Gutless Method Cow Elk (Fred Eichler Youtube)

[Murman]

 

[BOWHUNTER45]

This is a good video ... I never gut an animal if I am having to pack it out ....senseless

[sled]

Good video.  We did same thing with lopes last year.

[hillbilli]

we tried the gutless method this year, worked well, didnt waste any meat, definitely saved some time from the way I used to do things..

[Wanttohuntmore]

Been doing it for 3 years now, cleaner, quicker, and no wasted meat.  Though getting the tenderloins can be tricky.

[Humptulips]

Well, he sure made a mess of that elk. I wouldn't let that guy near anything I killed.

[billythekidrock]

Well, he sure made a mess of that elk. I wouldn't let that guy near anything I killed.

I agree.

[jechicdr]

He was a bit sloppy and left some good meat behind on the hind quarter.  If you're careful, you can do a good job getting that meat.  I also like to take all that meat he went back for and leave it on the front quarter.  So rather than go for that easy space on the shoulder, shave it off the ribs and leave it attached to the shoulder.  Then you don't have that open surface to dry out on the strips of meat you cut off after the fact.  One pointer for the tenderloins I did on the elk I killed this year was to save the tenderloins for last.  You'll notice that the white membranes under the tenderloins was pushing back on Fred Eichler and it made exposure a little difficult and he was cutting blindly on occasion.  Those membranes are what separate the gut from those muscles.  After I took off the quarters and backstrap, I slit the belly and allowed the intestines to extrude taking pressure off those membranes and it really opened up the space where the tenderloins were.  I don't like putting sharp knife into spaces where my fingers are without being able to see.  Guess technically that doesn't make my modification completely gutless, but it kept with the essence of the method.

[JohnVH]

so you guys dont want the heart?  great eating, and on the inside...

Cool video, thanks!

[toothfangclaw]

Awesome video. Questions though,  didn't he put his meat on the quarters with the hide still on them? Wouldn't hair get all over it? Does the meat still go through riggers when boned out? Or is that a joint thing?

[Humptulips]

Awesome video. Questions though,  didn't he put his meat on the quarters with the hide still on them? Wouldn't hair get all over it? Does the meat still go through riggers when boned out? Or is that a joint thing?

Exactly, That meat had to have hair all over it when he was done.

That elk was about as small an elk as I ever saw and he had about the cleanest place I ever saw to work in, not like the needle covered bog holes I usually kill one in.
At the very least he should have had something to put the meat on. I mean he is going to have to have something to pack it out in anyway. With a method like that you will end up with hair, dirt and needles on all of the meat. I'd hate to be the guy cutting it up.

He wasted a lot of meat it looked to me like. I'm pretty particular about using everything so maybe it's just me but damn he left a lot.