Space,
If you can grab your animal by the antlers and drag it off -- I' m sorry, it just barely qualifies as a " big game" animal -- and some elk/moose hunting problems DO arise out of that!
.... is there a " right" way of hanging moose or elk outside of camp?....
If it is DEER, I' d recommend head down, BUT.....
Since you asked about ELK and MOOSE -- I found some of the responses to your question rather interesting as they must be a lot stronger than I am -- maybe they were thinking about their DEER experience when they answered your question and didn' t really consider that their answer might also require a " magic wand" of some sort to be available to get an entire elk or moose out of the woods and up onto that hanging beam while keeping it in one piece!
A gutted 600 pound elk with the head and hide still on is likely to weigh 400 pounds.[X(]
A gutted 1000 pound moose with the head and hide still on is likely to weigh 650 pounds.[X(]
For most the folks out there that have actually stood over the large carcass of a gutted elk or moose they have taken, I' m doubting very few have ever taken the whole thing back to camp intact and hung it up either heads up or heads down UNLESS:
(1) They used a horse or an ATV to DRAG IT back to the pick up or camp (wuff - wouldn' t want that meat), or....
(2) They shot it ON THE ROAD or at the edge of the water -- flagged down 5 men and a boy and loaded it into a pickup or a boat, or....
(3) They shot it close enough to the road (or camp) that they could WINCH IT to the pickup or camp, or....
(4) They were hunting on non-remote private land and went back and borrowed the rancher' s tractor with front end loader.
(5) There was hard pack snow trails and it was a down hill drag to the road and they " harnessed" up pulled the carcass to the road or camp and then used a MAJOR block and tackle system to lift the carcass upon onto a magnum strength cross beam.
Since most folks DON' T hunt this way.... I' d recommend you " hang" your meat in camp in one of the following ways:
(1) Seperate whole quarters (in game bags).
(2) Deboned meat in (strong) game bags.
(3) Deboned meat straight into a refrigerator/freezer in camp (" power camp" set up; not remote camping).
You didn' t ask for this part, but I' ll throw it in since it fits, since hanging ties into two subjects: aging (curing) of meat and butchering. The arguments rage endlessly on this one, but here' s our take on it. Wild game tends to have very little " marbling" of the fat inside the muscle, hence aging it does not have the same desirable effect as aging well marbled beef does. Therefore, we start butchering our meat in camp (" power camp" set up) as soon as the meat has chilled enough to firm up the meat -- we then vacuum seal the cuts, jerky meat, and burger -- and the sooner it is sharp frozen the better. (If you want gourmet elk then butcher it yourself, no commerical processor can give the meat the TLC that you will.) Then we distribute the meat evenly among the hunters before they leave camp regardless who shot what -- everyone takes their share with them the day we break camp.
Too much meat spoils each year when hunters that are used to thinking in DEER size terms shoot their first elk or moose and only then realize the true size of the task at hand and how poorly prepared they are to handle it - and it overwhelms them. (It is possible that they could have went elk or moose hunting BEFORE - NOT GOT ANYTHING - and thus still not have come to grips the 400 to 650 pound problem).[:@]
P.S. We usually leave the hide in the field with the guts and we usually throw the heads on the wood pile -- I think that accounts for the whole animal.
BigBulls, Skeeter -- I can tell by your reply you' ve actually stood over elk or moose or two.
Never Go Undergunned,
EKM