gleninAZ

I have rarely used a saw but do carry one. If I am way up top away from roads I will bone them out. I always gut here in AZ unless I am boning. The temp during bow season is usually in the 80s. If I don't want the hide I will just cut the quarters away with hide on and it only takes a short time.

Cougar Mag

Great stuff guys! I haven't made up my mind on the packframes/backpack or just to go with a quality, large size backpack.

The link provided to quartering an elk is interesting. Are there any known videos for quartering/boning out an elk?

huntnmuleys

cougar mag,
for what its worth i think you would be very happy with a pack frame. makes carrying the heavy load SO much easier. plus if ya get agood one, you can go backpacking, might get ya into some great country. at least for me though, it is just nice to strap a quarter onto a nice comfortable frame.
brad

Dirt2

My two cents worth. I have killed three elk on solo hunts and backpacked them out, distances of 9 1/2, 7 1/2, and 3 miles.

I backpack in with an internal frame pack. You won't need an external frame pack IF you're going to bone out the meat. I take one knife with the Accusharp sharpener, a little parachute cord, and really good game bags (the heavy gunny sack types - you can put two boned quarters in one bag, with room to spare). I take a saw, but only for skullcapping the head if it's a bull.

You definitely want to skin the elk in my opinion, that will help with the cooling process in warm weather. I have gone back and forth on the question of gutting. After doing the no gutting process on one elk and a couple deer, I have gone back to gutting. The no gut process makes the carcass heavier to manipulate and leaves you with the constant possibility of having your blade slip in where you don't want and making a mess - poop and half-digested vegetation everywhere. Gutting really doesn't take that long anyway, and makes quartering simpler.

So, first you gut. Then you skin the side that's up, from the belly back up over the backbone. Skin down the bottom side far enough the get at backstraps, take them out. Then take the top front quarter, that's really a cinch. Next go to work on the hind quarter, which can be a bit of a chore. I've done this with elk, deer, and antelope, and I still struggle a little. By the time I get to the second hind quarter, I've remembered again how to do it, but I get more hamburger meat off the first quarter if you know what I mean. Now that you're half done, flop it over on its other side and repeat. Don't forget tenderloins, you can get them right after the backstraps or wait until the very end. That's it.

Next you bone the quarters. One pointer here is to bone the meat off the quarters kind of like a fillet, take the entire quarter of meat off as one piece. DO NOT TAKE THE MEAT OFF THE BONE ONE LITTLE PIECE AT A TIME. I did that once, on the elk I hauled out 9 1/2 miles. I basically separated each cut of meat individually, had 40 or 50 little 2-3 lb. chunks. My error was revealed only as I started cooking up this meat. You have never seen meat this tough, hell the tire makers don't make most racing tires that tough! This elk was only 3 1/2 years old, and should have been tender. There's some technical reason for this having to do with rigor mortis, if you take all the pieces apart within a certain time frame, the muscle fibers just contract like a mother and never relax again in this world. (For some reason this doesn't happen with tenderloin and backstrap.) Now the easy part, packing the meat out!

If you're packing out boned meat with an internal frame pack, the meat will sink right to the bottom of the packspace like a couple of cannonballs and be a real nightmare to pack out. You'll be walking with your chest on your knees to counterbalance the load. A neat trick I've finally figured out that solves this is to go ahead and stuff your sleeping bag in the bottom of the pack (assuming you've got a light sleeping bag), then fold up your sleeping mats and stick them in next. This should fill up the lower 1/3 - 1/2 of the pack compartment, thereby forcing the meat to ride higher.

I would second what other guys have said about the first time being something you just about can't be ready for, it's going to be a job. I would recommend doing the whole process on a deer first. Even if you shot it 200 yards off the road. Go ahead and go through the entire skinning, quartering, boning process and pack the sucker out. That will give you some ideas of your own on what you want to do different when you get an elk down.

huntnmuleys

thats a helluva idea quartering a deer and packing it for practice. maybe a lot of new elk hunters should try it.

for those of you who are new to this and skeptical of trying it on your own at first, maybe try doing some swap hunts. go elk hunting somewhere to see what its about, then go on your own

just an idea
brad

ShatoDavis

thats a good idea if state laws allow it. some states require that the animal as a whole be brought to the check station. but to be realistic they should buy a Moo cow and kill it and try packing it out.

huntnmuleys

shatodavis...
i forgot about that whole check in thing. here in wyoming we dont have to do that, but i hadnt thought about when i went to ohio, there was that law out there. might not work for those out east, but it is a hell of a good idea if its legal.
brad

Cougar Mag

Here in Illinois we can quarter deer before checking in, but I have never needed too. Lots different type of hunting here, not nearly as vast in remote areas or changing topography.

BareBack Jack

Can't you 1/4 and leave the sex attached to it?I know in here in Montana you have to have proof of sex at the check station,or for the Game Warden.
BBJ