Packing Elk Quarters

[lif]

On average how much does a rocky mtn cow elk front and hind quarter weigh. I was thinking bone in around 50lbs for a hind and 30 for a shoulder. What about boned out as well? Is it really worth it to pack boned out meat or is it easier to strap whole quarters? I will have an exterior frame this year with a meat shelf on it. I've packed quite a few bucks out both deboned and whole quarters but never elk. What systems have you all come up with over the years.

 

[Bailer]

Your numbers are probably pretty close, maybe a little low.

I go back and forth on bone in vs boned out. The bone gives the load some structure that almost offsets the extra weight.

 

[lif]

That's my thoughts as well. I prefer to strap whole quarters to my frame for the stability as well. I'm taking my wife on a wilderness cow hunt and want to have a tight plan for packing to minimize my trips out. Probably packing between 3-5 miles to truck. Maybe one ham whole and one shoulder deboned in a load.

 

[Ross]

Your weight is pretty close but a lead cow size would surprise you. I tend to keep the bone in on hinds and bone out arms that being said there are times I will bone out both if going a considerable distance. Always fun packing elk meat

 

[kalielkslayer]

I prefer bone in, even on the fronts.

Temperatures at the time of the kill would dictate if I boned anything out. If it's cool the meats getting hung and I'll pack a hindquarter one trip, front and back strap on the other. My partner the same.

Once, in my young/dumb days, we tried to pack out the entire bull plus camp in one trip. Didn't work out well. After a mile or so, we got rid of 1/2 our load. At least I marked mine. My partner never found the front shoulder and his sleeping bag even after 5 hours of searching.

 

[UtahJimmy]

These are weights that Corey Jacobsen listed by weighing actual bull quarters at a butcher and averaging them. Like Ross said, if you kill a lead cow, the weights may be what an average bull weighs.

I like bone-in for the structure, but I also make stock out of the bones/marrow. Makes it worth it to pack them out!

 

[Swede]

The problem we have is with the term "quarter". If we truly quarter up an elk there is no "miscellaneous meat". Everything goes with one quarter or the other. Corey shows it like there are five quarters on an elk. It looks like he is calling a shoulder a quarter and a ham another quarter.
A yearling cow will average about 200# full hanging quarters. A mature cow will go over 300# hanging quarters. The way I divide up an elk into quarters will give you quarters of 50# to 75#+ with the bone in. The reason so many hunters are leaving the bone in the woods is because you can reduce the weight on your pack out significantly. For short pack outs, I prefer to leave the bone in. For longer packs, it is too much.

 

[lif]

I also use the term quarter to define Hams and shoulders. I strip everything else including ribs and neck from the bone. But I generally prefer bone in for aging purposes. But like I stated earlier I'm packing Most of it out myself. Just trying to get an efficiency program down. Thanks for all the input.

 

[muddydogs]

I think that about everyone understands that a quarter is just the front leg and shoulder or the hing leg and rump and not a true quarter of an animal.

THis quarter deal kind of reminds me of the mag vs clip debate.

 

[Swede]

If we say a "quarter" is only the front leg or hind leg, and the quarters don't include the neck, brisket, ribs, backstraps and tenderloins as Corey suggests, what do we call a quarter with those parts included? Actually it is less confusing when we use the right terms. Butchers have used "quarters" to refer to whole 1/4 part of an animal for years. Maybe Lif was referring to just a leg as a quarter, but I did not assume that.

 

[bmart2622]

I agree with muddydogs and feel that in the hunting world it presumed that a quarter is each leg. Butchers might call it something else but this a hunting forum and an elk hunting thread.

 

[slick]

Use the term "true quarters" when packing true quarters on horses -1/4 of an animal in each pannier.

When I carry it out on my back it's a "quarter" - just hind leg/ham or front/shoulder.


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[dreamingbig]

It so much easier to butcher at home if you leave the bone in. That said there is a time and place for boning out the meat. A good compromise is to bone out the fronts as that is mostly hamburger anyway and leave the hams bone in.


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[lif]

I think That is my plan dreamingbig. Not saying there is right or wrong, there are just different situations and I haven't packed an elk yet.

 

[bluetick78]

On a 3-5 mile pack out, weight can become an overwhelming issue. The 80 lbs that seemed fine for mile 1 will sometimes destroy strong men by mile 3. I always debone elk hindquarters. Every elk that I've packed out without equine assistance has been 2 trips for 2 guys. Those trips are meat, drinking water, and bear spray. I have two really good friends that packed a good size bull out in one trip. Both of them had knee problems, knee pain, and both ended up going under the knife before Christmas of that year. If it feels really heavy right off the bat, then it is. There is nothing wrong with extra trips. I've missed lots of work packing elk that got killed on the last day of a hunt. If you want your tenure as a hunter to be long and healthy, use caution when you're loading your pack with Wapiti. They are fun to hunt and equally fun to eat, but they won't serve you your hard-earned back strap in the OR recovery room!

 

[ElkNut1]

Same as Ross! Leave bone in on hinds put in its own bag, bone out fronts, remove strap, tenderloin, add loose neck meat & such, put all this 1/2 into 2nd bag, one hunter carries this, turn elk over & repeat, 2nd hunter carries those 2 bags. Done! This can be done for all day hunters with the right packs (Exo 3500" here) We start the day with aprox 13# so plenty of space for the two loaded game bags! p.s. no rib meat or rib bones here. Don't care for them! If distance is greater than 2-1/2 rough miles then we bone out hinds. 3 fairly easy miles or less & bone stays in hinds! I hate two trips!

Photo of 1/2 elk! in Exo pack!

ElkNut/Paul

 

[muddydogs]

An average leg bone of an elk weights around 8 pounds so if the pack is long and hard and loosing 8 pounds will make it easier then bone the quarter if not don't. Personally I have not had a need to waste the extra time boning quarters, if the pack is that difficult then I pack lighter and make an extra trip to save the knees and back. On short nasty packs I have been know to carry a hind and front out at once but couldn't do this if the pack was much over a mile.
What I tend to do after the quartering is done is load the loose meat into my pack and make the first trip back to the truck or camp, I then turn my pack upside down and dump all the stuff I really don't need out of it, this year I have a load sling so I will just remove the bag and instal the sling, I then grab some water and head back in to pack quarters. I usually take a hind at a time then if i'm feeling strong or stupid at the end I will bring out the 2 fronts at once.
I see were a lot of guys posting up that they are carrying 100+ pounds at once and while they talk a good game I sent a few summers under a 100 pound pack back when I was 30 something and I know its not fun or easy. I don't care how good the pack is once you hit 100 pounds its just heavy and uncomfortable. I would rather make an extra trip then waddle along with 100 pounds, heck most the time I can make an extra trip in the time it takes to struggle along under 100 pounds.
I would venture to guess that most of the guys that think there packing around 100 pounds are probably just guessing on the weight and adding a few extra pounds for cool effect. Most guys think they get 300+ pounds of ready to eat meat off a cow elk anyway.

 

[Gr8bawana]

When I took last years cow to the processor the hams weighed in at 146lbs. I only packed out one of them and it sure felt like it weighed at least 150lbs each.
I always take weight estimates with a grain of salt because some guys just don't know and just make something up. Two years ago a know BSer said his 3 point mule deer weighed 200lbs field dressed so I called him on it. We went over to his house and weighed the deer whole on a scale and it only weighed 126lbs.

 

[wapitibob]

An Elk femur, ball end to the knee, is nowhere near 8# on any Bull I've killed.

 

[dreamingbig]

Yes. What Paul said exactly!


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