Solo Pack Out Question

[alexnelon]

Assuming you can actually do it without dying, are you gonna have time to do 13 miles 4 times before it all spoils?

That would take me at least 2.5, probably more like 3 days. That's a long time for meat to hang in September.

 

[bozeman]

Best of luck, I'd ignore the nay-sayers, you asked for a strategy, not a negative opinion. If you think you can do it, go for it. Strategy: move a load a mile or two, drop it in shade or near a creek to keep it cool, and go back (empty backpack, time to recover). Do this repetition to you get all meat to the new spot, then do it again a mile or two closer to your truck. Keep doing this and its haul time/recovery time. Good luck and stay safe!

 

[Crowmangler]

To the OP, this is in no way meant to sound demeaning or anything like that, but have you ever done a solo pack out on an elk? It's brutal & there's no way I'd even think about that solo at 6+ miles. What if you're another mile + past your camp when he's down? What if it's on the last day when you're already exhausted, hungry & sleep deprived? What if you turn an ankle on trip 2?
I would highly recommend arranging for a packer to go in & get it for you. And you need to have at least 1 back up because they may be busy or unreachable when you need them.
It's not just about the physical ability to do it but more importantly the TIME it'll take. It can get warm in September & you're flirting with disaster on meat spoilage in your scenario

 

[Poser]

What's the elevation profile of this 6.5 miles? (How much vertical gain each way?).
Also, consider what happens ifyou actually kill an elk another 1.5-2 miles in.

 

[wapitibob]

The heat is what's going to throw a monkey wrench in your plans, and people are scared of the dark so multiple trips at night are not going to happen. You could do it over 2 days if you can keep the meat in good condition; it's not ice cream but you can't have the sun on it for a full day.

 

[BigredRusch]

For the longer packouts like that, I hike a load for about half an hour to an hour, depending on the terrain, then hang it and go back for another. I like to spread it out into 4 or 5 loads depending on the size of the Bull. With the shorter intervals I get more rests in between and come out of the hunt less tore up.

This seems like the best approach physiologically. The distance won’t change, the weight won’t change, the elevation gain or loss won’t change no matter how you break the loads up but your interval of effort is in your control.

Treat it like interval training and try to break your brain of the idea that hammering bigger loads out all the way will get it done quicker. Your body will thank you in 5-10 years.

Just some thoughts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Coveyleader]

A solo elk, especially if its a decent bull is a task. Big difference between a decent bull and a raghorn but don't think a raghorn is simple, especially 6 miles in. I don't care if its 6 miles on a sidewalk. I used to have a pack that would take raghorn quarters no issue. When we got the next level sized bull on the ground, and the quarters had to go on the outside, we knew we were in for more work. As much as I hate returning to pick up quarters, that is still a 4-5 trip deal at that distance.

I've always said, there is nothing worse than killing a bull late in the AM (as far as when you kill a bull) after you been working hard all AM, close to being out of water, and then close the deal. The amount of work you're in for, and you current state of being tired can't be underestimated. I will take an elk killed the last 5 minutes of shooting light all day long over an AM kill.

 

[BigLou]

Best of luck, I'd ignore the nay-sayers, you asked for a strategy, not a negative opinion. If you think you can do it, go for it. Strategy: move a load a mile or two, drop it in shade or near a creek to keep it cool, and go back (empty backpack, time to recover). Do this repetition to you get all meat to the new spot, then do it again a mile or two closer to your truck. Keep doing this and its haul time/recovery time. Good luck and stay safe!

Bozeman! thanks...this is the idea I was looking for. The 6.5 miles is at 8800 ft elevation along the base of a mountain range and almost flat. There are drainages with running water and trees at the 2.1 and 4.3 mile marks so this approach would be perfect...might allow me to go heavier with just three loads.

For all of you, appreciate you taking the time to comment and also for your "encouragement". I hope you all have a safe and successful season. I will let you know how it turns out if I actually get a bull on the ground...

Lou

 

[TheDRAE]

There's always going to be reasons to not do things but that doesn't mean you shouldn't. Like others have said, time will most likely be your limiting factor. Good luck!

 

[Gerbdog]

keep us in the loop Lou. I dont think we're trying to keep you down, some of us just speak from experience. Best elk hunter i know put down a large bull at 5.5 miles from the truck about 4 years ago, he did the leap frog method suggested above to get the meat out, did it all over 36 hours, and still lost half his meat to time in the field in September. That said, New Mexico Septembers are NOT CO / MT / ID , etc. Septembers.

Best of luck man, i do hope you get a bull and it all goes well, truly.

 

[cnelk]

Back in Sept 2003, me and 2 buddies killed 3 elk one morning - 4 miles in.
(2 raghorns and one cow)

It took the 3 of us 2 days of packing meat.

It’s a chore

 

[Bulldawg]

Time will be the biggest issue, as said before.

At that distance, 3 trips seems to be a bit unrealistic, 4 trips maybe, 5 would be the most comfortable.

