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How To Hunt Big Game
How far out will you kill an elk by yourself?
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<blockquote data-quote="M77Fan" data-source="post: 2975570" data-attributes="member: 115996"><p>These days my answer to how far back I would shoot an elk is different than it once was. But it would still depend on a number of variables. Grizzlies - yes or no is one big one. Terrain, weather, season. If I am alone when I shoot it, OK, but do I have help to pack it out? Help packing changes the equation, but distance would still be determined on a sliding scale dependent on the variables. I never count on horses since all my meat comes out in a pack on my back.</p><p></p><p>I did pack a bull out alone one year. I shot it the first day we hunted, and I didn't want my partners to miss out hunting because they felt obligated to help, so I told them I would get it and they should hunt. I was around 35 then, and pretty fit. I had packed out the backstraps and tenderloins, along with the head in/on my daypack the afternoon I got the bull. That was after gutting, skinning, and parting it out. It was a little over 3 miles back in from a trailhead (straight line wise), but only about a third of that pack was on the horse trail. Next day I had my frame pack, rifle, water, food, and firstaid/emergency kit. First load was both boned out hind quarters - don't know what I was thinking. Second load was boned out shoulders, all other scrap meat, and heart, and I think I made a last trip for the hide the next day. As I said, I was younger then. Would I have shot one further back then and packed it alone? Yeah probably, but at 4 miles I might have been stopping to think about it. In truth, though, I shot that bull where I found him, and since I had heard him bugle very early, I was looking for that bull.</p><p></p><p>We normally all pack when an elk is down to get it out as quickly as we can. Then the other hunters go back to hunting for their own animals. But we have for years hunted around grizzlies. Rather avoid problems.</p><p></p><p>These days it is a boned quarter a load, and two of us are packing, so it still takes a couple trips to get elk meat out, two loads apiece. It might take a third trip to get the head and hide. In grizzly country that is a lot of exposure to risk, especially leaving meat out overnight - which we have had to do. We usually get the meat a good distance from the gut pile and carcass. But the approach to a meat cache is always stressful until you can determine if there is anyone larger than a pine marten that claimed it while you were gone. I dunno, with the bears there, the prudent distance might be a mile to a mile and a half with our slower pace these days. Without bears, I would be willing to go farther, as long as it wasn't too hot. Horrible terrain will shorten the distance I am willing to pack more than it used to, but I need to make sure I can still walk out on all the stuff that hurts, and also avoid injury.</p><p></p><p>In my frame pack I still will have my emergency kit, which is bigger in grizzly country in case there is a bear attack, a lot of water, food, and raingear as well as at least a .44 mag and a canister of bear spray. Weight adds up even before you start loading meat.</p><p></p><p>As memtb points out "Some of us are older, some have limiting physical ailments,...", I am one of those, with all my artificial joints and a bad ankle. My orthopedic doctors have warned me about abusing my new joints like I did the original parts. Besides that, age does not make you stronger. But maybe it has made me work a little smarter. I am still out there, but slower and not as far in a day as I once did. I need to recruit some younger partners!</p><p></p><p>I think everyone is forced to adapt if they are going to stay out there for the long haul. I have yet to find any elk hunter who has figured out how to stay 32 years old for the next 50 years.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="M77Fan, post: 2975570, member: 115996"] These days my answer to how far back I would shoot an elk is different than it once was. But it would still depend on a number of variables. Grizzlies - yes or no is one big one. Terrain, weather, season. If I am alone when I shoot it, OK, but do I have help to pack it out? Help packing changes the equation, but distance would still be determined on a sliding scale dependent on the variables. I never count on horses since all my meat comes out in a pack on my back. I did pack a bull out alone one year. I shot it the first day we hunted, and I didn't want my partners to miss out hunting because they felt obligated to help, so I told them I would get it and they should hunt. I was around 35 then, and pretty fit. I had packed out the backstraps and tenderloins, along with the head in/on my daypack the afternoon I got the bull. That was after gutting, skinning, and parting it out. It was a little over 3 miles back in from a trailhead (straight line wise), but only about a third of that pack was on the horse trail. Next day I had my frame pack, rifle, water, food, and firstaid/emergency kit. First load was both boned out hind quarters - don't know what I was thinking. Second load was boned out shoulders, all other scrap meat, and heart, and I think I made a last trip for the hide the next day. As I said, I was younger then. Would I have shot one further back then and packed it alone? Yeah probably, but at 4 miles I might have been stopping to think about it. In truth, though, I shot that bull where I found him, and since I had heard him bugle very early, I was looking for that bull. We normally all pack when an elk is down to get it out as quickly as we can. Then the other hunters go back to hunting for their own animals. But we have for years hunted around grizzlies. Rather avoid problems. These days it is a boned quarter a load, and two of us are packing, so it still takes a couple trips to get elk meat out, two loads apiece. It might take a third trip to get the head and hide. In grizzly country that is a lot of exposure to risk, especially leaving meat out overnight - which we have had to do. We usually get the meat a good distance from the gut pile and carcass. But the approach to a meat cache is always stressful until you can determine if there is anyone larger than a pine marten that claimed it while you were gone. I dunno, with the bears there, the prudent distance might be a mile to a mile and a half with our slower pace these days. Without bears, I would be willing to go farther, as long as it wasn't too hot. Horrible terrain will shorten the distance I am willing to pack more than it used to, but I need to make sure I can still walk out on all the stuff that hurts, and also avoid injury. In my frame pack I still will have my emergency kit, which is bigger in grizzly country in case there is a bear attack, a lot of water, food, and raingear as well as at least a .44 mag and a canister of bear spray. Weight adds up even before you start loading meat. As memtb points out "Some of us are older, some have limiting physical ailments,...", I am one of those, with all my artificial joints and a bad ankle. My orthopedic doctors have warned me about abusing my new joints like I did the original parts. Besides that, age does not make you stronger. But maybe it has made me work a little smarter. I am still out there, but slower and not as far in a day as I once did. I need to recruit some younger partners! I think everyone is forced to adapt if they are going to stay out there for the long haul. I have yet to find any elk hunter who has figured out how to stay 32 years old for the next 50 years. [/QUOTE]
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