Elk Down, Now What?

[WapitiTalk1]

What's your order of business after you have located your expired elk? For this discussion, it's a bull elk and he dropped a bit over 1 1/2 miles from the road or base camp where you rig is parked. What is your order of business (steps taken) from the time you locate him to the time you're sitting back at camp with all the meat and antlers?

1. Tag elk.
2. Take some pictures.
3. Break down elk using........... method.
4. Saw off skull cap using Wyoming Saw.
5. You get the picture, what are your steps from 1 to ??.

It seems everyone has a slightly (or sometimes completely) different order of march to field dress and pack out their elk after they locate the best. Let's discuss the various procedures some of you hunters use!

[Swede]

I usually take pictures first. Things vary a little depending on whether I am alone or not. I will punch my tag, but I don' put it on the animal right away.
At 1.5 miles from a road:
1. remove the head first (I would cape first if a head mount was planned.)
2. skin animal
3. go gutless due to distance. Old age is starting to make me think more about making this the go-to plan on all elk.
4. load & pack
5. the head probably comes out last. Normally I like a European mount if the antlers are something I want to mount.
6. finally I remove the ivories

Note: The punched tag remains with the head or the last chunk of elk to be taken out. Do you think I could get the game warden to help me pack out the remainder of the critter, if he has to walk in 1.5 miles for see if the tag is properly "punched"?

[Indian Summer]

1: Drop pack and weapon and say my thank you prayer.
2: Punch tag.
3: Get my camera out and attach Clip-Shot and take pics. Lots of them.
4: Send phone pics home if possible.
5: Have a quick bite to eat before getting all dirty.
6: Gutless... Make an incision down the center of the spine, peel hide down just far enough to remove backstraps. Remove front quarters. Remove hind quarters. Detach skull for Euro mount. Make a cut on both sides back near the short ribs and remove inner loins. Cut or separate legs at the knee joints. Attach tag to hind quarter (legal method in MT & WY).
7: Mark spot on GPS and hang some flagging tape depending on cover and/or difficulty of location AND if it will be dark when I get back.
8: Load 1 front quarter and straps/loins on to pack OR... load hind quarters into panniers and put loads onto pack horse.
9: Either hang remaining quarters in tree or at least get them off of the ground and in the shade.
10: Pack out first load and if it's warm out go for dry ice.
11: Get an early start and pack until everything is out, head last, using either my Barney's Freighter pack or my horse.
12: Help my partner any way I can.
AND 13...... Immediately start thinking about next year and consider in season scouting for remainder of trip.

[saddlesore]

1: Drop pack and weapon and say my thank you prayer.
2: Punch tag.
3: Get my camera out and attach and take pics.
4: Usually remove coat.
5. Get latex gloves, rope, plastic sheeting, and all my knives out of pack
6: Have a quick bite to eat before getting all dirty.
7: Depending on situation I do Gutless... Get elk on back and tie off legs to trees if possible. Make an incision down the center of stomach hide, peel hide down to spine. Remove front quarter. Remove hind quarter. Remove near side back strap&btenderloin.Lay those pieces on the plastic. Flop elk over and repeat on off side Cut or separate legs at the knee joints. Cut off head at neck. Attach tag to hind quarter that has evidence of sex on it.

If I don't do gutless, I gut and do about the same, except I saw along the top of the ribs on both sides just below back strap and take entire spine out whole.
Either take entire head out or saw off skull plat

8: Hang some flagging tape while going back to mules.
9.Bring mules back and get game bags out of panniers.
10.Load hindquarters in panniers and head depending on size, bag and hang front quarters and spine or back strap and tenderloins if trees are nearby. If not lay on a log off of ground.
11. Pack that load back to camp on mules and I hang meat
12. If time permits return to kill site and pack out remaining meat .If late, return the next morning
13. After hanging one night,put meat and ice in two big coolers.
14.Become chief cook and bottle washer until my partner tags out, but go out with him every day and either bird dog or stay with the mules and read

[Swede]

1: Drop pack and weapon and say my thank you prayer.

Amen. I don't know how I forgot to mention that, but it my first reaction to being blessed with another elk.

[six]

1: Drop pack and weapon and say my thank you prayer.

Not sure how or why I forget this one. Hopefully I can work on remembering it this year.

