Packing out meat

[BetoBow]

I am hoping to face this dilemma this year but I need to know what hunters already do. Say you harvested an elk    but you are 2-3 miles from your truck and you are doing a solo hunt. How would you pack out your meat? How do you prevent 4-legged and 2-legged critters from taking your meat since it will take a couple of trips to pack it out.

[WapitiTalk1]

To get this rolling, please provide a bit more information.  What time of year will you be hunting, and, bull or cow/calf harvest (makes a difference on how the pack out business will go)?  This should be a very good thread BetoBow; thanks for starting it up.   

[BetoBow]

Great point thank you Phantom16. I am going to be hunting early archery and stuck with spike or cow. Hope to get great ideas from seasoned hunters.

[coachcw]

any way you can cool it do it . get if off the bone if possible , a creek can be your fiend . I often carry garbage bags in may pack . you can submerge meat and keep it dry. pack out the thickest and best cuts first and get them on ice. the reality is if it's hot the chance of losing meat is good . look for alternate routes in and out of your area much easyier packing down hill than up. have a game plan and get to work quick . never let a animal sit overnight in sept to hot plus preditors. I woory little about meat getting ate but if you leave a piece of sweaty clothing or mark the area if you know what I mean it can help. just getting a animal to your truck is half the battle have your plan once you get there .

[huntingfool7]

Hunt with a pack frame on and carry game bags/sheets. 
Shoot, tag, quarter (boneless method), get the quarters out of the sun, make your first trip out count with a loaded pack.
Don't worry about 2 or 4 legged critters, it's not likely to be an issue.

[xXLojackXx]

Shoot it, recover it, tag it, skin it, gutless quarter it, debone the meat, hang in game bags in the shade near a creek (or build a log bridge over the creek and place game bagged meat on the bridge to cool down beig sure it isn't getting splashed on, load up your pack and go. By yourself, a cow or spike shouldn't take more than 3 trips.

[vandeman17]

Hunt with a pack frame on and carry game bags/sheets. 
Shoot, tag, quarter (boneless method), get the quarters out of the sun, make your first trip out count with a loaded pack.
Don't worry about 2 or 4 legged critters, it's not likely to be an issue.

 

[lamrith]

Newby here with question, maybe further discussion..  I have heard people mention garbage bags.  Could those be used to seal up and thus put meat in a creek if available for both cooling and lowering scent window for 4 leggers?

[huntingaddiction]

I like to find an area with a lot of trees near a creek or spring.  You will feel the cool temperature then hang it in a tree with rope.  It gets cooled down while you are packing it out and most critters can't get to it.

[vandeman17]

Newby here with question, maybe further discussion..  I have heard people mention garbage bags.  Could those be used to seal up and thus put meat in a creek if available for both cooling and lowering scent window for 4 leggers?

Only reason to wrap in a bag is if you are going to put it in the water otherwise the bag will not allow meat to cool and just make matters worse. Good game bags work the best for all other scenarios

[Stein]

I use these bags for creek dunking as they are foodsafe.  Trash bags have nasty, nasty stuff in them.

http://www.amazon.com/Ziploc-Double-Zipper-XX-Large-3-Count/dp/B003U6FMOK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406334938&sr=8-1&keywords=ziploc+xxl

Look up hanging bear bags, to keep critters away you want it suspended - not on the ground and not on or near a branch.  If it is extra hot or a longer pack, taking the time to bone out will help with both weight and cooling.

If you haven't done it before, I found this DVD to be a great help:

http://www.amazon.com/Outdoor-Edge-QD-101-Quarter-De-bone/dp/B000VIWIOW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406335095&sr=8-1&keywords=outdoor+edge+dvd

[X-Force]

Newby here with question, maybe further discussion..  I have heard people mention garbage bags.  Could those be used to seal up and thus put meat in a creek if available for both cooling and lowering scent window for 4 leggers?

I wouldn't put anything in a garbage bag I was going to eat.

[4fletch]

2 miles should not be a problem. If you ever do use a creek place the meat in cotton game bags before you put them in plastic contractor bags. Boned out many in hot weather left meat in the shade never lost any to spoilage. When you get back to camp if you have a large cooler with dry ice that would also be nice

[RadSav]

In over 30 years of hunting I have only lost meat to yellow jackets and camp robbers.  I pay little worry to losing meat to predators.  Especially if I'm only a couple miles from the truck.  I have seen deer left over night before recovery have their a-holes and livers taken out by yotes.  But never actually witnesses a predator getting boned out meat hanging in a game bag.

When packing solo more than a mile back I prefer to leapfrog my meat out.  Seems easier on the body and that last load doesn't seem nearly as excruciating.

[kevinlisa06]

Last year we had to use the creek to cool off the meat during general rifle season. I shot my bull opening morning, nice clear warm day. Dropped the spike bout 9:30am finally back to camp bout 6:15pm after quartering and packing out meat. We hung the quarters in the tree with sheets that nite then the next morning we dropped it into the creek due to the temperature rise. The rest of the season was cool where we were out of Yakima. We went home that Friday and we spent Saturday and Sunday butchering meat.


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