Boning out a buck- How much weight is saved?

[coachcw]

I usually keep a tarp in my rig to get rid of my daughter's boy friends ! Works well keeping  eat clean.

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

I don't even put plastic down in the hummer coach.    

[DOUBLELUNG]

You can figure not packing out skeleton and hide will save about 35% of the weight of a field-dressed animal.  Boneless vs. bone-in skinned quarters (excluding pelvis, spine and ribcage) will save about 10%.  These are just ballparks, but based on real data.  If it is a fat buck or bull, taking the thick fat off the spine and top of the hinds can save several more pounds. 

When I was healthy I did a lot of solo backcountry hunts, and now that I'm not I save every bit of exertion I can.  This is the method that has worked for me on around 25 deer and a few elk: I hunt with a Badlands 2200 pack. Inside are 4 tube-sock style quarter bags (6 if elk hunting) and a 99 cents disposable painter's dropcloth, as well as my food, water, extra clothes, ammo, GPS, compass, headlamp, lighter and tinder, etc. 

When I kill a buck, I empty the contents of my pack into one of the quarter bags with the exception of my water bladder.  I use the hide to keep the carcass out of the dirt (tied off if necessary) while de-boning, the dropcloth several feet away from the boning scene to receive clean boned-off muscles.  One hindquarter of meat in quarter bags 2 and 3, shoulder meat, backstraps and tenderloins, rib meat and neck meat into the 4th.  This last bag goes into the pack first, then the two hind quarter bags on top side by side - this gives the most balanced load.  The bag with my gear, and my bow/rifle, is secured outside the cargo compartment with the bat wings, and the skullplate goes on top, antlers down and tied in place to the webbing with paracord.  The total load will weigh anywhere from 70-95 pounds, and is a sucky but doable trip out, with no return trip needed. 

When I kill an elk, it is more complicated: each skinned hind leg, pelvis off and leg bones in, gets a bag, and the two skinned front arms (off ribs, leg bones in) get a third bag.  Depending on location, These either get hung in a tree (preferable), or covered with conifer boughs a good distance from the gutpile.  Backstraps and tenderloins, rib and neck meat go into 1-2 quarter bags, and inside the 2200, same packout as the deer EXCEPT I have 3 more trips with a pack frame to get the rest out.  Depending on the toughness of the pack out, I may bone them off the legs to save weight, but the stability of the long bones is worth the extra weight if the pack out is not too brutal.

Even with a compromised heart, I find I can still do a whole deer for short distances on moderate terrain using this method.  Haven't killed an elk since, but I think those solo days are over for me.       

[PlateauNDN]

   whole deer no problem, elk in numerous trips. I was on a solo hunt for my ram years ago and that was a tough one. Broke it down just like a deer but didn't compensate for the hide and oversized head, that really added to the fun on the pack out. I wasn't in the mood for multiple trips that day and decided one trip and done no matter what.

[lamrith]

You can figure not packing out skeleton and hide will save about 35% of the weight of a field-dressed animal.  Boneless vs. bone-in skinned quarters (excluding pelvis, spine and ribcage) will save about 10%.  These are just ballparks, but based on real data.  If it is a fat buck or bull, taking the thick fat off the spine and top of the hinds can save several more pounds. 

When I was healthy I did a lot of solo backcountry hunts, and now that I'm not I save every bit of exertion I can.  This is the method that has worked for me on around 25 deer and a few elk: I hunt with a Badlands 2200 pack. Inside are 4 tube-sock style quarter bags (6 if elk hunting) and a 99 cents disposable painter's dropcloth, as well as my food, water, extra clothes, ammo, GPS, compass, headlamp, lighter and tinder, etc. 

When I kill a buck, I empty the contents of my pack into one of the quarter bags with the exception of my water bladder.  I use the hide to keep the carcass out of the dirt (tied off if necessary) while de-boning, the dropcloth several feet away from the boning scene to receive clean boned-off muscles.  One hindquarter of meat in quarter bags 2 and 3, shoulder meat, backstraps and tenderloins, rib meat and neck meat into the 4th.  This last bag goes into the pack first, then the two hind quarter bags on top side by side - this gives the most balanced load.  The bag with my gear, and my bow/rifle, is secured outside the cargo compartment with the bat wings, and the skullplate goes on top, antlers down and tied in place to the webbing with paracord.  The total load will weigh anywhere from 70-95 pounds, and is a sucky but doable trip out, with no return trip needed. 

When I kill an elk, it is more complicated: each skinned hind leg, pelvis off and leg bones in, gets a bag, and the two skinned front arms (off ribs, leg bones in) get a third bag.  Depending on location, These either get hung in a tree (preferable), or covered with conifer boughs a good distance from the gutpile.  Backstraps and tenderloins, rib and neck meat go into 1-2 quarter bags, and inside the 2200, same packout as the deer EXCEPT I have 3 more trips with a pack frame to get the rest out.  Depending on the toughness of the pack out, I may bone them off the legs to save weight, but the stability of the long bones is worth the extra weight if the pack out is not too brutal.

Even with a compromised heart, I find I can still do a whole deer for short distances on moderate terrain using this method.  Haven't killed an elk since, but I think those solo days are over for me.       

From a new hunter, THANK YOU very much for the detailed info.  It helps to understand the why as well as the how you experienced hunters handle the animal when the real work starts.

[TeacherMan]

Check regs to see if it's legal in your area. I know up in AK you are required to leave the meat on the bone. They say it causes want and waste along with slowing the cooling process down due to large quantities of meat tossed in one bag.

