Pack out now? Later?

[iccyman001]

Ok, I like to do the \"shoot or not\" threads, but I want to try something different.

You put a elk to bed early in the morning. You backed out for lunch, snuck back in, and you see him starting to wake up.
It\'s 45 minutes before sundown and he\'s finally moved towards you, 30 yards broadside.....TWACK.

You nailed him, double lung shot and you saw him go down 40 yards away from where you shot him.

Adrenaline is rushing, blood is pumping, oh... and the sun is setting...

It\'s 30 minutes until sunset now, you\'re 2 miles in the woods, it\'s 55 degrees out and the lows will only go down to 40-45.


So now my questions start.
Are you waiting longer before you go check on the elk to see if it\'s dead?
Are you packing this elk out tonight or letting it sit?

If you are letting it sit, what are you doing to it? Field dressing? Caping? Hanging? Letting it sit there?
If you are packing it out, what are you doing? Gutless method? just quartering? Are you taking your time to debone?



What do you do?

 

[cnelk]

I took this pic the next morning after I found my bull just before dark, did the gutless method, and hung the quarters in the tree. By myself.
See the T shirt?
That was one sweaty unit. I hung it there to keep any bears away.

I packed it out in 4 trips, by myself

Yes, it can be done

 

[Swede]

For sure the bull gets skinned and gutted that evening. I can chose to quarter or go gutless then. Where I hunt, it is generally very safe to leave the carcass in the woods, so I will pack just one load out that evening.

 

[Jaquomo]

At night I will gut, skin down the quarters and up the neck, get it up on logs so air can circulate underneath, and prop open the carcass. Maybe take out a front quarter depending on the circumstances. Pretty quick work with a sharp knife. Back to camp for a good meal and good night\'s rest for the job ahead. Then back at first light with a pack frame, blue tarp, game bags, plenty to eat and drink, butchering tools and pack frame, finish quartering and bagging, get it in all day shade, and start humping out.

Gutless in the am, always.

Rushing these jobs when it isn\'t necessary leads to dirt and needles on the meat, and sloppy meat care overall. It also leads to knife injuries in the dark woods somewhere when we\'re already tired and losing our edge anyway. I love eating it too much to mess it up.

 

[JohnFitzgerald]

ChuckarNUT and I packed his 2013 bull till 1:00 AM.

Probably should have just hung the quarters that night, Come back early morning at hunt the 3 remaining hot bulls. After 1 hour of hunting, start packing.

 

[cnelk]

I think adrenaline takes over and messes up your practical thought process during these times.
The elk is dead. Why take it out in the dark? Maybe risk injury.
All you\'re going to do is hang the meat up at camp, just like it is in the woods.

You\'re done.
Take your time.
Absorb the moment.

Plus, what are your going to do the next day? Sit at camp and look at meat hanging?

 

[Deertick]

You\'re done.
Take your time.
Absorb the moment.

Plus, what are your going to do the next day? Sit at camp and look at meat hanging?

Exactly ... I don\'t know why, but I do have a tendency to \"hurry up\" when taking an animal apart in the field. Which is dangerous.

As I\'ve aged, though, I\'ve learned to control this. It all starts with the \"after shot\" calming. I want to start the blood trail right away, but I tell myself that if it\'s dead now, it\'ll be dead in 30 minutes. Sit, wait, relax.

Then, at the carcass, I want to take time there, too. Take photos. Tell the story if anyone else is present. Heck, call home if there\'s reception.

Then, gutless quartering begins for just about all critters. Hang the quarters and other meat in the shade.

Then, the necrospy. I\'m a nut for sorting out just what structures were hit by the arrow or bullet, and the gutless method leaves a preserved thorax to examine. Did I hit exactly where I was wanting to? This part of the process is really fairly important to me, for some reason.

After that, it really depends on when I\'m expected home. If I have the whole next day to extract the meat, then I\'d rather use that time. Heavy work is best done in daylight.

When I was a teenager, I heard that \"Nothing good happens after midnight, so you need to be home then.\" The adaptation to this situation is that nothing good happens after dark, so you might as well head for camp.

I don\'t carry a pack sturdy enough to pack meat, anyway. I\'d have to go back to camp to get one.

 

[BTL]

I would use the gutless method and hang the meat for the night to cool down. Moving the quarters away from the carcass wont take too much effort and will give me a better peace of mind approaching the next morning. Maybe even take a piece of meat with me back to camp to cook over a fire and celebrate the harvest. Head back in early morning to cape everything out (if you are taking a bull home) and cut the legs at the joint to save on weight. I would keep the bone in with that short of a trip. One more note would be to slit some of the meat down to the bone to allow more heat to escape. Find a seam to cut so you aren\'t cutting through the nice ham.

