How far out will you kill an elk by yourself?

I remember when I could wake up and be out of the house in fifteen minutes. I was hunting whitetail and not elk, but I'd put five cartridges in my pocket, make sure my knife was sharp, and drive to my access points where I would walk the three miles to the back of the public land I hunted for years. If I needed a drink, I'd just get one from the springs that are abundant in that area, didn't need food for a day hunt way back then. After killing a deer, I would put it on my shoulders and walk out. The last trip halfway to the truck I laid down with the deer as my pillow and took a half hour break with my lungs feeling like they were on fire. I picked up the deer finished the hike to the truck and said I will never do that again, and I haven't lol. I know it was stupid walking back to the truck on public land with a deer on my shoulders, but I was young and bullet proof, and I was walking on a feed truck road in the wide open, but it was still stupid. I don't even think I could take a BB nowadays.
 
The three rules of elk hunting:
1. First you have to find them.
2. Then you have to kill them.
3. Then you worry about getting them out.
The main thing is, you can't get any of those rules out of order!
I'm pushing 70, but I still don't worry about getting them out. Just takes time and a good pack frame!
 
I had a cow elk tag, this season, and ended up not pulling the trigger because getting to them was so hard when I did the math, I just did not think I could get her out. What do everyone think? What's your worst pack outs? I know I would have made it happen for a bull. The people I talked to had an attitude of "don't work that hard for a cow". I don't know, seasons over and I'm kind of kicking myself. The best thing would have been to be in much better shape, and found some easier elk.

When I took my oldest son (then 20 years old) on his first cow hunt in NM, we came across a bowl in a steep mountainous area. We parked about a mile away and after hiking a bit, glassed a bull with several big cows at about 600 yards. I worked out a good stalking plan with my boy and he came in at the top of the ridge overlooking the little steep bowl while my youngest son and I stayed out in the open where we glassed them and kept their attention. My son snuck over and shot the largest cow from about 400 yards with a single shot. The cow dropped and wrapped itself around a juniper in the bottom of the bowl. Oh yeah... it was already 4 pm in afternoon too.

My youngest son, then 8 years old was not much help with the downed elk, so my oldest and I started gutting and skinning animal to cool it off. First mistake we made was only bringing one large pocketknife (although it was a Benchmade that skinned well) and a hatchet. We finished that task after sun set and propped open the cavity. I removed the tenderloins & backstrap and separated the top two quarters from the bottom two (real fun cutting the spine in two with a rinky-dinky hatchet). We then cut off a limb with the axe and using every ounce of strength we had, we lifted the bottom half up and hooked it on the cut-off stub. The top 1/2 we covered with juniper branches and prayed that predators didn't find it overnight.

Next mistake in preparation? We only had our phones and a single penlight with us to light the way through the NM mountain area up to pick-up- all went dark halfway back. The lechuguilla (a nasty little plant here in NM) I stepped on hurt for weeks afterward in my calf. That night, my son drove three hours back to college to get his athletic cousin, also in football, while I drove 2.5 hours home the other direction to get the things I knew should have taken with him the first time- game bags, my cordless Sawz-all (absolutely a lifesaver with a long combo blade), several flashlights, large ice chests, and larger backpacks for the meat.

We met back there the next morning and fortunately, it had been below 32 F that night and no predators discovered the carcass. I quartered the halves and cut up rib cage with trusty battery-powered saw., trimmed off neck and other HB meat, and packed all in game bags, while the two big young men ferried the meat from the butcher site to the pickups (four trips). We were out of there by 1pm that day.

Moral to the story: always have all your tools with you when you hunt.

Would we have gone for the shot had we known the work necessary given our lack of proper tools? ABSOLUTELY. The meat was fantastic for the next year. Best part, my son's stalk and his single shot were both perfect. This was his first big game harvest, and created memories that will last a lifetime.
 
I had a cow elk tag, this season, and ended up not pulling the trigger because getting to them was so hard when I did the math, I just did not think I could get her out. What do everyone think? What's your worst pack outs? I know I would have made it happen for a bull. The people I talked to had an attitude of "don't work that hard for a cow". I don't know, seasons over and I'm kind of kicking myself. The best thing would have been to be in much better shape, and found some easier elk.
A cow is still MEAT in the freezer. You had a COW tag ,unless you could shoot eather the cow was your only choice. Meat in freezer is better than tag soup. Cut it into smaller pieces/ quarters. I packed a moose out that way several times and over 1.5 miles, I was 65 . Or get a game cart.
 
