Making It Easy Loading An Elk

[Pinecricker]

These things are becoming popular in my neck of the woods, which is steep, heavily timbered country.

http://www.capstanropewinch.com/

Last year I used one to pull a bull out of a deep basin, whole, up to an ATV trail (a LEGAL trail before any one starts flaming), where we halved it, and loaded it onto a machine, and road it out in two trips. It was way easier than quartering or deboning.

I gutted the thing, then called a couple of friends for help. We had it out in two or three hours. It took many long pulls, and some work to get it around trees and dead fall, but I was amazed at how effective it was. You have to cut the horns off though. It fits easily into a rigid frame pack and is very light. Very low impact except for the noise. I am told the new 4 stroke version is cleaner and a lot quieter.

 

[Bambistew]

I think the point was the driving off road, which is illegal just about everywhere.

Actually, you can drive off some roads a "necessary" distance... each jurisdiction is different.

I hope Milton doesn't see this post. I can't believe he would haul out an elk whole.

 

[Rancho Loco]

unless you were on private property, your vehicle was not legal where you are with it. Stay on the road.

FFS, did he say he was on public?

 

[devon deer]

Blimey this is getting like a UK hunting forum

I am up for anything that makes life easier and avoids a hernia!
My deer in the UK have to come out whole, pretty difficult with a 300lb stag on your own.
The problem i found with my tailgate and the deer was when you tried to lift it up over the tail gate it would rise up, so we constructed a ramp that attaches to the towing hitch and folds out, next time i use it i will post a photo.

Cheers

Richard

 

[Pinecricker]

Actually, you can drive off some roads a "necessary" distance... each jurisdiction is different.

I hope Milton doesn't see this post. I can't believe he would haul out an elk whole.

Cross country, motorized travel is allowed on a lot of BLM land, before every one breaks out the torches and pitch forks.

 

[Horn Seeker]

Cross country, motorized travel is allowed on a lot of BLM land, before every one breaks out the torches and pitch forks.

"A Lot" is a relative term I guess, but as compared to it "not being allowed"... there certainly isn't a lot.

Anyhow, cool! Glad you got that elk out the way you wanted! I'll take Buzz's opinion a step further though, I commonly de-bone, even if I'm close to my truck... or sometimes spend a few hours deboning at camp so I don't have to take anything but meat home!

 

[LopeHunter]

I process my own critters so since I will doing the cutting either now or later then is easier on my back to debone in the filed and pack out only the meat, no bone. Gutless method, when possible.

I have only had a couple of critters fall where could be fetched up with a vehicle. A winch or some buddies are the only way to get a big-bodied deer or even a cow elk into a truck unless you want to test our your back as push/pull/lift a floppy multi-hundred pound slab of meat a few feet above the ground.

I do pack out turkeys whole. Sometimes I yank the feathers right away since I like to roast a turkey and the feathers are easier to yank on a warm bird.

Whatever works for each of you, go at it. Stay safe, obey the laws and make a lot of memories.

 

[Poor packer]

For that I'm out for good

 

[Southwind]

Where I am able and allowed I will take out whole. Where I am not allowed or able I will either quarter and or debone.

I used the gutless method for the first time in 2004 and if you are the beast of burden than that and deboning is the only way to go. But hell if you can drive up, connect winch and pulley up I am all for that.

My 55 year old back appreciates the easiest way I am able to complete the task legally.

 

[shrapnel]

I think the point was the driving off road, which is illegal just about everywhere.

Let it rest! "Just about everywhere" is a big gap from "everywhere". The idea of this was to show an innovative way to load an elk, not or create a forum for finding fault with the animal or the means of taking it...

 

[300stw]

elk

i got a 14yr old son that would love to see that cow elk loading first hand,,

 

[ida homer]

WTF?

If I can get it into a truck whole, I'll do it. If not, I'll bone it out. But they're both work.

Done it both ways and truthfully, I'd much rather cut the critter up on my garage floor.

+1

Everyone bow down to the mighty BuzzH!! Be careful or he might post every pic that he has quartering his critters just to prove that he is Cameron Hanes's right hand man in the hunting royalty :hump::hump:

Hanging whole in the garage is the way to go when possible. Cleaner, better yield, way less tiring. You don't have to bend over for a straight hour or two while butchering. You have your cape right there that you can sell.