 

[otcWill]

I\'d take out at least the first load after getting him quartered and hung. 40-45 is plenty cold enough to leave him though. If I\'d made a marginal shot I\'d back out without hesitation. He\'d be fine in the morning. I\'ve had this exact same scenario more than a few times and I\'ve always at least quartered and hung it. Depending on terrain, distance, trail or no trail I\'d decide whether to get him out that night. If I have someone with me its definitely coming out that night. There more elk to hunt tmro and we wouldn\'t want to waste the day of hunting If I\'m just doing gutless and hanging quarters I won\'t debone that night. If he\'s coming out, I\'m deboning him.

 

[bowhunter]

This happened to me last year. I arrowed my bull at about 5:10. I waited a little while then started tracking the tracks. I only saw about a dozen blood drops and it was raining lightly. I didn\'t want to lose the blood trail and knew the shot was good. I tracked about 40 yards when I saw him feet in the air 20 yards away. I found him at 5:30pm. I started to break him down the gutless method which was a struggle on a 30 deg slope against a down tree. I managed and had to finish in the dark. I carried the bags with the quarters in them down hill 100 yards and placed them on a blown down pine. I covered them with my sweaty tee shirt to keep away critters. I fell a few times doing so on the wet logs and rocks. One time I fell on a pine log and was poked in the side by a small stick. I still have the red spot where it was 5 months later. It broke skin but luckily didn\'t puncture a lung 1.5 miles from camp. I made it to camp at 10:15 with the head and went back the next day for the quarters with my partner. I will wait till daylight if the temps are ok unless I have a road or trail nearby the kill site. I won\'t bust brush in the dark unless it is necessary. The chances of getting hurt go way up in the dark.

 

[OldMan]

Elk hunting is all about self control. It starts with getting in shape, and ends with taking the shot. It\'s having a plan, and staying with it. Even when you don\'t feel like it.

With that said. I don\'t hunt later in the day to put myself in the position that this thread is talking about. I don\'t like to work in the dark. I feel there\'s no need to. The day time has all the light we need to get it all done. I also use the gutless method, and I don\'t always get all the meat out the same day of the kill. I\'ll always have it skinned and quartered though, and probably have 1-2 loads hauled out. The rest will be hung, and i\'ll come back in the morning for the rest.

That didn\'t answer the question, so if I was forced into the position of the question asked. I\'d do like Brad did. I\'d hate doing it in the dark, but it has to be done. If you don\'t do everything in your power to salvage all the meat. You\'re not a responsible hunter. You also wouldn\'t be a legal hunter.

 

[Wake26]

I shot my bull last year about 20 min before dark, I watched him fall at 20yrds. We quickly did the gutless method, quartered him out and hung the quarters in a tree. At that time it was nice to get back to camp and have a couple beers and relish the moment. Next morning we were back at the bull boning it out and getting it back to the truck. This is how we have done it on all the elk we have shot in the evenings.

 

[razorback]

I like the way Terry did it last year. I would probably just quarter him go back to camp and get some sleep, swap packs and hit it hard in the morning.

Terry I still have a scar on my forehead from my face plant! That 2nd day of season was tough but still one of the best times I\'ve had hunting.

 

[cohunter14]

I am similar to most in that I would do the gutless on the bull. To me, that is a lot easier that time of day and less risk of cutting yourself. I\'d hang the quarters and I would probably haul out the backstraps and tenderloins that night in my pack. Those are what I care the most about and want to take the most care of.

So, change the scenario up a bit...what if you took a marginal shot, or even what you thought was a good shot, and you don\'t see or hear the elk go down. Now what? I always find it\'s an interesting debate in leaving an elk overnight and the potential for meat spoilage.

 

[iccyman001]

Then, the necrospy. I\'m a nut for sorting out just what structures were hit by the arrow or bullet, and the gutless method leaves a preserved thorax to examine. Did I hit exactly where I was wanting to? This part of the process is really fairly important to me, for some reason.
.

I do this too John and I think its very important for people to do. I am hunt with a few guys that after they shoot a deer, that is it. They don\'t care if they hit hearts, lungs, arteries, etc. They just say \"it\'s dead, that\'s all I care about.\"


As a bow hunter, I think it\'s extremely important for me to check. Not only to see if I was hitting my target, but to also see how my equipment performed.


How much damage did it do? Did I break any bones? etc etc


Do other people do this also?

 

[cnelk]

I think its important to see what damage your broadhead/bullet did and how it performed.

Some question I I look to answer with each kill:
Did it hit a bone? Which Bone?
Did it deflect? How much?
Were the blades broken/bent? How Much
Find the bullet? Was it mushroomed? Did it retain most of the body?
How much hemorrhaging was there? Was it enough?
Did it get both Lungs?
Did it hit the heart?