Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Gutless/deboning in the field

Have two of the hairy critters. But seeing as how they both live in the house, and the wiener dog I swear is rotting from the inside anyway, can't see surviving the first night without a gasmask if I was to feed them 5 pounds of elk liver!

Gutless method only way to do a moose.. One of the few times had to gut a moose it sucked. Buddy got a bull in the evening loosing light fast so we had to gut it and leave it overnight. Talk about a pain in the ass, we had two rangers had use the winches to hold one of the rear legs the other winch to keep it on its back and I went in with the knife after I was done looked like I came out of a slaughter house.. The next day coming in we came in from the top 3 wide praying boo boo the brn bear wasn't having a morning snack..

I prefer good Elk meat so leave it on the bone. Dump the guts, skin one side, Saw the hind quarters off, then skin the offside, saw them in the center and saw the lower leg off leaving proof of sex attached, Pack them out one at a time. Then peal off the front shoulder and saw the rib cage center brisket and below back strap that's another pack. Then flip it over and skin the other side. peal front shoulder and saw the ribs off load the pack frame. Final load of meat is the back up to the skull. Generally have to saw it in half. If it is a little bull or cow, Skull cap with Eyes may come out with the Heart/Liver split between front shoulder pack loads. Big bull racks get a trip out with a bag of trimmings Heart/Liver. 5 to 7 pack loads come out and I do not save Capes or skin. Packing meat is part of elk hunting. Leaving it on the bone until you can process it correctly gives you the best quality meat possible. If your Bow hunting in August/September heat, Speed is the only excuse to cut corners. The gutless method is the wasteful method. Waste of game is a crime here.

never mind

don't want to start a fight

If I take all 4 quarters, backstraps, filets, neck roasts, rib meat, and brisket. But I don't waste time wallowing around in a mountain of innards. Just what exactly am I wasting? I've also described earlier how to take the heart doing the gutless method not that I've ever hunted anything anywhere that leaving organ meat was against the law.

Gut everything you want but to say gutless is the wasteful way of doing it is pure nonsense.

I agree Kid as we know in AK you don't get caught wasting anything if you do get caught the Brown shirts (state troopers) are going to have a field day with you. All we use is the gutless method, We don't debone though out in the field reason why in unit 13 in Alaska its against the regulation for that unit you have to bring all meat out on the bone to include the rib meat attached to the ribs. I know I know lower 48 isn't AK. Also I will add don't get caught bringing the antlers out first before the meat in AK. I'm probably going elk hunting by myself and if I get an elk I will use the gutless method on the elk cause its a lot easier to do when their is only one person.

No it's not. It's pure bullsh**.

I haven't gutted an elk in years. We take the quarters off and frame meat (brisket, neck, loins, etc), skinning the quarters if there is no snow to drag with (leaving hide to stich over the open area with para-cord like mentioned earlier). I like to leave the meat on the bone on the quarters as it allows you to age it properly without losing a lot and it also helps in identifying the cuts. If you can't id the meat when packaging it leads to Russian Roulette in the kitchen. For maximum yield, it is best to keep the hide on the quarters when possible.

To avoid bone fragments and bone marrow all over from sawing bone I use a knife for everything. With a bit of anatomical knowledge you can have the rear quarters and hocks off in a few minutes. Of course, I am probably ignorant and obviously waste meat, so go ahead and pass this over.

I weighed all the parts before, but I don't have the records in front of me. I know a mature bull hind quarter will be about 80 lbs, with about 10 of that being hide. The front is about 50. A decent skinned/de-boned (lower jaw) head is around 50 as I recall. The hind bones must be about 20lbs. The frame will yield about 80lbs in the field depending on how much you trim it. A cow will be about 1/2 or 3/5 of that as I think. It has been a few years since I broke it down. I can't remember the weight of the hock, as it has been a long time since my truck has seen an elk hoof.

Anyone who says the gutless method is wasteful is a moron.

Since starting gutless I don't think I'll do it any other way unless I can put the whole thing in the truck and drive to a place I can hang it.
Was elk hunting with two partners this weekend and one guy tagged a nice size bull at dark. The other fellow was grumbling about how long we were going to be out there dealing with it. I've helped him deal with a moose before and even with a bunch of us there it was over 3 hours before we were done, so I was in no mood to repeat that. I did it my way and and hour and a half later we were finished. Not much left on the carcass when its over either.