Maybe I'm crazy but I've only passed up one animal because of the pack out. I normally don't let having to pack an animal out stop me from shooting big game. I've packed quite a few elk and deer on my back and a few caribou. The moose my wife and I have have killed we've been able to get to with a four wheeler.
I did pass on one 60"+ bull moose many years ago while sheep hunting. We were 8 miles from the closest place to get a four wheeler to and it was 75-80 degrees. I was 20 yards from a bedded bull but knew in that heat and that distance the chance of getting the meat out without losing much of it was slim.
I was a bit surprised this year caribou hunting. We spotted a herd in a non motorized area about a mile or a little more off the road. There were a half dozen vehicles on the road watching them so I asked each one if they were going after them. All said no, they couldn't or weren't going to pack a caribou that far. Most were some to much younger than me. I'm 57. I took out after the caribou and ended up killing a nice dry cow about 3/4 of a mile off the road on relatively flat ground. I made it out in two heavy packs. There were close to a dozen people on the road watching me pack out my caribou and it was only as I was getting almost back to the truck with the second load that a dad and his two teen age sons headed into the same area after the herd.
I don't know if they got one but I was surprised out of all those vehicles no one except that one man and his boys were willing to put in a little work. As far as packing on one's back that area was pretty nice ground. I guess they were hoping the caribou would cross the road into the motorized area.
There's nothing easy about packing out a moose or an elk and honestly a caribou or deer ain't that much fun either. But there is a great sense of satisfaction when that last pack drops off your back and onto the tailgate.
