I've weighed a lot of quarters and boned out meat. A big cow will go 85-90 on the quarters pretty easy. A good size rag horn a bit more and a mature bull quite a bit more. 100-110 isn't uncommon. Depending where you make the split and what you leave as far as ribs, the fronts usually go a little heavier than the hind.

Boning makes more sense to me. We packed out three elk in four days last year. Two guys, one trip per elk.

The heaviest was a 5 pt bull I shot. My pack weighed 125 lbs and Levi's 135 lbs. Three+ miles and 3000' of vertical.

Here is Levi with a big load of boned meat:

[Linked Image]

Ed T