ABM,

Answers:

First, we debone the quarters once we are in camp with one massive slice cutting down along the long bone. Plop! Now you have one massive piece on the table and then a small amount of “backside” meat opposite from the cut side of the bone. We trim that chunk off and the bone is thrown out the front of the tent. Blazing knives quickly reduce these two pieces of meat in to pieces awaiting trimming, cleaning, picking etc.

Second, Yep! We package the meat in “just” the heavy zip lock bags. Those ZipLocs have way less air in them than you might think! At the end of the year we have had no problem with freezer burn at all (so far). Of course we have one rule about our freezers at home and that is NO FROST FREE FREEZERS, it’s proven that meat lasts longer in manual defrost freezers. My wife is the galloping gourmet and food critic and home butcher and lives and breathes this “food stuff” plus she is game to do the defrosting. So when I enter her turf (the cooking/butchering department) I just stand back and do what I’m told!

In General:

We have the residential compact Seal-a-meal and I’ve been after my wife to use that. She has indicated if I want to spring for an commercial strength one with thick plastic packaging like the fish monger sent our Salmon back from Alaska in, then we could use a seal a meal since the plastic is strong enough to do the job to her satisfaction. (We still would take the ZipLocs with us because they WORK no matter what – generator quits, Seal-A-Meal latch/vacuum/switch malfunctions, etc. and you’re screwed otherwise).

I’ve talked about wrapping it in paper, but now you can’t see the specific cut to use for the specific occasion (a chef thing), so that is out. I got to admit she is right it comes out perfect, or with no more “burn” than we’ve experienced with other methods (Seal-A-Meal and Paper) so if it isn’t broke I’m not going to fight the Chef for it. One big plus for ZipLocs when you are at the end of the road in the middle of nowhere: (1) They work (no matter what), (2) They are fast, and (3) they require little dexterity! When you are on your fourth elk at 8:00PM that is very attractive.

But hey, how to cut up and package a game animal is subject to more opinions than rifles. Do what works for your situation and work hard on the elk meat supply through the year so its gone come next elk season!

Never Go Undergunned, Always Check The Sight In, Perform At Showtime!