Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game So you down a big elk or moose in the evening hunt...

Get it as far off the ground as possible, brush, logs, rocks, etc. Bag it and cover with a shade tarp. If there is cool water, put it in compactor bag and chuck In the water. I would think nights in ID would be enough to get meat headed down from 100° F.

Larry Bartlett has lots of videos on meat care, though all in Alaska.

https://youtu.be/oPCSv4CAwEg

Just do like the guys on ALL the TV hunting shows do.

Hunting in light clothing so you know it's warm, make a crappy shot (archery or gun), decide it's best to leave it til morning so as not to push it...leave it overnite then go back next day, find it, and declare it's ALL GOOD"

Correction, exception is Randy Newberg.

With an elk it’s not that big a deal to go gutless and break one down right quick. My uncle and I did 2 bulls last fall, we had both of them ready to pack in 35-45 minutes. If there’s no trees to hang quarters in I’d just find something to be able to prop them up to promote airflow and get the meat to forming a crust. Even if you need to use the lower legs as a prop surely you can Mcgiver something up.

A moose on the other hand is a little different. They’re About 3X the size of an elk from the areas I hunt and a bit more of a chore to break down even though they come apart the same way. The same solutions should work though once you have him apart.

Terrace mountain just out of Turpin meadows by Moran. The hunter was barely hurt.

I don't know how many times I've read that you need to get the meat at least 10' in the air and away from the tree trunk. Uh, yep. I'll get right on that.

Roll the guts, pull the hide try to get as much air circulation as possible... most importantly, get that fuuckin hide off... this is what I’ve read, never killed a elk... grin

Multiple times I've had to quarter the elk with the hide on, then lay the quarters out, hide side up, on sage brush. Hide up keeps the birds off but allows the meat to cool.. Cool temps at night (30's - low 40's) kept the meat fresh. Packed out the straps and fillets first evening, returned next morning with pack frame.

Another time we put the quarters in a snow drift, then hung them from trees the next morning. Around zero temps at night and 40's-during the day kept the meat good for the three days it took us to get the meat out. (2 cows and a bull). Packed the straps and fillets out the first evening, as usual.

Remember that an elk's hide will keep it alive at -40. It's great insulation. Years ago, before I learned better, I got an elk that I had to leave overnight as I needed help to get it out of an impossible position. I don't remember the temperature but there was snow on the ground. I got the quarters skinned but wasn't able to do the back and neck. The next morning, we got it moved to finish it. The neck meat was still warm in spite of the snow. Luckily it didn't spoil. Don't count on being that lucky.

Way back in the day my dad and his brothers didn’t skin a little bull that one of them killed. Not knowing any better they gutted him and cut him in half at the rear of the ribcage. The put one half at a time on a pole like you see old pictures of porters in India carrying a tiger and packed the two halves down the mountain and hung it on the meat pole with the deer. Couple days later the warden drove by and told them they better get that hide off or it was going to be ruined. Too late as they skinned it and it was already green and sour.

Same situation but worse back when they first started having elk season around here. Guys would shoot a bull and use the bale bed to load him on the flat deck whole but gutted and then haul him around half a day showing their buds. Temps usually in the 40s or 50s during season and deer are fine when handled this way though I don’t. Not so much with elk, it got to where some of the lockers wouldn’t take them as they had so many dudes who didn’t know better blame them for their elk being inedible.

I won’t leave one with the hide on.

I refuse to hunt in the afternoon/evening for just the above reasons. I feel that I owe it to the game animals. Mac

besides, it gets 'sleepy' out, after dinner.....

Your call but you're missing a lot of good hunting. It's no big deal to take one apart in the dark, all you need is a good headlamp. Haul what you can, take care of the rest and get it skinned and up off the ground, and it'll be nice and cool when you come back in the morning.

BTDT. Skin and hang the pieces (boned, quartered, whatever) in game bags; retrieve in the am. Pack what you can on the way out. It won't go bad.

Have done quite a few moose and elk, most of them solo, many of them in early season warm weather, and one bull in Idaho with no trees anywhere near, only sage brush and a steep rock rubble dry ravine, in HOT weather.

