On the Hunt - Packing Out

 

When I first started hunting elk, I never really had much confidence that I would actually shoot one so I was never prepared for it when it happened. I remember standing over the first elk and being so excited that I got him and then looking at how big it was. The feeling of excitement turned quickly to an overwhelming thought of, "now what?" Lately, I've been bringing my pack with knives and bags and everything I would need to start packing if I shot one. Having packed enough of these animals out now, the excitement of the hunt never really last very long once you know you've made a good shot. Your brain almost immediately goes to the anticipation of how much the pack-out is going to suck.

 

When I let the arrow go on my cow, it felt good. I saw the arrow pass through and heard it hit but there's always a little uncertainty. "Did I make a good shot?" "How far will it go?" "Should I give it more time or should I start tracking now so I can start packing?" These are all questions that run through your mind and it's crucial to answer correctly. If you didn't make a good shot and you start tracking too soon, you'll push the animal until it stops bleeding and you might not ever find it. If you wait, you're burning daylight and as it get's warmer, the meat could go bad.

 

A few years ago, I shot a big six. I knew I didn't make a great shot so instead of pushing him, I backed out and left him overnight. The next morning, we found him dead about 100 yards from where I shot him. Had I pushed him however, I probably never would have recovered him.

 

The cow I shot this year wasn't an issue. I looked at where she was standing when I shot and found blood immediately. I followed her trail into the woods and didn't really even have to look to find more blood. It was obvious she was bleeding out fast and as I looked where she was heading, I could see her piled up just a few yards down the draw. My brain went to packing mode before I took another step.

 

As I made my way down to the elk, I was already contemplating a plan. I thought about gutting it and heading back to town to get help but then started calculating the time. It would for sure be noon before I could get back to the elk. With the temps getting into the 70's, I wanted to get out sooner than that. I stood over the elk contemplating--procrastinating.

 

I dropped my pack and began sorting out the tools and getting everything it the right position. I carry cordage, three knives, a knife sharpener, cheese cloth bags, plastic bags, water and wet wipes in my pack. I also figure that if I do shoot an elk, even a large bull, I can at least make one trip back to the truck with meat before getting help. With a cow, I can pretty much do it myself.

 

Elk almost always go down on a side-hill. That can be a bitch but you can also use gravity to your advantage. I rotated the elk with the head facing up-hill and tied off one of the hind legs to a tree to spread it out and went to work. If you do it right, and I'm not going to get too graphic here, the internals will fall out with the gravity pull and roll away from your working area with a little kick. 

 

I gutted it and took out the tenderloins and then started skinning the side facing up. I cut the one back strap out that was showing and then went to work on boning out the front shoulder. I had made my decision. The plan was to bone it and pack it. I went to work on the hind quarter.

 

I'm very careful when boning out an elk to not let any meat lay on the ground. As pieces come off, I'm placing them in the cheese cloth bags before setting them down. I keep one bag for the loins, back straps and heart, one for both the front shoulders and neck and two bags for each of the hind quarters - four bags in all.

 

I brought two of the bags up the draw and into the park where I was when I shot. I went back and loaded my pack up with the other two bags and collected all my stuff. I put the pack on my back and worked my way up the draw and into the park. "This won't be fun..."

 

Each bag was about 30 to 40 pounds. Walking up the steep draw was pretty tough but it was only a hundred yards or so. When I got to the other bags, I dropped the pack and loaded them into it as well. I put my bow in a spot sitting up so I could easily pick it up by the string once I had the pack on my back so I didn't have to bend down. The full pack was going to be between 120 and 150 pounds and about 3/4 of a mile to get out. Did I say this wasn't going to be fun?

 

It was a struggle to even get the pack sitting upright in order to get the straps around my shoulders. I had to sit down in front and downhill from the pack to put the straps on and then lean forward onto my hands and knees. I then rotated around so that I was looking uphill and pressed myself up.

 

"Holy shit." I thought.

 

I cinched the belt and chest strap, reached down to grab my bow and stood up. The pack was so heavy, the straps actually started slipping through the clips. I took a few steps and then had to lean forward to take the weight off my shoulders and rest. I had a few beers the night before and was still feeling a little rough. Trying to get the pack up actually brought a little bit of last night back up and I had to fight to keep it down. I took a few more steps...

 

I didn't want to walk all the way back to the park twice. I figured if I took it slow I would be out to the truck before I knew it and back at the Grub Stake eating breakfast. I stopped and bent over to rest again.

 

The pain was excruciating and it was slow going. I started calculating the weight. Could it really only be 150 pounds? And at the rate I was going, would it be quicker to take two trips? I started talking myself into dropping the pack and splitting it up. I bent over and took another break.

 

I did this for about a quarter of a mile before it was just too much. I had to drop the pack and when I finally decided to, it was like my body was screaming at me and I couldn't get it off my shoulders fast enough. The blood rushed back into my arms and shoulders and what normally felt light needles as a limb comes back alive after falling asleep felt like knives. There was no way I was going to do this in one trip.

 

I did split up the bags into two loads and headed out. It really wasn't that far from where I dropped the pack so it went pretty quick. I was out to the truck - all loaded up by 11:30 am. That was from shot to recovery to boning out and packing in about four hours and the Grub was still going to be serving breakfast.

 

As much as the pack out sucked, it felt good to get it out and at the butcher shop. It's too warm right now to do it myself so I let that up to the folks at Tizer Meats who have the space and coolers to do it right. It costs a couple hundred bucks but at least I know it's getting taken care of.

 

The next morning I could barely move but I took a few days off to hunt this year so I had time to recover. I probably sound like a pansy but when you think about the process of bending over and quartering up an elk; muscling it around and then caring that much weight on your back on side-hills and down-hill and over logs, it puts quite a bit of stress on a person's body. I was only out of commission for a day or two and then back to work. Like I said, it is a chore and in the moment, the packing out of an elk can really suck but in the end, it's cool to look back and feel a sense of accomplishment. It's not just the killing of an animal but the journey from start to finish.

 

Tizer has my elk finished so I'm picking it up this morning before fishing again. I might have to celebrate with a little piece of back strap tonight.

 

Keep 'em where they live...