How long do you have once they are down?

[norsepeak]

or you can call me and we'll pack it out in a couple of hours and hang it in our meat cooler...or better yet, just go hunt with me for a couple of days, and we'll just call one into the back of the truck for you to shoot, then we can just drive down to the cooler and slide him right in....

[Bean Counter]

That bone sour can make or break ya. . The less you have to cool the better and that bone will hold the heat longer than anything.

 

I've been taught (by people way smarter & experienced than me) that boning out an elk is just as critical as skinning it.

[Timmybob]

Bone sour??? Whats that?

[Bean Counter]

Rancid, acidic taste, green color, etc.

The bones hold a lot of heat and this radiates out into the surrounding meat.  Even if you've skinned the quarters, you can get spoilage if you don't at least cut some space around the bones for air to circulate and take the heat from the bones outta there.  I've never had it happen on a deer but I've heard of a few unfortunate stoires from elk hunters.. must be due to their bigger size.

[HoofsandWings]

And what do you do if there are no trees? How do you hang meat in sagebrush or a meadow or a large logged off area?
How about if you are taller than the new trees around you?

[TeacherMan]

This has been some really good advice guys and I appreciate it, I was thinking of the tarp for clean reasons, but you are totally correct in terms of it making the meat spoil quickly, plus I really like the sweaty shirt idea, lots of good scent and by the time it is all said and done I need to change my shirt anyway  . I remember the first elk I ever got with my bow the first week of Sept. This was quite a few years back I was 20 years old, and young and dumb when it came to elk hunting  It was in the Bumping, a nice cow and my wife and I where able to drag her out whole to the road. I think back on that now and I must have been a beast. I used a rope and about an 8' log. My wife anchored down on the end of the log and braced herself in and pushed the other end of the log, the rope was in the middle, it moved her about 4 or 5 feet at a time. It took a couple hours to get to the road, nonstop work, when I got her there I was so tired I couldn't pick her up and get her in the truck. I could get the back end of her lifted up in the truck and then when I would go to lift the front end in the back would fall out, this entire sequence was taking place along 410 going up Chinook  I got her back end up and then I tied a rope around her then to the front of my truck bed and as I was getting ready to go for the back end another bow hunter stopped by and helped me load the front end, I was very happy to see him. I gave him the ivorys on her. My wife is 5'4 and 120 pounds, likes to help but theres not much there. At that point I headed down the road, about 9am at this point headed to camp. I got there and went to hang it at the meat pole and I was still drained, I couldn't pull it up into the tree like I can a deer. For the next 2 hours I tried, I couldn't do it so I sat and looked at her for a few and then drove down to Whistling Jacks with her in the back of the truck got a couple nice pics of her bought a comalong and then head back up. By around 2pm I was able to get her skinned out and in a tree and I didn't go into the pain it was standing on the wood racks of my truck trying to skin an elk because I didn't have a ladder    She was in the shade and covered with game bags so I didn't take her down to the cooler till the next morning  Well someone was talking about bone sour, I got to experience it a little bit, luckily the day was overcast but still in the 70's and down in the hind quarters some of the meat had gone bad, made me feel horrible. Since then I have shot 4 more elk in the last 8 years and every one of them except one I have quartered and skinned where they lay. The one that I got out whole I had a comalong ready to pull it up in the tree and a ladder waiting in camp. So things that I have learned from experiences, gut it quickly on the ground, skin them out on the ground one side at a time, lay the hide out quarter the meat lay it out on the hide and pack it out piece by piece. In the long run it takes just the same amount of time.

[Mike_D]

Holy shinolies Teacherman...

Sounds similar to my first event.  I've been hunting specifically Elk for about 6 years now, & my first elk occurred on my first hunt... bagged a beautiful 5point raghorn.  My friend and I are almost like two stooges (not sure where larry was this time) forgetting one thing after another, but it took us almost 4 hours to get him out of a gully.  We were totally unprepared for it when I got it. I didn't lose the meat, but some of it was bit stronger, but I found through Jim Zumbo (sportsman show 03 I think...) to soak the meat in milk overnight, and the stronger flavor would dissipate.

