Alsatian

A. After you have taken the meat off of the initially "up side" of the elk, do you find it hard to roll it over onto the other side with the guts still inside? Taking the guts out would lower the weight and possibly make it easier to roll over. I'm not arguing with you, just asking if this is an issue and if there is some solution.

B. Is it a challenge to get the tenderloins out when using the gutless method? Any pointers on how to get them out when using the gutless method?

I have long been attracted to the gutless method. I figure it takes me about 30-45 minutes to gut an elk. Then I figure it takes me an additional 2 hours to get the meat off the elk in big chunks: backstraps, tenderloins, rear legs, rib meat, shoulders, neck meat. If I could turn 2 hours and 45 minutes into 2 hours . . . that is pretty attractive. I have just been worried about A and B above. I feel generally I'm pretty handy with a knife and know my way around the anatomy of big game animals.

Champlain Islander

Trust me Alsatian the gutless method is the way to go. I started to hunt out west with Rob in Vt and slo bow. 3 pretty good whitetail hunters who never even saw a wild elk. We figured it out pretty fast and have hunted together for almost a decade and have killed some really nice animals. The first few years we gutted the elk like a deer in our native NE states. It worked out but after a time we saw the gutless method on the internet. We tried it and it is way better and cleaner. Lots of tutorials so take a look. It only takes a few minutes to get to the sectioning of the quarters. The tenderloins are a little tricky but if you go through the last joints in the backbone they are right there. Just pull them out with a small help from a knife. No more trouble to roll them over guts in or guts out. They still are a very large and heavy animal.

flags

BINGO! I've used the gutless method for years. I've never seen any reason to mess with the guts or pack out bones unless required by law. That's one thing I don't like about TX, I can't legally bone one in the field. Quarters is as far as I can knock one apart here. Doesn't make much sense but the law is the law.

Rob in VT

Gutless is definitely the way to go for elk. So much cleaner and way faster. Islander and I did he bull last year and had it all apart and in bags before the first frame pack arrived.

Alsatian

I believe I will give that a try this year if I have the opportunity. By that I mean provided I kill and elk and provided the circumstances are propitious. For example, it may be if I shoot an elk at dark I may be tempted to gut it and go back in the morning to cut it up. Where I hunt it is pretty cool over night (usually in the teens). I have done that once -- leave the elk over night -- with no trouble with the meat. I thnk my partners have done the same.

Certainly, I see the advantage of avoiding the gutting if possible. Also, I understand where the tenderloins are. I'll look at the on-line tutorials and see if I can figure it out.

Also, I do appreciate the value of doing it all at the time of the kill -- cutting up the elk -- and going back to camp with a first load of elk meat. That just makes way too much sense.

Champlain Islander

Where we hunt leaving it over night would most likely provide a midnight snack for a bear or lion. We check out the bones after a kill and often they are taken apart within a few days or less.

Alsatian

Interestingly, we have killed some 8 elk in the four seasons I've hunted with my partners, left each of these animals at kill site, usually in game bags, over night with no trouble. I'm sure it is different in different places.

Big Uncle

I do not use the "gutless" method. I can gut, skin, debone and have the meat ready for the packs in about one hour. We take all of the meat including rib meat for the grinder.

I do carry a saw to remove the antlers if appropriate, but the head, hide, bones, etc. stay on the mountain unless we have horses and we are a hurry. Sawing off enough bone to take the antlers takes time and is a bit of a pain. I have taken something over three dozen elk and am now happier with a spike or cow than another big stinky bull.

As this thread was started to give a tip, here goes - it may be necessary to keep proof of sex attached to a portion of the meat.

Alsatian

In unit 75 where I hunt in Colorado, if you take a bull you have to take the antlers as proof of compliance with antler point restrictions. Hence, sawing of the antlers is necessary. Since I'm not a trophy hunter, I agree that cows are easier to deal with. Also, their meat is probably better to eat.

Viana

For more desire,