Any PDX area people butchering an elk soon?

kenr74 · Oct 27, 2019

I'd like to learn how to do it. YouTube is ok but I learn better hands on. Would be happy to help or just watch.

osprey · Oct 28, 2019

If you can find someone butchering a deer the process is the same for elk just on a larger scale. There are a few tricks but it is a pretty straightforward process. Basically you are just separating meat from the bone and separating muscle groups to make cuts. Game is different than beef and you never want to do bone in cuts with game as cutting across bone will taint the meat and make it worthless in a month or two. For me the backstraps, tender loins, and major muscle groups in the rear quarters are all cut into steaks and roasts. The muscle groups are defined by silverskin to give you a guide. The rest of the meat is just cut off bone for making burger and sausage so no worries about being too precise as the goal is just to get manageable pieces cut off the bone in a efficient manner. Get yourself a good boning knife like this and dive in!

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jbett98 · Oct 28, 2019

I've got a neighbor who's always butchering something. He doesn't hunt, so my suspicion is he's a serial killer.
I'd send you over there, but you might not come out.

osprey · Oct 28, 2019

jbett98 said:
I've got a neighbor who's always butchering something. He doesn't hunt, so my suspicion is he's a serial killer.
I'd send you over there, but you might not come out.

Is he also running a wood chipper all the time?

thorborg · Oct 28, 2019

Hopefully you have a buddy, The last 25 years I've hunted alone. Many Elk are very heavy, making a simple thing like rolling over to dump the innards nearly impossible for one man depending on the terrain, especially now I'm old. being on a slight side hill is fortunate. Also, peeling the hide becomes a real effort too when on the ground. I now peel from the back to the belly being careful to not cut into the guts removing the hind and front quarter of whatever side is up as I go, as soon as they're clear of the hide. Not traditional, but works the best for me. Your hands are gonna get a real work out pulling the hide, if you are going to save it, do not nick it, and leave the fat fleshing for later.! Do not forget to tag him, its easy to forget when your heart is pounding and you realize the massive amount of work ahead. It is imperative for me to have a small rope & pulley style deer hoist and some rope in my pack so I can tie the other feet together and winch (roll) him over so I can do the other side. Hopefully there are trees or big boulders available to tie it off to or it's goanna get tough. Before the hide is completely off I jamb wood and rock (anything I can find) along his back side to keep him from rolling so I can remove the other two quarters and get them bagged and hanging to cool. if the weather is warm expediency is important but difficult for one person to achieve, maybe five or six times longer for me than a deer. I take a break now, heat up some coffee because I am fatigued and shaking, hard to hold a cup of coffee in my aching fingers but the hardest part is over unless your packing it out. Still, get them hanging especially if no snow. Then I start in on the rest, editable innards, back strap, rib and neck flesh, also tongue of coarse. A lot of this and what you can keep depends on where it went down. I no longer venture far from roads but you cannot always control if they travel far after being shot.. Thank God mine have not. I had one go down in the hollow of a root pit of a big tree that had blown over. That was literally a bloody mess as there was no where to roll the innards out and any rolling him over in any direction was steep uphill so I had to chop down the carcass to get to the other quarters. that did make the rest of the deboning easier though. It's amazing how much blood is in a full grown Elk. The hide was too nicked up to be useful I'm ashamed to say. I hope that gives you something to think about.
All in all, the concept is simple, its basically four big quarters of meat which really isn't all that hard technically, with the rest being what you willing to make it.

Then there was a friend with one down at the bottom of a 1600 foot canyon in Mill Creek watershed in a foot of snow with a near whiteout beginning to come on. Needless to say he finally showed up in camp well after dark nearly frozen with a pack made of hide scraps holding 35 pounds of frozen meat with not an ounce of bone in it dragging the antlers (and himself). the next day we had to dig down over a foot of snow to find the rest which we also deboned. We left at sun up and got back after dark, the steepness of the canyon along with the two feet depth of snow made it the most miserable pack I've been on! Every step was dragging your boots out of nearly crotch deep snow up hill. Most of the time, standing upright, you could put your hands straight out and touch the snow. At least that's how it seemed. Fortunately, it had stopped snowing. I'm guessing we got about 60% of the meat out.
It's likely to be a cold one this year, bring your best winter stuff.
Good luck with your hunt and field dressing education.

kenr74 · Oct 28, 2019

jbett98 said:
I've got a neighbor who's always butchering something. He doesn't hunt, so my suspicion is he's a serial killer.
I'd send you over there, but you might not come out.

I didn't realize we were neighbors.

I've got it covered up to the point of processing. Seems like every time I find a good butcher they retire a year later. I'd like to learn how to do it myself without butchering( ha ha) the first elk or two. It doesn't seem that hard but learning online can only get you so far.