1 Get on the radio. ELK DOWN!!! Send waypoint to hunting buddies.
2 Take some pictures. Send home some pics if I have cell service.
3 Get out the SPOT and send a preprogramed message to some family and friends "elk down grab your packs". Problem is most of them are 1400 miles away.
4 Get the knives, rope, license, game bags, gloves out of the pack. Hang some orange flagging around the kill site (remove when done). Orange flagging hanging from trees is a pet peeve of mine.
5 Fill out the tag and put it in a very safe place.
6 Take some rope and hang a meat pole in a shady area away from the kill site.
7 May have to tie off a leg prior to butchering. Start butchering the elk using Gutless method. I usually start on the hind quarters. Hang them on the meat pole. Then off come the front quarters. Then the backstraps and neck meat. Hopefully sometime during this process reinforcements show up.
8 Once all the meat is hung I put the game bags on the meat for transport. I have not boned out the quarters yet as my trip have all been under one and a half miles.
9 The head and horns come out last.
10 Then its time for grilled loin of elk on the campfire. Washed down with a Coors Light.

[saddlesore]

One thing I do is layout the sheaths and the knives in an area that is a little bit away from the elk.Nothing like getting all done and then trying to find them in the debris.
I don't subscribe to the practice of carrying only one knife . I like a few each having a specific purpose.

[Indian Summer]

One thing I do is layout the sheaths and the knives in an area that is a little bit away from the elk.Nothing like getting all done and then trying to find them in the debris.
I don't subscribe to the practice of carrying only one knife . I like a few each having a specific purpose.

Ditto and ditto saddlesore. I always lay my tools just out of reach where I won't stomp them into the snow. I killed a bull one time in the Bitterroot and turned around to pick up my knife and it had fallen into the snow. 2 feet of snow! By the time I was done I had cleared a 10 ft by 10 ft area down to bare ground.... and never found it! I guy I knew was going scouting up there in the summer and I told him exactly where it was and offered a reward for the safe return of my lost friend. He didn't find it either.

Also.. I'm not a one knife man either. I cannot see stopping to sharpen a knife. I carry 2 different size fixed blade Buck Knives and a Havalon Piranta. If a knife gets dull I grab another one or put a new blade on.

[Indian Summer]

Six, if you look you'll see that after dropping the pack and weapon #2 is usually punch tag. To the letter of the law you should not even take a picture until the animal is tagged. Being that we are in the hills most don't actually attach it to the animal right away. But if anyone were to question whether or not you intended to tag the animal having the dates cut out shows you were not going to use it again.

Last year there was a HUGE controversy over just that. It showed up on the Wardens tv show. A Montana CO and the film crew watched two guys down an elk. The first thing they did was take pictures and break it down. The guy had punched the tag but didn't attach it "immediately after the kill". He received a big fine and they confiscated his elk You never know who is watching. In the long run the courts overturned the charges because he had punched the tag before moving the carcass anywhere but his elk was history. Punch that tag folks!!!

I see the Outlaw Josey Phantom doesn't even have it on his short list. No wonder he kills 3 or 4 each year.

[Swede]

One thing I do is layout the sheaths and the knives in an area that is a little bit away from the elk.Nothing like getting all done and then trying to find them in the debris.I don't subscribe to the practice of carrying only one knife . I like a few each having a specific purpose.

I am still saddened that I lost my best skinning knife last September working in the dark. I searched and searched for it. I went back to the kill site twice on different days, looking for a couple hours each time. Nothing. I thought I knew where I laid my knife down, but when I went to get it, it was gone. I should have been more careful.

[WapitiTalk1]

Punch that tag folks!!! I see the Outlaw Josey Phantom doesn't even have it on his short list. No wonder he kills 3 or 4 each year.

They're on to me . Great tip on knife placement! It's amazing how they can slip or fall into strange places if you don't keep track of them.

[saddlesore]

In Colorado. You have to punch your tag right away. You do not have to put it on the animal while you are processing it. It needs to be on if you hang it and leave it , but can be removed while packing it back to camp,then reattaching it. You always have that tag on the parts you leave at camp while you are packing out more of the meat.It has to be on the meat , not antlers.

I at least punch the tag before I do any cutting, but can't say I always do it before taking photos.

