I have boned elk for years now. It is amazingly easy and quick. I carry a new plastic painter's tarp in my backpack. You can lay that out and put the quarters on it when removed. That way you can bone the meat without getting it dirty, put it in a game bag, and you're only packing out pure meat. To do the boning, just skin the animal feet to back, then roll it over and repeat. The quarters all come off with just a knife. To get at the tenderloins, so as not to even have to open the gut cavity at all, I have a small hatchet that I carry. You just pop the ribs close to the back - it's easy to reach in and cut out the meat.
Last fall, my brother in law shot a bull right at dark. We had him boned and back at camp (which included a 20 minute drive in the Ranger) in just over 2 hours. I carry a large cooler with me (live in Arizona and even in November the daytime temperatures where we hunt can be in the 70s and will ruin meat in no time). By boning, you can keep the meat on ice and no spoilage. We hunted for another 3 days before we even went home. The beauty of this too is that we kept the meat on ice for another week or so (I always age for 10 days - 2 weeks). By putting the meat in the cooler tipped up so the water drains - block ice underneath and on top, it will be kept at a perfect aging temperature. The worst thing you can do to meat in my opinion is to freeze it right away. After aging, just cut it up, double wrap in freezer paper and you're done (no processing costs - with an elk these can be substantial). Finally, boning eliminates any risk of chronic wasting disease because you're not cutting into spinal tissue, etc.