...

[Arch Stanton]

1. Great story?

2. Are you an engineer?

3. What does your summer work out regimen look like?

Thanks

 

[MT.PERCHMAN]

Great Buck Congrads !
Now this information is Priceless and thanks for sharing it . I have a Special Deer tag here in Montana and I can see already I'm in trouble . I should be around 5,000 to 7,500 ft. My work out this summer should have been tougher .
I will just take my time, that Open Heart Surgery set me back a bit .

Thanks again for taking the time to put this altogether for us to read !!

MT.PERCHMAN

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

1. Great story?

2. Are you an engineer?

3. What does your summer work out regimen look like?

Thanks

1... Story, more just some info for anyone who is playing their own trip.
2. Nope.
3. Apparently not a good enough one lol, honestly nothing special gym couple times a week, runs with the dog a couple times a week. Honestly, hunting is something that I like to do, but I don't train all year for 2 or 3 weeks of hunting, I try to play in the mountains all year round. I mt bike, hike, waterski, resort and backcountry ski... etc. I'm not sure I could maintain motivation to go to the gym week after week for years if my only goal was to go chase elk.

 

[Turtle30]

Awesome post.

54.6lbs of meat - Does that include the head/rack/cape?

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Awesome post.

54.6lbs of meat - Does that include the head/rack/cape?

It does not, also I didn’t pack out the cape and totally skinned out the head.

 

[PeteTheBeat]

Unbelievable write up/ bag dump. It gives a ton of insights in to what to expect and where you will have to have weight versus where you might be able to shed some.

 

[nrpate05]

Good read indeed, do you know how much packaged meat you ended up with?

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Good read indeed, do you know how much packaged meat you ended up with?

I do not, I added 10% fat to the burger, so I would imagine that offset trim that went in the trash.

 

[Irrelevant]

Dude, no idea how I missed this but great post and followups. Love the effort

I did 100+ twice this year and realized it's just not for me. 80 yes.... 90 maybe... 100 no thanks. I just don't have the strength no matter how much I train.

 

[geetar]

Congrats! Do I spy a drop tine?

 

[klwinter921]

Actually dual kickers

I got busy, rushed and basically did a terrible job on the euro... but whatever
View attachment 118181

This was a great write-up. I made the mistake of deciding to leave the bone in on all 4 qtrs to save time last Saturday....its only 3 miles, I said...I train for this, I said. 120lbs the scale said.....you should've boned it my 53 year old body said.... Nice work! you did it the smart way. when I look at that rack my first thought is a mature aged deer with the blading....shows how much I don't know. Great buck. Great hunt!

 

[ImBillT]

A 2 year old buck

Mule Deer - One Trip Pack Out - By the Numbers

Managed to find a little buck to take home with me after a week hunting the high country. I didn't manage to find a monster, as I was hoping, but I did take the time to note some specifics about weights and times and hopefully this info will be helpful to others hoping to find big hank. At no...

www.hunttalk.com

Quite similar to the whitetail trip I just made except that other than a few 200’ canyon rims, mine was completely flat. I hunted 4.1miles in. I took two days of food, no stove, and my pack and gun came out to 63.9lbs. That includes 3L of water. I was planning three to four days, but was only able to do two, and the second one was one where I really needed to be home. I saw three does that evening, but no bucks, and very little fresh sign. I opted to call it a good day outdoors and head home that night. Due to flat land and only 65lbs on my back, the 4.1mile track back to the truck took roughly 1:20minutes.

Had I had a shot on the does, I’d have killed one, quartered it, hung it, taken camp halfway back to the truck and spent the night. In the morning I’d have hunted the same area I did the day before, and either shot a buck, and packed both back to the truck and returned for camp only 2miles from the truck, or, not seeing a buck, I’d have simply taken the doe plus camp to the truck. On our whitetails, you’re looking at 35-70lbs of meat depending on sex and age, so with a 64lb pack, I could take a young doe and everything else in one trip. With a somewhat mature buck, I would be making two trips. With a young doe and a decent buck, I could make a meat trip and a camp/head/cape trip.

 

[Muley_Stalker]

Actually dual kickers

I got busy, rushed and basically did a terrible job on the euro... but whatever
View attachment 118181

Nice thread. You have me curious. How old are you?

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Nice thread. You have me curious. How old are you?

Circling in on 32... got into hunting a bit late in the game in 2012 when I was 24.

Generally speaking my posts tend to be geared towards the first timers/ people just getting into western hunting... I'm aware they often come across as pedantic or self-evident to our more experienced members, if so that particular post wasn't directed to someone with your level of experience. I'm just sharing things I have learned that I wished I had known sooner or sharing in an attempt to help people avoid mistakes I made.

