"he was talking about dragging deer down from a 7000ft ridge.."
Didn't say that at all, the guy died on one of the ridges we hunted, which was 7,000 feet. The Montana deer we harvested were small bodied. I dragged/ carried my 165lb buck 1/5 mile in perhaps 6-7 minutes, with cold hands in that weather to cut and make two 1/5 mile trips makes no sense, taking around 15-20 minutes. I think we're getting side tracked anyways, my point was in agreement with yours, the cold and the altitude can kill in Montana. How best to haul a deer was not my point at all. If you read through other post's I did bone out a large deer in Washington this year, I do it if it makes sense to do so given the situation.