Hunting by yourself

[TOGIE]

Serious question...It seems like a lot of people's reasoning for doing the gutless method is to get the hide off to cool down the animal quickly. Wouldn't opening up the animal and removing all the guts cool it down much faster? There's a ton of heat in there.

I've done both but grew up gutting and I'm with @mtmuley and @Straight Arrow, I can get an animal gutted in about 10 minutes. Then start peeling the hide and breaking down the animal.

Seems like the best of both worlds and cooling it down much faster.

if cooling the meat asap is the only concern, nothing is going to cool a quarter faster than removing it and hanging on a tree nearby. gutting only slows the process of getting the quarters off. but even then, the differences are indiscernible in terms of how long it takes for spoilage to occur and the 10-20 minute delay in gutting. so it really doesn't matter one way or the other as long as you start field processing asap after death.

so, what it really comes down to, is whatever is easiest. to me it's obvious not gutting an animal is the fastest and easiest route to field processing. if you're not field processing and removing animals whole then yes, you absolutely need to gut that thing to help it cool off.

 

[Forkyfinder]

Gutless method. Youtube it.

I'd do it almost every scenario - even shooting one by the road.

 

[wytex]

Call the Jackson office of WG&F and ask who is licensed on the refuge this year. May be someone other than Tag and Drag.
For their fee it is worth paying unless they have gone way up.
They will gut and drag your elk to a retrieval road.
Might call the NER as well and ask about outfitters on the refuge.

 

[ismith]

Gutless method. Youtube it.

I'd do it almost every scenario - even shooting one buy the road.

Buy the road? What are you, some sort of republicans?

 

[Forkyfinder]

Buy the road? What are you, some sort of republicans?

Yikes - typo made me sound like i was a former gov in Wy.

 

[ismith]

Gutless can work pretty good, but if it’s hot you’ll be racing bloat. Gut it though if you’re going to leave it overnight, open I up the hip joints and get it off the ground as much as possible.

 

[406dn]

There are endless ways to dress an elk.

Many years ago now, I hired a guide for my son and I for a late season cow hunt. There wasn't much snow, the elk were up high, and the price was very reasonable.

Anyway, the guide was very handy with an axe. He gutted it normally. Then he turned the cow so that she was laying on her spine. It took him maybe thirty seconds to split the elk in half, going from the ass end to the neck. His work was very impressive. Then he opened the uterus and used the amnionic fluid to wash his hands. Then we hoisted the halves onto two horses, and walked out.

I stumbled across the gutless method as I was dressing out a cow by myself. I had gutted her and was going to cut her into quarters, using a saw. The cut to separate the front half from the back went easy peasy. It took no time at all to realize sawing down the backbone was a loser. I ended up separating the hind quarters, exactly as you would doing the gutless. I ended up doing the shoulders similarly. Then I cut out the backstraps, neck, etc. The tenderloins were easy, since I had gutted her.

I was hunting from the horse in the avatar. We were in about four miles from the road, and I knew the weather was taking a turn for the worse, that night. I decided that Smokey could pack it all in one trip. It was heavier than is fair to a horse, but he managed it. I turned down a hunter, when we were near my camp. He had a cow down, and asked if I would help get his elk out. Between the load my horse had just carried, and needing to get off the mountain before the snowstorm, I declined. Other times I have packed out elk for hunters, if it seemed fair to my horses.

The next elk I dressed, we did the gutless method. It is not hard to figure out. It goes faster, imo. The only riddle is getting the tenderloins and organ meats. My brother loves elk liver, so there is no way it gets left in the field. If we are hunting together, I'd speculate that in forty minutes or so, we have the meat loaded on the horses and are walking off the mountain.

 

[mtmuley]

But I get it, old habits are tough to break

Like shooting bulls with fast .30 caliber bullets. mtmuley

 

[Pucky Freak]

Serious question...It seems like a lot of people's reasoning for doing the gutless method is to get the hide off to cool down the animal quickly. Wouldn't opening up the animal and removing all the guts cool it down much faster? There's a ton of heat in there.

Eh, the hide off is like uncapping a thermos…heat has somewhere to escape, and it does. Tenders seem to stay warmest the longest. I’ve gutted an elk too…I didn’t notice too much of a difference in cool down time vs gutless. Gutless I appreciated not having blood on my arms right up to my shoulders.

 

[exotics50]

Am still Learning

 

[mtmuley]

Eh, the hide off is like uncapping a thermos…heat has somewhere to escape, and it does. Tenders seem to stay warmest the longest. I’ve gutted an elk too…I didn’t notice too much of a difference in cool down time vs gutless. Gutless I appreciated not having blood on my arms right up to my shoulders.

If you get blood past your wrists, you are doing it wrong. mtmuley

 

[perma]

Am still Learning

what tag did you draw?

 

[Dave N]

what tag did you draw?

I wondered the same thing. We'll find out soon enough.

 

[Rie Bread]

As you can tell how you process an animal might change depending on the situation so it’s a good idea to know both or a few methods.

Trekking poles can help