Why Hire A Packer?
If you’re like me and my buddies you probably start planning your next years hunt as soon as you tie your tag on a set of antlers. So this year to help out my fellow hardcore hunters in that planning, I thought I would go over some questions I often get from guys in regards to hiring a packer.
Why would you pay for a drop camp as opposed to just hiking in on your own?
I think the question then would be how deep in to the wilderness do you want to go? Harvest is one thing, but packing an elk out is quite another. I want to stack the odds in my favor as much as possible, and in a wilderness setting that means staying mobile. A guy needs to be able to hunt where the elk are, not just where he can pack them out. Every hunter has the responsibility of insuring the animals they harvest make it out of the woods and in to the freezer, if you can’t do that you shouldn’t even be hunting there. Think about it wherever you shoot your bull, you will have to make three to five more trips with much heavier loads to get that animal out. If it’s hot you’ll have to accomplish this in a couple of days.
Why not just use your own horses?
Horses in my opinion are a huge waste of time if you trying to hunt. With only having a week to get the job done, I don’t want to spend my time doing things that don’t involve putting down a bull. If a guy has to always get back to his stock everyday to feed and water them, he’ll be getting in a whole lot of extra leg work, not to mention a lot less sleep if the intent is to hunt from daylight to dark.
How about just splitting the load between you and your buddy’s?
That would be cool for the guy that kills the bull; not nearly as cool for his buddies that have to waste the rest of their hunt packing it out. Let’s just suppose by chance you get it hauled out with few days left to hunt. Experience tells me your buddies probably won’t have the time or energy to do it again.
Over the years I have been fortunate enough to be involved in the harvest of many wilderness bulls by either myself, or friends. Without a doubt, a Drop Camp is the most effective way to hunt the wilderness. If hunting success is what you’re after, do yourself a favor and leave the packing to the packers so you can spend your time hunting. Del Sol has absolutely top notch packers. They have always exceeded my expectations, going the extra mile (or miles) to get the job done right allowing me to focus on the hunt.
Jeremy Johnson
Bowtech Pro Staff
