Two.... Me and my Dad.... Story gets better...
The story gets better...
After the Beast was down... 30 seconds later my dear old Dad came racing up with my little Toyota Tacoma truck... He had this theory... one shot and its down... or One and a follow up was to finish the Beast but a number of shots means I've missed and slinging lead like I do out of a MG. My little Toy truck can climb well and you can manuver between the cedars far better than a full sized Ford. We backed the truck right up to it but it was getting dark. We had a come-along from Harbor Freight... there were a few cuss words said on the Mountain under the full moonlight... it was too small and it was only rated for 1,200 pounds... it failed miserably, all we could get is the nose up on the tailgate.
At 10:00 pm Dad came up with a brilliant idea... we dragged it down to the ATV trail with my truck and he left me sitting in the dark with the Beast laying on the trail, a camp stool and a flashlight and a diet coke... He took my truck back to camp and loaded up a pair of ATV ramps... 45 minutes later he returned and we winched it up the ramps with the piece of crap come-along and some ratcheting tie downs... it still was not completely onto the truck so around 2:00 am we headed down the trail in the truck... tapped the brakes and it slid in enough to tie it down and back to camp.
At 3:00am we pulled the Beast down the ramps so it was elevated and I gutted it one handed... my left hand doesn't work so well and I am recovering from a broken arm from a bad fall. If you ever saw the scene from "Carrie" where she is covered from head to toe in blood... well that was me. Dad has a policy... you shoot it, you clean it. I did find the spent bullet... a Remington Sirroco 180gr. I was using a 30-06. Killed the heart.
Did I mention the temperature dropped to near freezing and he left me on the mountain without a coat ? Well... I finish it up and prop open the cavity to cool it off... I'm hosed off around 5:00 am and in bed only to be awaken by a local rancher at 7:00am to congratulate me. I am up by 8:00 am and decide as slow as I am at skinning, that the meat would spoil as the sun came up so we yank it up into the Toy truck with the Ford and we are off to the meat processing guy.
What did I learn... well... invest in a expensive quality come-along or a electric winch strong enough to pull at least 2,000 lbs. A small pack saw... no way... you need a two man meat saw. Take a cooler full of dry ice for hunting in warmer months to stuff into the Beast. Deer hunting is in 4 weeks... that will be easy.
Destiny
