OT - Elk Down,...Now What...?

[deerwhacker444]

If I get lucky on my elk hunt this winter and I've got one laying at my feet. Now what..? I've heard that now the work starts.

Assume:

1) It's a decent walk, say atleast a 1 mile to the nearest road where I can be picked up by OK Wildlife dept. employees.
2) I'll have 1 maybe 2 buds who will help act as pack mules once the OK Wildlife dept lets them come in. (only after I've killed an elk)
3) Being that it's 2nd week on Dec. in OK, the temp should be seasonable, lets say mid 40's-50.
4) I'll probably take the meat to a processor. I don't want to screw this "once in a lifetime" elk up and waste alot of meat processing it.

Field dressing I assume will be just like a deer only bigger. I don't think I'll have too much problem in that area although I'm sure I'll get frustrated a bit. After the field dressing what do I do? I'll have to cut it up to haul it out.

Choices:

1) Skin the sections as it lays there on the ground and prepare it for transport,..ie skin each hind quarter, working up to the body and front legs etc...
2) Just cut up the sections hide and all, and transport it that way to skin later.

I've got a bunch of game bags to use to get the meat out, and I guess lash the chunks to a pack frame for ease of transport.

Are there any good DVD's out there concerning quartering, packing and getting the game out..? I sure could use a teacher on this.....

[Don McDowell]

Split the hide down the back of the neck clear to the bone, the length of the neck, and prop the rib cage open and get the backbone wrestled up on a log or rock so the air can circulate under the neck and shoulders. Or skin it right there and make sure it can cool out.
Easiest way to get one out if you can't load it in a pickup, or on saddle/pack horses, is to use the plastic toboggans. Put a half on one of those tobaggans and just come a zipping out. They work good on dry ground or snowy, but not so much in mud.
Most important part is to get the carcass cooled down as quick as possible, those elk hides are thick and heavy and hold heat unless you can get cool air circulating around real well.

[geobru]

Most important part is to get the carcass cooled down as quick as possible, those elk hides are thick and heavy and hold heat unless you can get cool air circulating around real well.

Don hit the nail right on the head there. An elk's hide is really thick and is great insulation from the cold for the elk and it also does a great job of holding heat in. If you don't get the hide off, the meat WILL sour. That will do a lot more toward ruining that once in a lifetime elk steak than anything you could possibly do if you butcher it yourself!

I helped a guy one time that shot an elk early in the morning and didn't find it until late afternoon. It was laying in snow all day and when we opened it up, it was still steaming warm. That meat turned out alright, but we were worried that it might have gone bad. Get the hide off ASAP!

As far as getting it out to the road, skin it, quarter it, put it in a game bag, and take it out on packboards if you have them. A 100+ pound elk quarter sits right up against your back and carries well. Good luck!!

[bsaride]

take extra knives and a sharpener or two

[Hoosierdaddy]

Just be sure to save enough time to drop by Meers and have a Cheeseburger and a bowl of peach cobbler. Good luck on your hunt.
Hoosierdaddy

[Cliff]

Sorry can't resist the urge. After skinning and gutting, build a nice hard wood fire, slice off a piece of meat and eat it. Continue until Elk is all consumed. That is what our ancient ancestors did. Moved the village to the animal when it was eaten, they moved on to another one. Worked well with Mastadon as well.

[Canuck Bob]

I agree with the others. I always split the neck top and bottom on moose. The worst spot to hold heat on big bulls.

I've dragged quartered animals out with a quad if its legal so if temps allow I like to keep the hide on for dragging. If packing skin quick and let the heat out. I like to quarter then skin. I carry rope, a sharp hatchet, a folding pruning saw, and make tent style pegs. A few old trucker's hitchs wrapped around pegs and knee joint tendons will roll any animal enough to assist a lone hunter. Be meticulous with the entrails, don't knick the stomach or intestines and immediaetly clean any fluids or sh## off the carcass. Be prepared to climb in.

Dressing a big bull moose or elk is what seperates the seasoned hunter from the trainee. It also makes one appreciate the importance of never gut shooting.