Lot of good advice already posted, mixed with some puzzling assumptions. Obviously get help, get horses etc. if you can but if you can't:

You CAN chunk an elk into pieces one man can handle, and do it by yourself. Unless you are on a windswept sand dune or sand beach, there is almost certainly something in nature to aid you in getting those chunks of meat off of the ground and cooling as much as possible.

Pieces of 15-20 lbs can usually lay on top of brush, mashing it down some but keeping it above dirt level and letting air circulate under the meat. If there are any poles even ¾ inch thick you can lay them across rocks, across down logs if there are any, even in the tops of sage and make a lattice platform to get meat off of the ground and let air circulate. Personally I don't mind leaves, wood splinters, pine needles or grass on meat but absolutely don't want a spec of mineral dirt.

I carry one or two plastic drop cloths in my day hunting pack for laying down to keep meat clean from dirt or laying over to keep rain etc. off. An opaque colored one kept meat in the shade one time.

Rather than a precise plan, think in terms of goals to get the meat cut into smaller pieces, which will cool better, and placed on whatever nature provides to get it at least an inch or two off of the ground for air circulation.

Re protecting the meat from coyotes and bears: pile some sticks or brush with tops together, pee on the tops and handle the dry end to place around the meat. It will keep most critters off of the meat for at least one night. I prefer to leapfrog heavy pack loads of meat in short relays so I never leave the meat unattended for long.

NEVER make a trip out to a vehicle empty (unless you have horses or a vehicle coming later to pick up the meat.) Carry out at least some meat EVERY trip, even if it is a leg or chunk thrown over shoulder if you don't have a pack of any kind, even on your first trip out to get a pack.

In that warm situation with meat down, work late and start early. I have slept out beside a dead critter so I could work on it late and start before daylight the next morning, and have hiked in way before daylight to start working on a critter in warm weather when time is critical.

You can do it. If not, as said, don't shoot it.

A dozen years ago, my partner and I had Idaho moose tags near Yellowstone. Opening weekend, it was 92F. We couldn't see any way that we could save the meat on a moose if we'd got one so we just went home. 10 days later, I got one in the same place in 10" of snow. As has been said, sometimes you're better off to not shoot it.

If you can get it to your pickup you are home free! Keep a few boards or poles in the back of the pickup for this kind of contingency. Use them to jury rig some way to get the meat off of the deck. Sleeping pads, pool noodles or scraps of carpet can keep the boards from scratching truck paint if you prop boards on truck parts. With no canopy, a few 2x4's laid across the pickup bed from side to side make a platform to lay meat on. The same works inside most canopies. I don't think it would hurt the meat if it lay on clean metal in the truck bed overnight. Fence posts and barbed wire fences will do to hang smaller chunks of meat off of the ground. My teenage grandson made a paracord clothesline and had chunks of his elk meat strung up on that, by himself, before the rest of us showed up to pack out meat.

elk in the bow season i have cooled the quarters down by putting quarters in a clean stream when possible but i do tie them down in the water too, i do take loins back to camp in my pack 1st with my gear then return for more meat.

Shot a cow last year, 15-20 minutes after sunset. By the time we got to her, it was nice and dark. Just quartered her out on the ground, I had quarter bags with, threw it in the side by side and headed in. It was pushing 9:30 by the time we got done and out. Left the quarters in the truck, propped up so air could move around them, and let the cool air do the rest. Tenderloins and backstrap went in the cooler. It was probably mid to low 30's overnight.

My buddy actually talked me into shooting it, as I didnt want to mess with it at night, but we got it done.

There were no trees big enough to hoist her up, hence the quarter job on the ground.

Here is how dark it was by the time we got to her, 300 yards away.

Elk kill two years ago - on a long steep side hill, no trees big enough to hold a quarter - so staying on the ground.

Tracked it until 30 minutes before dark, and second arrow to finish the hunt. Went to work for the next two hours gutting, staking the legs open, skinning down on each side as we could go - without rolling over.

Split the leg hide open, and propped the cavity open with green sticks - walked out to to camp in 60 degrees dropping to 45-50 over night.

Back in at daylight to pack out the quarters, no issues.