Do you pack meat at night in grizz count
Elk
I started packing my first bull at 5:45pm and got back to the meat cache at about 10:300m that night. Got that second load out then took a six hour nap at the vehicle. Got back to to the meat cache at daylight the next morning.
I was definitely in grizz country. Question is was this a really dumb, dangerous move on my part. Or is it really no more dangerous than packing meat during daylight as far as grizz in counters go?
What do you experienced guys say?
Not wise. Is there a reason why you felt it necessary?
Didn't really give it a thought at the time. Just knew it was going to take me four or five trips to get it all so I just started walking until I was to pooped to continue.
The packing I don't think would bother me so much as returning to the carcass after dark. It sounds like you may have had the meat cached away from the carcass, if so that was a smart move and wouldn't be quite so treacherous when returning for the second load. Still think I would pass as long as spoilage wasn't likely.
Brotsky, Yes I moved the meat down the mountain about 250 yards to a fast running creek and built a bridge to place the meat on just above the water. As well as left a stinky shirt hanging from a limb above the meat.
We left a stinky tshirt overnight once, came back the next morning and the animal was not bothered but a bear had torn the tshirt to shreds. Go figure..
Jaquomo now that would be unnerving.
I have no problem packing elk at night, but would not return anywhere close to the kill site for another trip until daylight.
Since you are still with us, wasn't dumb. Certainly ballsy.
@ Scrappy
Would you do it again like that?
Cnelk as of right now I think I would. A grizz can get you just as easily during the day or night. I guess thats why I started this thread. Trying to get educated in advance. School of hard knocks could be deadly when the teacher is a bear.
I wouldn't chance it at night and certainly wouldn't return at night.Dealing with a grizz in daylight likely will give you options that you would not have at night.I have dealt with them at kill sites twice,shudder to think of the outcomes at night.
Dumb and dangerous only when things go bad until then your the KING of the mountain.
Shot a moose 5pm just north of Yellowstone last fall on a solo hunt . Broke it down took an near hour past sundown, didn’t move any of the meat from the rest of the carcass, it’s lot of work for a 65 year old . Longer I was there and darker it got the more nervous I became. I left all the articles of clothing, I didn’t need for the walk out, scattered over the cut up moose. None on the intact rib cage guts backbone heap. I was beat, didn’t pack any meat on the 3 mile hike out. wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, didn’t feel like being a walking bait pile.
Returned the next day with help, nothing not even jays or crows on the kill site, was suprised but relieved, after viewing from a distance before going in.
Removed all the meat during daylight without incidence. 8 days solo hiking and killing in grizz country was a stimulating new experience.
Well at least at night time you won't see him comming before he eats you. As far as returning to the kill in the dark? stupid is what stupid does.
No, I move as much of the meat away from the remans as I can in hopes that if a bear does claim it they go for the easy soft tissue pickings first. I think it’s also very important that you place your meat in a location if it’s possible that offers a good vantage from a distance. So when you come back in the morning you can look things over from afar. Furthermore make sure you can acess it and still give the carcass a wide berth. Take time before you leave to do a couple things. First look around and be aware of your surroundings , note what’s a good likely approach in the morning also note where is the closest heavy cover that a bear with a belly full might retreat to. Give both a good glassing if you can before coming in on it. It’s not always possible but if it is take advantage of it.
Live in Alaska done it multiple times on diy moose. No problems. Y'all are too paranoid lol.
Never hunted in Griz country,but I've often left bagged up meat hanging overnight. Always move it 100 yards or so from the carcass and leave a shirt or something hanging there. Have had bears on the carcass when I returned in the morning but never on the meat. Did have a lion apparently discover my meat one time but from the sign in the snow I must have come along at the right time and spooked him. Lost a little meat once. As I was hanging the bags in a tree a pine marten sat there watching with a smile on his face. I think he figured he had it made for the winter! When I got back in the morning there was a hole in one game bag and about a softball size hunk of meat gone. Good for him, the little bugger!
I try to move the meat as far away as possible as fast as I can. I use the 'leap frog' method if needed. Then like Trial suggested...place in a area you can glass or study from a distance before moving in.
You know what people would of said if you did have an encounter....
I've done so on Kodiak and the Haul Road a few times.