I had a cow elk tag, this season, and ended up not pulling the trigger because getting to them was so hard when I did the math, I just did not think I could get her out. What do everyone think? What's your worst pack outs? I know I would have made it happen for a bull. The people I talked to had an attitude of "don't work that hard for a cow". I don't know, seasons over and I'm kind of kicking myself. The best thing would have been to be in much better shape, and found some easier elk.
Meat is Meat off a Bull or Cow and if you only have one ticket why pass it up. Just try to hunt an area where you could pack the animal out. Plan ahead on a type of drag to use and making several trips. I hunted alone for many years many times and many pack outs by myself. Only had a pack of wild dogs come into the equitation when coming back for the second load.
I always used the "Sleigh" a thick piece of rolled up plastic with Bunji cords to holds the packages on the sleigh. I would field dress then take the heart, liver, back straps and tenderloins out and put in a pack along with the ribs. The put all that on the sleigh and one back quarter. I could then put my Climber on my back with my other packs and rifle and drag the sleigh behind me. On my second trip I would only take my revolver S&W Model 29 and pull the sleigh with the remaining three quarters back to my truck.
Takes some planning, but doesn't all hunts take pre planning?
If you are hunting by yourself make sure that you give your hunting area MAP to someone in case of an emergency. Carry a first aid kit (not walmart but a real one) a radio and phone and Sat Phone if you have one. Also a S.O.S. Locator system., water, food, space blanket, fire starter. A simple twist of an ankle can doom you if the weather turns bad.
With proper Pre-Planning and correct gear you can have a GREAT experience hunting by yourself.
Wow, thank you. Any plan must be made for conditions, packing, notifying friends, relatives, and the exit plans. Especially if the freezer is about to get stuffed.
So many plan everything except how do I get my meat home safely and still good.
Your post should be read by just about everybody.
The only thing I do differently, I have a large cooler. 3"~4" of dry ice placed on top of cardboard. Regular ice on top of that. If I do not get meat, I still have dry ice for a week or two.
Okay, two things,
I have a vacuum packer, small, but I can "stitch" pieces together to make wider than 20" sections to protect meat from freezer burn and oxidation.
Extra weight in my truck, rope, block and tackle on back to try and get beast in air.
One area I used to hunt, Wrightwood, California, had smart black bears. They heard the shot and came by. Sometimes they would argue who the dead animal belonged to. Other times, what you did not pack out, they took and buried it.
Was always happy when black Bear crossed into the my other hunts.
 
Was winching some large cut logs into the truck up a ramp once with about 50' of 5/8" twisted nylon rope. Had a heavy pulley on it and a log got hung up. Stretch on typical nylon is 30% before failure and was using a 2000 pound winch. Think 50' slingshot. When the rope broke (wasn't looking back to see the stretch) the pulley slammed into the back of the steel headache bar with a bang that could probably be heard for miles. Climbing rope comes in two varieties, static and dynamic, both with a uni core and a woven case. The dynamic rope is supposed to stretch so a falling climber gets stopped gradually. Static rope has quite a bit less stretch and is used for hauling gear etc. It still has plenty of stretch though, and I wouldn't want 1000 yards of it strung all over with pulleys.
We switched to wire rope long ago for tree felling, learned how to splice it because stupid wire nuts always fail. Even wire rope can pack a punch so the rule is to NEVER be in the line of fire. The other issue is slings. We use large load rated kevlar slings to attach hardware to trees to protect them from damage. Everything in the load train is load rated, such as forged eye bolts instead of the ones bent from steel rod.
I suppose if the pulleys were attached to the trees with super heavy duty gear, leaving just the rope to recoil (no hardware in the load string, just rope), it would take some of the risk out.
Well apparently they all do it.
 
Those vinyl roll up sleighs will move 300 lbs like it's 75 lbs they are fantastic and easy to take in with you. Worth every cent of the ludicrous 45$
( Joking) I paid for it.
I must be doing something wrong. My dad brought one when he helped me with a pack out, and we made it about 100yds before we quartered the DEER and put it on our backs. I can't imagine trying to drag something bigger than a deer. It didn't work very well for us even for a deer.
 
I quess I will add my .02 in. I am 76 now. and having problem being steady now on my feet, due from Vietnam and Agent Orange.
Days gone by I would bone them out and pack them out. Generally hunted about no more than a couple of mile out. Sometime farther, and was set up to backpack them out Elk or Deer.
I do have a single cart with brake on it. It take 2 people to wheel the animal out.
Now I am down to road hunting mostly. With two shoulders replaced and one knee. I have to be very careful to not to fall and brake my shoulder. With my feet being like they are and can't feel the ground very good anymore. That's a problem in going over uneven ground and even on level ground.
So be it. That life and I'll live with it until I die. No complains. 😄 It's been a petty good life.
P. Dogs and ground squirrels are what I am turning too.
 
So, why has no one mentioned this game retrieval method yet? Has anyone tried this?
deer on pole.png
 

Recent Posts

Top