Horse/Mule packing Tip

[prariewolf]

I am not sure if this is the right dept., But here it is...... For those lucky (or unlucky ) enough to work with pack stock ...Here is a "trick" i have found that works for me night packing a string...Take two 12hr. light sticks and attach one on your on-side and off-side loads on your tail -end animal... This allows you to see 1) if they are still with you and 2) if your load needs to be adjusted. ...By using this you can remove the need for light and it'll really be apprecciated by your stock (as well as yourself ) in allowing them to retain their night vision . Some folks may prefer a bell ...But for me they get a little "tiresome" ... Hope this helps someone....

[hunter63]

Sounds like a good idea to me, thanks.

Don't use pack animals, but on 4 wheeler rides each group uses a different color light stick (or more) on their machine, to tell who's who in the dark........

[1776]

I packed for a giude outfit in Wyoming for 4 years. I used a small fishing bell on my last horse at night whenever I had to pack alone. I was comforted by the soft clinking, much like I was comforted to hear bells on the herd close to camp at night. But if I had a partner one of us wouldn't have any stock to tow or would have only have one or two horses and ride drag.
The light sticks though would be a good idea.
Another technique we used to make packing up go faster was to paint a line down the center line of our large pack pads and pack covers. This way you could center them up much more quickly without having to go around behind them. The center lines on the covers also allow you to quickly check to make sure your loads aren't rolling to one side while you are on the move. Though the best time you can spend in packing is to carefully balance your loads this will prevent the grief of sore disgruntled stock and wrecks caused by rolled packs.

[prariewolf]

We do the same with our pack saddle pads in regards to the center stripe.... We use the Decker style of packing so there is no Manti covers for us. But anything to speedup +/or make life easier packing is a help as anyone who's done it knows. We operate out of Turpin Meadows Trailhead in the Teton Wilderness... Joe Back 'ol country.

[1776]

We do the same with our pack saddle pads in regards to the center stripe.... We use the Decker style of packing so there is no Manti covers for us. But anything to speedup +/or make life easier packing is a help as anyone who's done it knows. We operate out of Turpin Meadows Trailhead in the Teton Wilderness... Joe Back 'ol country.

I worked south of Jackson at Spotted Horse back when Dick Bess owned the outfit though I understand that it has since changed hands.
We also converted over to using single cinches on everything but mule saddles as we found that balanced loads were more important than more cinches.
Another thing we did was to put the pack saddles on our stock without pads to see how they fit. Each pack saddle had a designated number painted on the bars when we found one that fit the horse best we would note it so when possible we would use the saddles which best matched their back. This really made a big difference in the comfort of our stock and towards the safety and sanity of our packers, animals and clients.
Hey prarriewolf are you still up there and packing next season?

[prariewolf]

Yes , I'll be there hopefully starting in may for Spring Bear and rolling thru summer packtrips into Elk season...Whether it's Deckers or Sawbucks I'm with you on balanced loads ..IMO this is where the Decker saddle and style of packing is more advantagous...In that you can have loads of unequal wieght and balance them out on the animal by raising the heavier load and / or lowering the lighter load...As I'm sure you know there is a difference between horse bars and mule bars on a saddle . The horse bars are longer... Our Saddles are fit in roughly the same manner...Although we put corn starch / baby powder on the animals back , place the saddle tree on the animal and take it off and rasp away any high spots and repeat this untilthe tree is custom fit for the individual animal , The Sawbuck System can be traced back to Genghis Khan and perhaps even earlier while the Decker system /style was invented in Idaho by a man named Robinette (spelling ? ) around 1880-1890 for use packing machinary and frieght into the mineing districts on the Selway / Salmon .....

[1776]

Well I am envious there is nothing like heading into the high country towing all you need on the backs of of good string of pack stock. By the way good tip (different posting) on swimming pack animals across water. I never had to do that. One question about it. Do you cross them one at a time or swim the whole string? If you swim the whole string I presume you have some sort of break away ( bailing string is what we used on our pack strings) and what happens if an animal in the middle gets into trouble with or without breakaways?
Here is a tip I learned from female packer. She coated her felt hat in snow seal to make it water proff. It kind of makes your hat look like plastic but she swore it would hold its shape and keep your head dry no matter how many days of rain or snow you were in. I never did get up the courage to put snow seal on one of my lids so I can only go upon her word.

[prariewolf]

I am with you regarding the snow seal....I use break aways made out of baling string regardless.....IMO anyone who is tying hard and fast with their string is gonna have sone serious problems....Where we swim Only one or two animals are swimming at a time so I leave them"strung together "......If I was to swim awhole string I'd get some advice from a couple of old school "jack-*** mechanics" I know and go from there...I've seen plenty of photo's from the 1880's and 90's where crossing "big water the string was broke up , but it was only recently (1950's-60's maybe ) that the Forest Service required strings to be led and strung together...In Teddy Roosevelts trip to Two Ocean Pass he comments numerous times about the pack animals going their own way and the packers driving them back up the trail (or onto the trail for that matter).....A book you might enjoy is "They left their tracks " by Howard Copenhaver...It describes his history of guiding and packing in "The Bob"...from the '30's -70's....

[prariewolf]

Ok after realizing how little I knew about deep water crossings ....I came up with this...Herding loose stock is an acceptable way to get them across..also yo can rig a "high-line" where you strech a rope across and tie the animals lead rope with a bowline to the "high-line" and pull it's lead rope across with a third rope tied to the bowline loop...This is used primarily in narrow crossing with strong currents ( i.e. in a steep walled canyon, with only one real entrance and exit) . Where an animal may be drifted below the landing area...

[1776]

Yep hard and fast is lookin for trouble. I shoe horses for a living now and I either have breakaways on the cross ties or simply s-loop the lead thru the stall front bars.
Good stuff on the water crossings thanks for the book recommendation. Haven't packed in years though HH and R Trails is still on my book shelf.
Tried loose herding a few times but never enough to get the stock used to it or me good at it. The best experience I had was when we muzzled the whole string and had the lead pack horse in hand, otherwise the string tended to graze more than walk.
By the way we muzzled chronic grazers on a routine basis this really helped to reduce breakaways. We used a wire cage type muzzle which allowed them to drink.
Have you had any experience with the pack systems which don't need lash ropes? If so are any of them any good? I find lash and sling ropes to be handy around camp but for the novice/ weekend packer they might be a better choice if any of them work well.

[prariewolf]

My advice is to just use panniers although that will limit the gear they can take ...Ideally they should take the 5 day packers course offered by the Forest Service at the Nine Mile re-mount station in Huson, Mt. Excellent course/ top instuctors ...I took it to get the Forest Service Certs. , They have a bunch of other courses , Dutch oven cooking, Cross-cut saw sharpening..Log cabin restoration, Back country horse safety...etc. If you've never read Smoke Elsers Book on packing it's a must have also....