Elk Anatomy is different from Deer anatomy.

I had a good string of horses and mules. When I did not get drawn, I would go with a neighbor to help butcher and pack out the animal. After a bad recovery and an almost fist fight on a dangerous recovery, I sat some rules for me and my mules to get involved with.

A. the guy with the tag had to go to the rifle range with the type of ammo he was going to hunt with at least three times prior to the hunt. It has never ceased to amaze me how a guy would show up with his rifle with a variety of brands and bullet weights with no clue what was going on with any of it. One guy showed up at the rifle range with his 30/06 7400 with Remington 55g Accelerators, and figured to use a Leatherman knife to butcher his elk. During those 3 sight in trips, we talked about skinning, care of meat and how to keep the meat till it got to the processor, etc. Details seemed to really piss some off, reality of dealing with the amount of meat, processing a dead game animal, their having to get their hands dirty, etc. Often, it came down to their lack of interest due to the fact that their wife did not eat, nor would cook any elk or deer meat. Another guy showed up at the rifle range with his 7 mag BAR with a coffee can of loose ammo of different brands, when I questioned him on type of bullets, etc, his response was, "We do not get into that kind of thing", meaning him and his brother. They were able to keep the shots in an 8" circle at 100 yards.

B. Anyone that just wanted to go to the range and verify zero the week before hunting season did not get the pleasure of my mules packing out their game, since I was working for free.

C. Anyone that figured that their rifle was still sighted in from last year, was asked to loose my phone number...I did not care who he was, how much money he made, DR or Lawyer, they could all kiss my Azz.

D. If the elk was hit, ran off down a deep canyon, I would wait at the top, holding the mules while they quartered up the animal and packed the animal to the top. I did have 300 feet of rope, with a couple of mules broke to harness that could pull the hind quarters part way up. We Indian Skinned all animals, quartering, back strap, boning the meat off the neck.

Another poster said that 25% of the people that shot an elk had no idea of how to track an animal. I have seen a few that did not even care to track, but opted to "go get another one"...a terrible thing to actually witness.