Advice from Hunters

[theGinsue]

Unless you have an ATV or something like it, and you're in a place where you can legally take the ATV off trail, you have to haul tehhe elk out 1/4 at a time. This varies slightly if you do the gutless method and are just hauling out de-boned meat.

I carry both the gauze type and canvas type of game bags with me. Actually, I have them wrapped up in a pack strapped to my ATV. If I harvest an animal I'll field dress it and open the cavity up nice and wide to allow the carcass to cool, cut out the head & cape and haul those out. Once those are out and I'm back @ my ATV, I grab the pack and head back to start to the carcass. from there I'll quarter it up into game bags and start hauling 1/4 out at a time. I have hunting partners too and we keep in tough with each other via radio. They will each help me haul out the rest of the animal (For their effort it's a tradition in our camp to buy anyone who helps a steak dinner).

For the deer I harvested 2 years ago, I was actually able to just ride my ATV in to the animal, load it onto the back of my ATV, strap it on nice and tight and ride back to camp. Because it was so hot that season I immediately loaded the deer into my truck and took it to a processor in town so avoid any heat damage to the meat.

Don't let anyone kid you. Everything up to the harvest is easy compared to getting the game/meat back to camp.

[glocktoberfest]

Well, you don’t really drag it out of the woods.. Do a youtube search for field dressing elk, there are plenty of good videos that walk you through cleaning and quartering an elk as well as many other things. Start watching some of the thousands of videos on hunting in general by Steve Rinella, Remi Warren, Solo Hunter, Randy Newberg and a bunch of other guys on Youtube and you will start to figure it out.

i watched a video on quartering an elk. that's a lot of work! definitely going to start with a bunny or turkey as DFBrews suggested

[CS1983]

Make friends with folks who aren't lazy and you can always give em a call and say, "Elk down. Need help. Location XXXXXXXX" and they'll know they will get some meat out of it

Or go hunting with (non lazy) friends and they're already there.

Today we are hauling 20L of water a piece (2 of us) on our backs to cache in place so we have less to haul in when the season starts. Minimum pack weight will be 45 pounds today and we'll be maxing out around 10,800'. Gonna be a breather. I'm also going to experiment w/ strapping down two cases of water to the TW200 and see how it handles that since it will mimic carrying out an elk 1/4.

Too bad you're in the shadow of Denverstan, or I'd invite you to come along.

Have you had a chance to get to the mountains yet and really see what it's like hauling even a 20-30 pound pack at 9k'+, much less the weight of an elk quarter?

And just think, if you're 1/2 mile from your vehicle 1 quarter = 1 mile of total walking, then backstraps/tenderloins = 1 mile, and cape/rack (if you shoot a bull) = 1 mile. So if you're only 1/2 mile away from your vehicle you are walking 1+1+1+1+1+1 for a total of 6 miles, 3 of those total miles with perhaps up to 60-70 pounds on your back.

And that doesn't include the physical output for even getting the elk down, dressed, and hung up while you are making those trips back and forth: hope you're in shape!

As for where to start... hrm. I vote Archery mainly because as others have said, you get an entire month with OTC (or draw). A lot of hunting here is spot and stalk. Some "stand" hunting if you find a well used wallow and want to sit on it. Archery is also a year round sport and very fun. If you do that route, save yourself the trouble and start with a good bow. the difference in quality between a pawn shop rifle and a high end rifle ain't much of a difference for most hunting situations. But bows DO exhibit a drastic difference in quality, ability to be tuned well, and shootability when you compare some $400 package and a $700 bare bow. To go a good mid level, you're looking at somewhere around $800-900.

Do NOT buy a bow which is super heavy on the draw weight -- it will result in shoulder injury and bad form until you build up your muscles and form. This is usually determined by the limbs and a lot of the mid-high level bows have poundage increments for their limbs (50-60, 60-70, 70-80). Start lower. You can always order the next step in limbs once you have maxed out your limbs' ability. I don't care how strong you are, you do not use the same muscles as archery employs unless you are shooting a bow. My buddy is a top 10 Spartan Race for his age group, run up a mountain, works a manual labor job type of guy. Former Marine. He's a genetic marvel. He struggles to pull my bow @67# and only recently was able to graduate to 60#. Yet, I've seen women draw 70-80# bows no problem because their form is good and they shoot all the time. I can draw 67, but my form goes to crap on 70.

