Pack llamas for sale?

[livin4thehunt]

I was just checking to see if anyone had any good pack llamas for sale? Preferably already trained and on the younger side? Thanks

 

[jbricejr]

Al Ellis, Highline Trail Llamas, in Boulder WY is trying to sell some of his animals. He's one of the top pack llama breeders in the US, and he had about 200 animals a few years ago. I have two of his llamas and they are pretty good. BTW I am not one of those that claims all llamas are just perfect for packing. I've had very mixed results with llamas over the years, but I've had excellent results with Al's experienced packers that he rents, and I've been able to get the two I bought from him to be good packers after working with them. To get good animals you need to be prepared to spend some money, again contrary to what you will hear from many others, including some of the folks that frequent this website.

 

[BPKHunter]

Jbricejr,

Can you share your thoughts and experiences a little more. sounds like and interesting subject to me.

 

[Idabow]

How much can a llama pack? What is the draw to llamas or goats vs. horses? When I was really little, my grandma used to raise some pack goats, just to sell, they never used them. I would be interested in learning a little more, too.

"Suck it, terrorists," -Keith Stone

 

[livin4thehunt]

llamas can pack around 80 to 90 lbs + or -. A well trained llamas is a prety cool tool for packing things.They can be trained to jump in the back of a truck, which makes it easy to get to some of the trail heads you cant get a horse trailer near.They can even be trained to load in a drift boat and prety much where ever you can walk with out putting your hands down they can follow.When you pack them they hardly drink water and eat very little compared to a horse. It is also very affordable to feed a couple llamas all winter.However horses can pack more and you can ride them about as far in as you can get away from any road.I go back and fourth on weather horses or llamas, but the low cost of keeping llamas around is hard to beat. Im sure everything has their benefits and problems and each animal has their applications for different situation. Horses are probly a better tool for farther trips, depending on how far you wanna walk. However, for a easy handling, mellow, versitile animal its hard to beat having a WELL TRAINED PACK LLAMA.

 

[Idabow]

That's pretty neat info. When you are hunting, where do you keep them? Picket or hobble? I'm guessing you just tie them up? I know they use llamas to guard sheep and goats, do they get spooky around any kind of predators that you know of?

"Suck it, terrorists," -Keith Stone

 

[GSJ]

Lamas can be a pretty good pack critter. We had a couple for years and packed a ton of elk with them. Between the two they could pack a whole bull elk that was boned out. Generally these were pretty short packs (2-3) miles and almost all down hill. They are generally easy to manage and can go places most would never think of taking a horse. Elk hunting we would hike them up a very steep/brushy mountainside in the dark and tie them up when we hit the ridge. They were perfectly happy to stay there all day until they were needed or we retrieved them on the way dowm.

One thing about them is they can be a bit stubborn. If they dont like how the load is riding they just lay down. If they get tired, they lay down. If they are pissed off, scared, or just flat out don't like you, they lay down. This can be frustrating.

Also, on longer hikes/pack outs, you gotta watch your pace. A guy thats in good shape and is in a hurry can walk even a good llama into the ground. especially if its warm out. When this happens, they lay down....









the artist formerly known as "gemstatejake".

 

[livin4thehunt]

we have had wolves come in really close to our camp and howl within a 100 yards. The llamas didnt seem to care they would just look in the direction of the wolves. They seem to be fairly calm around other distractions. We have had some that see an unusuall stump along the trail and not like it but they seem to get over it quick. Like anything though its good to train them and get them used to weird things along the trail. If they lay down they seem to get back up quick, if you touch them on the underside. It all depends upon how good of shape their in or how much weight they have on. we have had some llamas that do lay down when they get tired and some that wont.