Pack-out calculator: trips, miles and hours to carry an animal out
The shot is the start of the work. Before you sit somewhere, know what it costs to carry an animal from there to the truck: how many loads, how many miles on your feet, and whether you finish in daylight.
How much meat to expect
The University of Wyoming weighed and boned hunter-killed elk and mule deer and found that about half of the field-dressed figure comes home as boneless meat when the carcass is kept clean. A meat locker handling 56 hunters' elk averaged 43%.
| Animal | Field dressed, pounds | Boneless meat, pounds |
|---|---|---|
| Bull elk, 5 years and older | about 505 | about 250 |
| Bull elk, 3 to 4 years old | 400 | 200 |
| Bull elk, 2 years old | 337 | 168 |
| Yearling bull elk | 280 | 140 |
| Cow elk, 3 to 4 years old | 329 | 164 |
| Cow elk, 5 years and older | about 357 | about 178 |
| Elk calf | 176 to 184 | 88 to 92 |
| Mule deer buck (average of six) | 114 | 55 |
| Mule deer doe (average of six) | 93 | 44 |
Field-dressed here means gutted, with the head and hide on and the lower legs off. The bulletin notes that a single animal can differ from its age class average by 20 pounds of meat or more. A big mule deer buck can run well over the average shown.
How the hours are worked out
- Unloaded, on a trail: 3 miles an hour, plus an hour for every 2,000 feet of climb. This is the old hillwalker's rule of thumb.
- Carrying a load: 2 miles an hour, plus an hour for every 1,500 feet of climb and an hour for every 3,000 feet of steep descent.
- Off trail, every leg is stretched by the ground you chose: about a third longer in open timber, most of double in deadfall or snow.
- Fifteen minutes is added at each end of every load for packing and resting.
These are planning figures for a fit adult, not a measurement of you. Tired legs, darkness, thin air and a heavy head and antlers all slow it further. If the answer is close to the daylight you have, treat it as too far.
What to do with the answer
- Decide before you sit. If a seat means four loads and nine hours alone, either bring help, plan to hang meat overnight in the shade and come back, or choose a nearer seat.
- Count the climb out, not the climb in. A seat far below the truck is easy to reach at dawn and hard to leave with a load at dusk.
- Cool the meat first. The elk the university tested still measured 88°F deep in the hindquarter on arrival, on days that reached 55°F. Get the hide off and the quarters apart and in the shade before the first load leaves.
- Know the meat rules. Colorado law makes it illegal to leave the edible meat of big game to waste. Leaving quarters because the carry is long is a violation, so the carry belongs in the plan.
Sources
- University of Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station (2003). The Elk Carcass, bulletin B-594R. wyoextension.org/agpubs/pubs/B-594R.pdf
- University of Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station (2003). The Mule Deer Carcass, bulletin B-589R. wyoextension.org/agpubs/pubs/B-589R.pdf
Have a tag for this fall?
Every FilledTag plan measures this for you: the miles and climb from each seat back to the truck, so you know what a shot there costs before you take it.