As a backcountry hunter, I love the land, crave solitude and respect the animals that call the mountains home, both before and after the kill.
The responsible mountain hunter takes care of their harvest, ethically and efficiently. In my mind, we owe it to the animal and the honored tradition of hunting. I have packed animals out of the hills from in "deep" on my back, with my llamas, with a packstring or depending on where I am hunting, sometimes even in a boat or bush plane. Regardless of the method used to get the meat from the field to the freezer, this video illustrates the basic guidelines I use for breaking my trophy down. In regard to backcountry hunting and meat salvage, above all, know your limitations and have a plan!
For more tips, check out my book, Backcountry Bowhunting, A Guide to the Wild Side, specifically, pages 137-142, where I delve into this topic in detail.
You can achieve your dreams…keep hunting hard, Cam
75 comments
I have been hunting with a bow for about 3 years now. I am in good enough shape to handle a 5 or 6 day DYI hunt and usually go out for 3 days at a time solo. My question is: How far will you go out before you call a Packer? I know you have hunted with Lammas and horses in the past, and you use a Packer sometimes too. You hunt in one of the roughest parts of Oregon, and I try to get in as deep as I can, but get a little concerned with getting the animal out on my own. I believe I will get an elk on the ground this year and need to be prepared. How do you get started with a packer? I have my own horse but there is no way I’m riding that thing into the wilderness, I’m just not that interested in chasing it all around the woods.
Thanks for the help, the book and being a great role model for other bow hunters like myself
Todd
Great video, thanks. Also, the Colorado Division of Wildlife produced a very nice, detailed video of boning out an elk.
Cam, Great video. The video the Colorado Division of Wildlife produced is called Down to the Bone. You can find it on their web site for around $15.00. Check it out if you get a chance.
My buddy Mike sent me and email after watching the meat care video asking what I did will all the gear I had in my pack before it was full of meat and how hard it was to clean the pack after getting it all bloody? Good questions. After killing the buck and gutting it, I packed out, drove home and got Tanner (my oldest) so he could come back in and film the break down process for me. He wore an empty Badlands pack in and hauled my gear out in it. It amounted to only about 15 lbs. of stuff. This was just a day hunt. If he wouldn’t have been there I just would have put my stuff in a plastic garbage bag (I always have one just for this reason) and lashed in on top of the meat. So far as clean up…I have found that if I wash the pack immediately after the pack out, with warm water, it cleans up real nice like. If you wait and the blood dries and rots…you will have stink problems. Granted, there is a lot more to the meat care process than what I am able to show here but this is a good start. I will build on it. Cam
Great video. I do a lot of hunting alone in some deep wilderness (Hell’s Canyon) and have often wondered about what I was going to do if I ever got anything! Usually we have mules and stuff at camp, but on the occasions that I’ve gone in there alone and bivouacked, I’ve not had a plan – this gives me a good place to start…and one thing I know right off is I need to lighten my load of “stuff.” Always good to see another Oregon boy succeeding! Keep up the good work – you’re an inspiration to us all!