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trphyhntr

Whats the longest youve left an Elk in the field

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Here's a couple of my experiences, one has been discussed and one hasn't. The Bad...My parents shot 2 cows during the unit 8 muzzy hunt and it was really warm that year. We thought we needed to get the meat on ice as fast as possible and it would be fine. We skinned and boned out the meat right away and threw it in coolers with ice. Big mistake. Without letting the meat hang and cool, the coolers acted as insulators and the meat didn't cool fast enough. We ate it and didn't get sick but some of it did have an odd smell and taste to it. Huge lesson learned. The Good....A year or two later I shot a bull in the early archery season and even though it was warm, I told my dad we were NOT boning it out and putting it in coolers right away. I gutted it where I shot it, skinned it in camp, quartered it, and hung it in the shade. The next morning we boned it and put it on ice. Even though it was a big old bull, my dad still talks about it being one of the best eating elk we have ever had. Since I have gone this far(for the Clint fans)..the Ugly....I know a guy that shot a bull at last light in the 6A late rifle hunt and there was snow on the ground. He gutted it and left it lay overnight. The side that was on the ground was all spoiled when he went back the next morning. The snow, ground, hide kept it from cooling.

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I gave up on gutting them. I skin them ASAP and bone out the meat as I go. The hide becomes a tarp to work on. I lay the meat in the shade on game bags that are on top of piled branches so air can circulate under the meat also. I do not pack the meat into the bags until I am ready to strap them to a pack and head for the cooler. Even the tenderloins can be recovered with the gutless method. Just make an incision, reach in and cut them out.

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Why does the meat rot nearest the bone first then, or doesn't it

The meat would rot at the bone first because the bone is in the middle of the meat and heat is trapped in there because cooling is done by heat dissipating into the air from the outside if the meat. The bone acting as a heat sink and cooling the meat? The first problem with this theory, the bone and therefore the heat are still in the middle of the meat. Look at the radiator on a vehicle, all those fins add up to an incredible amount of surface area. The more surface area you can expose to the air the faster you can cool.

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i just drive to mine anyways so idk why I'm even worried about it

Don't worry, at some point Mother Nature is going to send you the "bill". ;) I had a series of easy recoveries then had one make it to the bottom of Wildcat Canyon before it died. It was 2:00 AM by the time I had it all packed out. The irony was the next afternoon, while scouting for my partner, I found an old logging trail that went to the bottom of the canyon from the other side that I did not know about. :wacko:

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I have started freezing 16 ounce water bottles and keeping them frozen as best as I can and stuffing the in between layers of meat in the coolers. I will take the ones that thaw and refreeze in the trailer freezer and swap out

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I have started freezing 16 ounce water bottles and keeping them frozen as best as I can and stuffing the in between layers of meat in the coolers. I will take the ones that thaw and refreeze in the trailer freezer and swap out

Good idea

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gutless method, pillow cases for game bags, frozen water bottles for ice, been doing it for many years and never had meat go bad

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I'd never leave any animal lay dressed-Period - this is my thoughts

 

this is if you got no help and cant move it and know its over an hr to get help of some kind.

 

 

1- bare minimum gutted -split ribs and propped open - try to roll onto branches limbs too get off ground - move into shade -if possible -takes 10-15 minutes -- you got about 2 hrs max-

 

2- minimum - gut- cut off all legs (hide on) hand'm in shade - make bone cut on big rear legs to split the meat open - helps to cool down faster - split ribs prop open -with ribs down backstrap off ground - place in shade - takes about 30 minutes-- then you got about 2 1/2 hrs

 

that's why takin what you need to process an animal on the spot is so important

 

***** field pack with bare necessities knifes -sharpener-1-2 ponchos ( to lay clean meat on) game bags of some kind- always a 8-10 ft piece of rope/cord to help tie a leg off or tie pieces to pack or pack frame ( extra _extra )- batteries for headlamps -after dark nothin sucks more than no light to see*****

 

go into the field expecting to tag something -take what YOU think you need to get job done on the spot where the animal falls

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Last late bull season. Gutless method. Elk was skinned and quartered within 2 hours or so after shot, neck roasts, backstraps, tenderloins too. Everything placed in game bags, and left to cool In snow until breaking down was complete in the dark. Then hung off the ground in a dead tree to circulate the single digit air overnight. T-shirts and sweatshirts hung in tree near meat to keep coyote and crows away. Meat was all in great shape, and tastes great.

 

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Taylor's cow hunt was early October. Cow was gutless method, quartered etc. within an hour or so. Hung quarters off a deadfall in the shade to start air cooling. Packed out and in an ice chest using 1 gallon frozen jugs within about 3 hours total. No splitting the meat, just rotating about every 4-8 hours the first day. Kept cold in the cooler on my shaded carport for 1 week after we got home, then processed. Probably the best elk we have ever taken.

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I have mixed feelings on leaving game overnight. We had to do it once with an early season bull because we were not sure of the shot and had 0 blood in the first 100 yards of trailing. We ended up finding him the next morning first thing about 200 yards from where we stopped the night before. The meat was 95% fine with very little lost. Based on the amount of beds we found with tiny spots of blood in it, he bedded 3 times within those 300 yards. We think if we trailed him that night, we may have bumped him and might not have found him. So you have to weigh the risk/reward of pursuing an animal with a not so great shot in it. Would you rather find the animal and maybe lose a little meat, or would you rather lose the animal all together. In a perfect world he is laying dead when you first look for blood, but most of us have a story of a lost bull that was probably bumped by pursuing too early.

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