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

If you can't hang it from a tree, what do you all do to keep it as cool as possible until the next morning when you drive it in to town and drop off at the butcher. Let's assume it's archery so it's still fairly warm. Assume there is no ice available and deboning into coolers is not an option.

You DON'T do that. If you can't get it out and you can't get it off the ground, you have no business shooting it. You WILL lose meat that way. It's actually a felony in Montana.

HuntnShoot,

Okay - so if I can get into the back of the pick-up hide-off, one end of the quarter elevated on the tail gate - does that work. I am looking for solutions. There are many place s in Idaho that are desert elk zone; i.e.,no trees.

If you can get it to a pickup, there's really no reason you can't have a cooler or two in the truck with ice. That's doable even in early seasons if you have good coolers.

If you can't get it to the truck, you'd prop it up off the ground on rocks, logs, whatever is available. Hide off of course.

Overnight it'll cool down well even in the desert. The next day will be critical.

If there's any shade at all, take advantage of it. I've also sunk elk quarters in a cool creek overnight with no ill effects.

Dress and skin it, prop it open and on it's back. Cut the front shoulders away from the ribs so air can get under them. Same with the hind legs.
Unless it's really hot, it'll be ok until morning. For just overnight, flies are a bigger problem than heat. You might have to go over it thoroughly looking for eggs. Stretching a large piece of cheese cloth over it will keep them off but there needs to be a space under it as flies can easily lay eggs through cheesecloth. Those cheap cheesecloth meat bags are totally worthless because of that.

Rock Chuck & Smoke Pole - thanks helpful advice.

If you're not worried about scavengers and predators getting at it, you could bring some long poles (12 feet or so) and make something like a big tripod (or more than 3 legs) where you could suspend the quarters "inside". Hang each quarter from the intersected binding of the poles, then another piece of rope tied to a "leg" of the tripod so it hangs separate it from the others, with one hanging in the middle. Does that make sense? Obviously, you have to get the meat off the ground and separate it from the other meat so that it can cool as much as it will.

That's what I would do in your shoes. I've seen it done, but not during bow season with heat, just in a hunting camp with no trees. I don't evening hunt anymore for this reason.

I have harvested numerous elk in Sept in CO. We carry a small 8 wheel pulley and will hang halves in a tree, or at least off the ground. If I can, I skin the animal on the ground before cutting it in half being very cautious not to get the meat dirty. If i cant, ill get one end off the ground with the pulley, skin it and cut it in half then repeat with the other half. Once skinned and hung, i cut enough pine boughs to ensure it's in the shade and out of sight of the birds. Most animals go after the exposed gut pile. I go back the next day with muslin game bags and depending on how it's leaving the hill side, cut it into appropriate pieces. I have never had an elk or any other animal spoil doing this.

Bottom line is you want the body heat out as quickly as is possible while keeping the animal clean. The hide is designed to insulate and it simply has to come off if you cant drive to the animal early season.

Im not saying it's the way, its just a way and has served my family well for generations in Sept and even Oct warm weather.

Funny story - a couple years ago my partner shot a muley late afternoon. We were 3 miles back and being old farts, there wasn't time to go get my llamas to pack it out that night. That happens when you're in your 70's. We got it into deep shade, skinned it and laid it out on the hide, propped open. We laid the heart and liver next to it. We had 2 meat bags so we laid them over it and covered it all with pine boughs, hopefully to keep some of the flies off.
Next morning we came back with a couple llamas. As we walked up to it, we could see the boughs weren't disturbed but the meat bags were both 5 yards away. Head scratching time. We uncovered it and the meat was untouched. We couldn't find a single tooth mark on it....but both the heart and liver were gone.
Fox? Pine Martin? I think a coyote would have at least chewed on the carcass. It was too grassy for tracks. Who knows?

I am thinking you should be able to quarter or gutless method break down, get into bags and hang in trees, prop up on branches, get near a creed etc. Come back in the morning and start packing (bring one load out that night)

that's my plan at least!

