Congrats on the excellent hunt!

Great story and good pictures.

A practical question Sam, what do you do with an animal down, and you're so far from home? Do you take it to a local locker to be cooled, then butchered. I read that you were a 16 hour drive from home, so I'm curious how you handle the meat to keep it good.

Sg

Great story, Sal...I can't believe how much that little kid has turned into a young man before our eyes, thanks to the pics you post of him as he grows up as an outdoorsman!

Fish on...

Todd

To all, thanks for the kind words, all of you.

As far as the meat question Salmo, I've been a butcher for over 30 years and can take apart an animal very quickly.
The warm afternoons are a challenge, but the evenings cooled down to 29 degrees.
I disassembled the animal quickly to begin the cooling process.
We didn't have quite enough game bags on this trip (my error) so we packed the exposed shoulders first, the hide was left on the hinds and laid face down on a tarp at the kill site until we could return.
I had three big coolers at the truck with ice blocks in the bottom .
We packed the bulk of the meat in two trips.

We were hurtin after four miles of real heavy loads.

Getting to the truck on the final evening load, we both were gagging from extreme exhaustion.
I took a drink of diet Coke and immediately puked it up with a spew of brown foam.
Thomas was laughing hysterically until he started heaving too.

Funny, I get that gaggy feeling when I am at the limit of my physical capabilities.
I packed Thomas' big Wyoming mule deer in one load and barfed at the end too.
The kid gets a good laugh at me and now always stands clear asking ...you aren't gonna puke are you?

Anyway, if you can lay all of the meat on a tarp and let that cool night air cool it off, it will be very well chilled in the morning.
If in bear country, hang sweaty socks & shirts and urinate around the perimeter to lay down heavy human scent, this can most of the time work very well to ward off unwanted intruders.
Wake up early before the flies wake up, put the meat in an ice chest or even inside good sleeping bags to insulate it and rush to the nearest Safeway, which sometimes is many, many miles away.
When I opened my ice chests at Safeway, the meat was still very cool to the touch.
Buy five or six blocks of dry ice (for an elk), wrap it in towels or shirts and top your meat in the ice chests.
Upon returning home the meat will be nearly frozen in most cases with ice crystals forming in it.
This has worked very well for me over the years.

Sorry to rattle on guys but I'm still high from the trip.
I might puke from this much typing......

Best of the season to you guys......
Sal & Son

Excellent story!!

No doubt Thomas is life times ahead of most kids his age with all the successes he's had! Way to go dad!

Keith

Sal,

Interesting details (maybe excluding the puking) that help me understand the story. I haven't hunted since I was in my first year of college, and then I still hunted in back of my home. Just dragged my deer down the hill and up to our barn to skin, cool, and butcher, so I've never known what and how one has to plan and act when a long ways from home. Thanks for the info. It gives a sense of what you guys were up against.

Sg

Sal & Thomas, Great Hunt you two! Thanks a ton for taking the time to do a writeup and share pictures. Awesome stuff for sure!
A good friend and coworker just got back from NM as well and was lucky enough to find a 345 5 point that had 8" of broken main beam, on a guided hunt. I've never seen the guy on such a high and I've known him for years and through many hunts. I can only imagine how you two feel...and further, how proud you must yourselves and each other for the accomplishment.
Good on you two for DIY in a far away land, nothing else like it IMO.

Sal and son thats got a nice ring to it.As allways your adventures are something I look forward to Once agin thanks for sharing .You guys are Quite the team .

Frank