Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: bow4elk on April 05, 2009, 08:55:27 AM
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Maybe it's just me but I see dozens upon dozens of photos each year of elk loaded whole in pick up beds. I've been at this elk hunting gig since age 10 and I've yet to find myself or anyone I've hunted with a situation where we have a dead elk in spitting distance of the bed of a truck, let alone the challenge of loading one up whole. If it's all about luck, then man I'm WAAAAAAY overdue!
My experience is all about boning out my elk on the spot and making heavy hauls to the truck, where I've got two huge coolers chock full of ice waiting for me. I then layer my elk meat on ice to cool it quickly.
I know that some guys carry 1000 yards of cable and yard them out of clear-cuts but that can't account for all of them. Personally, I'd never drag an elk over hill and dale like that. Elk meat is too precious. Just my :twocents:
Somebody explain this pervasive yet confusing mystery. If you've done this, I'd love to hear about it.
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We helped a guy load his into his truck, yea he shot it about 50 yards from the road, but there was no point to de-bone the meat there. So he gutted it and drug it down to the road. We got out our 4wheeler loading rack and drug up into the truck. :)
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I still wouldnt take it whole. That would be just more mess to take care of at home, bones, cape, etc.
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We always use a chain saw wench to get 'em close to the road. Hopefully they are on the uphill side so we can back the tailgate up to the bank and roll 'em in.
We always skin it and wash the meat before taking it in to the butcher and I've never seen any bruising of the meat because of the way we got it to the truck.
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My dad's Margaret bull was shot across a canyon, and it ran over the hill and bedded down. We got on top of it again and my dad put a final shot into it. At that point, we realized when he went over the hill, he bedded down about 50 feet from a road. A few minutes with the map, and we figured out which road it was. I hiked back to the truck and found the road the elk died close to. We backed the truck up to the bank, tied a rope to the elk, and ran it around a tree so we could slowly lower the bull down the hill and right into the back of the truck. I'm pretty sure that one was all luck.
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Wel I have been fortunate enough to have killed a couple that we took home, actually 4 I think. Although the others more than made up for those.
Shot a big cow a few years ago up at the end of green mountain road. Winston. She ran half a mile down the hill and I finally drilled her through the heart at 20 yards, she died less than 100 yards from the road we parked on. There was snow on the ground so the three of us were able to drag her to the road and load her whole.
The first Elk I ever killed was a big 6x6 and the farmers grandson drove the tractor back a mile and we drug them out whole.
A cow I shot in the Puyallup four of us drug her about 100 yards to the powerlines road and loaded her whole.
Shot another really big cow down by Mossyrock Dam. That one it took four of us to drag her about 150 yards to the edge of the field where we loaded her whole.
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With as much road access as there is in the Willapa Hills, most folks use haywire and yard them up to the road. Doesn't hurt the meat any at all. Gut the elk, string the haywire down the hill, yard the elk up to the road, load the elk, take it to the gamble, and skin it. Easy enough. I've seen chain saw winches and tractors used multiple times as well.
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We've got a little over 2 miles of Spectra that will get an elk out of just about anywhere you can kill them. A few blocks and pulleys, and you can make an elk fly, literally, off the ground with a controlled ascent or descent from the top of a far off mountain into the back of the truck. I can tell you it beats the hell out of a packboard! But, yeah, I still have the packboards at camp because I like getting back in a little too far sometimes.
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I have a big (8' long) trail cart that is a one wheeled one with a motorcycle tire & motorcycle brakes. If I have 4 guys and not too steep of country between me and the nearest trail we can get one out whole once in a while. Brought my bull out about a mile last year to the truck whole. Hung it between two tress there, skinned it out and bagged it. Then lowered it into the truck. One of the cleanest animals I have ever processed. Not much chance of getting dirt or hair on the meat if you can do it that way. In the last 10 years (since I got the cart), we've pulled 4 bulls out whole. The rest of the time we pack to where we can get the cart to and wheel it from there. The cart's rated at 1000 lb load.
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I can't say forsure how many 4 wheelers I have seen towing elk throught the forest. :bash:
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We always use a chain saw wench to get 'em close to the road. Hopefully they are on the uphill side so we can back the tailgate up to the bank and roll 'em in.
We always skin it and wash the meat before taking it in to the butcher and I've never seen any bruising of the meat because of the way we got it to the truck.
Dead meat wont bruise. Dragging them over rocks and trees just tenderizes the meat. ;)
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Duh, didn't realize that lol! I prefer tender meat over tough meat! :chuckle:
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Me and my dad show some cows.....one pretty big.... bout 2 miles from truck not tooo far.....bunch of snow on grassy hill........we drug them out whole........wasnt too bad pretty easy.......prolly easiest elk packout I will ever have in my life....
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I've know guys that get a couple of rolls of baling wire and winch an elk out some of the most god awful spots you've ever seen.
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:sas: remark... hunt uphill to your elk so you only have to drag it downhill to the truck :chuckle: :chuckle:
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Roll a whole elk on a blue tarp in the snow grab the horns and ride it down the hill, We did it once, no brakes. :yike:
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one and only elk I killed died 15 feet from the road. :IBCOOL: It was a calf on the last day so it went home whole.
