Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska **How far would you pack a Moose, solo?**

Standard moose country, nothing special. Just tundra, chest high willows, some wet stuff. How far from alternate transportation, other than your back, would you be willing to kill a moose?<P>I'm gonna say, my extreem range is gonna be 1 mile. That only if it is a very nice moose, I've been hunting hard and found nothing closer, I can be pretty sure the meat will be in good condition still, and have two days to pack it. If I can do 1 mph, with 100 lbs of boned meat on my back, 3 mph empty, 10 min. to secure the load, 90 min. per round trip. Lets call it ten trips, to be safe (remember, he's a monster!), thats 15 hours of HARD work, not including rest stops! Maybe I don't wanna carry him that far after all...How 'bout you?<P>John

I'd rather try riding him. <BR>Seriously, though, I'm thinkin' about half that distance, and with a partner or 2 or 3! My rule of thumb is that a hunt must be at least 2/3 fun, not more than 1/3 drudgery, or I may as well burn my vacation days elsewhere.

Well I never shot a moose but the way you all describe it I think I would just camp there untill I ate the durn thing up.<BR>BCR

By myself?? I'd say about a 10inches,,of course if I sixteenthed it , that would make things easier,,Just kidding, I would definitely get some help. I have never been able to hunt moose, but I've run into them before and they are friggin huge!!! maybe in a pinch I could do a mile of flat terrain. But I would think that even gutting one would be alot of work alone. Tough question. It seems that we do what we need to do when we need to do it,,BEARHUNTER

I agree with the mile limit. Make a travois (or whatever its called) and off you go. Even with friends its not easy.

Solo? Never. With a couple of friends? Maybe 100 yards. The problem is when you return to the kill site after the first trip to the truck. You never know who or what will be there when you return.<P>I already know how that feels, because two of my hunting partners have accomplished that at least once each. One of them had to skin and quarter a moose in the dark by himself, while there were bears nearby. The other one packed his moose about a mile and took all day. They both tell me they would never do it again.<P>Nowadays we hunt together, and help each other whenever one kills a moose. We even get the ATV's right next to the moose, and use the winch to roll it on its back. One trip in, one trip out.<P>A few years back it took two of us from 10:00 to 3:00 to skin and quarter a large moose. By then it was so dark we had take the meat and hang it across from our tents. <p>[This message has been edited by Ray (edited May 16, 2001).]

Any one who kills a moose and knowling that he will have to pack it out a mile by him self is plain nuts.I moved one around 300 yards some 25 years ago not a big bull but a good sized one took me most of a day. One thing you must be aware of that moose country is also bear country. What do you have on your back? Raw bear attractant. packing a large load and a rifle by ones self is no fun. Best to have help especially in willows those large fuzzy meat eaters can move through that stuff like a ship parting the waves. A mile is a tough if not impossible pack for the average guy. For a major big bull well...<P>Bullwnkl.

Since my limit on packing a Moose with 2 of us is 1 mile I would have to say under 1/2 half mile by myself. I still have a vivid memory of the first time I was hunting with a good friend and we were both real greenhorn Cheechackos and we killed 2 big bulls at the same time just shy of 5 miles in. It took 3 days of packing and building 2 meat racks, one back at the truck and another about 100 yards from the kill. We were both soooooo sore with a good case of shin splints each when it was over. We hung around for another day after that so we would be rested up enough to drive the 4 hours home. After that I set the 1 mile rule for 2 hunters! Most solo Moose came from my back yard where I could just put the quarters in the back of my pick up backed into the field behind the house.<P>------------------<BR><B>"Old dogs never die, we just get meaner!"</B>

Having moved many moose for many miles, and having put quite a few pieces of moose meat on a scale, thought you might be interested in some weights.<P>Alaska dept of fish and game ran around some rivers in the interior of the state with a tripod and scale, weighing as many moose as possible. The largest average weight they found for mature bulls was in the charley river where they ran 1700# on the hoof. That was 200# higher than the second highest drainage, and likely an anomaly. <P>Now for some of the rules of thumb I have found through actual weighing on a true steelyard. They hold true for most game species, also.<P>Total weight of boneless meat will weigh 40% of live weight.<P>Each skinned hind quarter, disarticulated at the hip socket and cut off at the hock will weigh 10% of the live weight of the animal.<P>A shoulder with brisket attached weighs about 10% less than a hind quarter from the same critter. This does not include the ribs, of course.<P>Neck-boned out, backstraps and tenderloins weigh about 10% less than a shoulder. <P>Having weighed many deer of 4 varieties, moose, caribou, dall sheep, goats, and bison, I have found these numbers to be remarkably reliable, across most of these species. Mountain goats have been the least like these numbers, they have ridiculously dense and large bones, large shoulders, but not under-sized hind quarters. They are bigger than most people realize.<P>What it comes down to, is that a big bull will weigh 1700# and each hind quarter will be a 170# pack.<P>Yearlings will run about 200#, boned weight, or 500# on the hoof. There is a point where it makes sense to remove all bone.<P>As to how far I'll pack one; if the beach and the bull are both in the scope at the same time, he's going down.<BR>art<P><P>------------------<BR>Life is too short to hunt with an ugly gun.

