I can' t believe no one said a TV and remote. Good list bigbulls but how you gonna get all that stuff in the bush. Not to mention good protein food and to be in the best physical shape and acclimateing yourself to the higher elevations in which may take some getting use too. If you are fortunate enough to bag an elk now you have to field dress it, I like this rather than boneing because of less waste of meat. Slide the inerds on a plastic sheet and drag it a 100 or so yards off. This is when you need to be looking over your shoulder because its a known fact that the griz do come to these so called sound shots in which is like ringing a dinner bell for them. You will need 6 game bags and now must contend with getting the meat out of the bush. Can' t get all the meat out so you got to leave some? [] This is why its good to have a pulley and rope to pull it up in to a tree.[8D] If you can' t get in up high then leave as much of your personal clothing on the elk as possible and even urinate around it. ( The key word here is " Around" , not ON.) Leave it where you can see the carcass for a ways off in case a bear or cat is on it when you come back, and don' t be surprised if it is dragged off somewhere.[:@] I carry pepper spray and a ruger 357 ss with a 3" barrel for self defense and it would depend on the situation as to which one use first. I did however dropped a feral dog that was with a pack with my gun though when he got down in a semi-sneak and starting snarling.[>:]
A lot of these well seasoned hunters have some great advise and like anything esle, you gotta develope your own method and its a learning experience everytime you go out. Go out and enjoy, Bobby