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Here is some video showing the sleds in action hauling Dallen's cow elk off the mountain in December of 2010.
Our family prefers elk meat to beef and I have been fortunate to often draw late cow tags. My brother and friends have also drawn tags throughout the years so I have also been involved in helping them get their cow elk off the mountain. All in all I average assisting in hauling three cow elk a year out on foot. For years we tried a variety of methods, dragging, quartering, various sled types and calling in horse support. I needed to find a DIY way to haul an elk out in one trip, without needing to ask for help.
Sleds offered my best option as long as there was snow. I tried the roll-up variety one year. They were easy enough to carry around while hunting tied to my pack but they were horrible at keeping the meat bags on the sled unless I was on a nice flat trail. One year we used a long plastic toboggan style sled. Again this sled worked great as long as you were on a nice flat trail. The toboggan kept tipping overcoming out the bottom of a steep canyon and when we had to go around sidehills. This sled is also a pain to haul in as you have to drag it wherever you go which, also makes a lot of noise in the process. I tried saucer sleds one year and liked them for their ease in carrying strapped to the back of my pack. I also liked hauling the boned out meat in my meat bags with them. But again I had issues with going around steep sidehills as the bags of meat could not be tied in well enough to keep them on the saucer.
The following year I was back with the saucers but this time I had modified the sleds so I could run chord back and forth across the top of the sled creating a web over the meat. I could also tie two sleds together forming a clam-like dish that could flip over and be pulled with either side down. At first I thought that I would need the two sleds tied together to go around steep sidehills but, with the saucers being round and with the low center of gravity they just don't flip over. They will slide around just about anything. This system has worked great.
I now stack a couple of these saucers on my back and away I go. With the saucer sleds, my meat bags and a few hour's time to bone out the elk, I can hunt just about whenever and wherever I want with the confidence that I can get an elk out without the need of friends and/or horses.
Here are some notes on how I made and use my meat saucers while hunting.
- Heating up a nail I melt holes around the outer rim of the sled.
- I weave parachute cord or shoelaces around the rim of the sled.
- I take several canvas meat bags to place the meat in.
- After placing the bags on the sled I then weave chord back and forth across the bags creating a web to hold the bags on the sled.
- I stack a couple of sleds together and tie them to the back of my pack while hunting.
- A small cow or calf can easily fit on one saucer sled. I generally take two saucers per elk that I or my group could possibly be bringing off the mountain that day.
- I take my time and bone out the elk properly getting all the meat.
- I make sure I have a headlamp or two with extra batteries and good technical hunting clothing so I can take my time coming out in the dark if necessary.
- I use at least a half-inch diameter rope or a one-inch flat rope for the handle area that I hold to pull with.
- I don't wrap the rope around my hands in case the meat decides to pull me down the mountain I won't get drug with it.
- If I need to pull two sleds I create a "train" by tying saucers together.
- I use caution and take my time in steep terrain.
Now if I could just get saucer sleds in white and hunter orange-colored varieties.
My son Dallen in 2010 pulling a Meat Saucer Sled filled with his boned out cow elk meat.
Meat Saucer Sleds filled with Dallen's 2010 boned out cow elk ready to be hauled off the mountain.
A couple of Meat Saucers and two sizes of my homemade big game meat bags. I like to have at least six large bags and two or three smaller bags per elk. I use smaller bags for the tenderloin and back straps.
This photo shows a small 5 Point Bull elk boned out and hanging in my homemade DIY Heavy Duty Canvas Big Game Bags. Boned out meat in breathable canvas meat bags helps the meat cool faster buying time, keeping it from spoiling. In 2011 I found some manufactured big game bags that although not as rugged they should work even better at keeping the meat from spoiling.
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Just after Dallen shoots his first cow elk, using my A-Bolt Stainless Laminate in 243 WSSM.
Dallen and I both had late cow tags this year. After we struck-out with our rifle deer tags we were really hopeful for a little redemption by filling our cow elk tags. I would be testing a new 270 WSM, 140g AccuBond load out with my Winchester Model 1885. I spent a good couple of weeks tweaking the load and shooting group after group. I finally narrowed my load down to the best sub inch consistent shooting load.
The 28 inch barrel of this rifle is pushing the 140g AccuBond bullet 3540 fps. Oh yeah, a cruise missile. If you want a pick up a lot of speed try a 28 inch barrel out for size. With this rifle being a single shot there isn't a large amount of the overall length taken up by the action. Thus, this 28 inch barreled rifle comes in the same lengths as a 24 inch Model 70 would. Even with the AccuBond's stronger frame I knew any impact speeds above 3000 fps were going to disintegrate this bullet. At the speed my rifle was shooting this bullet's ideal expansion/penetration looks to be in the range of 350-700 yards. I was very curious to see how effective the bullet would be on a cow elk.