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only elk i ever got was a spike bull i made a big loop from one road to another and ended up killing him 150 yards from the end of the other road so my dad and grandpa came and picked me up and we drug him in the snow about 150 yards to the truck it was easy and also very lucky
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Loaded a whole gutted elk into the back of a step side truck in Wyoming. Shot it and it died on an old access road, was able to drive to it. I went on top the truck and tied a tow strap to the trunk of a tree about 10 foot up, hooked the antlers to the other end of the tow strap. Now all I had to do was drop the tail gate and back up till the antler touched, then it was simply lifting, propping with a stick, then backing up again, repeat. It worked great and had a whole raggy 5 x 4 in the back of my truck, my first elk solo.
Everything else since has been cut, de-bone, pack, apply Icy/Hot....
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I've got to respond to the guy who has an opinion about loading a full ELK in the back of a pick-up truck - let me tell you something - I am 53 years old and have hunted since I was a teenager. I've been very fortunate in my hunting because I've killed many, many elk. In my younger years I worked in a slaughter house and so I have had a lot of experience in salughtering animals.
I have hunted with a big group men for the past 15 years and not only me but some of the other guys have taken an animal out "whole" when the circumstances are right and in my opinion that's one of the best ways to take care of an animal because we can take it back home and clean it up and hang it whole, which is the best way to hang it. Take a look at the 1983 pictures of the Margaret bulls - 2 of them were taken out whole in the back of a Chevy short box pick-up. They were hung and skinned by 11 a.m.
Now of course, conditions have to be right. If an animal is close to a road or within the distance of a cable or rope there is nothing wrong with dragging an animal. DEAD MEAT DOES NOT BRUISE!! Also, it doesn't hurt to hose an animal down once you're at home and cleaning it - as long as the meat gets to cool or goes into a cooler immediately after.
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I have only got one out whole! All the others have been boned out. i was in the Toutle and shot one in the timber a road was about 300 yards down hill tossed it back into the truck. I have seen a chainsaw winch a few times. I think I might just have to pick one of those up!
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We have used crab line on a spool that has a handle on the end to crank the line back in the aluminium spool has 3000 feet of 9'16 silver pacific line on it and we usually have another truck with the same amount of line and with blocks hung in a tree or around a stump you can get an elk out of some real steep ground. When you get older a packboard is not an option but we also hunt wear there are logging roads everywhere. We do our own elk and have never seen any problem with the meat.
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there are two ppl in our family that have winches with 5000 ft cable makes it nice.
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2 years ago late season archery pulled a buddys cow out hole with a sled
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Got one on the edge of a road but couldnt lift it in without cutting it in half...How frustrating to have it that close and not having enough nads to get it in..... Not laughing then but I can now.... :chuckle: :chuckle: :chuckle:
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I've loaded four in the back of the truck whole and packed out alot more on my back.
I think it just depends on the area your hunting and alot of luck in most cases.
Definately easier to load them whole in the truck, always draws a crowd. ;)
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I shot this bull up a big hill. they slide really good on 15" of snow. So I slid him down and it's easy getting them in the truck whole when you use a tractor :chuckle:. The hard part was getting him out.
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv411%2Ftruck1%2FP1170141_1.jpg&hash=50a84b927819e77327e29526e9723c3b88450a3f)
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Got one on the edge of a road but couldn't lift it in without cutting it in half...How frustrating to have it that close and not having enough nads to get it in..... Not laughing then but I can now.... :chuckle: :chuckle: :chuckle:
Funny you mention that, my cousin was just about to get his first elk out whole rolled it down the embankment and it hit the bed of his truck and then rolled out. he spent 2 hours quartering his elk next to his truck!!! :chuckle: :chuckle:
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Does anyone have pictures or info of these winches? I've never got an elk in the truck whole, but I've had times when a winch would have made all the difference.
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Does anyone have pictures or info of these winches? I've never got an elk in the truck whole, but I've had times when a winch would have made all the difference.
ill get a picture tomorrow, ours are homemade
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I use a Lewis Power Saw winch. As long as you have the right power saw head to run it, not much will stop it. I have a Stihl 38 super with 75 feet of cable with it.
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I was lucky enough when I shot my elk we only had to drag it down the hill about 40 yards to where my brother could drive his truck in.
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When I hunted with my dad, he always kept a piece of 5/8 ply in the back of the truck. We get the elk down where we could get the truck to em, we would roll the elk on the plywood, pick up one end, set it on the tailgate, the go to the other end, pick it up and slide him in. Did that twice in a week in Eastern Oregon one year. A 5x5 and a spike.
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We have only gotten one bull out whole...the rest in 4 pieces on our backs or the kiddie cart and mountain bike. We recently invested in a chainsaw winch though...not getting any younger! We dont bone them if we dont have too, in my experience the meat gets rubbery...but somtimes it is unavoidable!
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We have a line spool made out of aluminium it has bearings at each end and a crank on the side to respool the line. Here is a picture of ours.
