Originally Posted by
buffybr
.......................I had brought a thick sheet of plastic that is made for dragging game animals up the hill with me. Even with the plastic, the whole bull was too heavy for me to drag by myself, so I had to cut him in half and was then able to get him down to my truck in two trips.....................................
Good hunt! It is always fun to get one on opening day! Back in the late 60's, and early 70's we hunted a lot around Wisdom, and we did enjoy hunting elk at the edge of the sagebrush, and timber. Yup, that country you pictured brings good memories. The past 20 year, has seen us hunt around White Sulphur. The White Sulphur area has some sage brush, open timber, horrible jungles, and awful talus which attracts elk when they are pressured. Just for fun i found these old photo from 2007, where this kid killed an elk with my old 358, that i sold to him when i moved to SD.
The boys took the rest of that elk out on pack frames. They carried out the shoulders, and picked up meat sacks, pack frames, and returned to the elk the same day. The 2 boys took out the back straps, neck meat, etc., and hind quarters in one trip. We normally bone out the front half, but like to leave the bone in the hind quarter, so we know what the meat is when we cut, and wrap. When ever i have to completely bone an elk, i always seem to confuse the pieces of meat, so i prefer to leave the meat on the back leg bones.
Some conditions allow one to use a sled. Some conditions allow a plastic sheet. Some conditions allow a cart. Some times one is able to slide a whole elk down hill on snow right onto the tailgate.
There is many more than one way to get elk to the road.