 

[farbedo]

That is pretty slick in my book. I wish I could winch them all into the truck whole. I have a weakness for smoked elk ribs and it is way easier to keep the ribs if you don't have to pack them out. Another member here makes fun of me for keeping the ribs.

If it is whole, for me, the best part is that I can cut it up on a band saw and get cuts that I can't easily get any other way: shoulder blade steaks, legs cut into soup shanks (think osso buco), and in particular bone-in ribeyes and t-bones.

Bone in elk chops are, IMHO, the perfect cut. How about an actual elk t-bone? Amazing when grilled over oak coals.

Jeremy

 

[BuzzH]

+1

Everyone bow down to the mighty BuzzH!! Be careful or he might post every pic that he has quartering his critters just to prove that he is Cameron Hanes's right hand man in the hunting royalty :hump::hump:

Hanging whole in the garage is the way to go when possible. Cleaner, better yield, way less tiring. You don't have to bend over for a straight hour or two while butchering. You have your cape right there that you can sell.

Takes you a straight hour or two to get an elk broke down into 4 pieces??? or is that boned?

Cleaner...yeah I agree with you there, you'll need something like that to clean your garage floor. Not to mention having to dispose of the bones, hide, head, etc. The good thing is, all that stuff only needs to be moved 3-4 times before it hits the landfill.:W:

I've done the whole elk gig, probably the first 20 or so elk I shot all came out whole...total PITA from start to finish on every single one. Its just not the easiest, cleanest, or best way to do it...but like I said, any lesson worth learning is worth learning the hard way.

No whole critters allowed in my garage:

But I do have a pretty slick set up in the 4th stall of my garage...cutting table, sink, cabinets that the grinder, cuber, sausage stuffer, knives, butchers stone, paper, all that kind of stuff fits into.

This stuff is really only as tough as one chooses to make it...BTDT, tried both and one way is wayyyy easier than the other.

 

[jlh321]

Buzz that doesn't sound the easiest or best way, the best way I have found is to hook elk to 4 wheeler and drag to road then park truck on cut bank and slide in. I then take it to the butcher so he can properly age it for a week and cut it up for me. This year I had my elk processed into 30 lbs of pepper sticks and 30 lbs of salami then the rest cut into steaks and burger for $199.00(I felt guilty because he does such a good job and doesn't charge much, I did give him a tip).
How do you age your boned out elk?

 

[teamhoyt]

No its not.

I'll never load, hang, or otherwise deal with another whole elk again...fact.

Like I told a friend last week while hunting elk, I don't give a chit if an elk dies in the bed of my truck, its going home only one way, in 4 pieces.

I absolutely agree! Even the very rare case you can drive to it it still gets quartered. Another thing on dragging elk, I will only drag it as far as I have to to get it cut up. Dragging anything for that matter sucks. There twice as easy to cut up and pack imo

 

[Reeltime]

How many people think killing an elk is easy?
Every person I know who considers killing elk easy, doesn't really know what hunting them is like. They simply shoot elk, on private land, while others pick off animals from the same herd. Certainly not a hunt whatsoever.

To the OP, there are many forms of ramp options that would completely remove the need to find the right hill for your loading problems.

 

[BuzzH]

Buzz that doesn't sound the easiest or best way, the best way I have found is to hook elk to 4 wheeler and drag to road then park truck on cut bank and slide in. I then take it to the butcher so he can properly age it for a week and cut it up for me. This year I had my elk processed into 30 lbs of pepper sticks and 30 lbs of salami then the rest cut into steaks and burger for $199.00(I felt guilty because he does such a good job and doesn't charge much, I did give him a tip).
How do you age your boned out elk?

Who said I boned them?

Ever tried hooking an elk to a 4 wheeler in a designated Wilderness area or an area with motor vehicle restricted access?

I do all my own processing, I really enjoy it and I've yet to find a butcher shop that will cut an animal to my standards.

I trust butcher shops as much as I do a used car salesman.

Moose shoulder from this year, ready for the grinder:

 

[Reeltime]

BuzzH, that's a badass set up and lineups of antelope and antlers!!

 

[jlh321]

Wife's bull from last year.
Not all public land is motor vehicle restricted. Some have elk retrieval areas.