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when i took my bull to a certain butcher is covington there was 27 whole bulls in his cooler! I brought mine quartered up and made the comment about everyone must be road hunting this year. He got all defensive and was like "No....they pack em out like that!". He was seriously pissed at my sarcasm. I just laughed and went to this old retired guy in Hobart because he said his cooler was too full to take any more that day.
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We have a line spool made out of aluminium it has bearings at each end and a crank on the side to respool the line. Here is a picture of ours.
Boy...Buckhorn, that sure looks familiar :chuckle: And let me tell you how much better it works than quartering! :IBCOOL:
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Never gotten one even close enough to the road for me to do that.
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2500 feet of cable on a hitch reciever mounted spool like the rope one does wonders for whole elk, and the best part is leaving the guts right in the logging road for everyone else!!!!
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Just Great
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Ran into one of those gut piles once on my dirtbike.... >:( On a corner, all bloated, never road logging road fast again.(Never smell the same either).
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I've been fortunate to load 2 elk whole. A late season 5pt bull out of the ryderwood. I shot him 300 yards from the truck and he ran towards the truck and piled up 60 yrds uphill from the rig. Basically rolled him into the bed. Last season I got a cow in the winston. She piled up 50 yrds from a landing we could drive to. I know its not typical but I'll take them when I can. As far as the carcass goes, it makes great coyote bait!
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I have a friend that has a capstan rope winch and they work great!
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never seem to be able to,my friend drug one out on his quad
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I can sqaut the weight of a full grown elk so I never have a problem with throwing one up on the shoulders and hiking out and hucking it into the back of a pickup ;)
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I can sqaut the weight of a full grown elk so I never have a problem with throwing one up on the shoulders and hiking out and hucking it into the back of a pickup ;)
And that is after shooting it with your Monster with a 150lb draw weight. :chuckle:
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Sure moss. Come hunt 249 Alpine with me this year. I'd love to see you do that ;)
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I can sqaut the weight of a full grown elk so I never have a problem with throwing one up on the shoulders and hiking out and hucking it into the back of a pickup ;)
And that is after shooting it with your Monster with a 150lb draw weight. :chuckle:
You are a MAN among mere boys :chuckle:
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mossback91 try it when your 65.
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last year was the first year I did not have to bone out an elk, long story short on Nov-11-08 my buddy and I had just left the landing at daylight and slowly worked are way down a well used trail and maybe 1 hour later and 350 yards we stumbled across these two guys and there other two buddy's 2-3x4's 1-5x5 and a spike feeding in front of us at 75yds, the fog was so thick that at first we thought the were stumps until one of them moved, after the elk feed around for about 5 minutes my buddy was able to get the first clear shot at one of the 3x3, after the shot the elk looked around and ran down hill 25-30yds just out of clear sight and continued to feed finally after 10 or 15 minutes "the longest 10-15 min of my life" the fog lifted enough I could get a clear shot at the other 3x4 which turned out to be a 4x4, we killed both elk within 30yds of each other and we were able to pull them up to the lading using a snatch block, 125 3/8" cable and 2500lb mule tape, took about 4 hours and 4 guys we were able to pull them just above the landing and back the truck under them and slid them into the truck, that's TWO ELK WHOLE in the back of my buddies truck. we stopped at the gas station to get food and gas and we were swamped by other hunters that were amazed we had two Elk whole in the back of the truck.
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back in 05, i shot a bull on the job, yarded it to the landing, hung it up with the log loader and gutted and skined it all out, and then loaded it on the back of a log truck, hauled it to the mill, mill loader picked it off put in the back of my wifes pickup, she had it cut up for me and when I got home it was in little packages. the easiest bull i ever shot yes, the easiest pack oh hell yes. i guess it was my time because i have had plenty of hard packs.
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i am making a cart with old mountain bike parts & wheels soon, i will just roll my first kill to the truck with help form others in the crew i am going to hunt with (family).
the cart should fold to a reasonable width to allow more storage and to stow away in the truck easily.
my welding friend said he will hook me up.
last season i hauled two full elk home in my ranger, it was a load coming back over 90.
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back in 05, i shot a bull on the job, yarded it to the landing, hung it up with the log loader and gutted and skined it all out, and then loaded it on the back of a log truck, hauled it to the mill, mill loader picked it off put in the back of my wifes pickup, she had it cut up for me and when I got home it was in little packages. the easiest bull i ever shot yes, the easiest pack oh hell yes. i guess it was my time because i have had plenty of hard packs.
Hell yeah! I had a buddy in Astoria fly a bull in on the rigging, and another in Newport that pulled two twin 4pts in by the necks on his skidder; but none of them went to the mill on a load of logs, hope you got pics.
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there was picts. hanging up at layman lumber in naches, thats where we were at the time. there were actually 3 elk that got hauled that way that year.
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Actually 200 pound draw on my long bow!
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Actually 200 pound draw on my long bow!
:kneel:
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Got a bison out whole one time...... :chuckle:
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got an elk out whole once :)
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here