Perhaps it would be a good idea for someone thinking of this to actually put on a pack frame with an imitation load of moose meat and actually see how far you are willing to pack it. If a person only wants, or is capable of, carrying a single 70 pound load for a mile or two then the chances of moving a whole moose any great distance is suspect. <P>I packed an elk about 5 steep miles in 5 days and that was about all I could do in the shape I was in at that point in time.<P>If in doubt, put on a pack and actually find out!<P>Cheers,<BR>BH

The furthest I would pack solo would be a few hundred yards. An exception would be the winter hunt when there is snow. My last one was about 1/2 mile from my transportation and I used a sled to pull the boned meat. I'll admit that after the first few loads I was pooped. I was on snow shoes but with the added force of the sled I kept breaking through until I had a path beaten down. I was lucky, the bull died near enough some trees that I could use my come-a-long to move it as I needed. The more I remember, the more likely it is that I won't hunt solo anymore. I'm tired just thinking about it.<BR>batch

On my first Alaska hunt in 1989, a float hunt, my partner and I made the huge mistake of dropping two bulls together about two miles from the river..<P>I decided after that hunt I would hunt moose with no less than four guys and would not shoot anything that far off the river again..<P>Years ago , an older aquaintance of mine told of going on his first ( and maybe ONLY) moose hunt..<P>He said.... " We were having a GREAT time hunting..And then some dumb SOB shot a MOOSE"....... ..........

A good size moose? Not very dam far for a couple of reasons 1) a mile on the map is a helluva lot farther, in the field, when you consider the ducking bushes, swatting skeeters and lifting your feet up out of the wet stuff and 2) if it is too far the odds of losing the meat to a predator goes up. A friend of mind shot a big moose and packed out one load. Spent the night and when he went back, in the a.m. a brown bear sow and two two year old cubs had found a home on the carcass. They had dam near eaten the rest of the moose by the time he returned.pak

Packing a Moose out on your back????<BR>What the hell for. In this neck of the woods we skin the animal, and remove the hinds at the hip sockets. Remove the shoulders/front legs, bone the neck and ribs, remove the backstraps and tenderloins. We drag it out on 7 feet calf sleds, available at your local co-op or United farmers of Alberta or where you are may be the United Farmers of Alaska or something like that.<BR>Those hard plastic sleds with 3-4 inch standing edges, hold entire deer, blackbears or moose and elk parts without anything dangling over the sides. They slide great over dead leaves, deadfalls, dry grass, snow or hard ground. It pulls way easier then backpacking. We keep the sleds at the vehicles, pick them up after the kill, and sled the meat to the nearest trail where a quad or vehicle can go. After that the loaded sled can be pulled by the loaded up quad to the truck, saving a trip or two. Before sledding,all the meat is carefully wrapped in sacks to keep debris of it. Give those large calf sleds a try, you will not often use any more pack frames after.

Shrike....<P>Sounds great...<P>Now if I can only figure out how to fit a 7 foot sled in a supercub....... ......<P>Actually, I'm not trying to be a smarta$$..It sounds like like a great option if you can afford the weight/bulk of the sled, which would be most any hunt except those involving small airplanes...

I have yet to kill a bull, but just crunching the numbers, not that far! I don't anyone that would pack a moose solo 1 mile, as that really is 10 miles with a 70+# pack. I went hunting via canoe last fall, and got back a few lakes and came upon some fresh sign. Even with the canoe to drag the meat over the two portages, and assuming 2 loads, I decided that if I saw a legal bull I wouldn't shoot. Fortunately I didn't have to make the decision for real.<P>If you wonder why calling is so popular, its not strictly to get a moose, but to get the moose where you want to shoot it.

Ok, I gotta agree with you. I wouldn't pack one a mile even with help! Not even the new world record! I've packed some moose, in some rough country, but driving up to them is the way to go. I just wanted to see what ya thought.<BR>John

Yep, Pygmy,<BR>that would be tough trying to fit it in a super cub. Actally the whole sled weighs less then 10 pounds,about 2.5 feet wide and is of course flat bottomed. Still, will not do in your airplane. Too bad, since it is a great tool.

The only moose that I ever killed was on a fly in trip in Northern Ontario. I am not a moose-weight-estimating expert but I would believe that he would go maybe 1000 pounds or so. Anyway I was unfortunate enough to shoot him so that he fell in about mid-thigh deep water. Fortunatley we were able to bring the boat right up to him. Based on how tired I was after just quartering up and loading the meat I would not enjoy packing one out from any distance!

J,<BR>I would pack it alll the way to the photo lab at wal Mart. yea take a camera take the picture and then pack the film to the lab. just think if you are that far out there, film with a big moose on it will still only eigh a few ounces. just joking, only wanted to make a joke.<BR>seriously I would carry it a far as I had to to get it back home, If I think I can't, than I would not even shoot it. the easiest way is to cut the legs off at the knees and then, cut out the ribs, debone the sob and put it in a big bag that can be carried or dragged without tearing.canvass works great.<BR>86