The first elk I shot with a muzzleloader was a huge cow that we got 375 pounds of deboned meat from. I have not seen another cow that big since. I estimate that she was around 975 pounds on the hoof. I have seen smaller bulls with decent racks. Meat lasted almost two years. I vacuum seal all the meat and it lasts more than two years in the freezer. Unfortunately I have not had an elk for two years now and the meat is getting pretty well gone. The last one was a pretty small cow only got about 200 pounds of deboned meat.