Your Most Memorable Packout!

[ElkNut1]

I was thinking back today about some of the critters we've packed out over the years & realized what a "memory builder" some of them are! (grin) Mostly just thinking of Elk since they seem to expire in some of the darndest places & they're big critters! As I was reminiscing to myself over many different ones & shaking my head over a few of the distances & terrains to over come, a couple really stood out & one in particular for sure!

It was many moons ago when my 32 year old son was 16, it was us two & two friends that we were calling for. We had split up aprox 5 miles back in, my son took the one guy & I took the other. After a couple hours of hunting I got a call on the radio (motorolas) that the guy had just shot a nice 6X7 bull with his bow. They were sitting it out for 45min or so, in the meantime Donny & I headed their direction, when we arrived they were standing over the bull. Big bodied brute for sure & now we were aprox 7 miles back.

We scratched our head about going back for pack frames since that is what we usually did, it was now 11 am. it was getting hot to boot! Those days we never owned anything other than daypack/fannypack style packs, certainly not meat haulers! No water bladders or anything of the sort either, just a couple water bottles. My Son & I always carried 4 bags apiece with us so that was not a problem to get the meat into game bags! We decided we did not want to come back for a 2nd trip. We quartered up the bull & left all quarters on the bone for structure, backstraps & loins were put in the front shoulder bags & no burger of sorts was coming out.

That was thee most grueling & miserable elk pack out I'd ever experienced by a mile! (grin) I carried a hindquarter over my right shoulder then my left & back to the right one then back again then across back of neck then in both front arms like a forklift & back over the shoulder there was no good way after miles of it, etc. We ran out of water of all sorts well short of getting out & it was getting very hot & everything about all of us ached to no end & there was no comfortable position to carry those awkward quarters over the rough terrain.
It was by far the most memorable packout I'd ever done & one I never wish to repeat!! I think that one left a mark!!!! (grin) I will say it still sits right at the top of my memory banks!!! Maybe just maybe this is why I think all packs with meat carrying capabilities are a god-send! (grin)

How about you hunters, is their a special Packout that stands out with you that was shared by friends or family, it need not be brutal, just a memory builder? Thanks!

ElkNut1

 

[Lawnboy]

Mine would have to be my first Dall sheep hunt with my brother. We were trying an area that he had never hunted but one that was recommended. We are in a walk in area only as there are no airstrips around to drop you off on. There are 2 outfitters with horses that pass by this area on there way to camps but for everyone else it is hoofing it on foot.

This was my first Alaska experience and a real eye opener. The weather was great except for the fact it was near record temps for that country 80+ degrees each day. We spent the first day just trying to hike up this drainage on the outfitters trail and then we were going to veer off and head up another drainage. Once we left the trail it turned nasty. The drainage was chocked full of willows and broken terrain from some sort of earth quake in the past. You literally were stepping across broken cracks in the earth that was covered in that spongy crap that Alaska has. At one point my GPS recorded that we covered a 1/2 mile in an Hour. It was kicking our butts. We hunted for 3 days and finally scored on a ram in the head of the drainage. I then realized that it was going to be brutal for a packout. Basically one guy has to carry the whole camp that 2 of you brought in while the other guy hauls out the all the sheep meat and cape and horns. We estimated my brothers meat pack around 80 pounds and my camp gear pack at 65.

The problem is with that weight on that spongy junk and willows just saps it out of your legs. I remember tripping in the willows and thinking I was going to fall only to be held up by all the brush around me. It sucked and it was thick. Once we made it too the outfitter trail we thought oh we are getting close. We walked for an hour on the way out and ran into some guys coming in. They asked if we were going to camp near by and head out in the morning. We'd been walking 10 hours at that point and it was 10pm. We said no cause we were so close. They then informed us that they had been walking 2 hours from the trailhead. It crushed us and for the first time my mind was getting delusional. I thought no way can I walk 2 more hours. We both fought through the remaining hours and arrived at the car at midnight. I grew up wrestling in high school and have been through some brutal practices but nothing has compared since to that packout. It killed me mentally and physically. We still talk of it. We have since figured out the area better and now avoid that bottom drainage. We can now do that hike in 6-8 hours instead of 12 just by taking a different route.
You Alaska boys can relate to that terrain. There's nothing like it in the lower 48.

