Boned Out Elk Weights!

[ElkNut1]

Every year there are ones interested in actual boned out weights of an average cow or bull. I haven't weighed cows but have done so with a few bulls in the 240" to 275" class. I've come up with what's an average wt. for ones to prepare for if need be with a boned out bull. These are realistic wts not ones blown out of proportion. What are some other wts you folks have found, not guesses but actual weighed meat. I will add that I do not remove rib meat because I don't care to, I also do not remove the leg muscle sinewy meat as it offers little. That can effect the total wt but nothing drastic. This bull below fell right at those aprox wts. Yes, we are legal in the state on game removal.

Boned Meat - Per Pack.

Hindquarter - 48#

Front Quarter - 17#

Backstrap - 10#

Tenderloin - 1#

Misc Burger - 12#

Total - 88#

ElkNut1

[timberland]

so that's 88# per half, total of about 175# per animal?

[tdiesel]

elknut and I must do things quite similar I always said 80-90 lbs per side

[Bowhunter]

so that's 88# per half, total of about 175# per animal?

I would assume thats per pack or half of the animal. I shot a huge old whitetail buck and I kept the back straps and took the rest to be made into summer sausage and balogna. The butcher shop weighed the rest at 105 lbs. I am sure an elk would be twice that.

[Indian Summer]

You got it Timberland. My figures are right on with those.

One thing to get from this: If you fly you can get an elk into 3 boxes or coolers without going over the 50 lb mark on each. Lots of people think I'm crazy, or wasteful, when I say they'll end up with under 200 lbs of meat.

They aren't draft horses! When I hear hunters say they figure they ended up with around 300 lbs I think to myself: Either they are just way off or that's with bone in cuts. Bone in cuts..... yuk!

[ElkNut1]

Yes, it's 88# twice = 176# -- This is what's on the packs not finished wt at the butcher where he may add 25% suet for burger & such. That finished from the butcher could very well be closer to 200#. Again, this is just an average, some can be larger & some smaller.

ElkNut1

[Indian Summer]

"Size may vary" Yep that's for sure. And not always according to gender or rack size. I've seen and killed some ginormous cows. Also smaller racked bulls that had way bigger bodies than some other bigger ones.

[BrentLaBere]

Thanks for the thread ElkNut, great topic and I have been wondering about how it breaks down for others. I weighed out the frozen packs after butchering myself and came to (approx) 220lbs - only one ive weighed. I was told by some that I didn't do a good enough job cutting up in the field.....I didnt touch the rib meat because of how much blood and clotting occurred after the elk expired. After the pack out, then the drive home, and the butchering process, I am not too sure there was anything to salvage out of it. I do have pictures if anyone wants to see what I am talking about.

Bowhunter, that must have been a massive BUCK!

[Swamp Buck]

I would have to say that seems about right for a bull of the 250"-275" and 500-600lb range to have about 200# of eatable meat after processing. You start getting over 320-330 and +800# and you can ALMOST double that.

[stickflngr]

elkmeatyield.jpg (89.44 KiB) Viewed 11131 times

I found this awhile ago and seems pretty close

[Swede]

The term "field dressed" was not defined, but looks to be significantly heavier than the hanging quarters I take to the butcher shop for those ages of elk. Hanging quarters leaves no usable meat in the field, unless you consider the heart and liver. I like to leave something for the coyotes and ravens.

[ctdad]

Are Rocky mountain elk significantly different in body size from state to state? For instance Midwest whitetail deer are typically much bigger than whitetail in the southeast States.

[POk3s]

I was hoping something like this would come up. There's a thread over on ArcheryTalk right now about boned out weights and people are throwing out 400-500 lb numbers. there's just flat out no way.

I got almost the exact same out of my boned out bull last year as elknut mentioned above. When I bring mine into the butcher they always weight it and it came out to 160 lbs but I kept the backstraps and tenderloins for myself to do them. This was a 260" bull that I assume was a 3 1/2 year old.

[Buglemaster]

I'm thinking those numbers are real close also. We hung a decent quartered bone in bull last year at the locker at 230# & that didn't include the backstraps & tenderloins. Packing him out felt like twice that tho...

[Ridgernr]

Great thread Paul, so would you guys think 55# for a bone in hind and 25# for bone in front shoulder would be about right.

