Elkcrazy8

ELKamp, I tie a goose neck on the bags. Twist the bag around in circles until you have all of the top end rolled into a cylinder fold the cyl. in half and tie the bag with a string. I dont know about the murky water situation though. I would be less inclined to use that. We are fortunate as the area that we hunt is fed by a glacier and water is everywhere. I know of about 40 different wallows. Our camp usually has only about 2-3 people and we don't use horses during archery. All of the meat is packed out on our backs. Upon studying the situation we knew that we didn't have time on our side, so we had to come up with a plan. After swimming in the creek one day, we knew what the answer was. It was to use it as a refrigerator. We have even kept our capes in good shape this way. The capes come out at night and we hange them on the trees so that they will dry out even more. In late july, we always pack into camp and restock our cache. pleanty of bags and meat bags are taken in so we can carry nothing but our clothes when we go in to hunt. We have been going to that camp for several years now. We have also made a cache further up the mountain. If we get into the elk up there. We dig a little and presto, more tents, sleeping bags, food etc. Things have to be planned out in advance when you have very little man power. Last year we took 2 elk in 1 day, with 2 of us there. We stayed up all night boning out elk and had every last bit in the creek before sunrise the next day. After the meat was in the water it gave us the 2 days we needed to get the meat out. By the way. The temp was 80 degrees those 2 days. Let me tell you, those were some of the best steaks that I have ever eaten, and not an ounce was wasted.

ELKampMaster

Elkcrazy8,

What type of bags do you use?

Any reason you couldn't do the submersion technique with whole quarters versus a deboned mass?

Good Luck and Good Hunting,
EKM

Poluke

Some very good points here - My State requires out of state hunters to be guided in Wilderness areas. Get yourself a GPS with the capability of downloading topo maps. Most States have online mapping capabilities that are compatable with some GPS units. USGS topo maps are okay if you are semi familiar with the area you've draw or intend to hunt. My state is High plains where the altitudes at base camp could be in the 7 to 8 thousand foot range where you may have to hunt up to 11 thousand feet. Arrive early and acclimate yourself. HYDRATE HYDRATE HYDRATE water is heavy, don't trust any stream be prepared to treat water as some bugs will kill you in a hurry.

Elkcrazy8

ELKcamp, we just get the heaviest lawn and leaf sacks that we can find. I think that this may work on whole quarters IF the bones don't pop through. As long as you get a good seal on the bags. Tie each knot separatly on each of the bags. My hunting partner worked in a slaughterhouse for 25 years. His speed is amazing when it comes to boning an elk out. I would imagine that with the amount of experience that you have. That you can pop a joint without leaving ragged edges. In this case. yes, I think that whole quarters would hold over this way. Mother nature always provides the answers. Even when it comes to saving the meat. Not only that. The creek sure keeps the beer cold for a celebration feast, after the hunt is over of course. Gosh, my mouth is watering already. fresh tenderloin, a cold beer, and a cigar to follow. Can't break tradition.

RobinHood36

Are you sure about this???,!!!

121553

Andy, if you never been, than an outfitter may be the way to go for a first timer, they have tags and licenses available and if you go on a self -guided hunt then you need to be drawn for a tag, the odds of being drawn are very good here in Montana as 10% of the non-residents make up our quota system. If you hire an outfitter you can get a cow tag pretty cheap and easily, and after a year or two you can do it on your own when you get the learning curve down behind you.
I put in for special hunts through out the state and hunt new terrain each year taking 2 to 3 weeks off and hunt solo through the bush in different hunting districts, as some others have said its not really a good ideal to do by yourself but its something personal and the lure of the game I guess that keeps me challenging it. I just choose to take this time off and persue my game, weather elk, mulies or antelope, I meet all kinds of intresting people along the way. The more you do it, the more organized you get to be at it. Just start with a list of priorities and then count down, the number one prioity would be coffee, if I didn't have my coffee, I'd feel sorry for that ole griz that wants any piece of me if I didn't have my coffee. Good luck, Bobby

txhunter58

Elkcrazy8: I have always been told you have to let the meat "breathe" for a while to cool down before you put it in an airtight bag. Do you hang it first and let it chill down some before you seal it? I was told that if you didn't, it would spoil, but maybe that is because it seals in the heat if just hung in the air. In your situation, the water is chilling down the meat and taking the heat away through the plastic, so maybe the "breathing" period is unnecessary?

Elkcrazy8

txhunter, a big bull can weigh in around 800-900 lbs. It generally takes about 2 hrs to completely bone out one of these bad boys. By the time that the meat bags go into the plastic bags , it has air cooled the body heat away. At this time I like to get the meat into the bags and into the water. I have killed a few elk on days over 80 degrees. On days like this it doesn't take blowflies long to start acting. I don't want any larva deposited on the meat. The longer the process takes the more bees you will have dive bombing you. Any of the readers from the west can attest to the agrivation of the yellow jackets. It is not uncommon to get stung 8-10 times while boning. With this method that we have devised. We havent lost any meat yet. The perfect time for me to kill a bull is just before dark. It might be a long night, but a heck of alot less agrivation. I do see your concern about getting it into plastic bags too soon. If the body heat isn't gone , it will speed up the growth of bacteria. It isn't the heat that gets the meat in most cases, it is the spread of bacteria. Heat just speeds things up. While cutting up an elk , we are very careful not to spread the bacteria from areas that harbor the most. ie, stomach, fecal matter, urine etc. I like to put down a tarp or poncho to set the meat bags on. They are a cotton cloth and allow the meat to breath until we are done. Lack of proper planning or inexperience can turn the hunt of a lifetime into a hunt that you will always regret in a matter of a few hours. Don't get me wrong.Under ideal situations I would't recommend putting any meat in plastic. We have much experience in this and have found that if you go deeper, you find more elk. But going deeper in brings on new challenges. By careful thinking and proper planning, we have devised a way to save the meat from spoiling. There has been 13 elk in three years that have gone through our camp. All were treated in the same manner. And every bit has found its way to our freezers, from juicy ribeyes to inside skirts. Good luck this next season.......

ELKampMaster

Elkcrazy8,
Thanks for coming back and reiterating your beliefs, the process and the stats. For me it is not a common or likely event but I do want some sort of contingency plan as I said, if extremely good luck meets a warm, warm day (6,7,8 elk down in the morning and an 85 degree day warming up). Never thought about getting stung before -- not too big a deal, but will "file that one away".

Two thoughts.

One, we would probably use the horse (if we had just one) to "ferry" all the meat to the "cold water location" before worrying about taking the first load (just one elk) all the way back out and into camp. This short hauling and temporary cooling could be done by two hunters while the other half dozen or so hunters are doing the Alaskan Field dress on the remaining downed animals. You are right, it does take a while to get them dressed and the meat is air cooling the entire time and hopefully "rinding/crusting up" and dropping from say 100 degrees down to 85 degrees depending on the temperature, the shade, and the wind.

Two, in addition to the other ancillary items the poor pack horse gets to carry in our "field dressing kit" I will probably add an "instant read" thermometer.

Good Luck and Good Hunting,
EKM

txhunter58

Thanks elkcrazy8. Good info.