Easiest way to hang elk quarters on a solo hunt?

DavePwns

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I am planning an elk hunt in Sept, it's my first solo hunt in Idaho (archery). IF I am successful, after I get the quarters in the game bags, what's the best way to get the bags up in a tree high enough away from predators? I have 50 ft of paracord, would I need to cut it and have cord for each TAG game bag or somehow string them all together? Is hanging the meat really necessary as compared to just putting it on two parallel logs to cool? I feel like grizz bears would be able to get to the meat even if it was hanging 12 ft high. Or is hanging the meat more meant for improved airflow / cooling?

What is your experience? Any help or advice is welcomed as I want to minimize as much meat loss as possible
 

Brendan

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Easiest way is to bring a couple micro - pulleys and enough paracord. Secondary option build a pulley setup out of paracord and carabiners or links of chain or something like that. I know there have been a handful of threads on this in the past if you search, or maybe someone has a link. I have a small setup for this, but haven't used it.

Only Elk I've left the meat overnight, I personally got the meat 1/4 mile away from the kill / gut pile, and hung it in a stream bed with good air flow for the night. All of 4-5' off the ground and got it all out the next day.
 
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Are you sure there's gonna be grizz?
Its predators in general are always a concern but you can only do what you can do.
Are you talking hang at the kill site or at truck camp?
Will you have help?
Personally I wouldn't hang it if your talking kill site elk are heavy your gonna be worn out and idk if it needed. I mean it is better for cooling and predation protection.
At the kill site just get it skinned and quartered, find a shady spot and lay it across some limbs/logs for air flow. I'd leave the bone in on whatever your not taking that trip.
Then I usually leave whatever sweaty closes I can do without next to the meat and pee as much as I have around it.
I deff haven't had to deal with grizz.
But so far this has worked.
 

5MilesBack

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I tie paracord around the top of the bag and throw the other end over the branch or whatever I'm hanging on. Then lift the bag onto my shoulder and pull the cord tight. Then push the bag up further and pull, then tie it off. Repeat until done.
 

muddydogs

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I tie paracord around the top of the bag and throw the other end over the branch or whatever I'm hanging on. Then lift the bag onto my shoulder and pull the cord tight. Then push the bag up further and pull, then tie it off. Repeat until done.

What 5Miles said plus 50 foot of cord isn't going to cut it. Your most likely going to have 5 meat bags, if you pack out one and hang 4 50 foot of cord will only give you 12 foot per bag which isn't enough to throw over a limb 10 to 15 feet in the air and have enough to tie the line off to the tree.
 
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By the time your done quartering out solo you'll be so beat you probably won't even consider trying to hang meat high enough to keep away from predators. Id just hang off low tree branch or off side of fallen tree to drain blood. Leave a piece of clothing behind next to meat to keep predators away. You can pee around it as well.


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bsnedeker

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What 5Miles said plus 50 foot of cord isn't going to cut it. Your most likely going to have 5 meat bags, if you pack out one and hang 4 50 foot of cord will only give you 12 foot per bag which isn't enough to throw over a limb 10 to 15 feet in the air and have enough to tie the line off to the tree.

Agreed. I take 3 different types of cordage: about 50 ft of Paracord, about 50 feet of reflective guy line, and over 100 feet of tarred Bank Line. One thing I've never said while camping or hunting is "man, I have way too much cordage!"
 
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DavePwns

DavePwns

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Are you sure there's gonna be grizz?
Its predators in general are always a concern but you can only do what you can do.
Are you talking hang at the kill site or at truck camp?
Will you have help?
Personally I wouldn't hang it if your talking kill site elk are heavy your gonna be worn out and idk if it needed. I mean it is better for cooling and predation protection.
At the kill site just get it skinned and quartered, find a shady spot and lay it across some limbs/logs for air flow. I'd leave the bone in on whatever your not taking that trip.
Then I usually leave whatever sweaty closes I can do without next to the meat and pee as much as I have around it.
I deff haven't had to deal with grizz.
But so far this has worked.
I am thinking of hanging them a few hundred ft from the kill site, even though I'll be doing gutless method. And I won't have any help
 
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DavePwns

DavePwns

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I tie paracord around the top of the bag and throw the other end over the branch or whatever I'm hanging on. Then lift the bag onto my shoulder and pull the cord tight. Then push the bag up further and pull, then tie it off. Repeat until done.
Do you use 5 separate cords or 1 long one(and how long) ? And what are you tying to when you "tie it off"?
 

Felix40

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Use one cord per bag if you have enough.
Cut a branch about 4 feet long to push the bags up higher.
Then use the method 5 miles back is talking about.
 

5MilesBack

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Do you use 5 separate cords or 1 long one(and how long) ? And what are you tying to when you "tie it off"?

Depends how high I'm hanging it. Sometimes I just tie it around the top of the bag and tie a big loop and hang them on broken off limbs close to the tree. Just depends on the situation, and how much cord I'm carrying. I generally don't hang it that high, maybe 8-10 feet off the ground. Don't have grizzly's here, and the predators we do have generally won't touch it for at least a couple days with all the human scent. I usually carry around 100 feet of cord. It's light and takes up little space, but has many uses.
 

twall13

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I tried something new to me last year and it worked really well. I packed everything out in one day and wasn't worried about predators so getting it high in the tree wasn't a priority for me. If that is the case, this method works well to get the meat hanging to cool. Instead of using extra cordage I simply used the cord that cinches the bag closed on my game bags (Ovis sacks). The cord was plenty long to use a siberian hitch to tie it off. That's a simple quick release knot so it was easy to release when I was ready to load each game bag in the pack. Granted my elk was a small raghorn but it was pretty easy to lift the meat high enough to flip the cord over a branch and tie the hitch. That done I let the weight of the meat pull the hitch tight on the branch and I was good to go.

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pods8 (Rugged Stitching)

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I would at least try to hang it up off some branches whenever possible vs just laying on logs/bushes (which I've done when that was all that was around) because you never know when a damn fox will try and drag off the 1 game bag you laid on a log when tired after hanging the rest from branches...
 

Maverick940

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I would at least try to hang it up off some branches whenever possible vs just laying on logs/bushes (which I've done when that was all that was around) because you never know when a damn fox will try and drag off the 1 game bag you laid on a log when tired after hanging the rest from branches...

I hear that! One of my spring brown bear hunters lost the two backstrap of his black bear, to a wolverine that came by camp while we were packing his brown bear back to camp. Little rascals.
 

FLAK

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By the time your done quartering out solo you'll be so beat you probably won't even consider trying to hang meat high enough to keep away from predators. Id just hang off low tree branch or off side of fallen tree to drain blood. Leave a piece of clothing behind next to meat to keep predators away. You can pee around it as well.


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