I am now leaning heavily towards hunting unit 78 in CO next fall for elk. My question is does anybody on here know of an outfitter or anybody out in that region that would pack out elk if I am to get one? I'm wanting to backpack in on my own and everything, but if I am to go 5-6 miles or more in on foot with no horses, I'm not sure that I would be able to get a whole elk out in a timely manner without some pack horses. Any help or info. would be appreciated. Thanks
I would start making phone calls to local outfitters in the area until you can compile a list of several guys with mules. After that, make concrete plans with more than one of them to be ready to pack for you, never know their personal schedules on any given day. If your 5-6 miles in you will definitely need mules. There is no way you will get one out alone. To be perfectly honest, if your 5 miles deep to get into elk your working too hard. Will this be your first elk hunt?
In my opinion. I would stick to prime areas within a few miles of the road. If possible, test out ALL of your camping gear prior to the trip, it has to be flawless. http://parallel46.com/2012/03/11/scouting-for-elk-maps/ Here is a link to an article I wrote for our blog. It mostly scratches the surface on looking for areas but gives hand to a solid start. Feel free to PM as I would be more than willing to help you in any way I can.
Yeah I am planning on testing all my new gear before I go hunting. I am getting the badlands sacrifice pack and the whole badlands line of clothing. I hope this will be adequate. I was thinking it would take at least 5 miles in to get away from the crowds. I just want a quality experience more than anything.
Are you taking a frame pack? The sacrifice will not handle much more than 60#'s per trip, unless you plan on solely relying on horses or mules.
I will only be able to hunt for about 5 days. I was thinking 3500 cubic inches would be enough for that amount of time. Do you think that will have enough room in it?
3500 will be enough, depending on your gear. You will need the lightest and smallest you can find, and you will have to utilize the outside straps for your bulky stuff ( sleeping bags, bivy, coats, etc...) When I get home tonight I will make a small write up on how I pack my Sitka Bivy 30 which is almost identical to your Sacrifice. My main concern I was originally trying to express was meat hauling capabilities. The sacrifice is just not a meat hauler. If it were me I would not do a traditional bivy hunt. More along the lines of dropping your gear off at a given point, a spike camp. Hauling a 50+ pound pack around for days is going to be miserable. Water is another concern. You need to have water available in your area that you can filter. Packing that much water is not feasible.
I've hunted unit 78 a few different times (the NW portion of it) and it can be some rugged country. We would always have a basecamp and then would spike camp for 3-4 days about 5 miles in from our base. Though we were only a mile from a road, we ended up 5 miles from our base camp in order to get behind some private property. I shot a cow 5 miles in and had two other guys with me to help me get it out with frame packs We made it out in one trip but each of us had 75-80 pounds of meat on our backs. I shot her in the evening and it was warm so the three of us spent an hour or two that night quartering her up, the next morning we spent a couple hours boning the meat out and until mid afternoon getting her the five miles out. I cant imagine doing something like this by myself and if I had, I would have been looking at 4-5 trips and more than 1 day because each haul would be 10 miles round trip. I just can't stress enough how much work is really involved if you can't find mules. Just be aware and be physically prepared before you dive into it. If you choose to go it alone, much of that area has streams in it and I would pack some contract grade grabage bags to put your elk meat into and you could seal it up and set it into some creeks to help cool it while your working. There are a number of elk and cat outfitters based from Pagosa Springs that you could check into for mules. I would bet the Pagosa Chamber of Commerce has options for you. Here is my load for one trip that day. Its like a redneck pack train!
Well my plans are a little different now. There will be 4 of us going on the hunt instead of just 1. We are going to pack in at least a few miles and set up a camp and spread out and try to hunt from there. In your guys' opinions, do you think this will be my best option? I have been trying to contact outfitters in the region but nobody has answered yet. I think I will try the Pagosa Chamber of Commerce and see what they have to say.
Call "The Buck Stops Here" http://meat-shops.cmac.ws/the-buck-stops-here-fresh-meat-market-game-processing/2275/ They probably know a bunch of outfits willing to horse out quarters.
