by Bill Arnold
Elk Country Services
Preserving your meat starts with proper field dressing, whether it be an Elk, a deer , or any other game.Using the standard field dressing procedures, slit the hide from the anus up to the brisket. When doing this be sure not to puncture the stomach or the intestines. Cut the skin around both sides of the penis and testicles (assuming it is a bull) and lay them back between the legs out of the way. What ever you do, don't cut the penis or the urine will squirt out. Cut cleanly around the anus to free the hide from the large intestine.
Now reach up inside the chest cavity and start pulling the innards out. You will have to reach way up inside to cut the diaphragm away from the rib cage, and the wind pipe and esophagus at the base of the neck. Cut slowly and precisely so you don't cut yourself.
As you cut things loose, keep rolling the innards from the cavity to the ground. Pull gently on the intestines to pull the anus and attached penis out through the body cavity. You will probably have to use your knife alongside the anus and around the inside of the pelvis to free it. But use caution so you do not cut the urine sack. When you have cored around the pelvis, you can pretty much pull large intestine with the anus attached through the cavity.
After all the organs are out, you can slit the skin on forward from the brisket to the chin. Split the brisket with your saw or hatchet so the animal can be opened to cool.
A good way to keep the flies off the meat is to use a commercial spray available, or a can of black pepper. I have always used the black pepper and have had good results.
To skin it or not is up to you. For every person that tells you that you should skin it, there is one that will tell not to skin it. I think it really depends on the circumstances. If it is a hot day, and there are many of them during the early part of the season, then I would skin it to allow it to cool faster. Be reminded that by skinning it , it does open the meat up to dirt. If you do skin it, leave the fat on to protect the meat from dirt and it will prevent the meat from drying out.
For packing it out, you should remove the legs. All they are is extra weight, and they will get caught on every little branch that is out there. You have enough hard work to do, don't make a hard job harder.
You are now ready to Quarter your Elk for packing it back to camp or the vehicle. This is not as hard as some may think, and it really does not take that much time to do
O.K. The sound of your rifle can no longer be heard. Your Elk is down, and you have aready field dressed it and you want to head back to camp with your Elk. It is just you and your frame pack, and miles to go. It is now time to quarter your Elk for the trip. For this you will need your sharp knife, a saw, or you hatchet. I used a saw for years, then tried the hatchet. Needless to say, my saw is now retired. A saw does do the job, but is is a lot of work.
To quarter an Elk, you need to remove the head at the neck. Now, split the animal down the backbone with your hatchet (or saw). The use of two hatchets works best, so you can put one hatchet on the bone and use the other to hammer it through. If you only have one, it will do the trick, but will not be as neat. Continue down the backbone. When you have successfully split your Elk in half, you will now be ready to split the halves in half. To evenly distribute the weight, you can then cut between the third rib, leaving the back three ribs on the hind quarters. You will now need to cut the backbone in half. Again, your hatchet will do this with no problem at all.
Your Elk is now quartered and ready to be tied onto your framepack. I would use a cotton rope as a nylon rope will stretch and become loose during the trip out. Tie it on securely and have fun. If the Elk weighed 600 pounds live, you are looking at nearly 100 lbs. on your back to pack out.
You will have to make 4 trips, and each trip gets harder and harder. That is why you may want to hang the remaining quarters (with block and tackle) if you are near trees with branches to support them, to allow them to cool off. If you have to, put logs under them to allow air to circulate. You may have to go back the next day for the rest, so use caution when approaching your kill. You may find a bear at your site, and you do not want to be the one to surprise it while it is having dinner (compliments of you).
