how do you pack out your meat?

[the longbowkid]

I have never been on a hunt that needed packing out the animal, and I was curios what kind of pack do you use? just a regular external frame hiking pack?

[jhg]

I have my "with me" pack that expands to 3200" and is very stout. But after my first trip back to the truck/camp I return with my external frame with robust hip belt and its just easier especially when it gets heavy.

Joshua

BTW, if on a budget, my external frame is from a top of the line Jansport external backpacking pack I bought at a thrift store for 10 bucks. A lot of really nice externals come out in garage sales and in thrift stores out here. When internal frames took over the backpacking market a lot of great packs got put in the corner.

[Rick P]

Freighter pack frame with custom bag I made. The bag has 2 side areas big enough for almost all my gear. The center folds open big enough to accommodate a moose quarter.

When ever possible I use the pack in tandem with a drag frame. Basically 2 poles lashed together at one end with a cross member about a third of the way up from the ground and used like a wheelbarrow.

Takes about 10 trips without the drag frame for a 50 inch+ bull......I've targeted spike forks for about 7 years now, much easier to pack out, better tasting and the family can eat it before it gets freezer burned.

[Rick P]

Almost forgot I use a polke sled or a snowmobile in the winter, that's the ticket on hunts with snow!

[elkken]

When I "used" to do it .... it was a freightliner frame and boned out meat. That was for elk and deer. A deer would be one trip, two max if a big deer and cape and horns. Luckily I never had to pack and elk out all by my self .... pick good strong hunting buddies !

[griz#1]

on my pack hunts i skin the deer or elk qurater it and hang in a cool place up high off the ground for 24 hours or so to cool the meat down.and that depends on the temperature.then i debone it, pack it in game bags then it's off to the trail head with the frist load.run in to town to get ice and back to the leftover meat and gear....thats the way i doit most of the time.

[Jim Wright]

In Louisiana you have to bring a deer out in one piece on public land but they waive the "no wheeled vehicles restriction" on the foot paths on the W.M.A. I hunt if you are retrieving a deer. So you can't quarter a deer and pack it out only leaving footprints but you can rut up the paths with an A.T.V.! Wildlife and Fisheries apparently does not want hunting to be too much of a challenge here, it goes along with not having an Archery but a Crossbow season instead and shooting center fire, smokeless powder rifles during Black Powder Season as "Progress" marches on!

[Steve O]

Luke,

Yes, any external frame pack will work if that is what you have.  Line the pack with one of those heavy duty contractor trash bags from Lowes or a kitchen trash compactor bag (much tougher than plain garbage bags.  That will keep your fancy hiking backpak from getting fullof blood.  Take your meat out of the plastic as soon as you make it to your destination so it can breathe.

[FerretWYO]

Skin quarter and bone. Game bags and lots of them. As for a pack I use a cabels Alaskan II. I have also packed a lot of elk on my with my badlands 2200. Is a little small for elk but perfect for dear.

[joe ashton]

My $.02 I quarter out the Elk and use a cart that I  got from Bass Pro shop.  Whitetail and Mule deer go on the cart field dressed.  That cart works great...
Joe
PS 7months.3 weeks  and 6 days until Colo bow season

[lpcjon2]

You can get a Alice pack frame from  www.colemans  military surplus.com cheap and they also carry x large packs to go on them.

[wingnut]

Never killed an elk where I could use a cart.  Man that would be nice.  Ours are usually in a hole somewhere and come out boned out and on our back.

We have Frieghter packs the get most of the use.  Added BisonGear packs a few years back that allow us to take the first trip back with a good load.

Carried way too many over the years.  LOL

Mike

[LKH]

If it's going to be a ways back, (most bou hunting) I strap my daypack onto my packframe and hunt with the frame.  I really hate to be a mile or two off the road in tundra and make a kill without a pack.

I once packed a muley up about 400 feet near vertical slope with the daypack.  Made three trips.  That's not the way  to do it.  

I've only ever hunted elk in one place that a cart would be useful.

[Zbearclaw]

I use a Black Creek Canadian for day type hunts.

Last deer and bear I packed out I just threw the quarters (not deboned but cut at the knee joint to minimize extra weight)

I no longer use trash bags, blood isn't that big a deal and just put in pillow cases.

I hunt with two pillow cases and two Alaska game bags.

Gutless method of breaking the animal down and then grunt it all the way to the truck smiling like I just won the Super Bowl!!!!!!

My badlands 4500 will most likely be working some Sitka Blacktails to camp come August unless I get a Mystery Ranch for my birthday.

[Whip]

When I killed my first elk I had a daypack on my back and couldn't take a load out with me on the first trip.  I won't do that again, and since that time have been using Eberlestock packs, first with a J104 and now a Blue Widow. They are also large enough and do a great job with heavy loads, so I sold my external frame pack. Compresses down small enough that I can hunt with it, yet expands to carry as much as I'm willing.  They are also large enough and do a great job with heavy loads, so I sold my external frame pack.

Another great Eberlestock pack for the first trip out with meat is the X2.  I prefer a larger pack for serious meat packing, but it will do a fine job on that first trip out.  They are probably the most popular pack with big game hunters that I sell.

[sagebrush]

I use a freighter pack with one large bag so that I can put boned out meat in until it is as full as I can carry. Make sure you have a chest strap that ties the two shoulder straps together and a good waist belt with lots of padding. Large loads over uneven terrain can hurt you. Buy the best equipment you can find. When buying a pack bring a kid with you that weighs about a hundred pounds and have them get in the pack when it is on your back and see how the pack feels with a load.

[twitchstick]

As kids we would take in shelved frame packs with our day packs straped for the hike in. Then once we had something down, tie on quarters of elk and halved deer. Bone-in seems to work better on frames that don't have a sack. Then put the day packs on our front side with backsrtaps, heart, liver in day pack. Now that can be hard but it saved a trip. If we forgot the frames we would throw one hine quarter(elk) (deer both hine quarters) over the shoulder and struggle out. Front quarters can be cut leaving skin and hide on between them making a strap to throw over the shoulder and take both at once leave the hands free. Then I got smart and now use a Eberlstock "just one" pack. It is light enough for a day pack  and can bivy for days need be but will zip out to a nice mess cargo area with lots of attachments. Which you can throw a quarter of elk in. Even once because of warm weather and potential divorce I hauled a half an elk in one load. Badlands has a nice line of packs too. Lots of game bags can be a big help with bugs and dirt. Just check game laws some states like utah you need to leave evidance of sex on all quarters and skull plates attacked on some units.

[Earthdog]

Usualy Boned out and on my back.
Small deer like whitetail, I just chuck the animal over my shoulders an start walking,,bigger animals I bone out on the spot an make as many trips back an forth as it takes.

[trad_bowhunter1965]

I usually just take a frying pan and stay for awile no just kidding, I bone out meat and I have a Dwight Schuh pack and 2800 Badland that I use.

[hayslope]

Originally posted by Rick P:
......I've targeted spike forks for about 7 years now, much easier to pack out, better tasting and the family can eat it before it gets freezer burned.

You da man!!!!

If there is ANYTHING on this planet that tastes better than young moose (well...maybe wild sheep), I didn't get the memo!

As I get older, and the houses get somewhat smaller, there is very little room for those great antlers.  The freezers ALWAYS have room for some young moose!