Elk 5 miles from truck...

Here are the conditions I have faced the last couple years. During the last couple weeks of the season, with a couple feet of snow, I have had an elk down about 5 miles from the truck. Solo. I want to keep this place a secret, so calling anyone to help is out of the question. I am in an area where there are a couple old logging roads that lead back to the truck and also an old game trail…

Here’s what I did this year… I shot my bull this year in the afternoon. I quartered him and packed out one hind along with the extra meat down to the truck that night. I went and bought a cheap sled and came up the next morning… the sled thing didn’t work out as well as I was hoping. The quarters were too big and high, even when tied on, they kept falling off. I also took the old game trail (which is a much shorter distance) but the entire sled because of the weight would slid off the trail, as most of it is side hilling. It was a long day.

A game cart would have been useless in the snow, too rugged of terrain, too deep of snow, and some hard windblown snow that I post-holed through. My only other thought is buying a deeper game sled but I’m skeptical after that lackluster cheap sled experience… If I did go the game sled route, I would probably drag it up there during the summer and stash it, I know the legality of that but it seems to make sense…. Leave it there for 2-3 months and then it either comes down with me with an elk in it or empty the last time I head up there.

Any other ideas to get these buggers out more efficiently/easier? Or is it the game sled idea or 4 trips with a quartered elk on my back?
Can you get a snow machine or utv with tracks in there
 
My parents know where I go, they are in their 70s. My wife has also been with me where I hunt, and she knows where I am.... Unfortunately, my friends are either way too out of shape to be of any kind of help or they are very intense hunters, like myself and I don't want to put us in the situation.
Just realize, there are no secret elk spots anymore. We can see what's over the ridge with the click of a button

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/tech/news/man-who-memorised-google-maps-27972693

I'd cultivate a relationship with a permitted packer in your area. These guys depend on the trust of resident hunters to call them year after year. If they burned one of their clients spots, their name would be mud and their business would dry up.
 

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