13 mile round trip, have you done a 26 mile day with half under load of 70-100 pounds? Because that would be 2 days of packing. Most realistically, and would still be a hell of a task is 1 trip a day, 13 miles, across terrain, so 4 days of packing. Take out the physical reality of being capable of doing that, you'll have to factor that time in, so either have to pack out and be done hunting and move closer in 4 days before you have to go home, or you'll have to have the ability to extend your hunt 4 days if you were able to tag out on the last day.

Best of luck.

 

[PredatoronthePrairie]

Stronger man than I that's for sure. Have had a few nasty solo pack outs. But they were under 3m one way out. Don't think my body would have appreciated 6.5.

For me 4 trips boned out plus rack worked well.

Always figured less risk of injury and lighter pack weight was more sustainable.

 

[Hondo0925]

So I’ve solved your problem.
After you kill run out as fast as you can, and head to the local high school or college. Find the football field and the boys practicing and offer each guy that helps 20$ or better yet a case of beer for helping you go pack it out. Convince them it’ll be good training. Done!

 

[taskswap]

5 trips. One for each quarter, and one gets the meat bag (straps/etc) and head. It's a toss-up whether a rear quarter or head+meat is the "worst" trip. When I'm carrying a quarter, I say quarter, but then when I carry a head I say head. Just keep telling yourself that you're carrying 1-2 months' worth of meat to feed your family with each load. I go heaviest to lightest so each trip gets a little easier.

Don't blow up your heart or anything on my advice here but I've found it's very helpful to pop 200mg of caffeine and 2 aspirin while I'm field-dressing. By the time I'm dressed-out, I'm amped for the first haul, and just as it's wearing off I'm getting to the last. Then you're so dead you can fall asleep mid day with the sun shining and people playing music in base camp and not even notice the aches.

 

[TaperPin]

I don’t think anyone knows what will work for you, but it shouldn’t be hard to find out before the trip. After work or call in sick every day this week, load up 70 lbs in that pack and do 6.5 miles off trail, and increase it 10 lbs every night until you’re heavy enough to get 240 lbs of elk and your camp out. In the flats with good game trails you should make good time. Nothing about packing weight is mysterious or can’t be figured out now.

 

[wowzers]

Have you ever considered leap frogging the loads? Never needed to do it personally but that’s my going in game plan this year solo.

That is what I do a lot of the time. I think there is some metal aspect to it too because the trips are getting shorter and shorter.

 

[WashCycle]

Leap frogging tough sections for sure helps the game. If you have a rough area to work through...like a ridge right out of the gate, leap frogging the loads up the climb and staging them all at the top of the ridge while you're fresh will pay dividends later on. The motivation/adrenaline/energy is high early on in the pack out, use that to your advantage.

 

[Slick8]

Assuming you can actually do it without dying, are you gonna have time to do 13 miles 4 times before it all spoils?

That would take me at least 2.5, probably more like 3 days. That's a long time for meat to hang in September.

This would be my concern. You can't get around the math on this. To say you can do this in less than 48 hours seems nearly impossible.

I've only packed out one bull but it was mature and in rough steep country about 2.5 miles in. It was Oct with good temps (20-45). Me and the guide did it in two trips each and were spent. I killed late evening, we quartered and packed out half getting into camp around midnight. We were back at the kill site by 0800 the next morning and back to camp by 10. If solo that would be 4 trips for me and likely late evening for completion.

 

[nphunter]

Last years bull we packed out bone in leap frogging with two guys, it was a big mature bull and it took us 10 hours of non-stop work. IMO packing at night is the best time to pack, if I had the choice I would pack all night long and nap in the day if you need a nap. Last year I killed my bull in the wide open at 11:30 and we had him cut up and ready to pack at 3:00, that was bone in with two guys. I also spend 30 minutes or so skinning the head and removing the bottom jaw to reduce a lot of weight and mess. So it was 7 hours straight packing for two guys with no breaks to go 2 miles or about 6 miles of walking, half of which was loaded, the only break was walking back empty. Looking at my heath app we did about 3/4mph average packing out. We also had daypacks and no camp, we did have spotters and big binos so maybe half the weight of camp.

6.5 miles if you do 4 trips is 45.5 miles of walking, at 3/4 mph it would take about 60hrs of packing meat, possibly faster if you're in much better shape than me. I don't really consider myself in great shape and I'm only 5'6" so not a long strided, however, I can go without stopping for hours and have packed out a couple of dozen animals on my back. Most people walk about 2mph on flat terrain, we started at 1mph loaded and were going about .5mph loaded by the time we got to the water crossings and steep stuff.

Honestly if I ever kill a bull that deep solo, I will make a fire and spend a couple of days turning it into Jerky before attempting to pack it out. As jerky, you could probably do it in two trips with camp. I have a friend who did this last fall and it worked well. (see below)

Watch this video, it can be done, Joe killed his bull like 8 miles deep solo, packed it most of the way out turned right around and killed a buck 20 miles deep and took it out in one trip. This is in rugged country too, also done by a guy that has been doing this type of hunting for the last 20 years. Also done in Nov. so meat wasn't a worry although he got it out fast enough it wouldn't have mattered anyway.