How far out will you kill an elk by yourself?

[LanceS4803]

Was hunting in UT, off snowmobiles in knee deep snow Found an elk herd just 100yds away, easy shot on a cow to fill my tag.
BUT, they were on the other side of a very deep ravine. Just the climb down and up to get over there would have been tough, much less the pack out.
Passed, not that much of a glutton for punishment.

 

[Son of a Gun!]

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.

I'm almost 70 with a bad knee and hip and my theory now a days is if I can't get my 4 wheeler or pickup close I don't kill! I always carry 300yrds. of good climbing rope and have used it quite a bit lately! When I was young I had several 3-4 mile pack outs in rough country and I feel this is part of my knee and hip problems now! In fact the knee I had replaced started bothering me after an archery elk hunt in real rocky steep country and I was only in my early 50s! I'm not a horse person so that's not an option!

 

[alaska]

Jet sled set up with 2 large eye bolts up front and small eye down the side 3 per side for lashing down quarters. Get snap rings and short lifting straps and a pulling harness and attach by single snap ring. It's a much easier way to pull instead of packing out on your back. I put the strips on the bottom of the Jet Sled to protect it and use ratchet straps to secure load. I have done many a moose like this to it back to canoe. Always take a sidearm for bear protection !
Yes Age is catching up with us all not as easy as I Remember in the past. I remember putting a 100 pound young gutted deer on my shoulders and walking 5 miles out to the Jeep.

 

[RYEWSKY25284]

Longest I've done was 4 miles. It sucked. A lot.

This year was 3 miles. It sucked. A lot.

They all seem to suck. Antelope are a lot easier to carry out.

YUP!

 

[del2les]

At older than dirt, pack outs absolutely no problem. All about the "tools".
View attachment 520378

LOL.......I wish the Army would loan me one of the helos I flew for Uncle Sam, but like me, even those are old now.

 

[Donneric]

I'm 66 and hunt elk not to far from the continental divide in SW Montana. I do have horses but don't hunt every time with them. If I am not with the horses I hunt those areas after the cold arrives. I do not like having to hump hard on account of the weather. A hind qtr with the trotter still attached is 63-65 pounds on a cow, 70-74 on a bull from my experience. I don't bone in the field and have never dragged an elk. I take it easy it's four trips. Lions and bears whatever. On returns I carry a 357 revolver with hard cast 180's on my belt for noise and blasting dirt and gravel etc. and a 44 shoulder rig loaded with my "wrist twisters" for the dirty business. To be honest I am in good shape. If terrain has blowdowns and deep gullies I steer clear. If elk are in there I'll wait for them to get up and leave when it starts getting dark. And yes I do hunt alone. Me boys have both married and moved along. One last note, fat cow beats poor bull any day of the week.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Last year, my nephew drew his first ever big game tag. An AZ late season bull elk. We put in an average of 7.3 miles and 4000' of elevation change a day. His Dad and Father-in-law tagged along for the hunt, but never made it more than 200 yards from the trucks.

Every day, I would tell him, "If you kill a bull way up here, I am going to be so happy....and ****ed. Because you and I are the only two that are going to be packing this thing out." Not for lack of giving 110% effort, but he never got a legitimate opportunity for a shot.

 

[Bob Wright]

None of my buddies wanted to go muzzle loader elk with me.
I had 4 years of success doing it alone. However it wasn't without planning and a known area where elk were always there.
I was never over a mile away some dropped within 100 yards of a common forest road. My plan was also to take juvenile anterless elk over a cow. I could pull them up my tailgate with a small block and tackle.
I certainly would not take one considering weather, evening hunts and long multiple pack outs.
So have a plan, know the roads and resist the urge if it just doesn't make sense to you.

 

[memtb]

At 71 (in 6 days) …….substantially closer than just a decade ago, and it's also very terrain dependent!

If it's fairly flat terrain, pretty cool weather, and it's a nice bull…..about 2 miles would be my limit.

With rough terrain, a small bull or a cow…..exponentially less than two miles! If the terrain is bad enough…..about the same as my self-imposed shooting distance of 600 yards!

Oh and……grizzly population density also factors in! memtb

 

[Wyowind]

It seems that many of us posting on here are no longer spring chickens! We remember days of long ago when we were decades younger, when our joints still worked, and when we had the fire to kill elk wherever we found them.

But those days have passed us by now. Or maybe we have gotten smarter with age.

I have always loved hunting in the wild places, on my own. Danger added to the adventure. Face to face encounters with grizzly bears might have a little too much spice, but more distant interactions added a lot to the tales around the campfire.

Now I would like my elk within a mile of the road or trailhead, and maybe less. Depending on the terrain, I might choose to not even shoot an elk at that distance. There are some rough places where I hunt elk, and the chances of injuring myself trying to get an elk out on my back are sometimes simply too high.

