Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting New Guy... DIY elk hunt in Colorado!

@BuzzH - I'm not calling BS on the fact that you checked with the Game Mangers, I believe you. But what I did was called and spoke with the Game Manager for unit 9 at the time and he said no. He said no after asking me what about the rib meat? I said "it would stay in the field". He said no; I'd be sighted for wasting a nature resource. Now I could go back this year and say Buzz spoke with a Game Manager and he said yes I could, but then he could come back and say "no, I'm the boss" Then I'm screwed and fined. So with all due respect, I'm going to listen to what the game manager for the unit I'm hunting says about the Gutless method. :-(

HaYen

What difference does it make if you leave the guts in,or out while you cut it up?

Lots of misconceptions out there on the gutless method..There isnt a single edible part of the animal that you'd have to leave behind, not counting heart/liver of course.

The internal meat is easy to get out after everything else is done. To get the heart, a quick session with a saw will cut loose 2 ribs. Then I cut the belly to let the gut roll out enough to get the liver. With the gut pressure off, its easier to cut along the spine to get the tenderloins. No, that isn't gutting it. Its just a single cut on the belly after all the meat is off.

There are several advantages of gutless. One is a simple matter of time. Why bother gutting when you're going to bone it anyway?
Next is the mess. Gutless gives you a clean work space.
Then there's the question of why are you gutting in the first place? To cool the meat? Take a look at how much meat is in contact with the gut. Very little, actually. To get the maximum amount of meat exposed to the air the fastest, spend the time skinning, not gutting.

Rock Chuck pretty well covered that. It is a whole lot easier working without trying to stand in all that blood.

Sounds to me like AZ had a
regulation that required recovering rib meat. That doesn't mean gutless was banned.

as far as I'm concerned gutless is the ONLY way to get meat out if you hunt in the mountains or backcountry. traditional takes too long and whole carcass is for road hunters and east coast hunters.

Im gonna try this gutless method next month on a hog. I know its not an elk but I wanna try the process.

Years ago, we would split the spine with two hand axes. One heck of a lot of work.

[video:youtube]X4kJIrW1IDM[/video]

Gloves. My skin gets very dry and cracks from blood if I don't wear gloves. The best I've found are these Playtex Handsaver gloves. They're heavier than the cheap latex and will last through several animals if you don't cut them. They have fingers that will grip wet meat. They have cuffs to protect the shirt sleeves. Best of all, they come in XL to fit my large hands. Under $3 anywhere that they sell cleaning stuff.

Mine will normally go in a cooler on ice for up ta 4-5 days, then in the fridge for a few days before I get it cut up, wrapped, and frozen. Then let it thaw for a few days in the fridge before cooking.

Worse thing if the meat freezes within 72 hrs which will "cold shorten" the meat= very tough. Rigor mortise begins about 3 hrs after the kill. Larger sections take longer. A few years ago I had to grind an entire bull for it froze solid the night after the kill (-20F). Best to keep meat unfrozen for at least 3 days before freezing.

Article on Game processing.
http://www.wyomingextension.org/agpubs/pubs/B513Rpdf.pdf

I have 2 120q ice chests... is that enough?

Cold shortening can happen any time the meat is cooled too rapidly. It doesn't have to freeze. The conventional wisdom in hunting is to skin and get the meat cold as fast as possible. However, for the most tender meat, that's not necessarily the best way to go. The trick is to hold off cooling for a while. Of course in warm weather, thick meat can take too long to cool and start to spoil. In cooler weather, though, postponing skinning until the meat goes into rigor mortis will make it more tender.

This is the problem with gutless dressing. I've done it many times and the meat always comes out tougher than if I wait to bone. In doing it gutless, the hide is pulled off and the meat cut when hot. As it rapidly cools, the fibers will shorten and that makes them tough. If it's left on the bone until rigor mortis sets in, it can't shorten.

Yes, that's enough.

What do you guys know about colorado trail 553 off of dry fork trail. It take it in pretty deep into the forrest. Just wondering if anyone has gone thru there.

If anyone has hunted 74 please pm me. I have a plan, I dont want your honey hole or gods country area I just wanna known if what I have planned is a good idea.

Hey so I started thinking I forgot about elk calls. Ill be going second season and bought and cow elk call, should I invest on a bugle? Best practices?

There could still be a few bulls bugling in 2nd season.I'd invest in 2-3 more differrnt cow calls though to get some variety