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=hunting.meatcare

[Jonathan_S]

Check regs to see if it's legal in your area. I know up in AK you are required to leave the meat on the bone. They say it causes want and waste along with slowing the cooling process down due to large quantities of meat tossed in one bag.

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=hunting.meatcare

You mean wanton right?  That's crazy.  Even a few minutes off the bone allows for evaporation and air circulation that allows the meat to cool from both sides.  Meat is already in large quantities when it's on the bone 

Interesting that a state like Alaska has that rule...maybe a bunch of people got sloppy with their moose quarters.

[Piscatory_5]

More like 20lbs max ..go pick up a 40lb dumbell and tell me 4 deer leg bones weigh 40lbs!! NO WAY

And for proper meat care removing the meat from the bone as soon as possible will produce better quality meat.  The meat could still be warm 24 hrs after killed if not removed from the bone.

I wonder what the beef people say about this, Seems most beef hangs for a week or 2, by the half, true its in a cooler but still on the bone.

I would hate to leave all those nice ribs behind as well. I never debone the ribs, season them and deep fry fast and they are great.

With all this deboned meat after getting home do you cut it up immediately or stretch it out on racks to age a while(couple days) and firm up? Do you consider this step already finished by the time you are packing out?

[Jonathan_S]

Beef is in a cooler within 30 minutes of being dead.  Oftentimes it is less than that.  If I could get a deer in a refrigerated truck that quick, there would be no need to debone.

[sakoshooter]

More like 20lbs max ..go pick up a 40lb dumbell and tell me 4 deer leg bones weigh 40lbs!! NO WAY

25 30 40 I'm no human scale.  I know the pile of bones I leave on a mule buck weighs a lot and is ocward  to carry.  Taking the meat off the bone allows the meat to cool WAY faster.  Making the meat a lot better on the table.  It also allows you to place the meat on the pack in the best way possible for long hauls or even short packs.  De boning can get the meat bloody and moisten it up.  Let it hang and air dry on the kill spot in the shade, after de boning.  I'll never take the bones.  Way to much weight that I can't eat.  And for proper meat care removing the meat from the bone as soon as possible will produce better quality meat.  The meat could still be warm 24 hrs after killed if not removed from the bone.

I'll second every bit of that line of thinking Nick. I've boned out a lot of em and packed em a lot farther than I wanted to but was darn glad every time that I'd left all that 'green' bone in the woods. Since I'm boning, a little fat is trimmed that isn't when you take an animal out whole. Hide weighs more than you think when it's green. Legs the same.
I've brought meat to the butcher a couple of times that I didn't have time to cut it myself or the weather was too hot to let it hang like I like to. I always have them weight the meat. Twice I was over 150 in lean meat and once over 175. Big deer no doubt. I'd guess leaving the hide, legs, guts, trimmed fat and bones in the woods on a nice muley buck would go over 75lbs not counting guts. That's a lot in my book to pack out just to throw away!
Heck, the head/horns/cape has got to be 25lbs on a nice muley, whitetail or even blacktail for that matter.

[Vek]

Up in AK, some areas prohibit removal of moose bones except for the spine.  This means bone-in packing of quarters and ribcages - not a big deal.  Six trips on good ground if you're not bringing out the cape: Ribcage/shoulder, ribcage/shoulder, hindquarter, hindquarter, neck and backstraps (crazy heavy), horns/liver/heart/remainder. 

Neck and straps and tenders are the only things coming out boneless. 

Idea being - the bone keeps a hindquarter or shoulder stretched out instead of slumped in the bottom of a gamebag - makes things easier to handle on boats and rafts and canoes and such - the bone structure helps you suspend it off the wet boat floor. 

Better eat your wheaties if you plan to one-trip a mature muley or sheep.  Lots of guys claim one-trip packweights (camp included) less than 100lbs for good muleys and sheep - no question they are leaving red meat (neck, shanks, etc.) on the mountain.   

[300rum]

I can pack a boned out Washington Deer in one pack.  I can't however pack out an Idaho or Montana buck in one pack.  Idaho mostly because of the the terrain but a big Idaho buck is pushing it.  Those big Montana bucks are massive and I just do it in two trips.

I shot a Washington buck last year and began boning him out.  I got down to skin out his nuts to keep one attached and there was nothing there!  I looked and all there was was a "bump" and nothing in it to attach.  I took pictures to try and prove that I tried to do it right but I didn't have anything to work with.  I was never checked.... 

[coachcw]

a trip or two

[steen]

Awesome thread! I may have to try boning out this year.  I may be doing it solo.  I won't have to get rid of the carcass either!! Thanks.

[300rum]

There all kinds of ways to do it.  I prefer to lay the animal on its belly and unzipper it from the base of the neck back to it's tail (if I'm not capeing it).  from there I take out the backstraps then lay the animal on one side and cut from the back down each leg.  Skin out around each leg and then take the meat off around the bone in one piece.  Turn the animal on the other side and repeat.  To leave proof of sex start by skinning out his balls and work your way around whatever attaches it to the hind quarter.  Wack off his head and you are done. 

On a dear it takes me approx. 45 minutes or so to have it done.  I also like to lay the meat in a tree fork or in bushes or on rocks around where I am working to cool somewhat before I pack it up.  Everything but the head fits in a bag the size of a pillow case.     

Awesome thread! I may have to try boning out this year.  I may be doing it solo.  I won't have to get rid of the carcass either!! Thanks.