 

[Muley_Stalker]

I didn't take anything that way. You're doing a good job. I was just curious about your age. I figured you were young by the pack out weight. A hell of a load.

 

[OverlordBear]

Below average hunter, above average camper.

That could be your post signature !!! Great write ups as always.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

That could be your post signature !!! Great write ups as always.

Pretty accurate

 

[ImBillT]

Dude, no idea how I missed this but great post and followups. Love the effort

I did 100+ twice this year and realized it's just not for me. 80 yes.... 90 maybe... 100 no thanks. I just don't have the strength no matter how much I train.

It’s kinda surprising how 100lbs seems to be an almost universal limit. 45lbs, I don’t even know is there. 65lbs feels heavy, but doesn’t slow me down. 85lbs is a beat down. I did 13.6miles with 85lbs on my first day this year. It took me almost 12hrs, and wrecked me for the rest of the week. I did 100lbs for 4.3 miles a few years ago. It took me 5.5hrs and I felt like it destroyed me. I made the exact same trip a few weeks ago with 65lbs and it took me 1hr 20minutes and I felt just fine.

 

[ImBillT]

A mature mule deer can yield around 80 pounds of boneless. Most are in the 55-70 lb range.

Of the four mule deer whose meat I’ve weighed, all of which were aged by a biologist using tooth wear on the lower jaw my weights were as follows.

3.5yr-103lbs
3.5yr- 106lbs
5.5yr-101lbs
8.5yr-98lbs.

The decimals are missing because I don’t remember them and am not at home to look for my notes. I lost a few pounds of meat on the 8.5yr old because of him quartering away hard, but it really wasn’t much, he might have been in the 101lb-103lb range had all the meat come home. The 8.5yr old also had bones weighing over 1lb/quarter more than than the 3.5yr olds, and the 5.5yr old was in the middle. Exact numbers on that would also require my notes.

I would assume that 80lb yields on mature animals vs the 100lbs I’m getting is probably related to habitat/climate/food availability. I would also assume, from my very limited pool of animals, that differences in yield due to age are probably largest in the .5, 1.5, 2.5 age range, and that from 3.5 onward the difference is fairly small.

Before weighing meat, I thought that all of those deer had very different sized bodies. I thought the 8.5yr old had the largest body by a wide margin. Although the totals were all fairly similar, individual quarter weights did vary quite a bit. The deer with lighter hind quarters would end up having heavy front quarters. Go figure.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Of the four mule deer whose meat I’ve weighed, all of which were aged by a biologist using tooth wear on the lower jaw my weights were as follows.

3.5yr-103lbs
3.5yr- 106lbs
5.5yr-101lbs
8.5yr-98lbs.

The decimals are missing because I don’t remember them and am not at home to look for my notes. I lost a few pounds of meat on the 8.5yr old because of him quartering away hard, but it really wasn’t much, he might have been in the 101lb-103lb range had all the meat come home. The 8.5yr old also had bones weighing over 1lb/quarter more than than the 3.5yr olds, and the 5.5yr old was in the middle. Exact numbers on that would also require my notes.

I would assume that 80lb yields on mature animals vs the 100lbs I’m getting is probably related to habitat/climate/food availability. I would also assume, from my very limited pool of animals, that differences in yield due to age are probably largest in the .5, 1.5, 2.5 age range, and that from 3.5 onward the difference is fairly small.

Before weighing meat, I thought that all of those deer had very different sized bodies. I thought the 8.5yr old had the largest body by a wide margin. Although the totals were all fairly similar, individual quarter weights did vary quite a bit. The deer with lighter hind quarters would end up having heavy front quarters. Go figure.

Awesome post Bill! I'm assuming you kept every scrap?

It’s kinda surprising how 100lbs seems to be an almost universal limit. 45lbs, I don’t even know is there. 65lbs feels heavy, but doesn’t slow me down. 85lbs is a beat down. I did 13.6miles with 85lbs on my first day this year. It took me almost 12hrs, and wrecked me for the rest of the week. I did 100lbs for 4.3 miles a few years ago. It took me 5.5hrs and I felt like it destroyed me. I made the exact same trip a few weeks ago with 65lbs and it took me 1hr 20minutes and I felt just fine.

I was thinking about this the other day if you think about it kinda makes sense. Say you are doing squats in the gym with just your body weight you can go kinda forever, at 50lbs maybe 100 reps, at 135lbs maybe 20 reps but by the time you get towards your max you are down to just a single rep... but suddenly if you back off just 10lbs you can do 4-5 reps.

I think pack out is similar.