Elk Hunting By Yourself

     Elk hunting by yourself is never an easy task. The worst part of elk hunting alone is packing your animal. I know from experience packing an elk out is a lot of work. It is definitely worth the time to de-bone the animal. De-boning the animal allows you to pack out the animal in one or two trips instead of multiple trips. By de-boning an elk you’re looking around two trips, taking everything but the rib meat. Half of an elk deboned will weigh anywhere from 90- 130 lbs so two trips is a lot of work but very doable. 

     The other difficult task while elk hunting by yourself is taking a long shot and finding your elk. It is very common that when recovering your elk you are going to lose a visual that is if you even had one to begin with. Elk are commonly shot on a steep slop where you are shooting from the bottom of a hill or across a drainage. Knowing where the elevation of the elk and the exact location is very difficult. If you do make a long shot while elk hunting by yourself make sure you have plenty of daylight to find it. Before you recover your elk look for distinct landmarks that are close to the elk. If you have flagging, flag the location you shot from so you can range back to the location you shot from. This ultimately will always find your elk.