[86er]

What are you gutting it for unless it's required by law? If you are not using the cape for mounting, cut around the skull under the jaw from front to back and down the back. Make another cut around the lower neck to across the top of the brisket and over the front of the top of shoulders. Cut through the spine at the bottom of this cut with a saw. Now the head is separated from the neck and the neck from the body. Keep the skin on the neck to protect the meat from dirt and keep it from being too slippery. If you want it or have to take it it can be carried out as is. Next, follow the spine on the side that is up and work the knife down the spine to let the backstraps hang over. Cut along the bottom of the backstraps through the skin. Now your backstrap has skin still on one side. Fold it in half skin side out and tie it. The skin will protect it. Next, cut around the scapular and lift the leg high. If you need assistance, tie a cord to leg and loop it over and antler or on cow elk pass it under the other front leg that's on the ground. Pull the cord towards you and it lifts the leg you are working on up. Get in there and find the sever behind the shoulder blade and the leg will come off. Now go to the back leg and work it similarly but this time find the ball socket can work around it to free the thigh. Use your saw to cut off the legs at the knees since you don't need from the knee down (unless it is a legality to take that part). Now you've got a headless, one-sided elk. You should be able to turn it over now. If not, tie a cord to the front and back legs that are on the ground. Go over the body from bottom to top. Wrap the cords around a tree or something to help leverage the animal over. You may be able to just work with the cords by hand. It helps to be able to have the front half and back half both turning at once - hence using the ropes to accomplish that if you are by yourself. Once it it over, proceed with the backstraps, front leg and back leg as you did on the other side. When you get that off you can take the tenderloins from the inside. Cut the spine with your saw two-thirds of the way back into the ribcage. Make a cut through the skin from where you cut the spine half way around the body. Make another cut along the front belly up along the brisket. Now work the skin loose along the rib cage on one side so that about 4 or 5 ribs are exposed. Cut those ribs off along the spine to make a square opening into the chest cavity. You might want to keep the ribs for eating or whatever. If you want all the ribs, just cut all of them off at the spine towards the front for right now. Through the opening that you made you can reach in and remove both tenderloins. You will probably feel them more than you can see what you are doing in there. If you want the ribs on the other side you can now flip it over again, cut a forward facing or backwards "L" on the skin and saw out the ribs on that side along the spine. This method is quick, not too bloody and doesn't waste time or energy on stuff you don't need to mess with. If you must get the carcass out you can cut the rest of the skin around where you cut through the spine and make two pieces. If you pick the back half up by the tail or hoist it up by a rope through the anus hole and around the rump you can shake out the guts. Slice the rumen open and pour out the contents. Put the front half inside the back half and wrap it with cord. You can now pack out whatever portions you can handle. I usually tie a ham to by backpack or frame board and tie a shoulder each side of it it you can handle the weight. If your pack can carry your rifle on it you can carry a shoudler in your hands to help balance yourself. Tie the shoulder to make handles so you don't have to keep your hands under it or cradle it the whole time. If you are going to make a few trips, move the meat you can't carry about 300 yards away and put in in brush, bury it very shallow or hang it in a tree. Whatever wants to eat your elk will go to the exposed chucks of carcass and waste by sight and smell and leave your meat alone for a while. I hope I didn't forget anything.

[deerwhacker444]

Thanks for the info guys,..keep it coming. 86'r,..is this video along the lines of what you're talking about?

I posted the same question over on the campfire and got some good responses. One posted a link to a video of a "gutless method" of cleaning elk.

Gutless Method of Cleaning Elk

Seems to make alot of sense. I don't see any reason why a fella couldn't pick a carcass almost as clean as a buzzard and leave nothing but guts and bones behind.

What do you folks think of this gutless method,..It's something new to me.

Tell me about the "ivories".! These are something I want to keep whether I get a bull or a cow, don't I.? Are they easy to find.

Man this is going to be fun.....

[86er]

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. If you don't have to I wouldn't go anywhere near the guts or open the cavity.

