Big Game Hunting > Elk Hunting
Got my elk back from butcher...somethings fishy
Michelle_Nelson:
jnutzalot,
When did you harvest your Elk?
How long after harvesting did you get your Meat to the butcher?
Did you drop all 4 quarters and the back straps off at the butcher?
A 50% yield is what you should expect when butchering a "Whole Carcass", minus guts, hide, head, and lower legs. Your yield should be considerably higher if all you have are the quarters and back strap. Of a 190lbs of quartered meat (bone in), I would expect a return of at least 140-150lbs. IF the meat has been properly cared for.
jnutzalot:
--- Quote from: Michelle_Nelson on January 20, 2015, 02:31:51 PM ---jnutzalot,
When did you harvest your Elk?
How long after harvesting did you get your Meat to the butcher?
Did you drop all 4 quarters and the back straps off at the butcher?
A 50% yield is what you should expect when butchering a "Whole Carcass", minus guts, hide, head, and lower legs. Your yield should be considerably higher if all you have are the quarters and back strap. Of a 190lbs of quartered meat (bone in), I would expect a return of at least 140-150lbs. IF the meat has been properly cared for.
--- End quote ---
November 7th I believe and had to butcher by the 8th. Temperatures in the high 30s low 40s. Hung for a night and morning and then went into the butcher.
Yes I dropped off all 4 quarters, tenderloins, backstraps, and some misc neck and rib meat.
In retrospect I should have just held on the the backstraps and tenderloins. It's not like they are hard to carve up.
bobcat:
--- Quote from: Bob33 on January 20, 2015, 12:51:03 PM ---
--- Quote from: bobcat on January 20, 2015, 12:39:55 PM ---
--- Quote from: Bob33 on January 20, 2015, 12:26:28 PM ---
--- Quote from: bobcat on January 19, 2015, 09:13:11 PM ---Wow! A bull like that... should have got twice as much meat back as what you got. A spike bull I got a few years ago was 160 pounds of mostly boned out meat. The only bone we packed out was the shoulders, which doesn't weigh much.
Unless your bull had a ton of blood shot meat or something, I don't see how you could get only 73 pounds of meat. 150 would be more like it.
--- End quote ---
You're not going to get 150 pounds of meat out of 190 pounds of unbutchered elk quarters. About 50% is typical, which should be around 90 pounds. If some of the 90 was spoiled, bloodshot, or dirty then 73 could be reasonable.
--- End quote ---
Depends what kind of quarters we're talking about. I'm pretty sure he said this was with no rib cage or backbone. I'd sure expect to get way more than 50% of the 190.
Just going by the size of the bull, it's definitely a big enough elk that I'd expect 150 pounds minimum. That's about what I got from a spike! A large mule deer can yield 73 pounds of meat, which is what he got from a relatively large bull elk!
A cow elk I got many years ago was 287 pounds of meat that we got back from the butcher, although if I remember correctly they did not completely debone the meat.
--- End quote ---
If you're getting 150 pounds of meat from 190 pounds of quarters, you're doing far better than average.
I can guarantee that you won't get 287 pounds of meat from 190 pounds of quarters. ;)
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,168940.msg2231653.html#msg2231653
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The statistics that show a 50% yield is from a "field dressed" carcass. What we're talking about here is four quarters removed from the carcass. I asked if the 190 pounds included rib cage or backbone. He said it didn't. No way is it going to be 50% bone, 50% meat in this case. More like 75% meat and 25% bone.
Michelle_Nelson:
Some of the comments people have made on this thread are just ignorant. No other way to describe it, ignorant. Pretty sure they just wanted to be a part of, or create more drama. They don't bother to ask questions they just want to tell the OP how much he got screwed. Of course it is ALWAYS the business who is at fault and ALL butchers are corrupt and skim meat off the top. :rolleyes:
I've never heard of it taking 3 months to get an animal back from a butcher. I've never waited more than 2 weeks. I could see how it could possibly take another week if I had smoked products or some kind of special order. Though I butcher the majority of the animals I harvest, I prefer to take Beef and Elk to my butcher. Due to lack of time and space to do it properly.
Now maybe they did have your Elk butchered within the 2 weeks after dropping it off. Due to this being there busiest time of year maybe communications got crossed or paper work got put in the wrong box or folder and they forgot to call and notify you that it was finished. Once things slowed down and there freezers started emptying out they probably started going through the boxes that were left and getting a hold of people.
They could quite possibly still have some of your meat in the freezer. They may have thought they grabbed all the boxes. Then again maybe an employee accidentally grabbed one of your boxes of meat and gave it to another customer with his order. Things like that do happen unintentionally.
Could some of your meat have been bone soured? Maybe they found an infection in one of the quarters due to an injury the animal had? They may have had some loss due to that. Ask them if they wrote down any notes to that effect.
I use to work for a Butcher. They call them Deer Processors in the south. I have cut into quite a few hams and right into fist size puss pockets full if Key Lime filling. :puke: I've also cut into shoulders that had these puss pockets. More than likely a result of a tine to the body during a fight. The outside heals before the inside does and the infection remains and builds until the body either takes care of it or it comes to the surface.
And for those of you Drama Queens, how do you know the OP didn't leave the elk hang in camp for a week before taking it in to be butchered? Or couldn't find the elk after he shot it and left it lay over night? You didn't bother to ask. You asume because someone comes on and complains they have a legitimate reason.
Ask questions before you come up with your conspiracy theories or before you start telling someone they are getting screwed. All your doing is making the OP paranoid. Instead of giving him good information that he can then use when approaching the butcher to find out what happen to him Elk Meat.
grundy53:
All of your theories are possible. However, if any one of them actually happened I would expect the business owner to contact the customer right away. Also the customer already provided how Long the meat was hanging.
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