Walking out at night

[mad_angler]

Not to be antagonistic, but ending a hunt 30 min before dark to avoid hiking at night seems illogical to me. If you happened to be successful anytime after a morning hunt, you’d likely be hiking in the dark for multiple hours anyway. On the same trail, just now with 50+lbs of meat on your back, and a carcass attracting predators to return to over and over.

What about the situation makes you concerned to do it when unsuccessful vs successful? Are you bushwhacking with no light trying not to spook game and slipping on rocks and stuff?
I’d boil it down to what concerns you about it and fix that. Walking sticks plus a bright red headlamp takes away most concerns of terrain for me.

If the situation calls for concern hiking at night, you better end your day wayyyy before the fading light.

Good points... let me work myself through this... Let's consider my hunt last week. Let's say I killed one right when I was going to leave on the night in question. Now, I have an elk on the ground, it is still dropping heavy, wet snow, and I am already slightly hypothermic. How would I handle that?

First, I would realize that I am in for a long night. I would probably do some jumping jacks to warm up a bit. I would build a simple shelter and start a fire. I would drink some hot liquid to warm my core. Then, I would get to work on the elk. I would use the warmth of the elk to keep my hands warm. The work of breaking it down would probably keep me warm.

If I was warm enough, I would break it all down and hang it from an improvised meat pole.
If I was too cold, I would gut it and break open the hips to cool the meat down.

In either case, I would probably leave the meat in the woods. I would hike back to camp and sleep. I would come back in the morning with an empty pack to starting hauling the meat out.

Once the meat is hanging, I personally would not haul a lot of meat in the dark especially if bushwacking. It is going to take me several days to move the meat alone. I don't see a real difference between it hanging at the kill site or hanging at camp.

 

[BluMtn]

I have been hunting for almost 60 years. In my youth I would not even think about coming off the mountain until after dark. Shot many bulls in the last 30min. of day light. I would gut and skin, take the backstraps and heart and start the trek out. I was very familiar with the country and the only flashlights in the early years were either C or D battery flashlights that lasted about one hour before the batteries went dead. Once I was out of the steep stuff I could use my night vision and walk the trail out. I enjoyed those times even though they usually sucked. I was also raised to be on the mountain in your spot before daylight to catch animals coming out to feed. Spotted many elk as they were coming out in the morning. I remember back in the early 70's my father was sitting in his spot and as it started to get light looked over to a patch of trees about 60 yards away and there was a bull elk bedded there facing away from him. Shot it right in its bed.

Now fast forward (and I mean fast forward, where has time gone) to current times and I carry a quality pack with good clothing, equipment to keep me safe if something should happen, but I no longer have the desire to be the last one off the mountain. I still want to be on the mountain before daylight, but coming out in the dark is just not any fun anymore. A lot of it has to do with the fact our Elk populations are so depleted that hunting our mountains now are more of a hike with a rifle than actually shooting at an elk. I have had my glory days and when that day comes when the State of Washington finally gives me my Branched antler tag I am sure I will find a spike to shoot . At that time I will retire hunting elk and hike the mountains with a pack, but minus a rifle. Then I will turn my passion to hunting more mule deer than I do now.

 

[brockel]

If you want to consistently kill elk you better get comfortable with the dark

 

[Weldor]

I like taking my rifle for a hike also. Last cow we got out at 01:30 shot her at dusk. I will admit at 64 it was a ton of work but worth it. Will I do it again?

 

[summs]

Like other noted, depends on location and familiarity. When I was in Maine or Vermont tracking, I was taught to give up a track at 2pm unless your really on 'em and can get it done in the next half hour.
4 miles in takes every bit of 2 hours to get out through the woods. Ideally have a last light spot in mind and wait out shooting light in a more known spot closer to the truck.

Back in NJ, don't ever leave before last light. Your never further than a mile from a road, can easily be on a high traffic road in 30 minutes walking.

 

[BluMtn]

One other side note, back in the 70's my father and I would buy out of state Oregon tags. ($25.00), we would hike the 5 miles south to get to the Oregon border, all before daylight and hunt all day and then after dark we would hump the 5 miles back out to the pickup. We would do that for about 10 days then Washington deer would start and we would then leave the trailhead at first light, hunt deer to the Oregon border and then hunt elk until early afternoon and then Washington deer back to the pickup. We killed several Oregon elk during that time which was a good thing because that meant no more early morning and late evening hikes to and from the Oregon border.