Packing out elk with a horse

[mthuntinfool29]

Hello all! Just bought myself a horse and am really looking foreword to using her during hunting season. I am curious about how much weight I'll be hauling out if I were to kill a mature bull and boned out the meat. Does anybody have any info or advice?

 

[Pagosa]

With the bones in the quarters you are looking at about 200- 230 lbs for a 3.5 year old bull. This includes trimming off the rib and neck meat. You are looking at two loads with a single horse. Make sure and keep your quarters about the same weight. Try to load the horse on even ground. I would plan to hand carry the rack, or use a packframe. I've been afraid of spearing a horse with a tine. I would bring each quarter to the horse and let him see it, before trailing a horse right up to the kill site. I've only had access to horses on three hunts, and they definitely earned their keep. There are guys on here that know tons about horses. Be safe.

 

[ida homer]

I don't have horse experience. But we weighed the quarters off of a buddies 310" 6 point bull at camp a couple years ago. The hind quarters were 71 pounds each bone in. I don't remember the front quarters exactly, but I think they were 58 lbs each bone in. Then probably another 30 lbs in backstraps and tenderloins and another 25-30 lbs of loose neck/rib meat.

I would think an in shape horse could pack out any boned out bull in one load. But that's above my pay grade, but I do know that bones weigh a lot.

 

[ida homer]

http://www.wyomingextension.org/agpubs/pubs/B594R.pdf

Read that. It seems to match my experiences with elk yields. It always cracks me up when people tell you they got 500 lbs. of meat off of their elk! lol

 

[brockel]

If he has never packed an animal out before I would get him used to the smell of them at home with a hide hung up by his water tank. Also introduce him to the smell of blood. Side of a mountain is not a good place to learn that your horse doesn't like the smell of blood.

Pack stock are great to have hen an animal is down but just realize that when you take pack stock hunting you are really on a camping trip with horses that you get to sneak away and do some hunting on

My mule stays home more than he goes hunting with me. Most of the time it's more of a hassle then gain. If I'm going with other people that take stock I will haul him with

 

[Southern Elk]

Good advice above. You will need to make two trips. You can ride your horse in and use a set of panniers that go over the saddle to pack the meat out.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Outf...e.cmd?CQ_search=panniers&categoryId=734095080

 

[Lawnboy]

Before you go trying to do this on the mountain I have a few questions. Has this horse ever packed an animal? Been around dead animals? Ever had panniers on her? Ever carried a load with full panniers? All these questions would need to be answered before I'd feel confident in giving you advise. Some horses just don't freak out with dead critters and blood but many will. Some horses wig out when you have panniers full and they are trying to navigate between trees and such or they simply look back and see these bulging things on their sides and go nuts.
I'm not trying to scare you but there needs to be a lot of ground work done with horses and often times just time in the field to be confident with all the variables that you'll be faced with.
I've had horses my whole life and have seen a lot of different reactions over the years.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Figure no more than 20% of the horses body weight, to include the packsaddle and pad. And yes, you need to make sure the horse can pack before you put all your eggs in that basket.

 

[Bambistew]

One elk = two horse trips unless it's small, as in spike or smaller cow. 200+ lbs of dead weight on a horse is good way to ruin one. Sure they can pack it, but it could ruin their knees, shoulders, or ankles. No different that you or me.tossing on 100 pounds for the first time and heading down the trail. One slip and it's trouble...

We never packed more than about 150 lbs on a horse on average. We packed probably close to 200 elk out of the hills over the years, maybe more, and countless loads of hay, camps, gear, etc.

Bone in rear quarters are much easier to pack on a horse than a blob of meat. They actually pack very easy, split the pelvis and backbone from the inside, leave the hide intact, make a small slit in the hide for the x cross buck/saddle horn, lash from the horn to the chinch d ring, and around the hock with light cordage and head down the trail. Fronts easier to put in a panier and lash down. You can also split the backbone and leave the hidea intact similar to the hinds.

Good advice above for getting her used to smells and packing. Some horses are packers, some are for riding, and most can do both. I'm never surprised by the number of horses that get killed in hunting season, actually surprised more don't die. Luckily many are smarter than the guys packing them.

