I might be guilty of ressurecting a dead thread here, but in the spirit of talking about mules it might be interesting to know that the art of packing mules is still taught at Sage. This is my team enjoying a stroll with our favorite furry tanks. We also were the only team to have the pleasure of doing a large portion of our infil aided by mules. Thank God for those wonderful creatures!

Attachment 6365

In the 80's we used to send guys to Mule Skinner School

Well, before 9-11, USASOC Mountian Course taught a pack animal block. At one time 10th SFG Mtn Committee dropped it from the POI. But it made in back in 2000. As far as MTN OPS, that lesson plan/block should never go away. Just becuase 10th wasn't using them. Didn't mean others were not - well thats what I tried tell the walls that had legs.

I've been to two Handlers courses, great fun. A trade that is easily lost if not done often too.

Glad that Sage brought it back - lets see how long it stays.

10th is still doing mule packing in the mountian course we have sent guys to a local ranch for the past few years..

FYI failing code twice made me the bravo I am today god that was painful....
trying to copy that crap at 15 wpm.

How fast can you tie a diamond hitch?

Good picture, looks like proper civilization to me.

Well, I don't know exactly how long it would take me to tie a single diamond hitch, but I do know that it takes me and 11 friends the duration of BMNT to pack a couple mules tactically after a looooong night of walking.

We were shown the diamond, but the three configurations that really stick out in my mind are the Barrel Sling, Basket Sling, and Basket Hitch. However, we mostly employed the "Get this heavy shit off my back and tie it on to the mule anyway possible" hitch. It might be a hitch taught only to SOF. :D

"The high speed, better than any mountain mule skinner ever knew how to do hitch"

I knew you guys would have this one figured out.

Yeah, I can't release all the details in the clear but it involves tons of knots placed in random places all over the rucksack and holds for 10-15 minutes at a time before you have to hault movement and adjust the entire rig. Very effective. :)

Our instructor just stood off to the side and shook his head in shame. He looked a lot like this guy -----> :munchin

LMAO!
This is even more fun when your traversing a shale rockslide in the snow.
(elk hunting...)

there are times when there are worse things than carrying very heavy rucksacks across the mountains...those times are military operations and elk hunting...

You know about this stuff don't ya. I can't speak for military operations but those two easy little words "Elk hunting" sound like nothing but camping and outdoor fun.

no...elk hunting means walking on the side of your feet on a talus slope in a snow storm, trying to get a large, dead animal somewhere that you can safely begin the process of cutting said large, dead animal into smaller more manageable pieces so you can transport said dead animal more easily on flat, even terrain...the whole point in dragging, winching, sliding, pushing, pulling this large, dead animal across a talus slope is because this method is easier than cutting it up into manageable pieces on top...of course, you think you only have to make one trip down the hill until you realize that your buddy left his $700 spotting scope back at the kill site...

nope...i ain't never been down that road...more than twice...

lkSteve,
Now we've really skidded this thread sideways. You know I was being smart when I made the comments about elk hunting. Around here it's in November, and in the Oregon mountains this is the time of the first winter storms bringing the rain turning to snow.
Elk bulls are usually somewhere between 600 to 900 lbs. Some will go to 1000 lbs. We've packed in, built camp, snows started and we didn't know if we would get out or not, oh well, huntings better in some snow conditions.
Elk never, during legal hunting season, occupy ground that two legged humans enjoy walking on. Said another way, ...Elk sometimes travel ground that humans have no business on.

Now to bring this back to pack mules, some mules won't carry a dead animal and will panic after trying to throw the load and getting tangled in the rigging. Know your pack string.

You're absolutely right when you say know your pack string. I was amazed to see how they would absolutely refuse to cooperate unless they were in their proper order during movement. It turned out that the tiniest mule (we lovingly dubbed Alejandro!) was the toughest sumbitch of the group. His back end was wobbling and his knees looked like they were gonna buckle when we first threw our rucks on him, but he charged to the front and never stopped so much as to even nibble on a leaf.

Equines....orney but readable.......yeah they've got a pecking order and don't dare mess with it....Alejandro , the shortest, is the bad ass (pun intended) because of his stature, he can kick the soft underbelly of the others in the herd. Females will often be a dominate animal in the herd. If you learn to read equines ...you can take your knowledge to the race track and pick the winners too! Watch the ears.

Lots of lore on mules and burros here (West Texas) they can sense danger...and dangerous condition long before us two leggeds ....and they are just smart. May be getting burros to raise for guide animals for the blind (I wanted goats ...but honey bunch says they are just too stinky)

There is good series of pictures, on the net, of a mule that unloading a dead mountain lion from his back ...also shows same mule attacking the carcass (biting it in the head!)