too, it got down into the mid teens each night and the carcass was still warm inside when I gutted it the next morning.

I won't ever leave an animal overnight again, especially an elk.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

I prefer to get the animal deboned and in bags quickly.
On occasion I have had to spend a night out in which case I normally have a tarp, fire starter, and light bag or quilt with me.

 

[JoshTX]

If I kill at dark a ways from camp I quarter it and hang it in a tree then I'll head back to camp and get a couple hours sleep and pack the meat the next day. I figure once I have something down the pressure is off so all I have to worry about is meat now. Get some sleep cause you will be packing the next day.

This has been my experience exactly. Maybe it's my luck but all of the elk I've killed, except one, were killed just before last light causing the above scenario to unfold. I'm not sleeping at a kill site or anywhere near it.

 

[jherald]

Like Luke Skywalker in the Empire Strikes Back.

 

[5MilesBack]

My only question would be.........if you have a known dead animal, why would you be sleeping? Process it up and carry a load back to camp and then catch some ZZZZ's, then head back out in the morning and haul the rest out.

 

[Lukem]

My only question would be.........if you have a known dead animal, why would you be sleeping? Process it up and carry a load back to camp and then catch some ZZZZ's, then head back out in the morning and haul the rest out.

This. Time to get to work.

 

[amp713]

My only question would be.........if you have a known dead animal, why would you be sleeping? Process it up and carry a load back to camp and then catch some ZZZZ's, then head back out in the morning and haul the rest out.

Ya i def thought we were going on shooting one at dark with my comment of leave it to expire but if it is dead in its tracks then get to work. IF it was me and i knew it was dead i wouldnt even pack back to camp if it was out of the way from the trail head.... Id pack to the truck(rhino in my case). Sleep in the truck when you are done or wore out, ditch ALL the gear you have in your pack in the morning and go back load up anything you still have at camp and hike out with 30 pounds or so and head home.

 

[Coveyleader]

If I'm reading the title correctly, you killed an elk at night and now what?

For me, there is no sleeping on anything and I prefer killing elk right before dark. My routine involves my headlamp and quartering. Once completely broken down, and in bags I take a load out. Over the years arrival back to camp will be late, after midnight for sure. I try to eat a huge meal, take a motrin or two If I have some, and plan on going back very early the next day to finish the pack out.

This is where many guys fail to realize the work that is involved. If you have a spike camp do pack to camp or to the truck. For me, I pack from kill to truck which can be the total opposite direction from camp.

 

[Wapiti66]

It depends on the temp and other scenarios. Where is camp, the pick-up, the trail? At the least I gut the animal and get him opened up to cool, then drag the gut pile away from the meat and come back in the morning for the meat. I drag the guts away and give a predator the option to eat them away from the carcass, which usually disappears half the time. Then I and anybody else in the party will pee and leave as much human scent around the meat as possible, like leave some dirty socks on the rack or something to deter predators from eating the meat. Not sure if it's just luck, coincidence, or if it works...but I have never had any meat taken. If it's warmer I will quarter the game and hang in trees everything I can't haul out with the first load. Get to camp and sleep, wake up early and go retrieve the rest of the meat.