Sleeping on an elk(or other dead critters)

[hflier]

Don't laugh. I had a possum one time come after my deer kill while I was dressing him out. He was literally fighting with me over it. I can imagine what a determined bear would be like. I would not sleep near a dead animal.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Don't laugh. I had a possum one time come after my deer kill while I was dressing him out. He was literally fighting with me over it. I can imagine what a determined bear would be like. I would not sleep near a dead animal.

That would've an great outtake video.

It seems everyone is concerned with bears, mountain lions have always concerned me more.

 

[justin davis]

The thing that concerns me in the woods is people. People are scary

 

[AK Troutbum]

That would've an great outtake video.

It seems everyone is concerned with bears, mountain lions have always concerned me more.

I don't think I'd ever make camp right next to a kill, simply because, if a large predator wants your game bad enough, it's going to get it. I've had bears come right into camp and take all our game (5 deer) off the meat pole. This happened about 50' from our tent one night on Kodiak, and given our situation at the time, there wasn't a damn thing we could do about it.

 

[MTbowhunter36]

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.

The only thing I do differently is leave a piece of clothing at the kill site tied or draped over the meat. By doing this I haven't had any issues with any birds or predators eating any of the meat.

 

[amp713]

The thing that concerns me in the woods is people. People are scary

I def pack my side arm more often thinking about a human than an animal!!!

 

[Lil dude]

Oh man!

I doubt you would catch anyone from Montana, Canada, or Alaska sleeping next to a carcass. It is bad enough the next day when you can see and trying to figure out if a griz is on the carcass. Not for me! My one partner took a photo of the carcass that had been buried the next morning in the dark and when he got home he saw that his dog was looking at a set of reflective eyeballs just out of range of the camera. I like to think of myself as a fairly burly man but wondering if a momma griz or a big old boar griz is gonna sneak in that night in the pitched dark?????? Oh boy.

 

[69ChrisCraft]

Shot a bear in California this fall and he ended up dying 50 yards from my tent. As I was quartering him up a coyote was watching me from 15-20 yards for at least 30 minutes, I figured as long as the coyote is there I'm fine... If he disappears them I have a bigger problem. I laid the hide next to my tent and quartering bags in the nearest tree and kept the fire stoked most of the night. I heard multiple critters moving around and when I woke up for the pack out the ENTIRE carcass and gut pile was gone.... Nothing but some blood stains on the ground. Lion must have drug him off, don't think a coyote would have been able to move that carcass at all let alone drag it off. Could have been another bear I suppose.

 

[Schleppy]

Here you go.

Tauntaun sleeping bag

 

[G Posik]

Curtis,

quarter up the elk, go back to camp and get the mule, Dan and return to the scene. That is the easy way.

Glenn

 

[idelkslayer]

If you want to prepare for the possibility of spending a night on the mountain with only the gear you carry for a day hunt, then pick a day this summer and hike in and spend a night. If you can't do it in the summer, I would think twice before thinking about doing it in the fall. You will also discover whether or not your gear is up to the task. I've spent a couple nights out without any camping gear and I can tell you it is an eye-opening experience. Even a summer night can get cold in the mountains and a fire only lasts as long as you fuel it.

I have never spent the night on the mountain after killing game, I've always quatered and hung the meat and packed out a first load. If I were ever to stay out I would just set up my campsite 100 yds from the carcass and try to get some sleep. You will be cold, so gather as much firewood as you think you will need to get through the night and then double it.

 

[2rocky]

The plan theese days is to pack out game after dark if we find the dead critter near/at dark.

In 2005 my Father left a gutted, whole bull elk out that nightand a grizzly got to it. They were close enough to camp they could have quartered it and packed it in to camp. Lesson learned.

in 2010, it was still 80 degrees when I killed my bull. It went to a cooler that night at 11:30.

Now granted I might have to sit and wait for a pack horse after dark. If that is the case, make a good sized fire and put on the extra layers.

 

[KMT]

I've never spent the night near a dead animal. If I get one in late afternoon or don't find it until dark, I quarter and hang up what I can't carry out that night. It can cool off overnight and I can get a good night's sleep back at camp. Even if I don't get back to camp until midnight.

 

[justin davis]

The times I've spent the night out. I didn't kill the animal and curl up by it and spoon for the rest of the night.

I butchered it and hung the quarters. On a certain occasion I stayed on site and I waited until Morning instead of starting the pack out or hike out in the middle of the night.

Like you guys Typically when I kill something before dark. I butcher it and hang it and carry a quarter, or hike out that night and return the next day.

 

[MattB]

I have only had to do this once, when my guide sprained his ankle and neither he nor I were going anywhere that night. We built a fire and tended it all night (for the ~5 hours it gets dark in early August in the NWT) and packed out the next day when reinforcements came. Going through that will make you think twice about what you carry and what you leave in camp on day hunts.

 

[Curtis C]

The times I've spent the night out. I didn't kill the animal and curl up by it and spoon for the rest of the night.

Thats funny. I thought the same thing but didn't want to post it.

 

[Lil dude]

I should add to my post that in the Bob Marshall and other grizzly prone areas of Montana you do not necessarily want to shoot an elk in the evening (even if you don't plan on spending the night) Odds are probably 1 in 3 that a bear will get on it (griz or black). You can get another tag if this happens from the wardens but you don't get to keep your horns.

Anyhow our theory is many times we just glass in the evening looking for places to head in the am. It always seems if you stay and hunt late then an hour or two back to camp plus chores and dinner and it is hard to get up super early the next day. It has always seem to us that 90% of our elk are taken in the am and very few are taken at night. I have passed on several right before last light shots just cause I didn't want to deal with gutting it in the dark while looking over my shoulder and then hiking back to camp covered in blood.

There was one hunter on the Clearwater game range here that got killed by a griz while gutting his elk. It mauled him and broke his neck. His rifle was found still leaning against the tree! And this was not at night.

 

[5MilesBack]

Back in the late 80's my buddy and I were hunting a late October rifle season. We drove away from base camp one afternoon to a spot several miles away. My buddy was driving his Pathfinder, and by the time he figured out that the 2-track we had been driving on had disappeared under the 8" of snow.......it was too late. The mud under the snow started to give way and we slid down the hillside coming to rest backwards against an aspen tree. We were stuck good. All we had in the truck was 3 cases of beer and two bags of Dorito's.....so we weren't that bad off. But that night we stayed up all night with a fire from all the blowdown Aspens. By morning, that coal and ash pile was 6 feet tall, but we stayed warm all night.

 

[tuffcity]

Side note to spending a night on the mountain with little to no gear and staying warm (ish). If you have the wood available build two fires and sleep in between them. Obviously separated enough so you don't set yourself on fire.

RC