Pack Out Weight with Animal?

[rcar]

In my quest to nail down my solo 7-10 day goat hunt MU (yes BB my "exhaustive" search continues:mrgreen:), hiking in and out distance is a concern. I'll be surprised if my pack ends up much less than 65lbs and I am trying to determine if I am going to have to plan on a double back hike to pack all of my animal out.

How much total weight should I expect a decent billie to weigh, boned out, including cape?

[Amphibious]

I smashed the shoulders on my last 2 billies, and didn't take a cape, just the head for a euro. I took about 55lbs of deboned, and drained (leave it out over night to bleed out) meat and head. makes for a very heavy pack on the way out. take your time. one slip and you're hooped.

get your pack heading in down below 55lbs, with rifle if you can. Mine is 50lb with rifle for 5days, solo.

[bosca]

Hey rcar...I'm definitely no expert on the pack hunting as I have only gone on two (unsuccessful) pack hunts. However, I have learned a lot from a combination of input from the guys on this sight and my limited experience in the field. I can tell you that if your 65Ib weight is with your gun in and only the day's water than that is about what I managed to get it down to. If you have the cash there is always ways to bring that weight down....Ie., ultra light stoves, tent, sleeping pads can save you a few pounds.
If this is your first pack hunt I would definitely recommend you get up in to your hunting spot a couple times to get a realistic idea of the terrain and distance.
Assuming that you will be in steep and dangerous terrain (mine was a mule deer hunt not goat) I would definitely plan on a 'double back' scenario as 115 lbs moving down hill steep rugged terrain on tired legs could be hellacious... Might mean adding a day to your hunt...My initial plan included having the gear for single night over at the trail head so if necessary you could clean things up secure in coolers...rest up the night, hand head back up for the rest of your gear.
Have fun with the planning and good luck with the hunt.

[kennyj]

I make an extra trip ( meat run ). Less likely to hurt yourself. Hiking back in without any weight to retrieve camp and horns is quite enjoyable compared to the heavy loads. One wrong move with monster pack and you're done. Maybe forever.
kenny

[sherpa-Al]

I try to limit my weight out to 100-120lbs with a full hide, most goat hunts are in difficult terrain so you want to be able to move slowly and keep your footing, so keeping your weight down is a good idea. This can be done with a good sized billy, the big old guys are really heavy boned, less muscle mass, so you just have to spend more time preparing him for the pack down. Remove the horns from the skull plate and spend 1/2 hour on your cape removing as much meat as possible. Debone all of your meat and slice it into strips to air dry. This accomplishes two things, lets you cut out any sinew and fat that is not wanted and it lets the moisture in the meat evaporate a bit, doing this will cut down on your pack out weight. I tie the cape outside of my pack and put the meat in the bottom to lower my center of gravity coming down, it's usually more stable this way.

Al.

[ryanb]

You can always leap frog too. Pack up camp, hike 4-5 hours till you find a good spot to camp. Head back and grab the rest of your animal and hike back to your new camp. Repeat as required.

I like to carry it all...and end up doing damage that takes weeks to recover from every time.

[swampthing]

It sounds like a lot but it is doable. A boned out goat isnt as big as you would think. If you are lucky it will be mostly downhill.

[rcar]

Thanks for everyones input. I'll probably end up playing it on the safe side as I'll be alone. The extra hike back in is probably the smartest decision anyway....can't believe I'm saying that. 15 years ago my brain would have been doing it's best to convince me I was indestructible and could easily do it in 1 trip!

[Deeboe]

Hi Ray,

I shot a decent billie 2 years ago, buggered the shoulders with the shot so i packed the head, front half cape, and the hind quarters and back (one piece for the hind and back) and it was a grunt coming down the mountain. I did it solo but i would be surprised of my total weight exceeded 60 lbs... He was a good sized billie--1/8"shy of 10 inches and healthy to boot. Good luck on ur hunt!!

[rocksteady]

The meat is a fairly static weight, from my experience, as others have said maybe 50 lbs....

The big variable I have found is the weight of the hide... A decent goat on a dry (early season hunt) is not gonna weigh nearly as much as a late season (rain and snow) where the hide is gonna soak up water like a sponge... I got a goat a few years ago on a snowy/rainy/slushy day and by the time I had it all skinned, the hide had to weigh close to 40 pounds with all the H2O it had soaked up...