Howler

I hunt elk alone from time to time, and killed my last 2 bulls while on my own, although last year I was able to get friends rounded up to help pack him out. BUT, waht I do is hunt prepared to kill. What I mean by that, I carry everything with me that I will need once I'm successful. I carry my frame pack, with a fanny pack strapped on it. If I kill an elk, once I have it found, I will immidiately begin the task of quartering and hanging the quarters. I carry game bags, and rope just for this. I tie a dead log across a couple of trees to hang the quarters from. I don't carry a saw with me,because you can quarter an elk without a saw and I will come back for the last load with a saw to cut the antlers off and take them with me at that time. Once I get it quartered, I load one quarter on the pack, leave the other three hanging in the shade, and start packin'.
I also carry a filtered water bottle. For the most part, there is a water source available to refill as necassary, that way, I never run out of water. I carry only essentials for survival such as a space blanket, lighter/matches, enough food for a day plus, a knife, and sharpner, GPS, TP and or wipes, rubber gloves mainly because it makes clean up a snap, head lamp, extra batterys for headlamp and GPS, calls, and that's about all I carry. It's not bad at all with the stuff strapped on the frame pack. When I get close to action, I take the pack off, mark it on the GPS, and hunt.
Last year the GPS saved me/us a lot of time. I was able to give the coordinates to two buddys and they were able to go right to my downed elk and pick up two quarters for me and haul them out. I only had to carry two loads out, and was lucky in that we only had to carry it all about 500 yards. A cake walk for sure!!