Posted: 8/14/2025 10:28:48 AM EDT
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First, apologies if this is a frequently asked question on here. I did a search but pulled up limited results. I have my first elk hunt in December and don’t know how to field dress an elk. I’ve been out with the boys before but no one tagged an animal on the last trip. The guys will be joining me on this hunt but there might be a day or two where it’s just me and if I get an animal then I need to know what I’m doing. Is there any wisdom ya’ll can share on this? A favorite YouTube video you can recommend? I found plenty of walkthroughs but want to tap into the collective wisdom here as well, any help is appreciated. |
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I've done a few moose with help. Big animals require significant strength and or technique. I'd highly recommend you bring someone along that has done it before. I can suggest tools and such if that's what you're after, but opinions will likely vary and net you 100s of different results. Boned meat is much lighter and can save trips, so factor that into your plans. |
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First one will be hard. 2 guys makes it easier. First make sure it won’t flip over if you are on a steep slope. You should have some para cord or rope. The meat needs to cool quick if it’s warm outside. If you can’t get it all done and have to leave it overnight at least gut and prop the rib cage open. Now you don’t have to gut, look up the gutless method. If you do gut, think about how you will finish quartering on the ground without kneeling in the mess. I prefer gutting mainly cause I like not reaching blind for the inside loins with a sharp knife. Still have a scar on a thumb from that. Some guys like peeling the hide off one side then you have a semi clean place to put meat on. Some use a tarp. You should have game bags that breathe, not trash bags. Old pillow cases work fine. The more you can keep the meat clean the better. Take 800mg of ibuprofen if you haven’t already. Your back will be screaming at this point. Once the hide is off you can see kind of the natural joints where each quarter is attached. Just work the knife in there while pulling the quarter away. When I’m solo I either use a rope or put the leg on my shoulder to move it. A very sharp knife is more help than anything. Once you get through all that you will be at the bone joint. I’ve never used a saw, just work the knife in and disconnect the connective tissue and it will pop the rear free. Front I simply leave all the bone in and it comes right off. You just gotta get behind the scapula. Get in the body cavity and grab the inside loins. Great meat. I get the backstrap last, work the blade along the spine, then along the top of the ribs. Usually don’t bone out in the field unless it is a brutal pack out. It is not a crime to make a huge rear quarter into an eighth. Those things are heavy on a big animal, and a blown knee is a rough way to finish a hunt. Pile the meat in the shade off the ground while you are grinding the pack out. It helps if you don’t kill one in a hell hole. Attached File Just some random marker I found in a hell hole. Have fun don’t forget chapstick. |
If life was easy nobody would quit.
| I carry a Wyoming collapsible saw for cutting the sternum, an assortment of knives, a collapsible diamond 4 inch 'steel' and a 4" Arkansas stone. Some rope for manipulating the carcass. The work starts after the shot breaks. |
America is at that awkward stage, it’s too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards....Claire Wolfe
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Have you ever field dressed a deer? Same principle, just bigger. Get a saw for the pelvis and sternum. https://sageninc.com/product/sagensaw-ll/ Others have covered quartering for packing out. A roll up plastic slide can work wonders to drag it out, depending on where you're hunting and the season. |
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Originally Posted By User55645: Are you planning to pack the entire animal out on your own? Can you drive a vehicle up to it? Pretty rare but late season cow hunts are best for that. Unless you have pack animals, you are the pack animal. Attached File Attached File Anything can happen. This one was killed 800 yards from camp. Guy I was hunting with took it solo, archery. First elk he had ever seen, and quartered it fine. Attached File That is the result of a late cow hunt. CPW guy was cool, wanted a tissue sample and it was a mile in past the gate. No prob, just follow us. He said I am not walking, unlocked the gate and said I’ll follow you. We drove right up to them and he helped load the whole one. The other is quartered. Attached File |
If life was easy nobody would quit.