 

[idnative1948]

Mine would be two diffferent heavy bodied bucks that I helped pack out in my younger years. Number one there were four of us so we halved it plus the head/rack. One guy packing rifles, one with hind quarters, one front, one head/rack. All down hill so you would go until your knees gave out, dump your load on top of a sagebrush then switch off. Second one, nephew shot a big bodied two point so we figured we would do it like the indians did it in the old west and carry it out on a pole. Works great if you are
6'5" tall. We basically ATE IT the whole way down. The things you learn...

 

[mdunc8]

I don't have too many great stories since most of my hunting career was back in Virginia where you couldn't quarter an animal in the woods until a year or two ago. However, when my now wife moved to town, I wanted to take her up to my buddy's granddad's cabin where we used to hang out on the weekends. He only had eight acres, but it was hunting season, so I threw a couple rifles in the car. My buddy had never hunted in his life, but we had hunter's ed in school (twice), so he was able to pick up a license on the way up the mountain. At the time it only cost us $12.50 for four or five deer tags, three turkey tags, and a bear tag. Now they're getting ready to bump it up to $21 (I think) and I'm sure people are gonna throw a fit.

Anyhow, I sent my buddy over by the creek, while my wife and I headed around the corner down below the cabin. Just to provide a mental picture of this property, it's on the side of a mountain, the middle of some thick timber, and there's not a field within 10 miles. I'd never seen a deer anywhere near the cabin.

We hadn't been sitting for more than five minutes before I hear a shot and my buddy screaming. We went tearing up the mountain thinking he shot himself. We drop over to the creek and see him holding the gun over his head and yelling "Score one for the home team!" I look behind him and there's a big ole eight pointer (4x4 for you westerners) face down in the creek. I couldn't believe it.

My wife's not a big fan of seeing dead animals until they hit her plate or the wall, so she headed back up to the cabin. After we got it gutted out, we realized we brought my buddy's little jeep. There wasn't a chance in hell we were going to shoot anything, so we hadn't actually planned on bringing a deer home. My buddy ran into the cabin and came back out with his grandma's tablecloth. We wrapped the deer up, jammed it in the back of the jeep, and slammed the door before it had a chance to fall out. It was quite an enjoyable ride back down the mountain with that thing in the back.

That's the last time my wife went "hunting".

 

[Horn Seeker]

My most "memorable" packout was my bull this year... there is something about hiking out of a basin in kneeish deep snow with a 380+ bull....all by yourself... after 11 hours of work. Some on here have worked much harder and taken even bigger bulls, but this one and the pack out will dominate my memory for quite some time i'm sure.

Some of the most grueling, hideous "pack outs" I've been on were bears. When I was young, when we killed a bear we'd usually gut him, then tie a couple dog leashes, one to each rear paw, then just drag the bear out. Sometimes in August, from the bottom of a nasty, brushy canyon...maybe a 200# bear with 2-3 guys dragging off and on... miserable... couple in particular ring bells... and if you drag them over a yellowjacket nest it even gets more memorable!!

 

[ElkNut1]

Good stuff guys!!! I really enjoyed the read there, hopefully a few more will chime in!

I've not hunted Alaska so only could imagine what it would be like to negotiate the tundra! It doesn't sound good! (grin)

ElkNut1

 

[The Hedgehog]

Can't remember all the backpacking but definitely remember all the elk I've slid whole into the truck. Those are the best.

 

[onpoint]

opinions are more fun than stories, but.....
A few years back I set up a solo wall tent camp during a raging blizzard in the Crazies. Spent that night by the woodstove trying to dry out and warm up. Next morning, snuck out O-dark-thirty, hiked into a drainage, and herd elk talking. Found em and shot a cow. Got her broke down and went to hang quarters in the trees. The preceding three summers were so dry that none of the pine branches I use support the weight without snapping, so I propped the bagged quarters up against a cliff wall, left my shirt on the meat, pissed around the place, and packed the first hind, loins and backstraps to camp. Next morning headed out to get the rest and mountain lion tracks intersected mine just out of camp and followed my trail right to the kill site. This kitty went right to my quarters, ignored my scent and ate a hole - through the game bag - about the size of my fist in a hind quarter. I obviously spooked it off the site as everything was very fresh. I called it a few choice names and packed another quarter down the draw to my sled, and headed back up, .41 happily at my side, to get the rest. It was a subadult, which spooks ya a bit more than an experienced cat as you never know how smart he/she is. Heavy deadfall around the kill site kept me pretty vigilant as I'm pretty sure it was close by. I got the rest out without incident. This was actually more cool than spooky, as I never thought a lion would do this, but subadults are less cautious than more experienced kitties. Solo elk hunting is the only way to go, you never know what's gonna go on when you head out.
And as greenhorn said, this year, 225 yards from the truck, and the landowner carried the quarters to the tailgate on his 4wheeler. Like getting groceries, but oh so easy.

