Champlain Islander

I agree with you both. 65 here and still able to deal with an elk packout. Of the 10+ elk we have shot only 1 was able to be reached with a truck. Just yesterday I filled my buck tag in Vt and had a long lonely drag on dry ground. Slow and steady and before you know it the job is done.

Muley Hunter

Blur....If you want to be an elk hunter. Then be an elk hunter, and do the hunt yourself. What pride can you take in the hunt when a guide does it all for you? You sound like you want a trophy for your wall. Will you tell people......that's my elk that I shot, but the guide did the whole hunt. I'd be embarrassed to even say I shot it. Shooting is the easy part. No different than shooting at the range.

I've hunted elk every year since since 1954. Alone since the mid 80's. I'm 70 now, and missed this year due to a broken back. I have a list of physical handicaps that you'd think I shouldn't even be hunting for squirrels. I'm already planning for next years elk and bear hunts.

It takes a certain amount of toughness to hunt elk in the Rockies. Accept the challenge, and get on with it. If all you can haul out is 25lbs, then haul out 25lbs, and keep going back for more. Hang the boned out meat in trees, put it in some streams to keep it cool. Keep going back for the meat until you have it all. It doesn't matter if it take you 3 days. Just get it done. Then you can be proud of what you have hanging on the wall.

Man up, or just stick to shooting whitetails from a treestand.

Big Uncle

If that is your choice, then so be it. It may not be the same choice as everyone else would make - but it is your choice.

Don't let anyone tell you how to hunt (as long as it is legal).

Muley Hunter

If you can get a deer out. You can get an elk out. It just takes longer.

You can always try a cow elk hunt? Much easier to get out, and easy tags to get. Tag is cheaper too.

c-rad

Packing an Elk out by yourself isn't that hard. Most people are overwhelmed how hard it would be. If you can skin and quarter a deer you have the knowledge to do an elk. I started hunting elk 4 years ago. It took me almost 2 hours to get it ready to be packed out by myself. Each one you kill it gets easier. This year it took about 45 minutes. When packing it out just carry what you can. It took me 5 1/2 hours to pack mine out this year. I go 1/4 mile at a time drop and go get another load. My main reason is to make sure the bears don't get a free meal. Don't be afraid to hunt by youself because you can't handle the animal after the kill.

Mr. Slim

first thing, there are no moose in Pa. we have elk here but you must be lucky enough to draw an elk tag. they are located in the north central part of the state in Elk and Clearfield counties. check with the Pa. game commission website for more info.

buffybr

I also hunt alone most of the time. I'll be 68 next February. Last month I killed my 35th elk. None were on guided hunts, and I was hunting alone for most of them. I got him out by myself in 2 trips, dragging each half on a thick sheet of plastic. I've dragged several other bulls out that way on that same plastic.

One year I dragged another bull out over a mile with each half on a kids plastic toboggan.

Another year I killed a bull on an old logging road a mile behind a Forest Service locked gate. I got him out in 2 trips by putting each half in a contractor's wheelbarrow.

I've packed a number of elk out a quarter at a time on my back with a pack frame.

One year I killed a 5x5 bull a couple of miles from the nearest road in the Whitefish mountain range in NW Montana (grizzly country). The first load out, I put one hind quarter and the horns on my pack frame and headed across country down the mountain. By the time I reached the valley floor it was dark and drizzling rain. I didn't have a flashlight, and the valley floor was marshy with numerous beaver dams.

So I crawled under a spruce tree to keep dry, kept a small fire going all night for warmth and to cook pieces of meat. When it got light the next morning I shouldered the pack and walked out to the road in 10 minutes.

For about 20 years I had a couple of horses. I packed quite a few elk out on them, putting a quarter on each side of a panyard on each of the horses.

I also used my horses that way to pack out a Shiras moose that I had killed on a solo hunt 3 miles back in a wilderness in SW Montana. He took 3 trips to get out.

I killed my mountain goat on a solo hunt in a wilderness in SW Montana. It was -15* F that day and the snow was 3 feet deep on the top of the mountain where I killed the billy. I packed his hide out in my pack and drug the carcass out over the snow.

I also killed 3 bighorn rams on solo hunts in wilderness areas in the unlimited tag areas in SW Montana. I packed one ram out on my back and the other two out on my horses.

I have 3 game carts. I built two and bought one from Cabella's. I have packed out several deer and a lot of antelope on them.

My point is if there's a will, there's a way. Like someone else posted, you just cut the critter into small enough pieces that you can handle, and use whatever you can to help you with the pack.

cantrap

I can help you's out on a DIY Ontario moose hunt!