Packing out meat

[Pheroze]

You can get Army bags (A-bag) we traveled with cheap from any Army Navy store. They are strong and have the ability to close and open easily, they have attached backpack straps and any veteran can tell you how much you can fit and carry. great to fill and hang to keep from bear and coyote. You can pack many into one and travel with and not too expensive if you destroy but can wash up after pretty well.

Are these the standard duffel bag type?

 

[Pheroze]

I read this several years ago: Where's the best place to shoot a moose? Near a forklift!

I have been on lots of hunts where we've packed out elk, deer, etc. Always preferred to have pack mules, horses or lots of friends. Have helped carry out a few on pack frames and it's a lot of work but doable.

A couple words of caution if you have to make multiple trips: Be aware of bears. You might pack out the first load or two and a local bear decides to make a meal out of your moose. I hunted with a guide in Alaska that had survived a bear attack while packing out a caribou. He was lucky to be alive. Also, be sure to check the hunting regs. Some places require you pack out all the meat first and the last trip is for the antlers and cape.

The bears are black bears and, while smaller, still have teeth, claws and a healthy appetite. We carry spray and I will be toting my 375.

I am thinking the plan is to quarter it and hang it away from the rest of the carcass. Then bone out a particular quarter and hump out the pieces load by load.

I will check the regulations. I suspect @nuval.J2711 will have to be the custodian of a set of genitals just in case the MNR asks. I think the law is he will have to keep them in his possession until he gets back to school...

 

[sierraone]

A few items/thoughts/crazy ideas that come to mind from some experience getting moose and elk out of the woods:

1) Heavy canvas game bags, not those skimpy cheesecloth bags. Hang the meat if you can.
2) Pack frame - this is a serious load and you'll want a proper one for distributing the weight
3) You'll likely need a friend to help get the pack on your back. While one is carrying a heavy load, the other should carry a less heavy load to help the other stay on their feet.
4) Numerous sharp knives and knife sharpener. Moose skin is thick and you'll definitely want to bone out the meat. The less time spent bent over the moose, the less wore out you'll be for the pack.
5) Parachute cord makes for great rope, is cheap and easy to carry
6) Bring at least one extra shirt. After you're done cleaning up the moose and ready to take the meat out change your shirt. Hang the sweaty shirt you were wearing from a tree branch.
7) Drink lots of water while cleaning the moose. After hanging the sweaty shirt take a leak several feet up a number of trees in a circle around the moose. I did this along with the shirt a number of years ago when I had to leave a mule deer buck for an entire day before getting a horse and extra hands in to get the buck out. Not a single coyote messed with that deer.
8) Small hatchet for splitting the thick pelvic bone and sternum. Again less time bent over the moose the better.
9) If possible, get a couple of those cheap plastic sleds the kids use in the winter. If the ground is not too rocky or uneven you might be able to drag the meat in this manner. If you put a hole or two in them, so what.
10) Cabelas and other outdoor stores sell what equates to a wheel barrel of sorts for getting game out.
Perhaps this will work in the terrain you're in?

I did this 25 years ago, but we used cheese cloth to wrap the meat at that time. Why is cheese cloth no longer recommended? (Not that I'm ever going to do that again!)

All I can think of past quads and horses.

 

[Pheroze]

Oh boy, change of plans! from the regulations :

Any moose killed must be transported and produced whole or in identifiable quarters at a registration station.

In the case of a moose produced in quarters, the hunter must also produce and make accessible the full head , failing which, he must produce and make accessible the full lower jaw and, in the case of a male, the antlers attached to the calvarium or to a part thereof.


OK, so I think I am opting out of the "transported and produced whole" idea.

 

[Clayton]

Good thing you checked this ahead of time. I've been told Alaska has some strict regulations about moose and the "field dressing & transportation". Maybe a visit with the local warden(s) can shed some light that would keep you from cancelling your plans.

 

[David Middleton]

Are these the standard duffel bag type?

Yes the old ones they are a little smaller than the giant ones that the seem great until they are packed they are pretty unruly.

 

[G Skinner]

@G Skinner pm me the name and number for the fella with the helicopter please I think it's the least you can do since you are one of those people who are feeding @nuval.J2711 addiction to fancy and expensive bows

ONLY TRYING TO HELP !................. LOL !
Stay within 100 yards of the waterways.... chainsaw and a come along ...you'll be fine .....Any further and Nuval will know better than to do that again !!!!!!!!!! I hope ? LOL !
Glen

 

[CAustin]

You can get Army bags (A-bag) we traveled with cheap from any Army Navy store. They are strong and have the ability to close and open easily, they have attached backpack straps and any veteran can tell you how much you can fit and carry. great to fill and hang to keep from bear and coyote. You can pack many into one and travel with and not too expensive if you destroy but can wash up after pretty well.

Outstanding idea David!

 

[CDorroh]

I don't have experience with moose, but do have some experience packing out elk. My 2 cents: don't overload yourself on trips out. It's easier to make more trips carrying loads you can handle than it is to make fewer trips attempting to pack loads that are too big.

 

[JimP]

I would at least talk to the local game warden and the people at the check in station and ask them how to get a moose out in 3 or 4 pieces from the area that you are going to be hunting.

They just may have a solution to it as far as presenting the moose to be checked in.

 

[thi9elsp]

I have never hunted a moose. My brother has. When I talked to him about my thinking about hunting a moose, this was his recommendation:

"Go to a farmer and buy his bull. Shoot it at least 200 yards from the nearest road. Quarter it and pack it back the two hundred yards to the truck. If you enjoy that, then go moose hunting!"

 

[Pheroze]

I would at least talk to the local game warden and the people at the check in station and ask them how to get a moose out in 3 or 4 pieces from the area that you are going to be hunting.

They just may have a solution to it as far as presenting the moose to be checked in.

I have found the folks where we get the tags to be very friendly, so I will certainly touch base with them. I hope (fear?) we will forever be known as those idiot Anglos who killed a Bull miles from anything. Payment to those who help is done in Moose meat.