DIY Backcountry Elk, Have a Plan be Self-reliant, Don't Rely on Outfitters

[Deleted member 28227]

On Episode 144 of the MeatEater podcast they talk about ways to make sure your meat doesn't spoil and discuss paying to have someone pack you out. I tried this approach during muzzleloader season this fall and got totally hosed. In July well before the season opened I called two outfitters in the area I was hunting, I told them where I was hunting, got verbal commitments that they would back me out with 24-48 hours of getting a call/ text from my garmin inreach. I shot a bull early Friday morning. I was 8 miles in, the season closed Sunday, I immediately contacted one outfitter then the other and was told by one that I was SOL and the other that he could come get me Tuesday afternoon.

Given the the temps I knew there was no way the meat was going to make it 5 days so I texted my wife and started packing...

Never got a straight answer from the first outfitter about what happened but I saw his trailers in the lot... maybe he was just overbooked, although my bull was totally boned out and the whole thing could have gone on one horse.

Outfitters are going to put packing out hunters on the very bottom of their priority list, it is not reasonable to make an outfitter assisted pack-out your only means of getting your animal out of the woods

 

[Muley_Stalker]

I never even considered paying someone. I figured if I couldn't do the whole hunt I shouldn't be hunting.

As I got older the distance I hunted from my Jeep got shorter. Then I had to give up on bulls and just hunted for cows. Now the distance is getting as short as possible for a cow and the cows are getting smaller. At 76 i'm still getting it done solo but i'm starting to eyeball calfs now. I never thought that would happen but I didn't know how getting old would feel either.

I'm not giving up on elk though because mule deer taste like crapola to me.

 

[Jayden12]

Outfitters have guided and drop camp hunters needs ahead of any pack out job.I never go further then I can get an elk out within 24 hours.To many guys watching Born & Raised and Hush that aren't paying attention that there's usually 3 hunters and camera guy there for their pack outs.I stay within 3-4 miles and always have plenty of elk to hunt.Most times under 2 miles is all that's necessary

 

[Idhikker]

Most decent outfitters don't give a darn about meat packing side jobs. They're focused on guided clients. Not worth fooling with IMO.

 

[brymoore]

You’re playing with the devil when you shoot an elk 8 miles from the road.

 

[3855WIN]

If outfitters won’t pack, the state should allow others to hire out as packers for that area.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

You’re playing with the devil when you shoot an elk 8 miles from the road.

Exactly, I got my bull out that night because I had made backup plans.

 

[brymoore]

Exactly, I got my bull out that night because I had made backup plans.

Good for you. The farthest I’ve killed an elk is five miles. My family wasn’t happy with my decision to shoot a bull there.

 

[mtmuley]

Exactly, I got my bull out that night because I had made backup plans.

You packed out a bull, 8 miles one way solo, the same day? Sorry, just saw you had a back up plan. mtmuley

 

[BigHornRam]

Generally speaking, I would rank outfitters reliability rating somewhere between drywallers and roofers. Always good to have a backup plan.

 

[Muskeez]

Can I ask what the back up plan was? Did you have a few buddies that were wiling to come help?

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Yeah my wife showed up and we begged a landowner for trespass permission which dramatically shortened the pack out. If she, landowner, had said no I had a couple buddies that were willing to come up, and if I got skunked there my father-n-law was going to make the long drive over with horses.