Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting How do you pack out an elk head on a horse without stabbing them in the flank?

Okay, as a flat lander I know near nothing about horses only that they are darn handy for getting elk meat back to camp. The rancher with the horses tied up that one in my signature picture, but I'm amazed that horse didn't get spiked by an antler. It happened on another one I got and turned real bad when the horse went ballistic, bucked and came down on my hunting buddy with half the elk in the panniers.

Don't put the horns near the flank.......

Didn't you just use a unicycle?

Tie a pole across the back of the rack and tie the head up by the pommel or on the front of your panniers. The crossbar will hold the rack up above the level of the rump and/or flanks.

The pole across the rack is a good way. Joe backs book Horses Hitches and rocky trails illustrates a few other ways. A lot of times we pack the head ourselves until it looks safer to put it on the pony or mule.

It takes a gentle one sometimes, they tolerate the prodding.

no flanks were tickled...... THIS time.

Even if you just tie a piece of webbing or cord between the last branches of the beams it will prevent the rack from straddling the horse.
Any fixing that you do on the beams is going to give far more control than securing the skull portion.

1. Only shoot big wide Bulls
2. Cape the head, roll it up, and put it on the other mule with the hind quarters
3. Drape the huge horns over the mule with the skull between the bucks, nose up, top of head facing back.
4. The panniers on the mule should have the front quarters and steaks
5. Tie a good diamond
6. Head back to camp.


No sticks, twine or other crap necessary. And for dang sure don't be carrying anything when there are horses around to do it.

Couple pics in the link
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/12359382/packing-elk

How do you sit on it and pedal with it all loaded up like that?

How about some unloaded pics when you get time.......

We always hunted the last Colorado season and there was usually snow, so a horse always worked better than a wheel. I did use that same principle to modify my backpack for deer hunting though. I had an old wheelchair where the big wheels went on my deer cart and one of the little front ones got mounted on the bottom of my pack frame. It works great over frozen ground like a wheelbarrow when my back gets tired.

That was a big open area where I caught that last bull out in the open, so I guess we should have brought an antler support pole with us. That is when I knew that I had a tough buddy. That horse bucked and came down with it's front feet on Tom's chest. 10,000 feet and thin air, no cell coverage and maybe a collapsed lung, but for sure multiple broken ribs. He was hurt badly, but he did make a full recovery thankfully. Gasping for breath up on that mountain, I thought that horse might have killed him. Be careful out there.

This is how I do it also.

KC

Years ago I tried the method of letting the antlers lay down on each side of the pack horse, behind the panniers. Disaster struck when we had to go around tight switch back.One tine gouged the horse's flank and a rodeo insued with an injured horse. No sense in not taking precautions and keep those tines away from the horse's body. Smaller raghorns might call for a different approach ,but a big 5x or 6 x, the limb across the 4th or 5th tine,resting on the rear of the saddle pads or some other padding and tied down securely to the saw buck or deckers works well. The limb resting right on the horse's or mule's hip might sore it up.Different folks pack antlers differently. Do what works for you.

I haven't packed out large elk antlers with my llamas but I have experimented with a mounted set to find out the best way to do it. I found that the best way is pretty much what has been said here - tie a limb to the beams so it rests on the back of the saddle, then tie it down very well so it doesn't slip.
There is one issue with llamas that you might not have with horses or mules. They're social animals that like to be together. If you get to a wide place on a trail or road, the back ones will move up along side ones in front. That can cause a problem with pointy things sticking out to the side. I would put the antlers on the last llama in the string to keep that to a minimum.

I totally agree with saddlesore. To injure a mule over a rack..........is not a very wise decision.

Different ways for sure.

We aren't injuring our mules though. And small racks will need a different method. I've packed out raghorn racks turned 90 degrees.

Just for some background. The guy on the left in one of the pics is 72. He's been outfitting and packing elk out of the Teton wilderness for 40 some years.
We've packed a few elk over a few miles.

I also get to see several other outfitters packing elk. I don't think I've ever seen one tying the stick on a rack.

I see hunters do it and it's always how they do it in the magazine pictures. I wonder why. Packing also tends to have regional differences so maybe that is part of it.

Lots of the guys in Idaho want to wrap everything up in a Christmas present before they even put it on a mule.

frigging Decker guys, anyway.....grin

We've rented horses in the past and were told not to pack horns on the horse for fear of the horse getting stabbed, we obliged.

I just got Joe Backs original " the packers bible" has a picture page 72. I don't know the photo process. I could text or email some one if they wanna help illustrate. Thanks