Leaving an Elk overnight

bwlacy · Aug 4, 2015

All the new hunting shows are on tv now. I keep seeing people leave their elk overnight to find it the next morning. Everything I read says you need to get the meat cooled down as fast as possible. So is the meat any good on these elk that are left overnight? If I put an arrow in one the last half hour of daylight should we just plan on it being a really late night and bone it out in the dark? There is no way that I want to go thru all that work and training to shoot one finally and have it all spoiled!

Thanks

wapitibob · Aug 4, 2015

I don't leave them on the ground, ever, and neither do any of the guys I hunt with. Cut em up and hang em up if you are in a spot where night packing is tough but don't ever leave them on the ground with the hide on.

Laelkhunter · Aug 4, 2015

I think most that "leave" them overnight are the late shots that don't fall in sight of the hunter. They don't want to push them, so they let them bed down, and start trailing in the morning. It's a judgement call, 'cause if you trail too soon and push them you might never recover them and trailing in the dark is much more difficult.
I can't see finding the downed animal, and not start processing immediately just because of the dark. If you can't pack it out at night, at least gut it and prop the cavity open, and try to get something under the carcass (sticks,etc) to allow some air to circulate. Best is to skin and quarter, and hang off the ground in game bags until you can pack it out. Usually the weather is so warm during the early bowhunting season, I would do my best to at least gut and quarter the animal as soon as possible.

Bar · Aug 4, 2015

If you're going to shoot an elk late in the day. You should be prepared to work in the dark.

ElkNut1 · Aug 4, 2015

Too, a lot depends on the shot, sure we all want fatal shots where an elk is dead inside 200yds but it's not always the case. Some shots are marginal hits & those elk can live for many hours & even survive the night. Those elk that live for hours before dying & being found the next morning obviously do not spoil as quick as one that dies 30 min or so after the shot. Night time temps have a big role in meat spoilage as well.

ElkNut1

NEhunter · Aug 4, 2015

Bar said:
If you're going to shoot an elk late in the day. You should be prepared to work in the dark.

Exactly.

KHNC · Aug 4, 2015

Sept Colorado night temps are usually in the high 30s to low 40s at elevation. Not likely to spoil overnight in that weather. Now if you are in NM or Nevada, probably more of an issue.

rayporter · Aug 4, 2015

last year i found a deer that some one else had shot. the temps were never over 30 degrees all night. i salvaged a front leg and left the rest - it was green.

i have left gutted elk overnight in warm temps with no problems several times.

WyoBowhunter21 · Aug 4, 2015

Based on my experiences...I have left elk on the ground if, and only if, I have a way of getting air to circulate around them so by technicality the elk is not on the ground. I always gut the elk and drag away from the guts and then put sticks, sagebrush, or anything I can find to get the elk off the ground to allow air to circulate around it. Also, I take the time to split the animals back to allow cooling. A lot of heat gets trapped in the back and can cause spoiling. I then make sure I cover the elk with brows to try and persuade critters there are easier dinners to get. I hunt in wolf/grizzly country and this seems to work the best for me. I will say, if at all possible I try to get the critter out as sometimes in Wyoming we can have 80-90 degree days and have snow that night. I can talk for hours on the subject as I get annoyed with those hunting shows that show elk/deer being set un-gutted overnight. I always go prepared to, at the minimum, gut the animal.

LostArra · Aug 4, 2015

I'm very cautious about taking a shot at last light on elk or deer. Around here a deer could never be left over night due to coyotes. I've always assumed the same for elk.
Last year I got my cow out just after midnight and I slept a lot better.

bz_711 · Aug 4, 2015

Only way I'm waiting is if I physically see the wounded elk get back up and take off while I'm tracking...otherwise I'm always prepared to give up my whole night to get the meat back to camp (or at least in bags and hung to cool). I've enjoyed having the coolness of night to pack both of my bulls out...and makes for some good sleep after that. Not sure I'd like having to deal with a late morning kill and the sun/heat/bugs...but am prepared for that as well...

Those shows not only wait till the next morning - it's typically full daylight before they even arrive to track it...all just to have better camera light...don't like that at all...I'd be up and using headlamp to begin the search before dawn if I left a wounded elk the night before...

...my whole family enjoys the elk meat too much.

bigeasygator · Aug 4, 2015

You need to get the cavity opened up at a minimum in my opinion and it's better to get the quarters and hide off the animal as well. I've personally been on hunts where elk have been lost to spoilage as they were left out overnight. The issue is not the external temps...I've seen elk spoil when temps were well below freezing at night. The issue is that if the cavity isn't opened up and the hide is not off the animal it will trap a tremendous amount of body heat. Remember, these animals need to survive some HARSH winters. If those steps aren't taken, an elk will rot from the inside out and this can definitely happen overnight.

