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

I'm pretty much aligned with the crowd bone in the quarters and cut from the bottom to expose the meat - I try to keep the neck meat attached to the front quarter for simplicity. Where we usually hunt it is almost always packing out 1-4 miles so dragging isn't an option. I can't gut an elk in 10 minutes but I'm sure somebody can- mine is closer to 1/2 a bloody hour if he falls in an awkward spot.

Game bags in your pack allow you to hang what you cant get out the first trip and keep the meat clean and away from scavengers overnight. I want to hang the meat in a cold room for a couple of days before butchering but a big cooler full of ice drained regularly works almost as well.

I may shoot one close to the truck and haul it to the butcher after gutting - but that would be a huge change.....Oh if you take out a front quarter with the shot we usually trim out the quarter to remove any bone fragments.

At Walmart for about a buck or so, you can buy a light weight plastic painter's tarp. I think they are about 10'x 12' or so Spread it out on the ground to lay the meat on as you are processing in the field. Really helps keeping the meat clean and it weighs only a few ounces, folds up to about 2" x 6" and 3/4" thick

If there is snow on the ground, we do the gutless method leaving skin on the quarters bone in.
If you skin a bit of the flank with each quarter, you can use the flap to cover the exposed cut meat.

Then we drag out the quarters and carry out the backstrap/skirt/flank/brisquet/tenderloin/neckmeat.
2 guys, one trip, everything out.

No snow- we carry skin off, bone in quarters. Along with everything else as well.

Does anyone know how long you can leave a skinned but unopened elk lie before you HAVE to get the meat off to avoid a bad flavor?

I carry a section of Tyvek house wrap in my pack. It weighs almost nothing and can be used for all kinds of things. Water and wind proof, tough as all get out. Nice to spread meat out on as you quarter or debone.

how did you keep it clean to skin it? once skinned, it's only a few minutes to separate the quarters. Why leave it lay at all, with the guts in?

My hunting buddy shot a cow in the neck and it ran off with the herd, which split about 3 directions. 4 or 5 of us searched but couldn't find any blood in the snow, just lots of tracks going every which-way.

Temps were below freezing with overnights below zero. We found the elk first thing the next morning and by then the meat had already gone south. We quartered it up but had to salvage what we could ourselves as it was so bad the butcher wouldn't take it. Elk hide is a heck of an insulator.

Since then I my son-on-law and myself have both killed an elk and had to leave it overnight. In both cases we used the gutless method and quartered the elk, taking only the fillets and backstrap the evening of the kill. We left the quarters laying hide-side up on brush overnight, allowing some circulation but keeping the birds off. Both animals were very good.

My goal is to get the most tender meat possible. To do that, you need to wait until rigor mortis before cutting. Also, I like to avoid gutting as much as anyone. I was just wondering what would happen if you skinned one to get it cooling but left it whole for a while to stiffen up and avoid gutting at the same time.
For maximum tenderness, you can pull the back legs forward to stretch the loins before they stiffen. Keeping is clean isn't too much of a problem. Just leave the whole carcass on the hide.

On elk I always go gutless. Only one I gutted, I looked like a mass murderer, covered in blood from armpit to finger tip...

I'll bone it out right away if I'm packing it very far or if it's just convenient. We did two cow last year gutless and quartered with the hide one. Skinned them a day later in a more convenient place. That worked slick as well.

Probably one of the worst things to do is let it lay with the guts in. There is a tremendous amount of heat there. With guts out, you are at least cooling inside and outside.

Get the hide off, at least cut into halves with the pelvis split and hang it or lay on top of some logs or ? so air can circulate around it.

I would want to get all that blood and offal out away from the good meat as soon as possible.

Gutless for me. On a male you can leave a section of penis attached to one leg. That way you do not get hair all over like leaving testicles attached.

I hunt Wilderness areas and I don't have draft animals. I'm not smart enough to shoot them early, either. I carry a small tarp that I run through my Foodsaver so it makes a really compact package.

Start with this:



Gut
Skin
Cut the head off
Leave overnight



Come back the next day with pack boards and helpers
Remove quarters
Remove backstrap and swinging loins
Bone the neck and ribs
Shag it to the truck



You'd be surprised how heavy the bones are.



P

Pharm, nice job of taking care of your harvest, I have seen some pretty pathetic examples of field dressing/butchering....

+1. Great job Pharm!

I don't understand how guys that gut an elk end up such a mess. I can gut one and clean up with a paper towel or two. I gut em, then peel the hide off as they lay upside down. The hide lays out perfect to keep crap off the quarters as I cut them loose. I also carry a tarp to lay quarters on before they go into game bags. Guys that make a mess need more practice. mtmuley

I would never leave the liver, heart or catfish tenderloins behind, so I'm guts up to my ears.

Actually if the animal is lying is a good position it's easy to open them up and not look like one of the internal organs when I get finished.

we've been doing it for 5 years now, with a 4.5 mile pack out it's a good move.

Thanks. This bull was particularly satisfying.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/8182148/Re:_Third_hand_bull,_three_gen#Post8182148



P

I don't know what a Catfish tenderloin is, but the filets are easily removed after the backstraps come off by reaching down from the top and slicing the connective tissue on the ends. I like liver, but usually don't take it on elk because of it's size. I don't eat it after it's been frozen, and it is way too big for one meal for my family.

says the guy with no dogs.....