Thread: Be Honest - How do people carry out meat and large weight

Luckily I know a couple of ex cullers. The resounding theme is; unless your getting paid for them then don't carry them out whole if you want to hunt into your later years. This has served me very well.

I go for the gutless method wherever possible. Backwheels
, backstraps, shoulder provided it doesn't have a sierra through it.

The majority of my hunting is doc land and mostly done with a Tatonka stealth 35+10 pack which will fit 2 backwheels, backstraps into plus my other gear. It does it comfortably!. On the bigger trips the difference is I'll keep the hindquarters on the H bone and carry on top of my big 75L Bison.

One thing I've learnt in the last year is about being really careful with lifting as some are aware of my hernia from late last year so I'm fairly sure that's some of the wisdom comes with age stuff.

Put a dollar on the deer

Originally Posted by Bagheera

I usually only carry out boned meat from the back legs and backsteaks plus heart maybe tongue and a small piece of liver. Front legs are often shot and never yield much meat. Typically this is only 10kg from a red hind. My pack is 10-15kg incl rifle in summer. I recently carried 24kg plus rifle for 1 1/2 days and that was far too much. I weigh about 70kg.

Yes this is a scenario I was referring to. If I’m going to do a 3 day trip again and shoot a meat animal in day one, logistics seem to really come into it- esp sumner and heat.


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Originally Posted by RUMPY

First rule is don't measure yourself against Tasman from nz wild adventures on YouTube. Your pack and gear is a nice lightweight kit at that weight. Really depends on how far you have to walk and how many days you are out for. I don't carry anything more than about 35kg total. No use stuffing your back or knee over an animal that is already dead. If you carry as much as you safely can that's all that matters. If it's a day hunt and you can do more than one trip it's easier to get more meat out. Don't stress about what others think.

Um- whatever made you think I just watched one of Tasmans YT videos from 2 years ago (86 kg carry out!). I know that unreal and I won’t be doing that.
Multi day trips are a challenge though - it seems if you’re solo you have to leave meat on the ground or try bag some in a river close to your exit and return to pick up .


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Originally Posted by Mrfants

Yes this is a scenario I was referring to. If I’m going to do a 3 day trip again and shoot a meat animal in day one, logistics seem to really come into it- esp sumner and heat.


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I use a load shelf pack it was a kuiu now Stone Glacier they are awesome your meat stays separate from your gear.
I try to take out back legs while with skin on if I can but if I have a couple I'll bone out all legs and back steaks.
A lot of the time the pack ends up around the 40kg mark and I tell myself every time don't do it you stupid old shit.
But I hate wasting meat, now on the wrong side of 60 I have to listen to myself as the body doesn't like that amount of weight.

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Yeah interesting question, and great reading folks comments..
When I was younger used to just throw meat unboned back legs plus backsteaks in with all my other gear and stagger out on multi day trips.

Age plus health catching up on me now so gotta be more careful. These days I bone everything out. I generally hunt mostly the same places on multi day trips,, so have built up good knowledge of where deer seem to favour. Have several airtight 20 litre containers in bush in strategic places which permanently hold food, gas cannisters sleeping bag plus tent etc all year round.

Im looking at a 5-6hr walkout so if I whack a deer over bone meat,, and to drop weight I just leave as much gear behind as I can in my sealed containers to lighten load (spare clothes, binoculars, food, etc). Can be a week to couple months before Im back in there again hunting, so when going back in with a light pack I just top my pack up with gas cannisters plus food to replenish stashed supplies....

I'm about to start on the long road to lighter gear for this very reason, its going to be expensive and take a lot of time but has to happen, I'm only 62Kg so big weights are a thing of the past.

Im only 142kgs so I gota try and get lighter.But its hard when you 1.9 tall.lols Good job I walk up and down 2 flights of stairs twice a day=hill practice.

I carry as much as I feel like on an animal to animal basis.still got to enjoy the hunt so I’m not making it into a struggle.
Big fat stag or hind close to the bike I’ll go around the second rib and cut in half.
Get the front half if it’s a head or neck shot maybe else forget it.
Skinny bush deer I might not take anything.

As @Gamehunter stated, put a dollar value on it and you carry out whole animal less guts. No choice but to suck it up and carry the weight, hard on the body though. If meat hunting for self or charity bone everything out and carry out as much as I can handle on the day. If close to transport then take whole animal or at least back legs with skin on and bone in plus as much other meat as possible, I prefer to hang/age meat on bone. Sometimes means two trips, one for meat and another for gear. Coming up 64 so loads above about 40kg avoided as much as possible.

I bone it out. Last trip I carried 40kg all up and my boy carried 45 plus the rifle. I like to keep pushing myself. Last walkout took 3.5 hours. I wouldn't want to carry that sort of weight for too much longer though.

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

I'm about to start on the long road to lighter gear for this very reason, its going to be expensive and take a lot of time but has to happen, I'm only 62Kg so big weights are a thing of the past.

Similar situation, under 70kg. In the last 2 years, and knowing because of age that this will be my last round of outdoor gear purchases, I've gone through the process of replacing all the major items in my kit. The target was to halve the weight of everything (including the rifle). It's do-able for almost all items without sacrificing functionality. As for the additional weight of meat for the walk out, it certainly helps that the reds in the southern Ruahines are on the small side. Typical weight for boned back legs and steaks rarely tops 15kg. I keep to under 30kg for the walk out. The end result is that I'm still going in regularly, while every one of my hunting mates from our twenties have given it away.

My method, Lots of clean pillow cases for meat bags and a day pack big enough to pack it all in to.

Originally Posted by Gamehunter

Put a dollar on the deerAttachment 272918

NZFP swanni

Originally Posted by erniec

NZFP swanni

You got it

That was the only time I carried a deer tied to pack frame. I'd shot the deer the night before and a guy offered to give me a hand to get it out using his frame pack.
I normally pikaued deer (carried legs tied, neck up) and set deer are a bit tough to bend.
That pack near broke my back because as every step is a stop in forward motion the weight of the deer keeps going and near breaks your back at the kidneys.