Dragging a moose by its hind leg

[moosinaround]

I have dressed and packed many moose over the years. I have dragged them with pick ups, ATV's, by the head, by the back legs, boned them out in the bush, quartered them, every situation calls for different methods of retrieval. By far my fav, is getting them out whole, with an ATV, and dealing with them right by the truck. Backward/forwards totally depends on where they die, and the distance you have to go. A long drag, i like to get the noggin off the ground. If its just a quick tug to the truck, ill just hook up to them through the rear hocks, and let the 1000 Can Am eat!! moosin

[CranePete]

^^^ That’s cheating. Not everyone has a processor in their hip pocket

[KodiakHntr]

It is almost always easier to quarter them where they fall over instead of dragging them through the mud and dirt. Meat stays way cleaner and you have to turn them into pieces you can handle anyway. You are going to get better quality meat if it’s cooled faster. Not sure why anyone would waste the time to get an animal out whole when you could be skinning and quartering. Gotta turn ‘em into little pieces to fit them in the freezer anyway. Might as well get a start on the process.
And you are a lot less likely to hurt yourself with smaller, more manageable pieces.

[Ambush]

It is almost always easier to quarter them where they fall over instead of dragging them through the mud and dirt. Meat stays way cleaner and you have to turn them into pieces you can handle anyway. You are going to get better quality meat if it’s cooled faster. Not sure why anyone would waste the time to get an animal out whole when you could be skinning and quartering. Gotta turn ‘em into little pieces to fit them in the freezer anyway. Might as well get a start on the process.
And you are a lot less likely to hurt yourself with smaller, more manageable pieces.

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Absolute best advice!!

I’m sure I’ve been part of over fifty moose retrievals and some solo. Many were well off the beaten track, because success is way higher. Get the hide off!! Get the guts out if you have to leave it overnight!!

As silly as it sounds, I often gut even when doing the so called gutless method. I have to get the tenders and heart out anyway, plus I like to save the belly in one piece. Instead of cutting up the middle, I go around the side that’s up and follow the rear of the rib cage. When one side of the moose is done, flip and finish removing the rest of the belly. Tenders are exposed, guts roll out clean and the edible organs are easy to reach.

[elker]

It is almost always easier to quarter them where they fall over instead of dragging them through the mud and dirt. Meat stays way cleaner and you have to turn them into pieces you can handle anyway. You are going to get better quality meat if it’s cooled faster. Not sure why anyone would waste the time to get an animal out whole when you could be skinning and quartering. Gotta turn ‘em into little pieces to fit them in the freezer anyway. Might as well get a start on the process.
And you are a lot less likely to hurt yourself with smaller, more manageable pieces.

if I shot a moose before noon, I would start cutting the meat on the site where the animal fell. It it is late in the afternoon and you are solo hunting, it feels safer to pull the moose close to where the truck is. THere will be a 10 hour of work in the dark. The farther away from the truck, the more discomfort one would feel.

[Gateholio]

It is almost always easier to quarter them where they fall over instead of dragging them through the mud and dirt. Meat stays way cleaner and you have to turn them into pieces you can handle anyway. You are going to get better quality meat if it’s cooled faster. Not sure why anyone would waste the time to get an animal out whole when you could be skinning and quartering. Gotta turn ‘em into little pieces to fit them in the freezer anyway. Might as well get a start on the process.
And you are a lot less likely to hurt yourself with smaller, more manageable pieces.

100% agree. The only situation that I may want to retrieve a moose whole would be if it was in a really nasty place to cut up and pulling it up to the road was reasonably simple. Or if some heavy machinery happened to stop by like in the above pic

Moose hide WILL retain heat for a long long time. I first fully realized how well it retained heat when we shot a moose on top of a ridge late afternoon, many years ago. Did gutless method and carried what we could down with us then came back the next morning to retrieve the rest. There was a light dusting of snow. The meat was all skinned and cool but the head was still intact. We skinned out the skull and the meat on the head was quite warm, it had not cooled very much at all.

[KodiakHntr]

if I shot a moose before noon, I would start cutting the meat on the site where the animal fell. It it is late in the afternoon and you are solo hunting, it feels safer to pull the moose close to where the truck is. THere will be a 10 hour of work in the dark. The farther away from the truck, the more discomfort one would feel.

Thats a personal comfort issue for sure. I myself don’t have that problem but I can see how it could affect someone.

That said, even solo, if you can get a machine to it, you have an idling bike and headlights.
Last years very large bull was 4 hours even from the knife coming out to all the quarters and loose meat bagged and loaded and the head strapped down on the sxs. And that was at -25*C, so it really shouldn’t be 10 hours.

[HappyJack]

We get them out whole, winch them onto a atv trailer, cover up with tarps, drive to the truck and winch them into the back, and off to the butcher shop 2 hrs away. If we can't make the shop we hang and skin it in camp. Super easy. When you take them straight to the cooler there are no worries about 2 or 4 legged meat thieves in camp, the butcher gets it skinned and it's nice and clean that way too,

I don't like breaking down an animal in the dark right beside the gut pile. that's just asking for trouble.

[MRP]

Meanwhile in PG... Rarely more than 2 hrs to home, drag to the truck, gut, put whole in the truck, skin and 1/4 on the shop hoist.

[elker]

Thats a personal comfort issue for sure. I myself don’t have that problem but I can see how it could affect someone.

That said, even solo, if you can get a machine to it, you have an idling bike and headlights.
Last years very large bull was 4 hours even from the knife coming out to all the quarters and loose meat bagged and loaded and the head strapped down on the sxs. And that was at -25*C, so it really shouldn’t be 10 hours.

This is remakable efficiency! I may be able to do it in 6-7 hours with my experience with one bull this year.