Now I'm loaded for bear (and elk, and deer) with a 12K lb winch, chains, skinning blades, meat bags,  ATV and winch, 50ft of steel cable etc... Now I just don't see elk anymore... 

[bugle-em]

Usually like the morning hunt better then the evening hunt, but on really hot days would rather get something in the evening, all night to take care of it and hopefully in a cooler before the sun comes up.

[coachcw]

We try to treat all our downed animals like there about to spoil , get the hide off soon and into cold storage. We have cooled them down in the creek , as long asyou dry themoff before you hang them your ok. Remember if you bone them out leave alot of space around the meat knots in the bag my help.just think like this how long do you want your steaks out in the sun before you cook them . the midnight runs to cold storage is just part of the hunt .

[buckhorn2]

when hunting in eastern oregon when it was hot in deer season you could drive bye the hunting camps along the deschutes river and see deer bags in the river where people would leave them during the day. I don;t know if it hurt the meat any but around there it looked like the thing everyone did. At home after skinning our deer or elk we clean it up then wipe it down with vinager and put black pepper on it to keep flys away and put a fan on to help circulate the air.

[gasman]

Call me, i will be in the area and i could help pack it out and put in the cooler at Squaw Rock. They only charge a couple dollars a day to hang the meat.

I have pack bards and a Barbie Jeep witha wincha nd lots of rope, actully i need to get some "Mule Tape" ths year, and if my son is with me, i will have teenage muscles to work 

PM me and i will get you my number.

[SHANE(WA)]

Leave a shirt or clothing u wore. Urine is a ammonia base within 2 hrs, can't decipher what it is after that .  Water works great, we have submerged bear quarters in creeks before.works great

[Rhino]

This is a great post. some good advice. I'm getting ready for some hot huntin too, so i've been doing alot of reading and came across a book callled All about elk. In there they suggest de-boning only as a last resort. But in hot weather they say it's a must. Meat spoils two ways outisde in & inside out. At the bone temp is 101 and meat cells continue to produce heat after animal is dead and can rise to 110. With a long pack and no mules or wheels only your back in hot weather probably better de-bone. The problem is exposing the meat more than quartering so have clean game bags. In the book they show pics of them de-boning, they skin one side at time using skin as a ground cover and they don't gut it either. Why waste the time they say. There is a chart that shows avg. weight of bull elk. quatered is listed @ 216lb, boneless @ 172lb. Seems light but interesting the point is why pack out what you can't eat. They also say water can be used to cool right after the kill. I recently made aquaintence with an old elk hunter. He wasn't sure how many elk he's packed out but did say for the last several years he has packed them out with five gallon buckets. Usually 3 sometimes 4 is all it takes.

[SNIPER10]

You must get the meat to 55 degrees in the first six hours, otherwise the bacterial growth goes up exponentially.  My advice is to bone it out and get the meat into coolers with ice asap.  If you have a long way to go home, drain the water, and replenish the ice every few hours.  I have kept elk meat good that way for 3 days on trips back from AZ and MT in 95 degree weather. 

[Slider]

The key is proper preparation. How will you get the Elk out? How far is the closest road and the easiest way to the road? Do you have a couple of sharp knives/saw and a sharpener in your pack and game bags? Do you have 2 headlamps incase you have to work in the dark? All the advise given is good advise. Just remember once the bone is removed the meat becomes VERY hard to handle!!! If you are boning meat and throwing it inside a pack OK. If you are tying it to a packboard or better yet using a cart leave the bone in!!! If I can, I remove the hide and quarter the animal,then leave it hung in the shade in game bags. On the way to get the truck I clear a path for a cart. I have large coolers in the truck with ice and PLENTY of water all ready to go. Good Luck