Removal of Meat Question

[325]

I was reading the regulations and came upon this;



Edible Portions

with respect to big game, excluding grizzly bear, cougar, wolf, lynx, bobcat and wolverine, means the edible portions of the four quarters and the loins of the animal"


For ungulates, does this mean that neck and rib meat does not have to be removed in order to comply with the regs??

[Boner]

Not sure how others quarter, but the neck and ribs are part of mine that I pack out. There's a lot of stew in a moose neck.

[325]

Not sure how others quarter, but the neck and ribs are part of mine that I pack out. There's a lot of stew in a moose neck.

I'm talking about backpack hunters. Not too many cutting quarters with the ribs and neck attached

[Amphibious]

It's a crime to waste moose ribs. Mmmmmm...... Ribs.......

[325]

It's a crime to waste moose ribs. Mmmmmm...... Ribs.......


Totally, and I understand taking every scrap of meat, but I'm curious about what the regulations mean. I read it as compliance is achieved if the 4 "short quarters", backstraps and loins are removed, leaving the rib and neck meat behind.

[landphil]

Snip... I read it as compliance is achieved if the 4 "short quarters", backstraps and loins are removed, leaving the rib and neck meat behind.

I read it the same way, though I don't leave any of that behind. If your really interested, the official definition would be found in the provincial Wildlife Act, since the regulations are a "layperson's interpretation" so to speak.

[hunter1993ap]

four quarters and loins, just like its stated.

although I debone and pack the neck as well. I leave a pretty bare carcass no matter how far in, or how big of animal. even pack the heart and liver out.

[f350ps]

I really think it depends on weather you take the horns attached to the carcass or the nut sack with the meat! :) K

[Mikey Rafiki]

I think you are reading it right. Although I get pissed off something fierce when I see a rack of ribs sitting on the road side after an animal was gutted, especially an elk or moose. I just had my last elk rib dinner a couple nights ago and the ribs alone on a spike bull provided over a dozen healthy adult servings.

[Mauser98]

When we quarter an animal, we halve by running a powersaw down the spine then cut each half between the third and fourth rib to quarter. Pretty sure that's the aim of the definition.

[two-feet]

I think it is unlawful to leave any meat in the bush, and rightly so. Any of you fellers ever tuck into moose tounge sandwich? Scrumptious!

[Fisher-Dude]

The law is written so:


Retrieval of wildlife killed
35 (1) In this section, "dwelling place" does not include a temporary or seasonal camp.

(2) A person commits an offence if the person hunts wildlife and kills or injures that wildlife and fails to make every reasonable effort to

(a) retrieve the wildlife, and if it is alive to kill it and include it in his or her bag limit, and

(b) remove the edible portions of the carcass of game to the person's normal dwelling place or to a meatcutter or the owner or operator of a cold storage plant,

unless exempted by regulation.



Can you eat neck and rib meat? You bet!

[two-feet]

Those that dont eat rib meat are very, very foolish.

[Drillbit]

Never been offered sheep ribs.......or sheep stew.......

Pretty sure backpack hunters pack the minimum out, and I don't blame them one bit. They go through a Lot to get something, and they'll appreciate what they do pack out.

[russm86]

The law is written so:




Can you eat neck and rib meat? You bet!


I think "edible portions" and "can you eat it" are terms open to interpretation. Theoretically pretty well all soft and/or meaty portions of any animal "could be eaten" but what most "consider" "normally edible" is something else entirely. You "CAN" eat the brain, the tongue, the stomach, the liver, the heart, the eyes, the lungs, the diaphragm, the kidneys, the marrow from all the major bones, and probably other parts I can't think of right now... So who decides or determines what is "edible portions"?

[russm86]

Those that dont eat rib meat are very, very foolish.

Do you butcher all your own animals or take it to a professional butcher/meat cutter? From what I have seen, and been told by a few professional meat cutters, including a family friend who is a meat cutting/butcher instructor at a university, most commercial meat cutters won't spend the extra time to strip out all the bits of meat from between the ribs and other small portions, especially on smaller animals like deer and sheep etc, some will for larger animals like moose etc but not always. As with all jobs time is money, and when you get paid per pound hanging when brought in, you want to get through as many animals in a day as you can and don't care about spending the extra time scraping bone for a few extra morsels or ounces of meat that they are not making any more money for doing. The only time they will normally do anything with the ribs is if you ask for actual "bone in" ribs like you would order baby back ribs at the restaurant as then they just cut it up on a saw and they don't spend any time stripping between the bones. So if you get your game cut commercially and you just want it deboned or everything other than prime steaks and roasts into trim for sausage/ground you likely aren't eating the ribs either unless you know the guy or specifically ask for them. This is why, unless I'm really hard pressed for time or the guy isn't available, I will get the instructor to do it on the side and I will help him with it and I spend the extra time myself to take every possible piece of good meat I can off as well as assist him in some of the basic cutting and the wrapping and labelling etc.

[325]

I think "edible portions" and "can you eat it" are terms open to interpretation. Theoretically pretty well all soft and/or meaty portions of any animal "could be eaten" but what most "consider" "normally edible" is something else entirely. You "CAN" eat the brain, the tongue, the stomach, the liver, the heart, the eyes, the lungs, the diaphragm, the kidneys, the marrow from all the major bones, and probably other parts I can't think of right now... So who decides or determines what is "edible portions"?

Indeed. The definition in the regulations and the definition in the Wildlife act don't say the same thing. I agree the heart and liver would by many be regarded as highly edible, and probably more so than sinewy neck meat, but I doubt a CO would press charges if a hunter left those organs behind.

[boxhitch]

The way things are now , four legs and the backstraps satisfy the regulation for edible portions. What any individual takes for his/her own is totally up to the individual. If hunters keep challenging the reg , it may get changed for everyone and to suit no one.
I say leave it alone , and make your own choices.

[Darksith]

Never been offered sheep ribs.......or sheep stew.......

Pretty sure backpack hunters pack the minimum out, and I don't blame them one bit. They go through a Lot to get something, and they'll appreciate what they do pack out.
well you are missing out then. I have had goat ribs, and goat stew. Helps to have 4 guys to pack out 1 animal though

[325]

The way things are now , four legs and the backstraps satisfy the regulation for edible portions. What any individual takes for his/her own is totally up to the individual. If hunters keep challenging the reg , it may get changed for everyone and to suit no one.
I say leave it alone , and make your own choices.

I agree 100%

[Fisher-Dude]

In Alaska, if you leave more than an ice cream bucket of trim on the carcass, you get a ticket.

Also in Alaska, you cannot remove the horns/antlers from the kill site until ALL the meat is removed.

Coming soon to a province near you...

[hunter1993ap]

Never been offered sheep ribs.......or sheep stew.......

Pretty sure backpack hunters pack the minimum out, and I don't blame them one bit. They go through a Lot to get something, and they'll appreciate what they do pack out.

I don't think this is necessarily true. I was raised to hunt for meat, no matter how far the animal is, the meat comes first. even though most of the critters we kill are what most would consider a long ways in, everything gets picked clean and packed out.

[hunter1993ap]

In Alaska, if you leave more than an ice cream bucket of trim on the carcass, you get a ticket.

Also in Alaska, you cannot remove the horns/antlers from the kill site until ALL the meat is removed.

Coming soon to a province near you...
just more rules to piss off the guys who already follow the ones we have...