Not only was I trying a new bullet out of my rifle, the rifle was also equipped with a new scope. I was trying in the field for the first time a 2.5-16x Bushnell Elite 6500. I really liked the scope while shooting from the bench. The biggest thing I liked was the extra half inch of eye relief over the Elite 4200 that I did have on this rifle. For some reason, with my well above average stature, my forehead likes to get scope bit when shooting magnum recoiling calibers. Not the case with this rifle scope. Scope bites have vanished. Yeah!
Dallen was once again carrying my little 243 WSSM Browning A-Bolt Stainless Laminate Hunter. He would be using the same load that he used on his spike elk from two months prior, a 80 grain Barnes Tipped Triple Shock coming out the barrel at 3350 fps.
I decided to take a scouting trip on my own to access the whereabouts of the elk and if the stars aligned I go ahead and take care of filling my tag.
It was a bitter cold morning when I headed up the mountain in the dark. Boy was it bitterly cold. I think I said that already. I picked the wrong morning! The moisture from my breath was freezing my eyelashes shut if I paused while blinking my eyes. I hiked in a couple miles and up about 1,500 vertical feet trying to located the elk in their usual places. Something had changed their patterns this year as there wasn't any sign of the elk being in their usual spots. It was still nice to be out of the office and get some good exercise but where were the elk?
The following week I heard reports that a heard of around forty elk was about a mile up the mountain on the other side of the small mountain range I was hunting. Dallen and I went out that evening to glass from the road and verify the herds location and come up with a plan. Because of the location we asked a very kind rancher to allow us to cross his property in hopes of getting our tags filled. "Sure come tomorrow and remove a couple of them for me." No problem, Thank you!
The next morning we headed out just after light. We spotted the elk again from the road and found they had moved over and back a ridge. We devised a plan and off we went.
After a good 400 foot vertical climb and a 70 yard crawl through about a foot of snow we were in position and setup on our Stoney Point Steady Stixs. The herd was mostly bedded down across a finger draw off the main canyon. The elk ranged from 230 to 300 yards away depending on which cow you were looking at. Even though it was one of the further elk I asked Dallen to take a cow that was standing broadside at 272 yards. At this range the bullet would be basically dead on. I picked out a cow at 242 yards that was bedded down broadside but still offered a good shot.
Dallen's cow taken with 243 WSSM using a 80 gr Tipped Triple Shock at 272 yards.
I gave him the go-ahead. Boom, boom...thump, whop! The cow I was shooting quickly jumped up and stood broadside. I could see Dallen's cow sliding down, down the hill. He's ecstatic! The elk started to file their way out of the canyon. My cow looked sick but kept on standing so I let her have another one right behind the shoulders. Boom...Whop! And she just stands there. Dallen starts heckling me about how quickly his went down... The herd is now clearly making an exit. My cow decides she wants to make an exit and even though I knew she had to be dead on her feet I didn't want any part of having to hike any farther to get these elk off the mountain. So I let her have it again. This time she had turned around and was going away. I shot to the left of her hind quarter, through the rumen and straight toward the opposite shoulder. Boom...Whop! This time she decided she should lay down and about thirty seconds later her head finally hit the ground. Boy did Dallen really start heckling me that he could kill them quickly with one shot and Dad with is big rifle took three. I think I might be hearing about this for some time to come... Dad remember that year it took you three shots and I only took one to get my elk.
My cow taken with my Model 1885 270 WSM using 140 gr Accubond handloads.
Now the work began. This was the first time I was the only adult to take care of two elk on the ground. We had come prepared to bone out and bring two elk off the mountain and that's what we did, all in one trip. It took several years of experimenting with different sleds and modifying them to get a system that works great for hauling meat off the mountain in snow. It's a combination of modified saucer sleds and my homemade heavy duty canvas meat bags. I'll write more about my snow meat hauling system in another post.
I used my custom Russ Kommer knife again on these elk. I wish I had this knife 20 years ago. The blade had not touched anything to sharpen it since Russ sharpened it. I had previously boned out Dallen's spike with the knife and now I was going to see how well it went through these elk. I boned out the first of the two cows in a breeze — razor sharp through two elk. Before using it on the second cow I did run the blade on a ceramic sharpener a few times and finished off the second elk.
