Elk Advice

[Bugle M In]

yes, elk need water!

[KodiakHntr]

Nice man thanks for the tips! I wouldn't have known about opening up the sinew seam and putting a wedge in there. I'm good with skinning and gutting, and with deboning it is pretty much the same for all ungulates correct? Like an Elk will pretty much be the same breakdown but a much larger scale

For the life of me I can’t remember the correct name… Connective tissue between major muscle groups at any rate in the outside of the hind quarters. Fronts don’t hold enough heat in the shoulder blade generally but slipping your knife down the edge of the ridge doesn’t hurt much either.

Personally I won’t debone elk or moose meat either unless it has already hung for at least a few days and I really NEED to cut some weight or make them less awkward to pack in horse panniers.
I’ll suffer the extra 8lbs of shoulder blade and humerus and 12 pounds of femur in exchange of ease of handling and packing when it is on my back. Plus I like to hang elk for a minimum of 12 days and you get less dry out if it’s on the bone. Not to mention less time spent concentrating on where the knife blade is in relation to fingers while working beside a big bloody carcass.

That said, a muley or whitetail way back away from the truck is going to be deboned if I have time as that is just getting ground up regardless.

[HarryToolips]

I have to ask, what do you mean by “dressed it up”? I’m assuming that you mean completely boneless as that is a 7.5 hour time frame.

To the OP, don’t over think it. Ourea alluded to this (I think), but you have to hunt elk where they are, not where you want them to be. Find sign, find where they live, and hunt them there. Sometimes that means diving over the edge and hunting them deep in the hell hole.

Once you have a bull dead, break it down into manageable pieces right front the start. A bull is physically intimidating when you first walk up to it, but all you really need is a backpack and a knife. A small saw and a few feet of paracord will help, but isn’t essential.

Split hide down the spine ears to tail, and skin off a side down to the hocks. Lift and cut the hind off and you will have a chunk of meat and bone that you can manage.
If you are mentally tough enough you can solo pack an elk in 4 trips, but you are going to feel it for a few days after. 5 trips is feasible but that load of neck meat/tenderloin/rib roll/backstraps/horns/and your stuff is gonna be a good’er.
6 loads and you are looking at some pretty easy trips, depending on terrain. The sense of accomplishment can’t be put into words though.

Soft, dead weight on a pack isn’t the same as a tidy, snug package that weighs the same. It WILL be off balance, and it might shift around, but it isn’t likely as heavy as you think it is. Packing meat is a mental game, break it down into manageable loads and get it done. (I always have a pack scale in my truck or in the shop, and record weights on everything. They are never as heavy as your mind is telling you, and when you weigh that first one and find out what it actually is, it gets easier mentally).

If the weather is warm, put your quarters up on brush or blowdown so air gets under it. If you are really concerned find the sinew seam on the hinds and open it up to the leg bone and put a little stick in there to keep it open before you bag it. That will let that heavy bone cool a lot faster and will really reduce the chance of bone sour.

Solo big game isn’t for everyone, but if you can prepare yourself mentally for it then you have the battle half won.

I agree with all points, 6 loads of meat and head was the total between my partner and I this year on the 6 pt we harvested...lol Just don't try to pack 2 front quarters at once when the first km of the pack out is straight steep uphill, your in for hell I did it - dumb move almost hurt my knee...

[HarryToolips]

A little motivation for the Observer
A region 8 bull I Killed

https://i.imgur.com/1VtC57b.jpg

Incredible bull, gives me shivers...and IIRC from your story, he bugled like a monarch as well

[Bugle M In]

I know one fellow who walked out with both hinds and hip attached from a bull elk over his shoulders.
Pretty impressive to have witnessed.

[scttlp86]

I know one fellow who walked out with both hinds and hip attached from a bull elk over his shoulders.
Pretty impressive to have witnessed.

Some are just built different!!

[Bugle M In]

Some are just built different!!

Yup, he was big boy, so it was possible.
Should have got him for a hunting sherpa...uhmmm....I mean hunting partner!

[mike31154]

Man that looks killer Mike! is the top like a cheese stuffed Meatball? I am going to make my first batch of Jerky ever, going to do Hickory smoked Blacktail, and then some Alder Sockeye

1st photo is like a meatloaf, not meatball but yes, stuffed with cheese, babybel in this case & wrapped in good Canadian bacon. The ground mixture includes some other chopped goodies, onions, tomatoes, garlic IIRC. No idea how the Germans came up with the name, it translates to False Hare.



and this is "Brett" salami my daughter made from ground elk, oh my. Smoking is part of the process here.



Link to Falscher Hase recipe.
https://www.chefclub.tv/en-us/recipe...ese-and-bacon/