Weight of small cow elk packout, and other notes on weights of animals

Joined
Sep 12, 2015
Messages
437
Location
New Mexico
I have these data, so might as well share them. Hopefully this will be useful to someone trying to figure out how much work it is to take an animal out of the backcountry.

After 7.5 days in NM unit 23 of not having an elk encounter within several hundred yards, when a small, ca. 1.5 year old cow stepped out at 25 yards oblivious to my presence, it was a gift.

The bone-in meat, head (skinned, jaw removed), and hide (no cape, just neck to tail) weighed 150 pounds.
To reduce weight, one could leave the head and hide (20 lb) and humeri/femurs (10 lb total).

At the truck, I disarticulated the shanks from the rest of the quarters to reduce their length and was able to fit two front quarters in a 48 quart cooler with no ice, and two hind quarters in another 48 quart cooler (meat cooled overnight, and cooler was also cooled overnight). The trim, backstraps, heart, etc. went into a trash bag and were insulated in my sleeping bag for the five hour drive home.

By way of comparison, last year's moderately-sized 3 x 3 mule deer bone-in meat, head and hide weighed 90 lb. The finished, boned-out meat of my first bull back in 2011, a small 5 x 5, weighed 180 lb.

Best of luck to all in your hunts this year!
 
Joined
Aug 10, 2015
Messages
2,249
My 4x5 bull this year weighed 205 with bone in quarters, not including the head/antlers.

Last year I shot a nice mature cow. Her bone in quarters hung on the scale right around 175lb. The year before I had a rather large cow, closer to 200lb.

A boned out yearling cow felt about the same as a small 4pt muley a few years ago. Probably 80lb.

Last year, I shot a good sized muley, aprox. 170" his bone in rears, boned out fronts, et al, and head with cape were about all I could manage in one load. I know what 100lb feels like and that load was well over it, plus the additional gear I had for day-hunting.
 

KNPV PSD

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 5, 2013
Messages
200
Location
Somers, MT
My first cow (4-10 yo) was 205lbs at the processor with four quarters bone-in, tenderloins, backstraps, neck meat, kidneys, and the heart.
 
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