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Muley, would you please explain what you mean by "rib meat". I was confused by the mention of rib meat as stated in the Idaho game regulation so I contacted them and was informed they were referring to the brisket. I'm sure you know the brisket is removed with out cutting into the animal so I'm worried I may be missing something here. I don't have a written explanation from the Idaho F&G and don't want to run into trouble. Are you referring to the process of cutting the meat from between the ribs?

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richethic:
First off, I haven't read all of the posts on this thread but here is my 2 cents. We use the large size burlap bags when we have to back pack game out. They're cheap - less than $2 each and very strong. We never use those el-cheapo game bags commonly available. We also always bone the meat out. No sense in carrying up to about 15% more extra weight over the tundra. Also, get a good quality, external frame packboard. It makes all the difference in the world & you won't regret it. Bear in Fairbanks


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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="" />!

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I don't leave the penis on, just the balls. Someone already mentioned it but it's worth repeating- be careful, the attachment is fragile; a wrong tug on part of the hide after a certain point in the process and the balls can pull right off.
I wouldn't worry overmuch about contamination (especially if you don't include the penis as proof, so don't have to cut it).

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Dutch
Doubt any elk walking has ever had a 100# quarter... that would take a 1000# on the hoof bull... I've shot a lot of moose that did not come close to that.

I would expect a bull yielding 270# of boneless meat to have hind quarters in the almost 70# range. That does not relate to critters split through the spine, then cut in half. I am talking about hind quarters disarticulated at the hip...
art


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Sitka, that would make it a leg, rather than a full quarter, now, wouldn't it? When people quarter game here, they split the carcass in four quarters, down the spine, and then split behind the ribs, about the third or fourth vertebra. If you do that, two quarters end up with the spine. Those are heavy suckers, for sure.

The spine and the hip bones are particularly the ones I don't want on my back.

As far as moose, the boned-out meat from my Shiras moose was exactly 4 lbs more than the last bull elk. The moose wasn't a monster, but still a 4 year old fully mature animal. Don't underestimate the size of a fully mature bull elk. They are stocky, heavy animals with very big bones. FWIW, Dutch.


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Of course, that wouldn't be a "quarter" then, would it? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

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Art, I hunt here in Idaho and shoot smallish sized bulls. I have weighed the hind quarters on one bull with no lower leg or hide. Each of the two "quarters" weighed 73 and 74 pounds. A mature bull would easily weigh 30% and maybe even 50% more. Front "quarters" weigh far less and I have carried two at one time. I have weighed the boned out meat from three of my elk and recall the weights to be 198 - 207. All of animals had bullet damage and I cut out the blood shoot meat in the field. I also fail to carry out all the "rib meat" as described by Muley above. I also don't carry out any of the organs. I believe 100 pound rear elk legs are common on mature bulls. Hopefully I'll find a set this season. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

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Quote
They are stocky, heavy animals with very big bones

Leave my sisters out of this!

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I just shot my first bull of my life yesterday!
No not a monster 6x6 but a nice bull at that, after several scouting trips and not even seeing an elk I was tickled with him! I shot him about 2 1/2 miles from the trail head in some very rugged country in the badlands of western ND.
My 16 yr old son and I had never packed one of these big critters out on our backs and it was very, very tuff because of the shear steepness of the land we had to get out of.
My son probably weighs 160 and he put a whole hind quarter and both backs straps on his pack frame and got it out.
I only did one hind quarter and my rifle.
It was hell and the temp was in the 80's by our second trip in.
I wish I would have read all these other great posts before I went out, such great info!
All I can say is if you can swing it get yourself a pack horse or mule, boy I wish we would have had one let me tell you and take lots of water! I took a big spotting scope and tripod, NEVER again! A big jug of water is a must I think, or at least we sure could have used one because our water went quick.
This elk draw is a once in a lifetime hunt here as a resident of ND, I think it's because most die from exhaustion!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

And thanks to the folks here that gave me all the advice on bullets, I ended up loading my 7 mm STW with 140 gr. barnes X. Hit him in the shoulder at 290 yards and he didn't go very far let me tell you!

Thanks again

gb

Here he is, you can see the small entry hole in the shoulder if you look, but under that hide it wiped him out darn good.