 

[ElkNut1]

Did your quarter look like this? (grin) This was from this years bull, apparently a critter needed it worse than I. We had to leave them overnight as well, this has happened a few times now!

Never got a elk whole to a truck yet, it must be nice!

ElkNut1

 

[The Hedgehog]

Never got a elk whole to a truck yet, it must be nice!

I've backpacked a few animals out. But still, sliding a whole elk into a truck is a pretty vivid memory. It's something you won't forget - like loosing your virginity. I highly suggest it.

 

[mdunc8]

I've backpacked a few animals out. But still, sliding a whole elk into a truck is a pretty vivid memory. It's something you won't forget - like loosing your virginity. I highly suggest it.

You should try doing it with a bull moose.

 

[Drake4]

You should try doing it with a bull moose.

That's just silly talk.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Closest I came with moose was 250 yards, had to quarter it..

 

[thecrittergitter]

That is a sweet azz moose man...........Thats one thats worth packing a few miles too if you had to

 

[mdunc8]

Holy smokes. That is a nice moose. We may have been able to squeeze him into the bed of the truck but I doubt it.

 

[noharleyyet]

Sweet video Greenorn...40 HT'ers just rationalized an atv.

 

[putm2sleep]

I would have to say the most grueling pack out was a haul out. We woke up on day 2 of a muzzle loader hunt to buggling bulls, so we quick threw on our gear and were running, gunning, and calling with hopes of harvesting a nice bull off the '1st ridge'. (I wanted to try and slide one in the truck To no avail. We stayed on them though and I was successful. ***My 1st muzzle loader bull elk, and off the 3rd ridge. I was stoked. What was not awesome was that in the process of running and gunning, my buddy's back went out. Completely out, and almost had to haul him out. Anyway, I hauled a hind quarter and a front quarter back to camp, just as described above - over the shoulder, drop and switch...drop and switch....switch to balance the difference. There was nothing easy about it. He steadied the load from behind, as best he could holding the tag ends of the game bags. Must have looked like 2 monkeys screwing a football hiking through the woods like that. It was not a long haul, but it was the most miserable/memorable. >>>Now, it is nice making memories while a horse does the work hauling/packing. (Nice pics of the torn up game bags btw. A bear was into one of ours 2 years ago. We had 4 of 5 bags hanging, 2 looked like these, a 3rd was carried off 85 yds in the dark timber)

 

[putm2sleep]

Greenhorn is a frickin stud. Awesome moose man - how is it every animal you post is a trophy? (summer scouting as you state in the video is key, and having plenty of time is too, but every hunt on here, any species. It's crazy)

 

[Sixpointbull]

I called in a 6X7 for my brother a few years ago. We were about 3 miles from the truck. It was late in the afternoon so only got one load out. when we got back in there the next morning it was all gone, not a drop of anything left. A big sow grizzly and two yearling cubs had a really good meal. It had snowed over night so the tracks were like reading a book. We couldn't find the cape and antlers either. We decided to get out of there in case they were still around. We went back a couple days later to find the antlers, which we did, luckily. The most unsettling part was when hiking in to find the antlers, there was a big griz track in our tracks from a couple days before. He had followed us all the way out to the truck from the kill site. When we found the antlers, his tracks were all over the other griz tracks. I dont know how close he was but we didn't stick around to find out. we grabbed the antlers and left, glad to get out in one piece and with no major encounters with the griz. We have had other run-ins with griz, but never had one follow us like that (at least not to our knowledge).

 

[Bambistew]

Seems like most all my packs have been pretty memoriable as they involved killing something. But probalby the worst memory was from the first bear I shot. I think I was 16 at the time. I'd been out picking up antlers one weekend and ran into 4 diffrent bears, one in particular was a blond with black legs. I spoted her the day before and went back and shot her the next evening. The pack was about 4 miles or so on an old WWII vintage pack board. One of the shoulder straps ripped completly off the frame about a mile into the return and I packed the rest with a single strap.