bigtim6656

Moved to the rockys in co. Yay me. I got a question. How much meat should one expect off the average elk up here and just how big of a freezer am i gonna need

Kytus

Right around 30% of the live weight is what you can expect for the yield. That's what I recall from the last time I looked.

Your cows might give you between 80-150 lbs

Bulls 100-250.

In regards to freezer, Super big! That way you can fit your elk, mulie and bear in there.

w123t

Not to rain on your parade---but---if you haven't hunted Elk
before you might want to wait until that Elk is on the ground
before you buy that freezer. Best of luck.

Muley Hunter

You can always fill it with frozen dinners meanwhile.

Wildman21

As a wild game processor, I can tell you a lot depends on what you as the hunter does. Always make sure you get your animal cooled down fast. Keep the meat as hairless and dirtless as possible. And obviously, the more meat you bring out, the more meat you get back. I think the above estimates are good ideas, but elk can vary alot in size. Also it depends what you have done with your elk. Lots of burger has the highest yield because the meat doesn't have to be as pretty to turn it into hamburger. Steaks take lots of trimming to make sure all the sinew/connective tissue is removed so you take a hit. And smoked products such as jerky and summer sausage give the least yield because you lose all that water weight that cooks off.

wyomingtrapper

My average on a large cow and couple of average bulls was 225 lbs of meat. Smaller cows: 125-180 lbs, one calf: 85 lbs. That's boned and trimmed meat. As a friend once said, after I boned a deer on the mountain, "You don't even leave anything for the crows!"

Bullcamp82834

Yeah.

One year my wife bought a chest freezer in response to my big talk about how I was going to fill it. The pressure to come through was so much I nearly had a nervous breakdown.

Alsatian

My two bulls were each less than 140 LBS meat in the freezer. I butchered myself. I don't make ground meat from my elk, and since fat is generally added to ground meat, that might make this a low weight relative to others' results. I end up with a lot of little trimmings of meat that go into a stock pot with bones to make about 20 cups of elk broth. Bigger pieces of decent meat I save for making terrines -- highly seasoned meat pies that are baked, cooled, and eaten cold in slices. Yet bigger pieces of decent meat I package as stew meat. All of those things could be purposed by others to ground meat.

Attach yourself to successful elk hunters and join their hunting camp. Learn from them. Make an asset of yourself in their camp by pitching in to help at ever turn, being reliable and on time, paying your share of the costs, having a good attitude. If you do that, you'll be invited back.

homers brother

I usually plan on quarters at 70 lbs each unboned, and that I'll be under that if I bone it out. There are occasions where I prefer packing it out bone-in. But, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect somewhere between 150 and 225 pounds of venison. My last elk fit nicely in a 14 cubic foot freezer with room enough for a few pheasants.

Freezers are the easy part though. Whether you take your elk to a processor or butcher it yourself, you should have plenty of time to go out and grab a freezer and get it cooled down. Or maybe I'm just a slow butcher?

bigtim6656

Thanls guys lot of good info my wondering and concern was fact were in a small condo so space for the freezer is limited