npaden

I appreciated your post as well, but as someone who has never worked with horses and who has heard horror stories of horse wrecks where a friend of mine was nearly killed I would only use them as a last resort and then only if I hired someone to help with them instead of just dropping them off and picking them up.

As far as packing an elk out on foot, I think 8 miles one way would be quite a chore and without more than 1 hunter per elk it would be close to impossible if the temperatures were warm. 3 elk and 2 hunters 8 miles from the road would be quite an ordeal even if temperatures were cold. I think the foot method is something that is primarily used when the elk is down a mile or two from the road. Hiking 8 miles in and setting up a camp for a week is something that would be difficult to do on foot to begin with.

Talking with a friend who lives in Wyoming, an interesting twist is in Wyoming just outside the park where the bears are as interested in your elk as you are. The priority there becomes getting the animal quartered and getting the meat moved off the kill site asap before the bears get to it.

As far as the % of John Q. Public being in a situation where they are 8 miles from the nearest trail without a horse I would think the % would be pretty low. The bulk of them are never going to be more than a mile or two off the road I would guess so they would rarely be in that situation. Even at a mile or two some are not going to be capable of getting the job done.

The first elk Ihauled out, (my dad shot it and I was his pack horse)I was amazed at how big it was, and it was a cow. I had thought that myself (about 34 at the time), my dad (about 78 at the time) and my nephew (a very small 14 year old at the time) were going to just drag it back to the truck. We couldn't even budge it! Thankfully we were about 400 yards from the road and after some work the elk was in 5 pieces and we could haul it out to the truck. My dad was barely able to get up and down the steep hill by himself and my nephew wasn't much help either, so basically I hauled the elk to the truck by myself and even though it was only 400 yards it was work!

When doing the foot method I think deboning the meat is a definite help, but I think many newbies (including myself when Ihauled out my first elk) really don't know how to do that. I really think more people would debone in the field if they realized how easy it was, especially if you are going to butcher it yourself, gutting it is just a waste of time.

Oh well, I just thought I would add my thoughts on the subject. Coming more from a newbie perspective for sure. I shot a Mule Deer last week that was 3/4 mile from the road and it was a chore hauling it out on foot by myself (400' elevation change, uphill of course). It took about2 1/2hours to cut it up and haul it back to the truck on foot with 3 trips. I was taking it pretty easy, but it was still work.

When I try to put it in perspective for deer hunters who are going after thier first elk, A bull elk is the equivalent of about 4 or 5 200lb deer and a cow elk is the equivalent of about 3200lb or 4 150lbdeer.