[six]

Joe

Ever think about going back to the kill site with a metal detector? I have found a lot of lost arrows in my back yard with a cheap metal detector.

[Heartwood]

-Give thanks for a clean kill.
-Cut the heart out and take a warm juicy bite
-Then what the rest of you said.

[Ridgernr]

1. Thank you lord for this hunt
2. Drop my pack and eat and drink something
3. Take some pictures
4. Get out the kill kit and lay knives and saw out on my big orange bandana.
5 Notch tag
6 Gutless usually but not always.
7. Bag and tag
8. Eat again, drink again
9. Lord help get this beast out of here.
Some one mentioned losing knife, I lay stuff out on the bandana then i also have something to wipe down my knives and saw when done .

[ElkNut1]

Interesting! I've never prayed over an animal that I have killed? Sure I respect their nature of survival & how we enjoy their meat but just have never prayed over one.

Other than that we take photos & break them down & get them out of there on our backs! For us bottom line is to get meat out before heat gets to it.

ElkNut1

[Swede]

As a reflection here; I am not suggesting anyone should pray and thank God for an elk, or a good hunt, or whatever. That does not make anyone anything. For some of us thanking God is a natural reaction to what has taken place, and a recognition that God blesses us. Yes, I pray for success, but I don't want God to just hand an elk over to me. I want Him to give me knowledge, strength and life direction. As a hunter I want some real failures too. I want to feel the fatigue of a 35 day hunt, and the sense of disappointment when it is over. God is no celestial Santa Claus or caterer, and I am just an old sinner He has called. I really want to just be in His will now, and not vice versa. When He lets me take down one of His magnificent creatures, I am overcome with gratitude.

[Mallard1123]

I'm planning my first elk hunt and trying to figure everything out. This is very useful info good post!

[Indian Summer]

Joe

Ever think about going back to the kill site with a metal detector? I have found a lot of lost arrows in my back yard with a cheap metal detector.

I'd love to try that. Dropping something at your feet and never finding it drives you crazy. I've never used a metal detector. I had a stud finder once but it just kept pointing at me. bwaaahahaha

Mallard... I would suggest gutting your first elk. Then after that you can quarter it out and learn the gutless method without the possibility of poking anything you shouldn't. The number one rule after that is do NOT assume the spot will be easy to find your way back to. Use the GPS and even with that hang some flagging tape.

[bald9eagle]

1) Take a nitroglycerine pill...
2) Get on wapititalk.com to brag about it...

I'll let you guys know when the moment actually comes. I'm pretty sure I will be overwhelmed at that point. The thought of getting a large animal from point A to B is scary...especially when many miles and hills are between those points.

[CurlyTail]

Not much to add to this excellent list

One thing I did this year was to lay out some plastic ( Wal-Mart cheapie poncho) next to the kill site. All individual pieces of meat were set out carefully to dry as they were removed. After about 30 min. I flipped them the allow the other side to dry. - then into the game bag once dry. I think a bag of hot wet meat is ripe for spoilage.

I would be interested if anyone would share how they remove the lower legs at the knee. When the time came this year, I couldn't remember and ended up just cutting them off with the Wyoming saw.

I think I will be adding a small fly-fishing hemostat to my kill kit next year for changing blades on my Havalon.

[saddlesore]

The front knee joint is little further down than most think. Bend the leg,feel for the knuckle and cut a little but lower. It is a lot easier if you skin below that.

Cut the tendons on each side, across the front and back. Then try to twist the lower part of the leg 90 degrees.It will snap. Then cut the tendon inside the joint.

Ditto for the hind leg. Feel for that knuckle.

BTW, If you look in the paint dept. at Walmart , there are some 10x 10 ft or so drop plastic sheets in a little bag for less than $2 .Way bigger than the pauncho and cheaper.

[Indian Summer]

Or Home depot/Lowes. Those painters tarps are great. Dirt cheap and lightweight. They have 2 models & I prefer the "heavy duty" one which doesn't weigh much more but is way more puncture proof.

Rear knee is lower than most think too. If you keep the tendon in tact that is used to hang it you got it right. It's not the fattest spot on the leg. I prefer just sawing them. Quicker and no chance of damaging my knives.

[CurlyTail]

Nice tip on the painters drop sheet. I will add that to my kill kit, and eliminate the poncho.