Sorry to hear about your stroke! We are getting toward the end of our elk (and moose) hunting as well.
What you describe in removing the hindquarters is pretty much what we do as well--but we try to keep the meat on the top of the quarter as attached as possible to the bone. Then we make also sure to age the entire quarter for several days before butchering.
If the temperatures are right this is easy--we got lucky with a big cow elk Eileen killed a few years ago in early October, when the daytime temperatures stayed 40-50 for over a week. But also have a big refrigerator in our garage, and some big coolers we've used for around 15 years.
