LAST EDITED ON Aug-28-15 AT 01:36PM (MST)[p]Second edition from necali's campfire post.
So here?s mine. This happened 3 years ago. To this day we still can't explain it. Can you?
We?re 6 miles in the Wyoming backcountry, it's was mid-week on the last week of the hunt. The only people we saw were two spandex yuppies and their golden retriever. We watched them through our glass while they hiked up the only established trail, about 3/4 mile away. They had no idea we were anywhere in the vicinity. They were just passing through and were long gone before any of this happened. Other than that there was no one around. And, we were the only rig at the trailhead, just to establish how lonely this area is.
My buddy had killed this buck about 4pm in the afternoon. (By the way, this picture was taken about 30 yards from where this all happened.) By the time we had taken the horses over, boned it out and made it back to camp it was about 11pm. We tied the horses and dropped the meat bags on the opposite side of the tree we had tied the horses. The meat was very close to the head end of one of the horses, 10ft or less. With the way the trees were lined out there was no risk of the horse stepping on the meat during the night. It was midnight by the time we'd gotten everything settled and in the tent to sleep.
At first light we were up, about 5:45am. We noticed immediately that one of the meat bags had been moved and the meat was gone!
When boning out the night before, we had put the meat in new thin white garbage bags then into those cloth mesh Alaskan game bags. In the morning all the bags were fine, except the bag that had the backstraps and tenderloins. It had been moved about 20ft. The garbage bag had been taken out of the cloth bag and both backstraps and both tenderloins were gone. Really gone. We canvased the area all around our camp, nothing.
Here?s what we find most perplexing. There wasn?t a mark on either the garbage bag or game bag, I mean not a single scratch. The garbage bag had been completely removed from the game bag. There were no chew marks, no teeth or claw marks, no drag marks. Other than a little residual blood, the bags were completely pristine. There was also no drag marks from the meat being drug from the area of the bags.
I should also add, the horses didn't make one sound that night. No stomping, no snorting, no whinnying. Even if a deer passes through at night 100yards out, they make some sort of indication. Nothing this night, and we're both pretty light sleepers.
Bear? No way, the horses would have had an absolute freak out.
Small mammal/prey bird? Too much meat.
Coyote? How would a coyote remove the garbage bag from the game bag, then remove the meat without so much as leaving a single mark on either bag. You know how sticky meat is in a garbage bag. A coyote would really have to bite and claw at the bag to get the meat out. Then to haul off two full length back straps without dragging them in the dirt?
What do you think?
So here?s mine. This happened 3 years ago. To this day we still can't explain it. Can you?
We?re 6 miles in the Wyoming backcountry, it's was mid-week on the last week of the hunt. The only people we saw were two spandex yuppies and their golden retriever. We watched them through our glass while they hiked up the only established trail, about 3/4 mile away. They had no idea we were anywhere in the vicinity. They were just passing through and were long gone before any of this happened. Other than that there was no one around. And, we were the only rig at the trailhead, just to establish how lonely this area is.
My buddy had killed this buck about 4pm in the afternoon. (By the way, this picture was taken about 30 yards from where this all happened.) By the time we had taken the horses over, boned it out and made it back to camp it was about 11pm. We tied the horses and dropped the meat bags on the opposite side of the tree we had tied the horses. The meat was very close to the head end of one of the horses, 10ft or less. With the way the trees were lined out there was no risk of the horse stepping on the meat during the night. It was midnight by the time we'd gotten everything settled and in the tent to sleep.
At first light we were up, about 5:45am. We noticed immediately that one of the meat bags had been moved and the meat was gone!
When boning out the night before, we had put the meat in new thin white garbage bags then into those cloth mesh Alaskan game bags. In the morning all the bags were fine, except the bag that had the backstraps and tenderloins. It had been moved about 20ft. The garbage bag had been taken out of the cloth bag and both backstraps and both tenderloins were gone. Really gone. We canvased the area all around our camp, nothing.
Here?s what we find most perplexing. There wasn?t a mark on either the garbage bag or game bag, I mean not a single scratch. The garbage bag had been completely removed from the game bag. There were no chew marks, no teeth or claw marks, no drag marks. Other than a little residual blood, the bags were completely pristine. There was also no drag marks from the meat being drug from the area of the bags.
I should also add, the horses didn't make one sound that night. No stomping, no snorting, no whinnying. Even if a deer passes through at night 100yards out, they make some sort of indication. Nothing this night, and we're both pretty light sleepers.
Bear? No way, the horses would have had an absolute freak out.
Small mammal/prey bird? Too much meat.
Coyote? How would a coyote remove the garbage bag from the game bag, then remove the meat without so much as leaving a single mark on either bag. You know how sticky meat is in a garbage bag. A coyote would really have to bite and claw at the bag to get the meat out. Then to haul off two full length back straps without dragging them in the dirt?
What do you think?
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