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Thread: Solo Pack Outs for Large Games, Any Tips / Stories?

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    4,368

    Re: Solo Pack Outs for Large Games, Any Tips / Stories?

    I think the biggest factor is being honest with yourself and knowing your own limitations before you pull the trigger. Waiting to get a big animal down is not the time to learn this. If you found it a bag drive getting into the area to hunt, consider carefully the thought of doing that in and out 4 more times with 100+ pounds. Do you have that in you? And will the weather accommodate taking this much time. Terrain is also huge.

    My most brutal packout by myself was an elk that was only a km from the truck. Was a miserable slog down into a ravine to get into the area that the elk were using to get to water. For me , it was through peckerpole bush over/under deadfalls that nearly killed me getting that elk out. I can tell you I wasn't proud of myself or patting myself on the back when that chore was done.

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Squamish
    Posts
    6,082

    Re: Solo Pack Outs for Large Games, Any Tips / Stories?

    Hiking poles are the most important piece of kit for the mission you have described. They help prevent injury and will increase your endurance. You can use them as shooting sticks too.
    Is Justin Competent, or just incompetent?

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    kamloops
    Posts
    3,260

    Re: Solo Pack Outs for Large Games, Any Tips / Stories?

    Yes it can be done. When I was younger and stronger I located 2 large bull moose up above treeline about 5km from the trailhead. I wanted to shoot one but continued on looking for a smaller caribou or elk. That afternoon on my way back to the trail head I past these moose again. The gun went off! That massive droptine bull was a handful. This was the first day of a 7 day hunt. It took 5 full days [8hr round trip] to carry that bull off the mountain and I had help for 2 of those days. I got drunk every night, ate big meals and slept in each morning to lessen the pain.On the 6th day I shot a caribou 200 yards from my moose kill and carried it out in one trip. I was in VERY good shape in those days but my gear/pack system wasn't the best. Have good gear and above all a pack that carries weight well. I left a stinky shirt at my kill site and had de-boned all the meat and had it in game bags a little ways from the kill site. This was late august and it was cold enough each night that the meat was fine. Use quality game bags and have fun!

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    West Kootenay
    Posts
    51

    Re: Solo Pack Outs for Large Games, Any Tips / Stories?

    Did an elk solo once. Worst day of my hunting life. It’s was less than a km. But down in a shithole from hell. Lol.
    Problem is that when solo is you only have two hands. This one piled up in some blow down Took 1.5 hrs just too get the brush and logs cut just to get at it. Then gutting,quartering skinning bagging. Fn hands and back were sore and tired before I even started packing. 4 trips and 11 hours later had it up to the quad. Then 2 45 min trips down the mountain to the truck I was on my way home.

    Best tip I have is don’t go solo. Lol

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Sidney
    Posts
    1,647

    Re: Solo Pack Outs for Large Games, Any Tips / Stories?

    Remove all meat from moose/elk then ferry it all 3-400 yards from the kill (in the direction of the packout) before you start packing it out. The carcass is more likely to attract bears than the meat and this way you minimize the time you spend revisiting the attractant. Plus you are getting started on the packout.

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Copper Head Road
    Posts
    4,010

    Re: Solo Pack Outs for Large Games, Any Tips / Stories?

    To bad that dear Fisher-Dude isn't posting anymore sure he would have some great advise .
    IIRC one of his best tips were to always shoot moose in the rut, as in wheel ruts .
    "The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." Cicero - 55 BC
    ..... The NDP approach: if the facts don't fit your ideology, just pretend the facts don't exist.......

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    near the Skeena River
    Posts
    378

    Re: Solo Pack Outs for Large Games, Any Tips / Stories?

    I have heard it said many times that there are only 2 places to shoot a moose.
    1. in the neck
    and
    2. on the road
    I am lucky enough to be able to hunt within and hour or 2 drive from home if I draw an LEH for moose.
    Most often, I just hunt with a day pack and enough gear to get the animal gutted and quartered (if necessary)
    I have left numerous moose in the bush overnight. They have been gutted(minimum) or gutted/skinned/quartered and hung(maximum)
    Returning the next day with some helping hands to retrieve the animal.
    Alone is do-able but my experience and age tell me "Don't do it that way". One more word of advice- many hands make light work.
    I have many pieces of what my brother calls 'extraction gear'. A quad. A lewis Winch. A snowmobile skimmer(sled). Chain saw. Game cart.Skimmer (sled) and cable, blocks (pulleys). Depending on the circumstance and where the animal hits the ground, we are prepared to go get it and have options other than my packboard which is the very last resort.
    I did one moose with a packboard when I was in my late 20's. I would never do it again.
    Semper in excretum altum

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    The mighty peace
    Posts
    7,181

    Re: Solo Pack Outs for Large Games, Any Tips / Stories?

    Quote Originally Posted by swampthing View Post
    Yes it can be done. When I was younger and stronger I located 2 large bull moose up above treeline about 5km from the trailhead. I wanted to shoot one but continued on looking for a smaller caribou or elk. That afternoon on my way back to the trail head I past these moose again. The gun went off! That massive droptine bull was a handful. This was the first day of a 7 day hunt. It took 5 full days [8hr round trip] to carry that bull off the mountain and I had help for 2 of those days. I got drunk every night, ate big meals and slept in each morning to lessen the pain.On the 6th day I shot a caribou 200 yards from my moose kill and carried it out in one trip. I was in VERY good shape in those days but my gear/pack system wasn't the best. Have good gear and above all a pack that carries weight well. I left a stinky shirt at my kill site and had de-boned all the meat and had it in game bags a little ways from the kill site. This was late august and it was cold enough each night that the meat was fine. Use quality game bags and have fun!
    Bet now when you look back you remember it as one of the best hunts.
    Pretty cool place, moose, caribou and elk all in one place.

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    FSJ, B.C.
    Posts
    980

    Re: Solo Pack Outs for Large Games, Any Tips / Stories?

    I always do the gutless method, de-bone if needed and if I am by myself then I leap frog the game bags away from the gut pile at least 100 yards. After moving the game bags into an easy to view area then I start leap frogging farther distances. If I need to come back overnight then I leave a shirt as mentioned earlier and I continue the same way in the morning. I always have had my inreach and keep your gun handy. With that said so far I haven't had any animal problems.
    Barnes ttsx, the four pedals of death that lead to great a great BBQ.

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    71

    Re: Solo Pack Outs for Large Games, Any Tips / Stories?

    ..........
    Last edited by ForealBoreal; 01-02-2022 at 01:26 PM.

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