With age, nothing works as well as it used to either. Against my will, I am forced to acknowledge my limitations as my body has some hard limits on what is possible, and especially on what is advisable.

At the least, an elk is going to require me to make two trips to get it out, and that is assuming I have a partner with me helping with the pack out.

So it is not a matter of making a single trip. My body has to be able to go again for another trip just as tough as the first trip. After an overnight to stiffen up.

The grizzly bears are getting worse too. More numerous for sure. More of a factor in where I am willing to hunt. No point in killing an elk and losing it to a hungry bear.

So my bottom line is that I would probably not kill an elk more than two miles or so from the truck if I was by myself. Especially in serious grizzly country.

And with bad weather moving in, dangerous terrain to cross, and perhaps an aging body telling me to back off a bit, even that might be too much anymore.

But my reality now is that I no longer hunt alone in grizzly country anyway.

Maybe Santa will deliver some new young elk hunting partners this year!

WyoWind

 

[airborneescouter]

You have to know your body, your willpower and the forecast. Packing game out in the cold/wet at night is awful and can be really dangerous. If you're not in shape, or even do know your shape, hopefully you anticipate and understand your limitations. Packing elk out sucks but it's worth it if you don't die or strain personal relationships as a result. That said I would probably try and stay inside of 3 miles and I'm 38 in fairly good shape. Got through the exo mountain gear workout plan in 4 weeks with a 40/45 lb pack and felt good on the mountain this year and wouldn't want to go much further. You have to figure you're going a mile per hour packing and it's going to take you 2 hours to debone and you still need to eat and sleep. I don't know, people are in crazy shape too but being safe and treating the animal with respect and not wasting any of it to heat/critters/etc is important

 

[memtb]

It seems that many of us posting on here are no longer spring chickens! We remember days of long ago when we were decades younger, when our joints still worked, and when we had the fire to kill elk wherever we found them.

But those days have passed us by now. Or maybe we have gotten smarter with age.

I have always loved hunting in the wild places, on my own. Danger added to the adventure. Face to face encounters with grizzly bears might have a little too much spice, but more distant interactions added a lot to the tales around the campfire.

Now I would like my elk within a mile of the road or trailhead, and maybe less. Depending on the terrain, I might choose to not even shoot an elk at that distance. There are some rough places where I hunt elk, and the chances of injuring myself trying to get an elk out on my back are sometimes simply too high.

With age, nothing works as well as it used to either. Against my will, I am forced to acknowledge my limitations as my body has some hard limits on what is possible, and especially on what is advisable.

At the least, an elk is going to require me to make two trips to get it out, and that is assuming I have a partner with me helping with the pack out.

So it is not a matter of making a single trip. My body has to be able to go again for another trip just as tough as the first trip. After an overnight to stiffen up.

The grizzly bears are getting worse too. More numerous for sure. More of a factor in where I am willing to hunt. No point in killing an elk and losing it to a hungry bear.

So my bottom line is that I would probably not kill an elk more than two miles or so from the truck if I was by myself. Especially in serious grizzly country.

And with bad weather moving in, dangerous terrain to cross, and perhaps an aging body telling me to back off a bit, even that might be too much anymore.

But my reality now is that I no longer hunt alone in grizzly country anyway.

Maybe Santa will deliver some new young elk hunting partners this year!

WyoWind

Very well said!

My hunting has changed a lot over the past 3/4 years. In the past, my wife and I have have hiked farther, packed game farther than folks our age should have been doing.

We've packed 2 moose, numerous elk, and a few deer! Over the years, she's carried several hind quarters from younger bulls up to a mile or so to the truck. Likely, some men can't claim that!

She's having pretty serious issues with her knees, which really limits our hunting……and I'm not hunting without her. A sacrifice I'm willing to make. And perhaps, though I hate to admit it, maybe I'm really starting to like the easier hunting! memtb

 

[skipglo]

Just wear your hunting clothes into the steak house and use your hunting knife to cut your steak and enjoy the hunt.

And alot cheaper too!

 

[etale]

Longest elk packout I ever did solo was 3 miles one way on a December '16 Cow in AZ Unit 1. Fortunately, it was pretty flat most of the way, but a blizzard rolled in and made the 4 total trips pretty interesting! My usual hunting buddy did a solo bull elk packout in Dec '22 from AZ Unit 27 that was 5 miles one way with 2000 ft elevation drop/ gain to/ from the truck (!). Took him 5 days to get out, the last 3 of which he was living off elk stew. AZ Unit 27 is a tough unit, especially for bulls in December. I always appreciate having a buddy (or two) along; the miles seem to go much quicker!