I owned two Llamas with every intention of using them for sheep hunting. Lots of ideas not enough time I guess...

I did buy some packs for them from the Lammle family but I don't remember where they are or what I did with them 

You first!!!!!!!!

I was thinking of Lamas a while back for packing out deer in this south country.. Would be nice when one goes down in the bottom of one of those nasty coulees. I had a video a few years back with old ahh whats his name it won't come to me.. He was one of the original editors from Bowhunting Mag.. Anyways on this particular video they were using Lamas or Alpacas for there Elk hunting trips into the mountains,, they swore by them. They had about 3 or 4 in a train and just led them by hand.

Crazey Davey- now I know where you got your name!   Does it taste any good?  Cheap steaks eh!
I was thinking of grabbing a couple for a sheep hunt and they could follow me around like a dog on a leash and pack most of the gear to a base camp.  I imagine they don't eat a ton and easy to take care of.  Seems like they are cheap to buy as well

A very good friend of mine fed his family mostly llama meat for quite a few years, they had well over 100 of them at any one time. I would do all of the killing and skinning and he would deliver them to the butcher in Okotoks. The way they were raised and fed there was not much difference from beef. Man I miss those days as I had lots of opportunity for bullet testing anytime I wanted.

They are very easy to care for and make great packing companions. We had both of mine trained to get into my buddies minivan and lay down for traveling.

Do a Google search on it. There are people all over the world that use them for backpacking and lots of info out there. The Lammle family was very helpful when I was getting into it and they were still selling packs, halters, leads etc. right from their house.

How much do you have to feed them in the winter?  They say 1/2 a bale  a day for a horse so I would think not much for an alpaca.  How much weight can you get on them?

I had to think about that one Nube and I honestly couldn't remember exactly how much... Here is what I quickly looked up:

Llamas will eat about 10 to 12 pounds of hay per day, or about 2 to 4 percent of their body weight.

How much can they pack, well that really depends on the animal. Llamma's can very in size a huge amount. I know the two I had could pack around 80 pounds each as we had tried it quite a few times up and down the hills in the river bottom, they were both just an average medium size. But I am quite sure some of the big males could easily pack way more than that. Again, there are lots of sites on the net dedicated to packing with llamas that I am sure would be way more help than I can be 

Nube,

I have all the tack and 2 pack sets for Llama's if you need it.  I had to get rid of my Llama's when I had kids...no time to work with them. 

I'm. On my blackberry but when I have a computer handy I can write a bit more about feed, gear etc.

Alpacka's can't carry much weight as they are much smaller than Llama's. 

Your'e horse gear won't really work for Llama's, the tack is much to heavy and wide for their backs.  A Llama can comfortably carry 40 lbs and if your get them in shape 50-60 is doable for long trips.  They can carry 80-90 over short distances...their much like people as far as how much they can carry.

Your truck will work for hauling them, just build some short stock racks and you're all set.  A trailer is better if you have one though.  I've seen guys haul them in mini vans and jet boats and they just have them "kush" kneel down and away they go.

They don't eat much and when you're hunting just bring a few treats and that all you need.  They will eat anything a sheep or elk will so feed is not usually an issue in the field.

Quote from: nube on May 13, 2011, 08:40:19 PM

Crazey Davey- now I know where you got your name!   Does it taste any good?  Cheap steaks eh!
I was thinking of grabbing a couple for a sheep hunt and they could follow me around like a dog on a leash and pack most of the gear to a base camp.  I imagine they don't eat a ton and easy to take care of.  Seems like they are cheap to buy as well

A very good friend of mine fed his family mostly llama meat for quite a few years, they had well over 100 of them at any one time. I would do all of the killing and skinning and he would deliver them to the butcher in Okotoks. The way they were raised and fed there was not much difference from beef. Man I miss those days as I had lots of opportunity for bullet testing anytime I wanted.

They are very easy to care for and make great packing companions. We had both of mine trained to get into my buddies minivan and lay down for traveling.

Do a Google search on it. There are people all over the world that use them for backpacking and lots of info out there. The Lammle family was very helpful when I was getting into it and they were still selling packs, halters, leads etc. right from their house.

For those interested in trying Llama meat, the processors in Pincher Creek regularly offers steaks, roasts and jerky. It's pretty good, but gets tough if it's over-cooked.