Elk transport

[Phil McCracken]

Would some of you guys like to share your favorite gutless methods youtube videos/links?
Would me much appreciated...thanx.

[35 whelen]

Look up randy newberg

[freeride]

Originally Posted by Big Grey Wolf

The advantage of gutless method is it takes lots of time. Thus local grizz has time to find you and your elk, Then you get to run like hell and leave more meat for him. Thus you have less to carry out.

It takes more time then dragging with an ATV out yes, but you also are not exposing a smelly gut pile.

[35 whelen]

What i like is your done when you get back to camp, no mess no guts at camp TO EACH THEIR OWN ,

[Big Grey Wolf]

Never drag an animal to camp guts in unless you want grizz for company each night!

[obsessed1]

The last Elk I did gutless was a cow. Weight 385 lbs measured once home. I left it bone in. It took 6 hours to move all meat 2km to my truck by myself. I don't hunt in big grizzly country , but there are a few bears around for sure. I could easily cut off the quarters and backstroke ECT and hang a few hundred feet away from carcass in under 2 hours. It's much easier than cutting my way into the bush to access with an atv( done that. Took 8hrs to get 1.2 km into thick bush. Gutless is my preferred method

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by obsessed1

The last Elk I did gutless was a cow. Weight 385 lbs measured once home. I left it bone in. It took 6 hours to move all meat 2km to my truck by myself. I don't hunt in big grizzly country , but there are a few bears around for sure. I could easily cut off the quarters and backstroke ECT and hang a few hundred feet away from carcass in under 2 hours. It's much easier than cutting my way into the bush to access with an atv( done that. Took 8hrs to get 1.2 km into thick bush. Gutless is my preferred method

This, as often as not its just easyer to do things the hard way Just about all the most stupid things I've ever seen attempted involved trying to get a whole moose or elk into a pickup truck... just get it over with and quarter the elk first thing.

I just peel the quarters off one side of the carcass using a knife, then I slit the hide down the back and peel it back to get the backstrap and tenderloin. Clean off the flank and neck meat and take the ribs with a saw or axe. Roll it over and repeat.

[OL_JR]

Originally Posted by obsessed1

The last Elk I did gutless was a cow. Weight 385 lbs measured once home. I left it bone in. It took 6 hours to move all meat 2km to my truck by myself. I don't hunt in big grizzly country , but there are a few bears around for sure. I could easily cut off the quarters and backstroke ECT and hang a few hundred feet away from carcass in under 2 hours. It's much easier than cutting my way into the bush to access with an atv( done that. Took 8hrs to get 1.2 km into thick bush. Gutless is my preferred method

Kind of similar to the first elk I ever shot except it was even sillier as there were four of us. Shot the elk around 730pm maybe a kilometre from the truck, I do remember mentioning maybe just piecing out by hand but got convinced that we just had to use the quad so an hour round trip to go home and get it. Long story short by the time it was skinned out and hanging at home it was 2 or 3 in the morning. Could have been done in maybe a couple hours taking our time. But hey when you're young and inexperienced sometimes you gotta learn the hard way.

[Moosetalker]

I have utilized all the aforementioned methods over the last 46 years for a variety of reasons.
Even tried using the hood of my 73 Ford 3/4 ton as a toboggan worked quite well when hooked up to a snowmobile that is once the seldom sober part of the original hunting mentors/hunt group found where I was at. the first couple hundred yards solo with half a Butchered job of butchery moose on it was a lesson in humility for a strapping over fit 17yr old 220lb 6 foot soccer player who thought nothing of hiking 10 mile before noon.

I am lucky in having assembled a variety of tools and protocols since then to facilitate quick efficient game retrieval since that fiasco.

All the above are decisions that are made once animal is found and on the ground.
#1Temp both current and projected.
#2 location,
#3 Able bodied help.
#4 Species and size/Allowable/Restricted.
#5 Tools at hand.
#6 Time.

Absolute pref is back to home/camp, High game pole or Tractor to skin cleanly whole hide on with all innards from voice box to anus out at kill site, Only innards back to camp are evidence, liver, and heart trauma dependent.

Via a combination of 3 options, overhead winch equipped 6x6 SxS, Quad with Long Box/flat deck trailer if too far/dirty to drag, Winched into truck box.In the past have loaded moose into an Argo whole with an old school come-along

If unable to complete above in a reasonable amount of time regarding Temperature,location. Pack Frame,Game cart, Calf sled, Toboggan Wheelbarrow, Mtn Bike, Horse Have all been utilized to retrieve quartered game in the past.

Base jump an go is my big fanny pack carrying HE head lamp, compass, Rocky Mtn Skeleton knives and micro saw in a flat compact pack {great backup set} , 2 fixed blade belt knives extra outdoor edge knife blades {Knife always in pants pocket... See Gibbs Rule #9 t} as well as scalpel and spare blades, small first aid kit. and extra ammo

I also have 2 depending on circumstance to go packs set up both with larger first Aid kits.

An internal frame necessity pack for light or ATV Road retrieval Pkg of Yukon light game bags, long Tom Flashlight, sheet of 4mm Plastic, Sierra saw and para cord In this I also have a rubber internal bag for packing smaller boned out animals Deer, Sheep, up to Caribou size.

Then another I call my Overkill Kill Pack. Extra head lamp and battery's, Large LED flashlight and battery's, 2 6x8 small tarps 10' x 20+' sheet of 4MM Plastic vapor barrier, half a dozen large and a few medium freezer zip lock bags extra knives & sharpener.s Large Fiskars saw, small hatchet etc, oversize heavy home sewn game bags and 3/8 rope as well as para cord all in a pack strapped to my Pack Frame. This set up I have employed for dealing with the gutless method Done this way for the last 20 years. usually takes me about 3 hrs to Knock a decent size bull into its component parts.

All the above is backed up by my better to not need it and have it mentality with a bunch of other equipment in the Tuff box of my Ranger or the tub I strap on the quad.

And Oh yeah in my old age i am getting pickier i don't shoot the short legged coz their up to their nuts in swamp ones anymore either.

[obsessed1]

Oh I don't at all mind doing things the easy way. I have a winch mounted in the back of my truck for pulling full critters in, I have a special rig welded up for pulling game out behind the quad, and on more than one occasion I have pulled whole animals 50-100 yds out of thick brush using winches and such. I'd like to think I try to do things the easiest/ fastest way and often when hunting in thick brush gutless is the best/ fastest way.

[fatboyz]

Originally Posted by mtnhunter

This ^^

I’ve harvested a moose in +25C and even though I was only an hour from home, I opted to use ice (keep water off the meat) to make sure the temp of the meat came down to safe levels fast.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure where everyone gets this "Don't get water on the meat" from? I'm assuming those guys have never been on the kill floor at an Abattoir? They hose down those carcasses with High pressure hot water. Some of the big plants flash chill the carcass in cold water.

[Moosetalker]

As a fact I have put game bagged quarters into a heavy 8 mm plastic bag and taped it shut at the hock and immersed it in a cold river right up to the tape Mtn sourced river water is usually much colder than the air in daytime

I have also buried caribou meat bagged in plastic in the cold wet late September lake-shore sand to keep cool in NWT.

[kujoseto]

Same amount of work to move one brick at a time as a whole wall all at once, but I know which I prefer and thus I go gutless method every time (that I don’t have the tractor lol)
Fred Eichler has some good short videos to get the idea. I take more time than him but some videos going 20 or 30 minutes are just a waste of time. The anatomy is obvious. I think Eichler breaks down an elk in 7 minutes or something. Leaves more meat than I do though