Quartering a elk

[fishngamereaper]

Lot of good info. Everyone has a little different way to get it done, no real right or wrong way to do it. I carry a 4x8 tarp in my pack, rolled up its actually small and lite.And It doubles as an emergency shelter if I get hurt or stuck in the woods. As for elk I quarter them as they lay. I have never gutted an elk, from my experience its wasted time.

As for the quarters, I Lay the tarp on the ground, lay your quarters on the tarp. I also carry one or two game bags with me in the field. I dont like having to hike back to the truck to get what I need to get the elk out, its wasted energy.

After quartering Ill load my game bags with quarters and load up my pack, that way my first trip to camp is with meat.

The other quarters I wrap up in the tarp and drag them away from the kill site. That way any critters in the area go for the fresh blood and leave the good meat alone.

[Recurve-Elk]

Just do your best.  Cut it up on the hide.  If you get a little dirt on the quarters dont sweat it.  When you get back to camp, hang them up and wash the dirt off.  That's what I did this year and they cleaned up real good. 

[pianoman9701]

I have a kill pack with 5 cloth elk bags, 2 deer socks, 1 lb of ground pepper, a quart of vinegar, come-along, 4 to 1 block and tackle, Wyoming knife with 2 extra blades, diamond sharpener, 10x10 tarp, cow exam gloves, and plastic aprons. Do a bloodless quartering with a meat pole right next to where I'm cutting. If I can get my cart in there, I drop the quarters right into the cart. If not, I tie them to the packboard while they hang and step into the pack and cut the rope. It's a sweet set up. Keeps the meat spotless and cuts the butchering time by hours. I don't gut until I have everything out and am ready for the tenders, liver, and heart. Of course, the heart's usually in pretty bad shape! 

[Arteman]

To the guys that do not gut their elk.  Not saying at all your way is wrong, and you may have methods to do this still even without gutting, but how do you get your tenderloins out?  also, not sure what its called but with a elk I also take the meat that's attached like the tenderloins on the upper inside of the backbone close to the neck, and this one really stumps me, how do you cut out all the meat between ribs without poking guts eventually.  I'll take that rib meat off afer the backstraps are off so i can cut them thin strips out between the ribs all the way to the backbone.  When im done boning out an animal even the coyotes are like wtf?  I'd be game to try this with guts still in to save time, just never seen it done or tried it.  Only thing I can think is you split the ribs all the way up the brisket, take them off whole, or split them and pull them away from guts to work on them.

[pianoman9701]

Like I said above, I open the guts after I have everything quartered and out of the way. Then I get the liver, heart and tenderloins.

[gaddy]

check out the gutless method on elk101.com? havent tried it myself yet but looks fast & effecient. would guess you could gut afterwards to fine pick. personally i always take the heart & liver also so this is something i would do. seems quick,easy & clean.

[Blacktail135]

 We've did 3 moose, several caribou and several elk with the gutless method and would never do it by gutting first again. Even did an elk by myself, in the rain, once. The trickiest part, for me, is down deep in the crotch area, gotta be careful there.
   Hunting Alaska, you had better make sure that when you are done taking your meat that the ravens are looking at you funny! And yes, heart, liver, tenderloin, tongue, flank and rib meat are taken with normal "big stuff".
 

[pianoman9701]

check out the gutless method on elk101.com? havent tried it myself yet but looks fast & effecient. would guess you could gut afterwards to fine pick. personally i always take the heart & liver also so this is something i would do. seems quick,easy & clean.

Those are excellent videos.

[farmin4u_98948]

After the kill , Which always seems to be on a treeless STEEP hill, I open the animal up pull out the guts and make sure it will stay on its back by putting rocks and sticks under it and a stick to spread the rear legs. Guttless is fine but it takes a long time to cool down that way. I then hike to my rig( This year was 3 1/2 miles) and get a meat pack ( External Frame seems to be the best for me) that has Knife, Knife sharpener, Saw, Heavy duty trash bags, Gatorade, And some other first aid stuff in case of... You know... Whatever might happen during the extraction process. I know many people say Dont use trash bags...but OH WELL. Rolling the elk on its side I skin a rear 1/4 sliding the trash bag up as I skin it. that way it will not get dirty if I drop it during this process. You can slide the 1/4 all the way in the bag as you cut it off the carcass . Keep the bag open so  the meat can still air out and cool down. Keep it in the trash bags till you get back to your rig then pull it out and put in the game bags.
 

[MagKarl]

I always carry an extra silver foil emergency shelter blanket for use when boning out the carcass.  We spread this out and then spread all the trimmed meat out on it that will end up in the meat bag.  They are cheap, tiny, and light and I like having a clean place to put all the meat pieces that are not easily hung up like the quarters are.  Meat stays clean, gets a chance to cool off, and is easy to see all the pieces on when it's time to clean up and load the meat bag for the walk out.  I carry one meat bag for the first trip out, then switch to my pack board and bring the other game bags in on the next trip.