[BigSky56]

ivories are on the upper jaw in front of the molars they will be off white to yellow/brown take your knife and cut down in the gum between ivory and the next tooth (o\o/o) in a V it will come out fairly easy, with root 3/4 to 1' long. dont use a expensive thin bladed knife for this procedure and leatherman pliers are helpful. danny

[HEAD0001]

Good description by 86er. I got a buddy who can do deer in the woods the same way. It takes him no time at all. But he has been doing it a long long time. He also bones out the quarters right there in the woods. All we carry out is the meat. Almost got in trouble one time because the game warden could not tell the sex of the kill. But we got out of that one. Tom.

[Don McDowell]

What they leave out is that it's going to take you about 2 hours to bone an elk out on the ground. Then you'll need breathable bags to put the meat in so you can put it in a back pack. If you're not accustomed to carrying 100lb packs, trying to get an elk back to camp that way, really isn't the place to get used to carrying 100lb packs..
Even if you just half one at the mid rib and skid it out on the hide its better quicker than having a couple hundred pounds of mixed up mud,hair,leaves and something that resembles meat rotting in the bottom of a back pack someplace.
I find every once in awhile in the timber places where folks have done this "gutless" thing,and about all I can say is those folks certainly are gutless, as they leave a great lot of the meat to waste.......

[dkmlever]

One VERY important step! Check with the DOW regualtions and see if you need to leave evidence of sex NATURALLY attached to the quarter. We are here in CO and it is easy when you start your field dressing or skinning to forget and cut the teats of scrotum off.

I always figure one elk is three to four trips depending on how stout you or your friends are. Once the quarters are at the truck it is also important to keep air curculating around them, don't stack them on top of each other, this will allow heat to build up and spoil your meat.

Best of luck! The CO DOW sells a video about field dressing an elk which is pretty good.

[KCSO]

Wyoming 1976 elk hunting with a native...

We were driving a logging road and i spot and elk down the valley, No you don't want that one. I spot one 100 yards away across a field, no you don't want that one. Pretty soon he points up the hill and says shoot that one. I shoot and the elk flops over. We walk up the hill and as we go the native chops a couple of small trees out, walks up to the elk and starts it rolling down the hill to the pickup backed up with the tail gate open. The elk sldies down to the truck and he hooks a come along to it jacks it into the truck and say well off to the locker plant. That son is how you hunt elk.

On a more practical basis the others have given yo good advise, a lot depends on if you want to mount the elk and how much of the hide you want to save and if you want it tanned. The area you hunt will make a difference too. If you have a tree and a good hoist it's a whole lot different than if you have a knife and a hatchet and are on the flats.

[SFRanger7GP]

A medic on one of my old teams invented one of the popular drag litters now used by the military. The first one he made for the team was using a hard plastic leaf liner. He added some nylon tie down straps and a loop to drag it like a sled. It is now patented in his name. Where am I going with this? Another old team buddy of mine that is retired and lives in Montana kills a lot of game in remote areas. I was recently talking to him about the moose he killed last year. I wanted to know how he got it out. He told me when he doesn't have the horses or quad, he uses a drag litter just like the one my old medic made up years ago. He also said nothing beats a battery powered sawzall for making fast, easy work of breaking the animal down.

[Paladin]

A medic on one of my old teams invented one of the popular drag litters now used by the military. The first one he made for the team was using a hard plastic leaf liner. He added some nylon tie down straps and a loop to drag it like a sled. It is now patented in his name. Where am I going with this? Another old team buddy of mine that is retired and lives in Montana kills a lot of game in remote areas. I was recently talking to him about the moose he killed last year. I wanted to know how he got it out. He told me when he doesn't have the horses or quad, he uses a drag litter just like the one my old medic made up years ago. He also said nothing beats a battery powered sawzall for making fast, easy work of breaking the animal down.

Skedco works great got one from DRMO at Bragg.

[Chuck 100 yd]

What Cliff said +1. Oh ,salt and pepper would be nice.