"Payment" for helping pack out an elk?

[Muddyboots]

There are friends and there are hunting buddies. There is a difference. Hunting buds will come to your aid at drop of hat. These are guys that you will give your last bottle of JD to. Well maybe
Seriously, these are guys that make your hunt memorable and lifetime. I have my best hunting bud going thru cancer hell. Whatever I can do to help him into woods is going to happen. Over the years, you sort out the chaff and you end up with the best buds you want to spend time with. These are the guys you don't have to discuss how to split animals, costs or help haul.

 

[3chester]

Yep, $100 dollar bill works pretty good for a wrangler that already has horses up there near camp. Guys always say you don't owe me nothing but, always give em a Franklin. Like to bring along a couple 5 gallon buckets of orchard apples for the Elk hunt road trip and if wrangler says go ahead, just leave a bucket of Prairie Spys for his horses when ya go home. All good guys up at that altitude anyways!!

 

[Carlos88]

There are friends and there are hunting buddies. There is a difference. Hunting buds will come to your aid at drop of hat. These are guys that you will give your last bottle of JD to. Well maybe
Seriously, these are guys that make your hunt memorable and lifetime. I have my best hunting bud going thru cancer hell. Whatever I can do to help him into woods is going to happen. Over the years, you sort out the chaff and you end up with the best buds you want to spend time with. These are the guys you don't have to discuss how to split animals, costs or help haul.

Yep. It just becomes an unwritten "law" and just like the sun rises in the east and sets in the west it all gets done. Those are my hunting buds as well.

Great post muddy.

 

[BW64]

I hunt with 10 former Air Force buddies who I am proud to call friends. I would never ask nor expect anything for help packing out. And I've done it a few times. Even done camp b#$ch duties. No payment required. Love them all!

 

[duckhunter175]

Just curious. What, if anything, do you do for a hunting buddy who helps pack an elk out? Share some of the meat? First shot next year?

Archery hunter in CO spent the last half of his day helping me pack out my elk two years ago-- we hit it off and kept in touch-- I mailed him a Cabelas gift card as a thank you (and it made it hard to refuse it)

It's great to meet some truly awesome folks in the woods!

 

[azwhitey]

Not a **** thing! I have been on both sides of either helping a total Stanger 1/4 and pack, and I have had strangers end up at my kill and help pack.... A thank you and maybe a cold beer is good! A couple years ago we were archery hunting and watched 2 guys stalk in on what we thought were our bucks. They killed one, and we walked down, took all their photos, then help cut up their buck. When we started loading packs we loaded ours too and packed them to their truck.... just seems like what anyone would do.

 

[mnoland30]

i'm just paying it forward. A stranger stopped and helped me with my first deer. Another stranger horse packed my first bull 3 miles out of the wilderness. I've been paying it forward ever since. Once I was scouting elk with my 13 old granddaughter and 9 year old grandson. We saw a guy on the side of the road with a nice rack, so we stopped to talk. His bull was down and quartered two miles into the wilderness. He had called all of his friends, with no answers. We showed him how to bone it out and helped him pack it out. My granddaughter packed out about 30 lbs. When we got to the road, he was exhausted, so I walked the 1/2 mile to get the truck. He told my grandkids that he couldn't believe we had stopped to help him. My only condition, is that I don't pack out bones.

 

[338 dude]

I've never had the opportunity to hunt elk as of YET ! all these posts give me great encouragement that someone might help me ,there's no way in my condition I could carry an elk out in less than 10 trips LOL. I could use some help everyone of you sound like people I would enjoy hunting with!

 

[N8iV Warrior]

I always appreciate the help and I Always tell the person or persons that they will be given an equal share regardless no questions asked.

 

[LVJ76]

In our camp we all help each other, usually we partner up when hunting and share the meat between all of us; except the ribs, those belong to my wife, non negotiable.

If it was a stranger I would share the meat and if possible a cold one. And we always pay it forward.

 

[LVJ76]

There are friends and there are hunting buddies. There is a difference. Hunting buds will come to your aid at drop of hat. These are guys that you will give your last bottle of JD to. Well maybe
Seriously, these are guys that make your hunt memorable and lifetime. I have my best hunting bud going thru cancer hell. Whatever I can do to help him into woods is going to happen. Over the years, you sort out the chaff and you end up with the best buds you want to spend time with. These are the guys you don't have to discuss how to split animals, costs or help haul.

Well said Muddy, well said.

 

[dfrahm]

I feel it's a personal thing and depends on the situation. In my case, four of us drove 2 trucks from FL to CO. We shared the expense of a cabin and food. Paid for our own gas and bought our own elk tags. One harvested an elk and all 4 of us drug it off the mountain about 2 miles to a truck then helped him butcher it. Next day, he left for FL even though there were 5 planned days left to hunt and refused to pay for the remaining cabin days. He also refused to give any of us any meat when we were unsuccessful. We were all very upset about his selfishness. In our minds, we considered him a real jerk. So, you decide whether you want to be a stingy jerk or a good guy by at least offering to pay or share your success.

And that was his last trip hunting with you guys....just the way it works. Out here in WY, if you ask, we will help. You will offer to pay or whatever and we will turn you down. If we get an animal down we will do everything we can NOT to ask for help and we all understand that. So if someone asks, we know they need help and we will do it. Part of the brotherhood of hunters.

 

[Muddyboots]

I was just thinking that IF you think payment is something you want to do, I BET some RL26, H1000, Berger 215's would bring a smile.

 

[LVJ76]

I was just thinking that IF you think payment is something you want to do, I BET some RL26, H1000, Berger 215's would bring a smile.

That'll definitely work. He'll be happier than a kid in Christmas morning LOL