Neweboarhunter,

Those are NOT dumb questions unless they only concern you AFTER you have shot your elk! For many folks there is no better way to screw up a perfectly good elk hunt than for someone to actually shoot, kill, and acquire their elk -- then the problems begin -- starting with not having enough cutting, sharpening, sawing (or hatchet/axe) power. You may have heard me insist, " Elk are not deer, not even BIG deer!" and the first time you stand over one you' ve killed you' ll know just what I mean -- take lots of cutting power.

Let' s start with the critter, nice bull will have a live weight of 500 to 600 pounds (at least in my area, don' t have many monster bulls). So lets say a nice bull of 550 pounds live weight. I came across a " weight break down formula" and put it into a spreadsheet and per experience, it seems to figure out about right.

When you gut him he will lose 32.5% so now he is at 372 field dressed. Now take off the hide and the head and he loses another 63 pounds so now he is at 309 without his head and hide. Out of this 309 pounds if you debone the meat, then you should have 160 pounds of mostly packagable meat and 149 pounds of bones and unusable flesh.

So if you and your friend can carry 80 pounds (160/2) each then you can get it in one trip -- just a couple of catches. One, you are already probably carrying 25 plus pounds in your pack plus your rifle at about 10 with scope, sling, and ammo. So that makes it 25 original + 80 deboned meat + 10 rifle = 115 pounds. Two, are you going to take the head or the hide? Since it is a bull you will have to take the head and if it is your first elk then you' ll probably take the hide. So add on the 63 pounds for that and now on average you are at 147 (115 +32) pounds each if you are going to do it in one trip. LOL. Have you tested your limits regarding maximum backpack weight while you are still at home? How about maximum distance at maximum weight?

Okay, so two trips each at 73.5 pounds each -- that is more managable, but still no fun. (It will be a bit less since on the second trip as you can leave your rifle and part your original 25 pounds of pack weight in camp -- this may help offset your fatigue for the second trip!) [Of course in bear country maybe you don' t want to leave your rifle and some of that 25 pounds may be " always take it" stuff, like water.] So, no rest for the wicked!

How long will it take? This is the biggest variable, it depends. What kind of shape are you in? Can you REALLY exert yourself without getting a touch of Altitude Sickness? How warm is it? Is the elk uphill from camp making for a downhill hike or vice versa? Is there a good trail or is it a bush wack or is it a boulder hop and a scree field? Is it 3 miles or is it 4 miles -- that extra mile could be the longest in your life. Just generally answering without knowing any of the above, if you shoot him at 900am and you have him all back into camp by 1100pm, then you are probably doing pretty good -- sounds like fun. Now for the best part, is camp next to the road or way back in the rough, thus involving another packing session to get to the truck -- blistered feet, aching joints, and sickness potential here -- this is iron man territory you are talking about.

How do you keep the meat from spoiling? Part of it is not in your control. First season and warm, then it is a race against time for sure. If your meat " rinds up" in dry air, then that will help preserve it a bit and keep the blow fly eggs from growing into maggots (about a 16 hour emergence period under ideal circumstances -- thank God for cool/cold night air). Storing meat in the north side shade can help. Seems like whole quarters fair better against spoiling than deboned meat, but under your stated conditions I wouldn' t recommend backpacking whole intact quarters.

BTW, if while packing out your bull, what are you going to do if another shot at another elk presents itself -- think twice!

So for way too many of the people out there the logistics are indeed impossible. I' ve seen shoulders hanging in the tree long after they should have been gone, people too blistered up and sore such that when they got to the truck they just packed up and slinked out of there.

You are to be commended for wrestling with this issue BEFORE pulling the trigger! Nothing wrong with using an outfitter. We rent a horse and that works fine. I understand people WANTING to use a ATV to go way back in off trail and get their elk out but I cannot condone it at all on public land. If you are an iron man and can " pull it off" doing the back pack thing, then you are tougher than I am!

Side note, once you end up at the meat processors (assuming you don' t cut your own), then you may find that deboned meat in " blob-like" game bags are not too welcome -- sometimes you can' t win for losing.

Good luck with your hunt,
EKM