[ElkNut1]

The hindquarter bone is aprox 12#-14# & a front shoulder bone with scapula is around 10# - 12# Add those to our above weights. We've hauled out over 100 bulls The heaviest to date is around 83# hindquarter with bone. Most folks feel they are hauling more until they actually weigh them, distance can add weight! (grin)

Remember from a butcher after adding his beef or pork suet to the burger it can really raise an elks weight, we are talking about boned out quarters here. To get an actual 200# of boned out elk meat is really tough to do. That's not the norm, possible yes & larger but not the norm!

ElkNut1

[Accipiter]

My 3X4 bull last year was right at 150 pounds of boned meat prior to processing and adding fatty beef to the burger. This included as much meat from the quarters, back straps, tenderloins and as much meat from the neck we could remove.

[Buglemaster]

Great thread Paul, so would you guys think 55# for a bone in hind and 25# for bone in front shoulder would be about right.

I believe the numbers would be closer to 70-80 for a hind & 35-45 for a bone in front on a decent sized critter. We weighed a hind from a big cow years ago at 80#
I've never boned out hinds or fronts, but thinking ill do it on the next. Just no valid reason to pack out all the bone other than it makes a more solid load to strap on the pack. Some on here can do 100# loads! but I'm not one of them...

[elk-n-walleye]

I recently read an article about deboning quarters because the bone also holds a lot of heat at the center of the quarter (= possible meat spoilage). After packing out meat with bone in I'm pretty much sold on deboning. However, my thoughts are you lose some structural integrity for a stable pack out and if you pack the meat into a game bag immediately you basically trap that heat in the middle once again. So, the key for me in this situation would be to allow the meat to cool sufficiently after deboning and before putting in a game bag. Under these conditions you will need to protect the meat somehow from flies while still allowing air flow around the deboned quarter. I didn't have the opportunity to use the chili powder trick (there's a thread about this) last season or a pack out with deboned meat. For those who have packed bone-in vs deboned did you have any difficulty with unstable loads?

[zpd307]

great thread, now I have an idea of what we will have to deal with when success finally happens.

[ElkNut1]

When weighing quarters on the bone this is generally done with the leg cut off below the joint right where the handle is. The hide is removed & no other parts as ribs or anything is connected to the quarter. It's a rare elk that has an 80# hindquarter. Sure they exist but most fall well short of that weight. It takes a pretty darned big Rocky to do this where as Rosies can hit those weights much easier.

If the packout is under 3 miles we generally leave the bone in hindquarter only for structural reasons, it stays nice & solid & easier to strap down. The rest of the meat is boneless.

Here's a photo with half an elk loaded & the hindquarter on the bone! That is on a 6 point bull, the hindquarter looks large on the pack & it is a decent one, it weighed in around the 65# mark.

ElkNut1

[Indian Summer]

1/2 an elk plus a 6 point rack. That's child abuse Paul!

[ElkNut1]

Ha Ha, we love packing meat here! Paul II is one strong young man, he's packed many loads that were 1/2 the bull on his pack. That load in the photo weighed in at 122# that included the rack. It's mostly between the ears, (mental) & a bit of a strong back! (grin)

ElkNut1

[jmez]

I think pack choice is a big factor in unstable loads. A pack must have a good compression system. If it falls short here you will never stabilize the load in bags adequately. If you can cinch it down tight then it doesn't matter what form the load is in.

[bnsafe]

first thanks for this thread, my one an only elk I have killed the butcher weighed in at 176 lbs. I thought I had done something way wrong when I deboned him in the field. looks like I did a decent job an I feel a ton better right now. I did not take the rib meat either but prob spent to much time on the front quarters an neck.
second for the new guys, the weight of the head, antlers shocked me. I knew it mentally but until I picked it up it didn't hit me. factor that in when your thinking pack out. if your mounting an bringing the cape out add a lot of wt to the mix.

[slim9300]

I have found there to be about a 30% weight difference in Rocky Mountain elk when compared to Roosevelts (in terms of body size).

A mature Rocky Mountain bull where we hunt in MT normally yields 160-190 lbs. of boned out meat (but keep in mind that we trim all the fat we can). To me these elk seem to be very small bodied in comparison to what I am used to in WA. The spike I killed in MT in 2011 yielded about 130 lbs, and my partner's young 5x5 about 150 lbs. My partner and I always take our elk out in halves just like Paul. The picture in my avatar is me with 1/2 of a mature 6x6 on my back with some gear. The pack weighed somewhere between 125 and 130 lbs with the antlers.

The lead cow I killed back in November in WA probably weighed 650-700 lbs. on the hoof. We ended up getting just over 200 lbs. of fully trimmed meat from her which is crazy. We probably threw away 40 lbs. of scrap fat/silver skin also.