How far was your elk? #2!
Contributors to this thread:Elk
From: Ucsdryder
13-Oct-19
The other thread got me thinking. For you successful hunters, how far was the pack out? Did you put it on your back? Did you have help? Did you have pack animals?
From: huntabsarokee
13-Oct-19
0.6 mile pack up hill with help and then 3.5 mile mt bike ride out with the pack on. We are wimps so it was taken out in 5 loads.
From: cnelk
13-Oct-19
1000’ downhill In 3/4mi to atv, then 2 miles to camp. Had help. Thankfully
From: elkmtngear
13-Oct-19
About 5 to 6 feet...he died on an old jeep trail.
I ripped my front skid plate, and lower bumper cover off getting my truck to him, but it was worth it, Lol !
From: bigeasygator
13-Oct-19
About 3.5 miles from the truck. He got a ride out.
From: wyobullshooter
13-Oct-19
Just under 3/4 mile, and went out on our backs. My pack animal was my son. ;-)
From: Bowboy
13-Oct-19
Mine was on my back. It was 1.75 miles to my elk from ATV straight up a nice horse trail. From ATV to truck 5 plus miles. Took three trips all boned out. This was in grizzly country solo.
From: Willieboat
13-Oct-19
Died in the middle of a closed road !!
From: Jaquomo
13-Oct-19
220 yards to a maintained county road. My little yoga instructor/pack goat helped.
Special thanks to the brave soldiers of the Sitka Army and the Kuiu Warriors for pushing the elk down to where this old relic can find one to kill. :-)
From: greg simon
13-Oct-19
Half a mile to an atv trail. There were three of us. My 14 year old son’s first time packing elk!
From: Walleyehunter02
14-Oct-19
600’ down hill 3/4 of a mile. 3 guys 1 trip to base camp.
From: gil_wy
14-Oct-19
8.5 miles... three guys with 80# plus. Roughly 9 hours with packs on...
From: midwest
14-Oct-19
.3 mile up hill, 20 min. atv ride. Easy peasy.
From: carcus
14-Oct-19
Half hour one way, whatever that equal in distance, mostly through dry swamp, lots of trees to climb over thanks to beavers
From: Geno
14-Oct-19
3/4 mile downhill to the trail (600 ft elevation drop), then 2.5 miles to the trailhead on bike. 4 guys, 1 trip, deboned meat. We brought 240 lbs of meat home from the butcher.
From: Paul@thefort
14-Oct-19
I only back packed the bagged meat 300 yards to this bridge over the creek for cool down
I only back packed the bagged meat 300 yards to this bridge over the creek for cool down
hired a packer for the 2 mile trip to the truck. Smart move
hired a packer for the 2 mile trip to the truck. Smart move
From: Dirty D
14-Oct-19
Similar to Paul. 1/2 mile pack to rendezvous with the mules. Then about 8-miles to the truck from there.
From: elkstabber
14-Oct-19
1.5 miles with 800-1000' elevation change (packing meat down). An old horse trail for 1/2 of it, otherwise just an average amount of deadfall. I carried the backstraps and trim (30-40 lbs) out after the kill on my fanny pack. Then went back the next day with a packframe to take out 3 loads. Shuttled all 3 of the loads 1/2 mile at a time so that half of my hiking was without weight. The shuttling also allows me to learn the best route through the deadfall for each load. Had help for one load in the last 1/2 mile.
From: Zim
14-Oct-19
Exactly 300 yards down a gravel road to road barricade. Had 3 tagholders from another forum having lunch 2 miles away drive over with a game cart to get half out. Balance was on my back. Turned age 60 during my hunt. Strained a back muscle bad just doing this. I'm afraid my backpacking days are over due to disc & nerve problems. Got crazy lucky on this hunt. Will have to plan very carefully down the road.
From: Jaquomo
14-Oct-19
Informal observation: the distance an elk is killed from a road/trail seems to be directly proportional to how far from a road/trail the hunter is hunting.
The five biggest bulls I saw all season were within 1/3 of a mile of county roads. But I rarely hunt more than a mile from a road so that could be why.. ;-)
From: cnelk
14-Oct-19
In the past 10 years [since the 'Go Deep' fad started] I switched up to not going over 1 mile from a vehicle.
If my count [memory] is correct, we've killed 18 elk since then.
Go Deep boys... Go Deep...
From: wyobullshooter
14-Oct-19
“Go Deep boys...Go Deep...”
Absolutely! Everyone knows, the higher and deeper, the better!
From: Jaquomo
14-Oct-19
There were 72 vehicles at one wilderness trailhead near where I hunted on opening weekend. They were lined up for 1/4 mile on the road because the parking lot was full. That didn't count the two groups of hunters a horse packer took in to drop camps a few days before. I dont know if any of that mob scored, but the bugling bull I hunted that weekend was bedding 1/4 mile from a main county road, just outside the wilderness boundary. I would've killed that bull if a couple of bad bugling douchebags hadn't followed the advice to "hunt hard, hunt all day, screw the wind, spook 'em and find some more" philosophy and blown him out of the country.
It isn't about how far you go in, its about hunting where the elk are.
From: LINK
14-Oct-19
Lou it must be nice to hunt those units without pressure. ;) I don’t think I saw a track less than two weeks old or a piece of scat that wasn’t petrified in the areas less than 1 mile from a road. Could be the unit I hunt but the only sign of life within a mile of a road was beef and hunters. I did find a pile of elk just a hair over a mile from the road but I do like Sitka. ;)
From: PoudreCanyon
14-Oct-19
Not my kill, but the one I helped pack out was 1/2 mile from the road, give or take. 4 of us got him out in one trip.
From: PoudreCanyon
14-Oct-19
From: BOHNTR
14-Oct-19
From: BOHNTR
14-Oct-19
From: BOHNTR
14-Oct-19
Got to love AZ elk....easiest 'pack-out' ever!