You can find your draw length by measuring from fingertip to fingertip w/ arms stretched out in a cruciform fashion, but relaxed: measurement/2.5 = DL. Have the archery shop measure this for you.

Here's a good package which will serve you well for years without having to buy new MSRP style prices. This package with all it has would probably be about 900-1200 new. I'd have to price it out: https://www.ar-15.co/threads/170007-...H-For-Sale-650

If you are higher or lower, check the draw length for that model and order new cams to assist (unless it's an adjustable mod). Have the bow shop set it to 40 pounds. Shoot that way for 2 weeks. Then have them go 50. 2 weeks. Consider stopping at 60# and shoot there for a while.

[Irving]

We've hauled two complete elk cows out of the woods on game carts now. There are usually enough of us that I think we really need to learn how to quarter an elk. I think that will take a lot less work. I took the easy way to learn to hunt by having a family member that's been doing it for years ask me if I'd like to start hunting with him. The locations, season, and even what to put in for has already been established long before I joined the party. This is the east way because you can just show up with your gun and gear and learn in the field. Even though I'm pretty comfortable with where we hunt, I'd still feel very intimidated to go and try and learn a new area by myself. Well, I did that with antelope, but that was really easy.

[glocktoberfest]

Have you had a chance to get to the mountains yet and really see what it's like hauling even a 20-30 pound pack at 9k'+, much less the weight of an elk quarter?

And just think, if you're 1/2 mile from your vehicle 1 quarter = 1 mile of total walking, then backstraps/tenderloins = 1 mile, and cape/rack (if you shoot a bull) = 1 mile. So if you're only 1/2 mile away from your vehicle you are walking 1+1+1+1+1+1 for a total of 6 miles, 3 of those total miles with perhaps up to 60-70 pounds on your back.

Here's a good package which will serve you well for years without having to buy new MSRP style prices. This package with all it has would probably be about 900-1200 new. I'd have to price it out: https://www.ar-15.co/threads/170007-...H-For-Sale-650

i haven't been hiking, camping, or doing anything requiring physical fitness other than packing boxes, moving them on/off of a truck, and unpacking them. i figure this is a long term endeavor since i have to walk before i can run. i don't think i'm going to go the archery route since i don't own a bow, but do own a couple of rifles. i do like the idea that it's a bit more natural and probably requires a lot more skill to hunt with a bow.

thanks again for all the advice. i'll keep you guys updated on my progress.

[CS1983]

Follow up on yesterday's post:

Hauling the bike out to the hunting area yesterday, I strapped 40 liters (2x Sam's club 40 1/2 liter cases) and hauled them up from 9800' to ~10800' to cache for hunting season. That's 90 lbs, roughly. I can now see why heftier fellows change the front tire for something else. Man alive that was squirrelly. Especially on washed out parts and parts which were sandy. Different story when it's just my 160lb self. Also, had to really dig into the throttle on the steeper grades and stay in 1st and 2nd. Stock jetting. Glad I have the aftermarket oil cooler. But I did it! However it clued me in that the TW will be insufficient/dangerous for hauling out elk quarters. Going up is easy enough, but going down is the scary part. So I will NOT be bringing the bike hunting this year.

Oddly, we were able to get my FWD, 4 cylinder, manual trans Ford Escape with basic tires up to the top of the trail after watching a guy in a 4WD vehicle decide he couldn't handle it and turn around. Hoping that ability holds true through the season.

So we now have a total of 80 liters of water hidden/cached without the huffing and puffing of hauling on our backs. We'll bring more next time.

[Irving]

Are you camping up there with no real way to restock your camel back?

[CS1983]

Yes. There are some cattle tanks (on the pockets of private land) and seasonal standing water. But I have no desire to unnecessarily test the 99.9% filtration claim. The effort expended in cached water was negligible compared to the moment of needing it and not having it.

[Irving]

That makes sense. I'm spoiled and hunt out of a cabin so I can just refill every night. How close is your camp to where you hunt?

[CS1983]

A few hundred yards to 1 mile.