You don't need a horse to pack put an elk, get a good pack frame . Plenty of elk get packed on folks backs instead of a horse, they are just big deer.
Have the expectation to see more people than elk on your first hunt, if going OTC.
I've packed a bunch over the years, but the calendar catches up with the best of us. Sooner or later you'll have to find an easier way to get it done.
Yep and the sooner you figure that out,the longer you will hunt.
I will be 79 this coming season.I have hunted since I was 16. Aside from maybe carrying meat 100 yards or so to get to pack animal, I have never packed a deer or elk on my back and that is 50+elk.. I have seen there results of people carrying elk quarters. Slips with broken legs and ankles, broken ribs, heart attacks. Many times, meat spoilage from not getting meat out quick enough.
2-3 years ago in NW Colorado,a hunter went missing near where I hunt.They found him by the smell lof the dead spoiled elk.They back tracked and found him face down with a quarter on his back. Heart attack.I think he was in his 40's.
That same year,I was 76 or so, I killed a 6 X bull about 6-7 miles back in the West Elk Wilderness area north of Gunnison, CO. Solo hunt, just me and two mules.I was tired at the end,but no big problems. Guys might think they are tough outdoorsmen, but get a big dose of reality when they walk uo to 600 pounds of dead elk. Every year,those elk weigh more.
The first year I elk hunted, we rented two pecheron horses for 3 of us.Opening day,we had three bulls down by 7:30. We got back to camp at10:30 that night and packed the bulls out on the two horses the next two days and the camp the third day. So it can happen on a newbie's first trip . Be prepared for any eventuality.