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Originally Posted By urbanredneck: I watch vids of guys backing out meat and always wonder how many trips they make. Don't care what kind of backpack you got, you ain't humping 400 lbs of meat. If you dont bone out and it is a bull you are easily over 400lbs that is coming out of the woods, especially when you add in the cape and antlers. We do it in trips. Most animals you can plan for 6 trips. Each quarter, the straps and trimmings, and the cape and antlers. Depending on size the animal and difficulty of the hike, you might be able to cut it down to 4 trips. Worst one for us was side of a rocky slope starting about 9-10pm to cut. I think we finished packout sometime in the early morning, 3-4am. It was cold and we were all exhausted and just went straight to sleep. I was glad there were 3 of us. |
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Originally Posted By ag04blast: If you dont bone out and it is a bull you are easily over 400lbs that is coming out of the woods, especially when you add in the cape and antlers. We do it in trips. Most animals you can plan for 6 trips. Each quarter, the straps and trimmings, and the cape and antlers. Depending on size the animal and difficulty of the hike, you might be able to cut it down to 4 trips. Worst one for us was side of a rocky slope starting about 9-10pm to cut. I think we finished packout sometime in the early morning, 3-4am. It was cold and we were all exhausted and just went straight to sleep. I was glad there were 3 of us. That’s when you really learn who your friends are. I live in elk country and we network in the season. The guy who smoked this one in archery was solo, it was warm and meat spoilage is a threat. He sent me and some others a text with his coordinates. I was only a dozen miles away, found him and got there late, but helped. It was a pretty easy pack of a half mile to the machine. His ATV had the rest. Attached File |
If life was easy nobody would quit.
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Get this kit. I have 1 and it makes the field work a lot easier. Having some latex gloves helps to keep your hands from slipping. Tie a length of para cord or small rope around the trachea and pull the guts out as you cut away the connective tissue, then drag that mess away from the carcass. Last, keep your gun handy and LOADED. Other critters will be real interested in that dead elk and some are higher in the food chain than you. |
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Lots of good info posted above for you. If you are alone when you kill the animal just do your best to get it as cool as possible. I usually do the gutless method because I am usually alone. Even with one arm not functioning I was able to get almost half the way through a cow last year before backup came. My tips: Get and use a scalpel knife. Change blades early and often to keep things moving fast. Be careful, they will cut the shit out of you. Have a good 4” skinning knife. Scalpels suck for actual skinning. I normally have a second small skinner to work with. A sheet of plastic is literally and very handy to lay meat out on. Breathable game bags, yes! The cheap roll up ones work great. Once quartered, if it is hot, relocate the meat to the coolest place you can find. It’ll be late when you get back to camp. Don’t stress it and try to make another pack trip in the dark. That’s when you get hurt. Eat a good meal, drink a recovery drink and get some sleep. The elk will be there in the morning. If the pack out isn’t long and or treacherous I pack out bone in. The meat does age better that way. If it’s long and or nasty bone it out. Don’t for get the tenderloins My preferred knives for elk. (D2 steel on the custom antler tip knife is awesome.) Raymond Richard’s custom skinner D2 steel (#1 favorite) Esee Isula Ibex Goat scalpel knife (#2 favorite) Early Spiderco Bill Moran Havalon Ti scalpel knife These have cut through a lot of game.  Good luck! |
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Gut the animal. Skin one side, including the legs. Flip the hide over the top and lay it flat on the ground. This will be a place you can place your tools or chunks of meat as you taking the animal apart. If you don’t wanna bring a saw, you can disjoint the lower legs at the knee by cutting the tendons. Remove the rear leg by cutting around the pelvic girdle. Set that aside, then remove the front leg, that’s easy to do. Remove the back strap running down the spine to the neck, set aside. You can drape these over a log or something for a little while to allow them to cool. Remove any other pieces of meat from that side of the animal, leaving it mostly a rack of bones. Flip the hide back over the now deboned side of the elk. Roll it over onto that side. Now skin and remove the lower legs and flip the skin over the top again. At this point, the animal will cool and your meat won’t spoil while you go get help if you have it available. I always carry two king-size pillowcases with me which I can put about 30 to 40 pounds of meat in. I tie the tops together and put them over my shoulder for my first hike out since I don’t carry a very big backpack hunting. It takes about six pillowcases to pack out a boned out elk. To bone out an elk you just separate the muscle groups. You will figure it out. The system has worked for me for about three dozen elk. Everybody does it a little differently like a previous poster said. |
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Field dressing isn't hard. Depends when and where you kill. Early tag and temps above 50 deg F? Carcass in the sun? Gut that bitch or it will swell up on you and stink. You want to get the meat as cold as possible fast. Have at least one other person to help or plan on hanging game bags in trees and haul out in multiple trips (If you're walking). I've done both gutless and guts out. I prefer guts out. It cools the animal down faster. Never found myself kneeling in guts. You also don't have a hair on your nuts if you don't take a bite of the liver once it's out. |
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I got an Oct unit9 cow tag rifle. We plan to take an atc with a small farm trailer it’s like 3.5x5 I think or close to it. Should make easy to get close if we tag one. Gut out or gutless will be decided then with the conditions. It will be my first hunt but going with cousin who is an experienced hunter. |
| Going to be on the Jicarilla rez in November. Hoping the guide will have this covered. If not I have have dressed out many deer, figure it is the same but bigger. |
If you think I am sexy now just wait until you find out I have full medical and dental.
