how many trips?

[HiMtnHntr]

Do yourself a favor and bone out the meat. Take a small tarp on which to lay the meat and take some extra time to bone out the meat. It has to be done anyway, and bones are heavy.

 

[hobbes]

I could see one trip with a deboned deer if I was using a pack that would hold all of it inside and I didn't have a lot in my pack. I've strapped bags of jumbled meat to the outside of a pack before and it's a pain. If anything needs strapped on the exterior, I know I want it to have some structure.


I typically leave bone in and pack in two trips or sled in one, I prefer to hang and then process meat from the bone. My first preference would be to hang whole but that's rarely possible. I'm not deboning a deer unless I'm in a awfully tough place to get out of.

We did two miles in relatively flat ground, minus several coulees, in the snow this year with half a deer each, bone in. It wasn't a big bodied deer. Both had day packs, myself a Kifaru 14er and my son an older MR Longbow. On my own, I probably would have deboned and tried to carry it all because the two miles of snow sucked and I didn't want to go back and forth for the sled. If I'd been wearing my Metcalf, I'd have definitely done one trip deboned. A really big bodied deer would be a different story, at least for me. It wouldn't be the first time that I tried to carry too much a dumped half the pack after a couple hundred yards.

 

[sndmn11]

Damn, I thought I was good at Tetris but you packed that meat tighter than the core of a uranium pit mid implosion. With head and cape! Bravo, sir.

Meat shelves!

I did a whole bone in ram in a meat shelf this year for a couple miles. I split a whole bone in muley between the bag and meat shelf a few months later. (Downhill is also needed for me )

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[Foldem]

I packed my 2022 Colorado buck bone in down a steep, nasty avalanche chute with all my day hunt gear (spotter/tripod/food/etc) for about 750 yards in one trip to beat a thunderstorm to tree line. Granted, I'm in my 40's but I felt like I was on the verge of being unsafe and possibly blowing out a knee. Once I got it down to treeline I leap-frogged meat with camp a couple of miles in two loads and it was much more manageable.

My New Mexico buck was the same deal, but fully deboned and leap frogged about 3.5 miles but out of a canyon and up 1200'. No camp on that one.

Either one of those packouts would've trashed me if I tried to do it in one trip but I actually felt pretty good with two. I won't do one trip for more than a short distance anymore, I want to hunt this way for another 25+ years.

 

[Lytro]

I can't even fit a full deer in the pack I carry while hunting, unless I bone out all the meat. I always do two trips when hunting solo as I'm typically not in that big of a hurry. I lucked out this year and my wife was there on the packout for both this year. Elk on the other hand was 5 solo trips.

 

[204guy]

I don’t think I’ve ever done 2 trips for a deer. Probably done 15ish? solo. But like always it’s situational. Only 1 I can think of was deer plus camp otherwise all were day hunts though and mostly in high desert terrain. Also only 2 with a cape that’s also a game changer.

As for a whole quartered deer in a packs that’s pretty easy. Off the top of my head I’ve been able to do it with, 44 mag, 22 mag, reckoning, nomad, nomad 2, 4800 high camp, mountain warrior, Stryker, SG approach, SG 5900 and probably others. As an aside I’m very rarely as in never accused of being smart.

 

[Brettkazz]

We have always had a minimum of 2 guys at the deer. We do one trip with 2 guys comfortably. Maybe it's my ignorance but I have always thought I could do it in one trip without the cape. Granted, I haven't tried that yet. Distance and how much room in the pack is the question.

 

[Huntnnw]

I can do a deer in 1 trip unless its a super steep area and in a ways. I tried to 1 trip a deer outta hells canyon and ended up leaving half and coming back. I tripped a buck out of the book cliffs with camp over 6 miles and that might of been the worst pack out of my life

 

[jedi]

ive done it multiple times with varying sized deer. bigger bodied deer are a lot of work and probably better to take two trips, but sometimes i dont want to hike back in and just get through it in one.

 

[mtnwrunner]

One trip with no camp gear, with camp it's 2 trips. That being said, 2 trips would be the smart thing to do.
But I always ain't smart.

Randy

 

[j_volt]

On two occasions, I have packed out an eastern Montana mule deer buck in one trip. Noteworthy aspects:

• Not easy terrain (breaks), but nothing like the mountains
• Generally short trips (less than 2 miles out)
• Day hunting (no camp)
• Mature deer, but I assume mountain bucks are bigger
• No cape

I cannot imagine a need to take two trips in a situation like the above. Traversing that distance two extra times would feel like a waste. However, a big ol mountain bruiser + camp may be a different story.

 

[cowboy11]

For the majority of my hunting I've always drug out a deer after shooting. I'm thinking about going the the quartering route and packing it out. Is it possible to get a deer out in one trip? Two? How many does it normally take you?

2-3 for us

 

[eaglemountainman]

I'm 66 y/o. I decided a few years back that 60 - 65 lbs, or so, is about my load limit, for both comfort and safety. However many trips it takes, so be it.

 

[Carlin59]

Most CO deer come out in one trip, but haven’t had the pleasure of packing out a really large buck plus cape yet . Starting to plan more hunts around 2 trips per deer. Changes logistics a bit, but starting to think about the long term more often these days.

 

[trailblazer75]

I use a saddle and go in pretty light with a pack with high capacity (relatively). Its an eberlestock X2. I have a platform and 3 sticks. Inside is a kill kit with a set of black ovis game bags, a knife and sharpener, a small tarp, water and odds and ends. I've gone so far as 3 miles from the nearest road, killed and packed out all in one shot. I'll pack the bags in the shelf, strap the sticks and the platform to the outside of the bag and put my bow on my shoulders. Its tough, heavy and hard BUT its doable.

I use the gutless method taking quarters out whole on the bone, inside tenderloins, backstraps, neck meat and paunch/flank and away I go! I keep a niteyez gear tie to wind into the molle panels on top if I kill a back and lash the head to that. It's worked for me for 4 years.

 

[Shadow Walker]

Another vote for boning out the meat and getting a good backpack with a meat shelf. Getting it cooled down and cleanly off the bone quickly tends to improve my experience at the dinner table. Don’t hurt yourself trying to do too much. Trekking poles are game changers. Horses and sons make things a lot easier

 

[type2bowhunter]

With a large pack and if you debone you should be able to get the whole thing out in one trip if you're in relatively decent shape.

 

[Foldem]

With a large pack and if you debone you should be able to get the whole thing out in one trip if you're in relatively decent shape.

I think it really depends on where you are and what the terrain is like. Colorado has huge bodied bucks:

"Adult bucks normally weigh 121–331 lb, averaging around 203 lb"

If you are in relatively decent shape and come to Colorado and kill a big, old high country buck in September at 12,000' and expect to pack him plus camp out in one trip you might be in for a rude surprise.

 

[type2bowhunter]

I think it really depends on where you are and what the terrain is like. Colorado has huge bodied bucks:

"Adult bucks normally weigh 121–331 lb, averaging around 203 lb"

If you are in relatively decent shape and come to Colorado and kill a big, old high country buck in September at 12,000' and expect to pack him plus camp out in one trip you might be in for a rude surprise.

I concede to you. You are correct. If camp is included than yes, 2 trips minimum.

 

[Foldem]

I concede to you. You are correct. If camp is included than yes, 2 trips minimum.

Not trying to argue, just trying to save some mid westerner some pain and misery when they are (hopefully) successful.