When I'm talking about rib meat, I include the layer that lays between the hide and the ribs, the brisket meat AND the meat between the ribs. There is a LOT of meat there, especially on an elk and all of it goes into the grind just fine. This is just "my" definition. I don't know what Idaho regs are, but I've talked to guys whining about being ticketed there for waste more than once.
When I hear my good friend Flinch talking about having to skin something away to get to the tenderloins, I'd be making a pretty fair assumption that he isn't taking any of that meat.
This is an issue that I've argued before and I don't want to start another battle. To each their own. In my lonely opinion, it is nothing but laziness to leave that quantity of meat for the birds. Granted on small deer, etc. that amount of meat is negligible, but there has to be 20-30 pounds of it all together on an elk and I LOVE my elk burgers! Perhaps if I lived in a state where you could kill a half dozen deer a year or more, I'd feel differently.
Many states allow you to leave that meat. For me, it's not a case of legal or not.
To that end, there is a ton of waste on "bloodshot" meat. It's amazing what you can salvage from a shoulder the next guy would willingly throw away, but that's another topic <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />!
