ronlaughlin

Yes, i agree. One can secure a sack full of meat to a pack frame without bone, and we did it every year for many many. An elk can be cut and wrapped just fine, if the meat was totally boned in the field.

However, for neatness, i prefer to carry out the hind leg bone. All the loose meat from the front, is ground into burger, except for the skeins of loin, which are easily identified, and are made into butterflies. One can easily identify the rumps, if they were boned in the field, and cut/wrap them. Me, i just like the way i do my elk, and for me it is most comfortable.

To me it is very very interesting to return to the site of the kill. Normally, if camped out, i will return to the kill more than once. The bones i leave behind are utilized fully by all them critters that partake. After a bit, the only thing remaining is the undigested stuff in the gut. Once in a while a hoof remains, but often there is no hooves, and i have always wondered why they would be drug off. Once there was wolverine on one of the kill remnants, and that was fun to see. One time, because of ruts in the trail, i was able to slide a whole elk onto the tailgate, and take it to town. After a week at work, i returned to the gut pile, and it wasn't there. There was no visible sign whatsoever, that once there was a gut pile there, not even a stain. Several times, i have returned to a gut pile, and found remnants a month later.

The funnest elk i ever took home, i took whole. To get to it i chained up all 4. Then i looped a tow strap on it, and drug it to a huge old Ponderosa. Then i cut some limbs with my chain saw. Lashed a snatch block to a huge limb, and winched the elk up into the sky. Then dropped the critter into the truck.

Most of my elk need to come out on my back, and i have done a few alone.

Myself, i have no problem if someone wishes to haul their elk out on a plastic sheet, or a sled, or a cart. Sometimes a couple three guys can drag a whole elk downhill to a smartly placed tailgate.