Personal pronouns are; Bro/Dude
Personal pronouns are; Bro/Dude
Randy has a decent tutorial. How to Field Dress Elk - The Gutless Method - Hunting Field Care of Meat |
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I’ve done at least 15 of them over the years, most of them by myself. I’ve gotten to where I don’t gut them, I don’t use a saw. I start on the inside of the back legs. The bone is very close to the pelt at that point. I slice up the inside of each of the rear legs, skin the pelt off around the hindquarters, slice the pelt along the abdomen, and all the way up to the neck and skin the whole thing. I then do the same thing with the meat starting in the back legs on the inside. I just dissect down to the bone and then I work my array around each of the lower legs. Then I work my way up the pelvis then up the back/spine. I do the same thing on the front legs and shoulders and then up the neck. You end up with the skeleton and all the guts still inside. All the meat gets taken off. When I haul things out, I only bring the meat with me unless I have to take the head for evidence of sex. This is the most efficient way that I found. You don’t have to use a saw, you don’t have to cut anything that isn’t absolutely necessary, you don’t have to carry anything out that isn’t edible. You can search on YouTube for videos that show “boning an elk, gutless method” and see multiple different approaches, likely. |
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If I have to pack it 100 yards or miles, I do a no gut method and quarter as soon as the animal is down to start cooling the meat. I hang the quarters to cool and dry in synthetic game bags as much as possible before packing out. I leave the leg and shoulder bones in the quarters. No need to expose more meat to contamination than necessary. If I really had to save weight, I would not debone until right before that quarter got hauled out. So far I have never needed to do that. Every kill is a different scenerio that a good strategy has to be developed to handle the meat. Key things are, Have good game bags. I use synthetic and carry 5 to 6 in my pack. Cool the meat as soon as possible. Store in shade where it can get air and dry. This means you need cord to hang it and plastic to cover it if raining. If you have to pack it any distance, get a really good pack and walking sticks. I use an Exo Mountain pack. It goes with me everywhere when hunting. Take an easy load the first trip to scout the best route when going out and coming back in for the next load. Don’t rush butchering or packing. Unless it is hot outside, taking your time do do it methodically will end in an easier and better result in keeping the meat clean and getting the meat out. Bring a flashlight, headlamp and spare batteries to be prepared if you have to do it at night. Watch lots of YouTube videos on butchering, hunting meat care and methods for packing meat. There is lots to learn from several good sources there. |
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I’m a novice, so my outlook might be appealing to you. Gutless method is what you wanna do. I started hunting late in life in 2022 at 35yo. I had a friend there to help me with my deer that year (gutless), and in ‘23 I went with friends and helped quarter a bull elk (gutless) in a real hellhole, which took the 3 of us two full days to get it all back to the truck in some steep ass country (up and down to camp, then up and down to the truck). No thanks…… later that same year, I helped a guy I know with a buck. He gutted it and we dragged it out. Which also sucked, but it was his choice, being his deer. That was my only experience with cutting stuff up. Last year was my first unassisted cut up and pack out of a cow elk I got my wife on. I did the gutless method. I learned real quick that a cow is much lighter than a bull (like 50lbs vs 80+ for the hind quarter). I was with my wife but I was the only one with a pack so I carried all the quarters. I took a front and a rear on the first trip and she took the loose meat bag over her shoulder. She had it worse off. I went back up solo and grabbed the 2nd front and rear. A cow’s front and a rear was about the weight of one large bull’s hind quarter. So it really depends on who you are with, where you are and what you shoot. The cow was a piece of cake. If it was a bull I probably would have had to take 4 trips. Hopefully that helps understand the weight. Things I’ve learned to always bring: -Get a knife with disposable blades (I use outdoors edge). I can get through an elk with 1-2 blades. Light and easy. -Trekking poles! Makes a HUGE difference carrying meat. -5 game bags (I have nice reusable bags, but have used cheap bags too) -I wear latex type gloves -headlamp w/ disposable (non rechargeable) batteries. Plus 1 extra set of batteries. I want to be able to throw new batteries in during a pack out at 1am if necessary. My pics aren’t showing up and I don’t know why https://imgur.com/a/RfETWFW#rWucFMX |
