Brutal,

With a little practice you can bone the meat on the carcass in less time than you can gut and quarter. You're not cutting steaks on the mountain, you're removing large portions of meat from the bone to be cut into steaks later.Even if meat spoilage wasn't an issue, which I believe it is, and even if the pack is realitively short I prefer to pack as little weight as possible. I see no reason to carry the bones. So unless you can drive a pickup to your elk and hoist it in the back I will bone per the instructions already mentioned. that is provided that the laws allow it. I know that in some states that you must have proof of sex still attached to the carcass.