[Linked Image]

Here's a view of the country we took him out of, up and down and up and down!!

[Linked Image]


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We call that "rolling hills" in these parts...... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Congrats on your elk! He's a dandy! Dutch.


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Congrats on the elk!!!

I'd be tickled with that one too.....

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goatboy -

2-1/2 miles --- man, can I sympathize! Two years ago my buddy and I got a bull and two cows down, leaving a bull tag unfilled. It was 3 miles to the truck by the map. Thank God the temps were below freezing at night or we would have lost meat and probably died of heat exhaustion ourselves. Took us 3 days to get it all out. We deboned it and put it in plastic bags, then in our packs.

Horses are a good thing!


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goatboy,
Thats a lot of fine meat, congrats!

Did the 140 X bullet exit?

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Quote
the boned-out meat from my Shiras moose was exactly 4 lbs more than the last bull elk. ...... Don't underestimate the size of a fully mature bull elk. They are stocky, heavy animals with very big bones. FWIW, Dutch.


I can back what Dutch is saying here. I shot a rather large Shiras bull in 96. He was large enough to make the B&C book at 172. It was the biggest critter I had ever delt with for sure.......at the time. Took 2 of us a good 3 hours to get him ready to pack out on horses. Mainly due to the tight trees he went down in. We ran out of daylight so I put the quarters in the air laying on some pinebroughs. We came the next day to pack out nice and cool meat. All four quarters (not just legs) fit into our meatpack panyards without a problem. All I know is it took every bit of mustard I had to lift the quarters onto the horses to slide them down and in.

2 years later, My Dad shot a 6x6 Elk that was really old, he was far into regresing. His teeth were worn to nearly nothing left. His head was bigger then my moose's and that wasnt all. We quarterd him up in exactly the same fashion and using the same panyards (these are meat packing panyards not box panyards) we did on the moose, the quarters would not fit. We ended up trimming 3 ribs off of the front quarters and six inches of the mid section off the rear quarters to get them to fit. The Elk was significantly larger. I picked up the one rear quarter to place on the horse. After that I picked up my brother who goes 220 and I can tell you without a doubt that bulls hind quarter was heavier than him. I am 6'3 250 and pretty stout, I have zero desire to ever lift an Elk of that magnitude onto a horse again. After being around well over 100 dead Elk over the years, I can tell you this bull was freakishly big and not the norm but I can tell you too, he isnt alone in his size. When gooing for Elk you better be prepaired to work and work hard to get them out, you never know what your going to walk up on.

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Re gutless dressing: I started a few years ago, and have done one big bull and several cows. It's nice not to wade through the guts and blood. It isn't any harder than gutting them as far as moving them around,as you only skin one side out first.

I first start, after skinning that side, by cutting along the brisket line, then filleting everything along the front quarter up to the spine, and then run a knife down along the spine, freeing up everything, cutting the loin at the same spot as if you were cuting acroos the spine at about the 1st full rib.
CDOW has been reccomending not taking the neck becsaue of trhe CWD. The only thing this leaves is the meat between the ribs, which isn't much, and mostly grissel anyway.

After I have that front quarter removed, I fillet down the spine , and around the pelvis to the hip socket and cut that quater free. The hard part here is following the pelvis at the point it flares out.

With 1/2 the elk gone, it's fairly easy to roll it over and do the other side.

Then you are left with spine, head and hide, adn paunch.

Carefully,with the carcass onit's side, with a skinning knife, not a pointed blade, you push the paunch in so you can run the knife up along it , along the top side of the tenderloin, and under the vertebrae. Reach in and grab the tenderloin and it pulls out fairly easy. Haveing an extra person along to keep the paunch psuhed in helps a lot.

I then cut off the lower legs at the knuckle with a knife.
If you are back packing it, you can then remove the rear leg bones, cut the front shoulder away and debone it . I pack on mules, so I leave the bones in until I process it.

I can pack a medium cow on one mule if it's not harsh terrain or far. With a bigger bull. I use two mules.

I cut the hind quarters in major muscle groups, and cut into steaks or roast, cut the loins into steaks and grind everything else.


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No the Barnes X did not exit, but it made one hell of a mess of him internally! He pretty much went right down when he got hit, did not move in a forward direction at all.
I was very happy with the bullets performance <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.


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