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There are lots of good YouTube videos, but It’s a big deer… if you’re alone it sucks. If you’re on a hillside it sucks more. Bring some rope or strap in case you have to tie it off on a tree. Take your time and be very careful with your knives, you can get tired and fuck yourself up bad. |
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Originally Posted By Bumblebee_Bob: I carry an Eastwing hatchet to make quick, easy work of splitting the pelvis and rib cage open. Sure make l life easier when they are split open. Works 7,000 times better and you don’t have to carry a silly hatchet…. |
| Just like a deer I would sacrifice a few pounds of meat for a good anchor shot if it prevented him from going somewhere that would make things worse. Im no elk expert but I’ve been on enough bad deer drags and a few quarterings that I’ve adjusted my shot placement to prevent more work on the back end. |
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Don't gut and we always bone out all the meat I peel the hide off one side use the ribs as my table take the shoulder off first bone it then the rear (leave your evidence of sex on) get the loin off that side and whatever scraps/neck meat then roll it over do the same. When I'm done with all that I use my saw to get the tenders and the heart out. All the meat is in 4 bags I take the smallest bag and the head (head has been skined and lower jaw/tongue removed) on my way back to camp if there is snow I come back with a sled if not I come back with a big meat pack |
Originally Posted By nickforney
This subforum has filled up with a bunch of worthless fudds and I feel less and less that this is any kind of community I want to be a part of.
This subforum has filled up with a bunch of worthless fudds and I feel less and less that this is any kind of community I want to be a part of.
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Originally Posted By clean_dude: Field dressing isn't hard. Depends when and where you kill. Early tag and temps above 50 deg F? Carcass in the sun? Gut that bitch or it will swell up on you and stink. You want to get the meat as cold as possible fast. Have at least one other person to help or plan on hanging game bags in trees and haul out in multiple trips (If you're walking). I've done both gutless and guts out. I prefer guts out. It cools the animal down faster. Never found myself kneeling in guts. You also don't have a hair on your nuts if you don't take a bite of the liver once it's out. Not sure how it can cool faster then if all the meat is removed from the bone soon as it hits the ground and is hanging from a branch shortly |
Originally Posted By nickforney
This subforum has filled up with a bunch of worthless fudds and I feel less and less that this is any kind of community I want to be a part of.
This subforum has filled up with a bunch of worthless fudds and I feel less and less that this is any kind of community I want to be a part of.
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Take friends. Gutless, use the hide as a clean place to put stuff, use the rib cage as a table. Have good game bags with you so you can hang the meat before you start trekking it out. Especially if it's warm. Don't forget to take the inner loins and heart. Don't forget to take friends. Sharp knives and a way to sharpen knives. I personally think those replaceable blade scalpels suck. I've tossed every single one I've ever had. A couple good knives with sharpeners is what you want. Take friends. Frame pack to haul meat. Make sure your friends have one as well. Did I mention bring friends? The more legs to carry meat the better. Hauling a bull elk out of a hole by yourself is a real test. Good luck out there! Remember, killing an animal is icing on the cake. Spending time in the outdoors is the real prize. Don't forget to smell the flowers Really take in the whole experience of the hunt. |
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Originally Posted By TheWhiteHorse: There are lots of good YouTube videos, but It’s a big deer… if you’re alone it sucks. If you’re on a hillside it sucks more. Bring some rope or strap in case you have to tie it off on a tree. Take your time and be very careful with your knives, you can get tired and fuck yourself up bad. Take your time and be careful with the knife. Elk is down, it’s cold enough spoiling is not an issue. I still have a scar on the back of my thumb from not stopping half way thru and taking a break to drink some water and touch up the blade. It’s a lot of work just taking one apart. |
If life was easy nobody would quit.