Sing, talk and make my presence known. Have gun in hand and avoid a light if at all possible. With a light you are blind except for that narrow beam.
I've hauled meat in WY and Kodiak in grizz country. You just have to be smart about it. Don't leave a bunch of meat in thick brush. Move the meat upwind of where upwind is gonna be when you come back. Move the meat onto a cliff or a ridge. Honestly, if you have it in you to do the hunt and break down the meat, you have it in you to move the meat a little bit away from the gutpile.
Another question...... is there a difference between dealings with AK grizz (that have been hunted and possibly run from man) and say WY grizz that are federal pets (with little fear and possibly even follow a man thinking to take some easy food)????
I harvested a 6 x 6 late afternoon in unit 71/ Wyoming.
I finished boning him off and into game bags and it was one of those pitch black nights that the stars out numbered the pine trees.
I took the backstraps and my hunting backpack-bow and myself off the mountain.
Every time I bumped an animal, bushwacking out, and it crashed and burned, I didn't know for the first few seconds if it was coming At Me or going Away from Me.
I hardly ever do that gig again!
Good luck, Robb
I think TD has a very good point! Just like California and no fear mountain lions. Id never give a cat here in Az a second thought, but in Cali specially in rural areas id be on my toes.
If a bear is hungry, and grizzlys usually are, it’s going to be attracted to a carcass and meat no matter where it lives.
I have - never heard of a bear pouncing on someone from behind. I also do not hang my toothpaste etc.
My brother and I came off a mountain in Alaska once with a fresh sheep in our packs. We hit the dry river bed right at dark about a mile from camp. We had talked to another hunter a few miles from camp a few days earlier, and all he had been seeing was griz. The moon cast those long shadows that sure looked ugly, so we stayed as far from the brush line as we could. I didn't wish my brother any ill will, but I hoped if griz attacked, it would head toward him because I had doubts as to how his New York mind would react. To top things off, we had a moose quartered up near camp. We never encountered griz, but I sweat bullets all the way back to camp, and yelled our heads off when we got close.
This isn't about elk packing, but I suspect the risk isn't very different whether packing elk, moose or filet mignon....
.
Last September I saw 4 grizzlies the first day of my moose hunt. Spotted another one later, for a total of 5 bears in my little valley. I pretty much decided a long time ago I'm not about to pack meat through big-time grizzly country in the night. Last year's trip reinforced that. Bears are braver at night for sure. The other thing is one's inability to see what's out there beyond the beam of a headlamp. Your vision is always your key to detecting bears and impending trouble. At night you surrender most of that, and then you simply trust good luck to keep you safe amongst bears. To me it's comparable to walking on ice at night. You'd better hope there isn't a thin area out there somewhere waiting for you.
It's one thing to get your butt kicked by a mama who wants to send a message. Something else entirely to run into a predatory bear while you smell like the stuff they eat every chance they get.
If I’m taking care of an animal and the sun happens to go down during the process then yes of course. That said, everywhere is grizz country up here.
I’m usually with a buddy however and talking on walk out. I’ve never put a ton of thought to it unless there was a known problem bear in the area already messing with camp and meat caches (aka Kodiak Fall 2018). I tried to be back to camp by sunset that trip but if it didn’t work out that way wouldn’t have sweated it to much.
This post needs a good laugh. Was hunting with friend near Red Lake on Kodiak. Pete had the rifle and I was using a recurve. After noon he killed the biggest bodied deer I ever saw there. Forkhorn and he went through a bunch of rounds getting done. We got the deer boned out and he was going to pack it to camp.
I took the rifle and the 2 remaining rounds and went hunting. About a mile from camp I used both rounds killing a 4x4 with brow tines. It was late and I quartered the deer, put everything except the head and cape in my pack and started for camp. Light was fading fast.
As I crested the last ridge I saw the head of a large bear about 40 yards ahead. You could see the fur blowing in the wind. I started talking, peeled my pack off and prepared to drop it as I backed up. At that time the bears head uncurled and a red fox stood and trotted off.
Needless to say I was very relieved as I dropped into the alders that were near the lake. They were quite thick and I was pushing through when I felt my pack lift off my back. I had a high metal loop on the top of the pack and an alder had gone in and as I stepped forward it raised the pack.
I was pretty much a wreck by the time I got to camp.