I

Bob, don’t ya just love spell check......or, do you think just leaving a “creed” nearby will keep the bears away and keep the meat cool? memtb

I throw a couple pallets in the bed of the pickup. Gets air circulating underneath while driving into town.

I have never killed a moose in warm weather but to me the best option would be to have a horse or mule and/or some good friends with packs and plan to get it out fast. If you can't stay the night try to carry out what you can on the first trip and come back ASAP in the morning.

I would skin it and field quarter the carcass to lay of the pieces on the skin for them to cool. (and then hope the bears don't come get it). I skin the moose (or elk) to just past the spine on one side, then lever it over to the other side and do it again. Remove the entire hide and head from the body (head only if you have a bull) Field quarter the pieces from the carcass and lay them on a clean rock, log, grass of what ever you can. Drag the skin and lay it flesh side up in the shade, or to a place that will be in the shade when the sun rises. Then put your quarters and pieces on the hide with at least 2" of space between each one and even in warm weather they cool pretty fast. Night time cools down more, You will want to be back on site very early the next day to get them out.

I gut them first and then dock off all legs at the knuckle joints ("Knees") and leave the lower legs there. I cut the hams (rear legs) off the pelvis at the ball joints. I cut the "saddle" free between the 3rd and 4th ribs all the way back to the pelvis. I cut the front shoulder off and simply bone out the neck, ribs and shoulder loins. Leave the boned out rib-cage and neck bones with the lower legs as "wolf food". When you are done you will have 5 pieces and a "bag full". And if you wish you can also bring out the hide. Or only the front 1/2 of it for the taxidermist if you are to have the head mounted.

I carry a cloth bag for the boned out meat, but for a moose it's going to have to be fairly large. You can easily sew one up before the hunt. Use canvas or something strong. Make it about 16" in diameter and about 3 feet tall. That gives you enough room to put the boned-out meat from the neck, shoulder loins and all rib meat in, and still have enough to twist shut and tie off with a rope or strong cord.

I have had to leave 2 of my moose in the field over night and I was very worried the bears would get them but in both cases I was lucky. They were unmolested when I get back the next morning.

Not so with 3 elk I have had to come back for. 2 were taken by black-bears in Idaho and one by a big grizzly here in Wyoming. Of the ones the black bears got I was able to get some of it back, but most was ruined
If that happens you can't do a thing about it.

The grizzly had rear tracks that my boot would fit inside. He seemed to think the elk was his, and I seemed to think "yup------sure is". He got all of that one.

You better make some of these things an option....

5-6 ft chest freezer in the back of the truck, and a Honda generator.Simple.

^^^^This^^^

yep.Skin out gutless . Hang quarters in trees. Neck meat in game bag. I take the tenderloins and back straps out with me that night to truck which should have coolers with ice in them ready for such matters. Always have a plan and a back up plan before heading out

So what is so important about bedtime for these folks. Also, it's rare that I'll be driving to town the next morning, as camp comrades still have tags to fill. Might be going home in a week or so.

Get to work and take care of stuff.

My definition of "warm" is probably different than most, but here's what I did. It was probably 70 during the day (aka hotter than hell). My rush was to get the wife and kid back to camp before midnight, as we had a bit of ground to cover.

Get guts out, get big muscles exposed, as has been mentioned. Tie out or prop up, or do what you have to do to ensure maximum airflow. If you're solo, best get up early the next day, as you have got a lot of work to do. This one was only about a mile "from the truck". As you start taking parts off, make sure they continue get as much air as possible and stay as cool/dry as possible.

Cut the head off. Take off both front shoulders and hang them from branches or put them on top of a bush. Take off both hind quarters and hang them from branches or put them on top of a bush. Now you can slip logs, rock or thick branches under the rest of the carcass. Put one in the front part and one in the back part and it will have a few inches of clearance off the ground. You can do all this by yourself with just a knife in less than 30 minutes. Problem solved.