Both of these bullets were fired from my 243 WSSM rifles. They were recovered from cow elk after punching the shoulders and resting against the hide on the opposite side.
- Left - 85g Triple Shock,
132 yards, 3500fps, Dec. 2006 - Right - 80g Tipped Triple Shock,
272 yards, 3360fps, Dec. 2009
See: Recovered Barnes Triple Shock Bullets in Elk from 243 WSSM and 270 WSM Rifles
I was in a hurry to get these animals boned out so I didn't spend a great deal of time opening the chest cavity up and seeing what performance the 140 AccuBond had. The first two shots both hit a rib upon entry and appeared to have exploded just inside the rib cage. There was no sign that the bullets penetrated to the other side of the rib cage. The third shot entered the rumen, crossed through and broke a rib under the shoulder on the opposite side. I looked for some time but could not find any large bullet remains.
Dallen's cow was shot about five inches higher than his spike. The bullet went through the shoulder blades on both sides and stopped against the hide. The bullet was a picture perfect mushroom shape just like Barnes advertises.
I still need to test this 140g AccuBond load a little more. A lot of people swear by them and I believe them. I just think I might be sending them on their way just a little faster than Nosler had planned that they would go. I think I might plan on neck shots at closer ranges and enjoy the speed that will make this bullet extremely deadly at long ranges. And Dallen is now two shots for two elk with the little 243 WSSM and the little 80 grain Tipped Triple Shock! I'm really liking the performance of this bullet. Most of all I had another wonderful day in the field with my son making memories we will always remember.
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Dallen and I both would be hunting together for mule deer with rifles this year. I was pretty excited about the opportunity and it brought back memories of my first hunt at age 16 with my father using my Grandfather's Winchester Model 94 in 25-35 Win. I shot a two-point that year in the 200-yard range with a peep sight. I long lucky shot I am sure I could never reproduce. I was pretty excited and had a wonderful time.
Dallen and I were going to be hunting some high altitude areas and looking to spend a night or two backpacking into some remote locations. I had a couple of honey holes that no one is crazy enough to venture into... well almost no one. We were planning on heading there.
Unfortunately, a few days before the hunt Dallen fell ill with the swine flu and it quickly spread to my other three children. With the rifle season only being basically a week-long it was a disaster for our hunt. With the kids sick I would grab a couple of hours sleep then take off driving around five in the morning. I would hike in a mile, hunt for a couple of hours then run home to help with the kids. I did see a few smaller bucks and a small four-point. On opening morning I hooked my digital camera up to the spotting scope and filmed a couple of two-point bucks sparring to take back and show Dallen. And on one of my mad dashes, I watched a whopper of a 3x4 but he was on the wrong side of a canyon.
By the end of the week, Dallen was over the flu but the effects had taken its toll. His lungs were just not up to 100%. I took him out two mornings and we saw a few does. We were unable to hike in as far as I wanted because his lungs just weren't in any shape to handle it.
I did have fun taking pictures of Dallen as we were hiking out the one morning. In fact, the November 2009 wallpaper download on browning.com is one of these photos. I'll post some others in this journal entry.
We were both carrying 243 WSSM rifles for the hunt with my 80g Tipped Triple Shock load. The load shoots really well out of both rifles. I decided on a load with powder that isn't as fast as I could possibly get but it is a very accurate load and has absolutely no signs of any pressure in my rifles.
I was carrying a 243 WSSM, A-Bolt Stainless Laminate Varmint with a fluted barrel. This rifle has a 24-inch barrel and is topped off with a Bushnell Elite 4200 4-16x scope. Although the scope does not have the eye relief I need in a magnum recoiling rifle it works perfect on this rifle that has little to no recoil. This rifle is pushing my 80g Tipped Triple Shock load at 3475 fps on a 55-degree day. I bet with the right powder I could safely get this bullet going around 3600 fps, but I am very satisfied with how it is performing as is.
Dallen was carrying a 243 WSSM, A-Bolt Stainless Laminate Hunter with 22" barrel. This rifle has a Bushnell Elite 3200 3-10x SA Scope which is a perfect match for this small super short actioned rifle. This rifle is pushing the same 80g Tipped Triple Shock load at 3360 fps at 55 degrees. Barrel length makes a difference in the amount of speed you can achieve. Still, 3360 fps does plenty darn good on deer and even elk as you may have read in my entry on Dallen's first elk with a 243 WSSM.
Dallen is hopeful the 3x4 will be on the correct side of the canyon come next year. I hope he's right.
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