I'm glad you're wise enough to ask questions. If you can find someone with stock experience consider teaming up rather than going alone. Hunting on horses is a matter of time before there is a rodeo, never know what will show up in the trail, or hole they'll step in and lose their shit, slip and fall/roll, etc.

My favorite horse is someone elses...

 

[el unit]

About 150 lbs. total on our horses. Rear quarters on one pack animal, front quarters and rest of the meat on the other pack animal.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

All very good Articles and statements on horses and packing. Did you buy a Playday Horse or one from someone who used it as a Hunting tool? Gentle in the pasture means nothing in the Mountains. This might not be the year for you to do more than use your horse to access the Elk, go slow as it take a long time to heal a broken bone or haul out a dead horse who went bonkers. Good Luck! John

 

[Southern Elk]

Pick up a copy of this book. You will learn far more than you could ever learn here.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0878...+and+mules&dpPl=1&dpID=51C2D15XQCL&ref=plSrch

 

[Dan O]

Pick up a copy of this book. You will learn far more than you could ever learn here.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0878...+and+mules&dpPl=1&dpID=51C2D15XQCL&ref=plSrch

This is a great read. I used it for years and learned more each trip. I got to meet Smoke this spring he is a great guy. Each horse is different and has their own good points and hidden demons. Take your time and don't expect a finished mountain horse the first year or two. Both of you will learn together.

 

[300stw]

lots of good advice, when I ride my mule in I will put a whole boned out elk on him and lead him out, done that 25 or 30 times in 15years I have owned him, never an issue, typically 3-10 mile trip , if I have 2 mules I will split the load and walk back,

since I am down to one mule he will get more whole elk packs again this year, he is about 20, my old mule died this last winter he was 41 best we could tell, I seen my dad put a boned out spike on him, climb on top of the meat and ride him down the mountain about 4 miles, he was a tuff old mule,,,

 

[Straight Arrow]

...25 or 30 times in 15years I have owned him...

That's a pretty impressive success history for elk hunting, even assuming some of the pack-outs are for others.

 

[Gr8bawana]

These guys know what they are talking about. Follow their suggestions and advice. Go slow getting the horse used to everything involved with packing a dead animal in your corral at home. It is much safer for you and the horse.
Good luck.

 

[300stw]

That's a pretty impressive success history for elk hunting, even assuming some of the pack-outs are for others.

couple years packed out 4 bulls in 10 days of hunting 1 year 6 bulls, in Idaho we bought 2 tags all the time one resident tag, one non resident tag, 4 people in our party had 6 or 8 tags all the time,, not counting 2 deer tags apiece and the bucks we packed out,,,,

the home training cant be beat ,go to the livestock auction buy a goat, and butcher it and practice with hot meat at home, lots of animals that will pack cold meat wont pack hot meat, from what I have seen,,,, then you can make tacos,,,

 

[Topgun 30-06]

I can certainly attest to what the guys are saying about your horse packing meat. The first time we rented horses back in 1997 for a mule deer hunt in Wyoming the guy said all of his 1000 horses were no problem when it came to packing game animals. Well we got a nice buck about the third day and the horse my buddy had wouldn't let us get near him with any meat. I finally remembered I had a big garbage bag in my pack and by putting the meat in game bags and then into that bag and tying it tight to keep the game smell to a minimum we were able to load the canvas panniers and lead him back to camp with the buck.

 

[mthuntinfool29]

Thank you all for your advice and suggestions! I fell into a great deal with this horse. Supposedly a great trail horse and a little packing experience. I will be working with her daily until general season here in MT. I have the ability to hunt relatively nice mule deer on a friends ranch and am planning a test field run with deer after many practice runs at home. My original question regarding weight is so that I don't overload her and put both of us at risk. Thanks again and keep the suggestions coming!!!

 

[mtmuley]

Take a jar of Vicks Vapo Rub with you. Sometimes you can calm a green horse by applying a little of it in the nose. Masks the blood. Nothing worse than a pack out rodeo. mtmuley