Poser · Aug 4, 2015

Hunting shows tend to do this because they want camera light. The primary purpose of the show itself is to capture a hunt and kill on film. Meat is entirely secondary. If they don't get it on film and its not useable footage, it doesn't count.

With precious few exceptions, don't trust anything you hear or see on a hunting show.

COlineman78 · Aug 4, 2015

The one time where I have left one overnight we had the front shoulders spoil. This was not intentional; we spent hours trying to find it and ended up thinking it was a miss. Checked again first thing in the morning before heading out and found it right away. This was certainly a weird situation in that there was 3 feet of snow and my dad made a clean lung-only shot quartering towards him and there was absolutely no blood which is what lead us to believe that it was a miss. So the thing that hurt leaving it was that such deep snow is a good insulator which kept the heat in the body even though it was below 20 that night. I believe had there not been any snow that it would've been fine. That being said, I would never leave an elk overnight. You risk spoiling the meat or having bear, coyote, wolf, etc. get into it.

JPD350 · Aug 4, 2015

This could be your elk if left over night, this cow was the only elk I've had to leave overnight!

yak · Aug 4, 2015

It's a judgment call based on your confidence in the arrow hit, blood trail, incoming weather and ambient temperature. I have left elk over night without any spoilage in the Colorado backcountry in early September. Not that uncommon. One of the worst feelings is pushing a wounded elk and not recovering it. Don't be tempted to bird dog a wounded elk because of the setting sun, but rather give it time to expire. With that said, if I am confident in the shot, I wouldn't hesitate blood trailing the elk in the dark so long as I can see the trail. I also begin processing/cleaning ASAP.

Jeff Martin · Aug 4, 2015

I think we over exaggerate how little time is needed before meat will spoil. Having said that, we will kill ourselves to get it done same night. I think most of what you are seeing is in the name of not knowing if the animal is dead.

bwlacy · Aug 4, 2015

Yes I understand the marginal shot placement and being unsure and not wanting to push an animal. I will leave a deer overnight around home if I have to and not worry too much about it. I planned on getting an elk boned out and in game bags after dark if it came to that. I'm glad to hear that everyone had the same answers. I know those shows are all about footage and camera light. But to see them still quarter and take the meat the next day had me wondering. Most of the shows are for entertainment only, if you enjoy them I guess. After having been a bow hunter for 34 seasons now a lot of what I see on tv drives me nuts

hobbes · Aug 4, 2015

I've not shot a ton of elk, but it doesn't take many to recognize that elk are big and well insulated. If they lay on the ground overnight, hide on , guts in, in all but the coldest weather you'll be lucky if the meat against the ground doesn't spoil. There is just too much mass and insulation for the heat to escape fast enough.

After quartering a November rifle season cow late into the night and my bloody gloves freezing solid when I took them off (It was pushing 20 if not 25 below zero), I opted to leave my wife's gutted calf, laying uphill from the cow, whole with hide on. I was spent and just couldn't safely work alone anymore. I expected it to be frozen in the morning and a problem. It wasn't. The skin was tough to get off of the ribs, but the rest of it was just cold. A skin on, gutted, and propped open calf (smallest mass of elk meat in the woods) lay there all night in below zero weather and still was not frozen when we got to it (it was still below zero at 9 AM when I got back to it). While they have more hair in Nov. than September, it is just a testament to how well insulated they are and how much heat that hide can retain. Now add the guts in (stuffed with all but a bale of hay) and 30 or 40 degree weather and see how often you can get by with it.

Bar · Aug 5, 2015

There's a way to avoid this, but few hunters will do it. Many decades ago I decided I didn't want to work in the dark anymore. So, I set limits on when I hunt. I fully understand the value of hunting at dusk. I made the decision that the good didn't outweigh the bad. The bad being hard to track an elk in the dark, and the chore of working in the the dark. Not to mention how cold it gets, and trying to take out a load in the dark.

So, just like I set limits on the method I hunt, the weapons I use, and the shots i'll take. I also set a limit on when i'd hunt. I'm in the area I want to hunt before legal hunting hour in the morning. As soon as the time is legal i'm hunting. I continue to hunt hard (i'm a still hunter) until 2pm. I then quit. That gives me plenty of time to let the elk die, track it, and get it skinned and boned out. I'll hang up what I can't get out that day, and get it out the next day at first light.

This has worked well for me, and it saves me the grief of working in the cold, dark night. It's not for everybody, but it is an option.

Leaving an Elk overnight

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