Those of you out there that have skinned and field-dressed an elk, is it something that one person can do and how long should it take? I have a frontend loader to lift the elk, but need to find out if it's easier to field dress it first or just skin it out then start quartering it up? He's not but about 1 1/2-2 1/2 years old, and I will not have any help from anyone around.

I would rather skin and field-dress him since it'll be at 1-2am when I take him if all goes well and then just let him hang until daylight to do the quartering.

How many 90 and 120 qt ice chests will I need to get him all in?

I'm a newbie on this one...

Thanks,
Chris

If you have plenty of nylon rope, you can skin him and quarter him right there on the ground. You just lay him on his back and tie his legs to a tree to hold him upright. Then, you skin him 1/2 at a time down to the backstrap. Roll him on his side, cut out the backstraps, hind quarter, front quarter and then roll him over for the other side. After you have the major appendixes off, you can get the neck real easy. It takes about 1 hour for one man to do it by himself. It's a lot easier to load that way. If you have a large oak tree anywhere around, you can throw a heavy guage rope over a big tree limb, tie it to your hitch ball and pull him up in the air. With another rope you have tied to his hind quarters, you then tie off to a tree and untie the other rope from your hitch. You can then back right under the elk and let it down in the truck bed. It works real easy that way.

One mature elk will completely fill a 120 quart ice chest with no room for any ice. If you debone it, you can get it all in one of them.

Be sure and take some rope to gut him with too. Tie off his back legs and one front leg and you won't have him flopping around while you are trying to gut it.

Thanks Tommy...just the advice I needed on this one. Will report the day after I get him if that happens. Definately knife sharpening time!!!

Thanks again,
Chris

I've only done 'em on the ground up on a mountain, and had to pack 'em out on my back. But I don't gut'em. Skin one side, dismember, trim neck and backstrap, spread hind out, roll over and do the other side. done forget to get the tenderloins/briskit/trimmings. Should take 1 hour or so alone. If you don't debone it on site. (sure makes it lighter). I lay plastic/trash bags on the ground to lay the meat on as I go and for deboning. Sounds like you might be able to have coolers/vehicle accessable, in your situation.

Get him now with this cold weather coming.
Good eating,
Phish-TX

i have no real idea as i never shot one. but i think a flatbed, and truck and a winch would be a good start, then take the thing in whole to the local processer and tell them you got a big deer and you only want to pay the 50 bucks to have to cut up.

We field dress the cows, then take them and hang them to do the skinning. 1 person can field dress one, especially if you do the stuff with the ropes like Hag explained. If this cold weather pattern continues, I would field dress it, and hang it from the bucket on he front-end loader, then skin it out the next morning. Or you could go ahead and skin it then, but I would use that loader as much as possible, as it is easier to skin them hanging. JMO

Since the lost bull is coming to his feeder at 1:00 and 2:00 in the wee hours of the morning. He's wanting to shoot it at night (by himself) and then come back in the daylight to skin and quarter him. All this by himself is quite the job for someone that hasn't ever done it before. So, I honestly would suggest the gut job on him. That is, unless it's still below freezing like it's going to be all this week. Then, it wouldn't be a problem to leave him laying there until you came back to him in 4 to 6 hours. Wouldn't want to leave him intact longer than that though. I also would suggest putting a large log under him, just in front of his hindquarters (rolled over on his back) to let him air out underneath. Otherwise, the heat will be trapped under him and possibly spoil some meat with the warm ground trapping the body heat wherever the meat (covered with the thick hair) is in contact with the ground.

I'm planning on field-dressing and skinning him at night, then wait until morning to quarter him up.

Thanks everyone for all the help...

Chris

Does skinning with a winch work on Elk the same as it does with deer? I was shown a few years ago how to hang my deer by the neck, then use a knife to get the skin down to just past the shoulders. Then I place a golf ball under the skin (making kind of a pocket) and cinch an ATV winch cable around the skin-covered golf ball. Then wind the winch up and watch the hide peel off the deer. Anybody use this technique on anything larger than whitetail? Sure makes for an easy one-man job and a lot more hair-free carcass as well.

That's exactly what I'm planning on doing...heck with that skinning and pulling mess. Done deer that way for almost 30 years. I just pull it with a ATV or truck while hanging.

Thanks everyone for the skinning/field dressing tips...

I got him at 7pm Saturday night and took me about 1 1/2 hours to hang, skin and field dress. Used the frontend loader and was it a big help.

Oh, I shot him with my 22-250 in the neck!!

Will post pictures as soon as I get them developed this week.

Chris

good deal, cant wait to see the pics

Awsome! When are WE grilling some of that backstrap?!?

Congratulations, ought to be some good eating after being on that corn all this time.

Any good Texas Hunting Forum member would put ALL of this elk away and not bring it out till the spring Forum gathering!

Is the Spring Get-together going to be a little more centrally located so more folks could attend? I'd sure bring some if I can keep the driving time down to 3 hours one way...

I don't think you could make it in 3 hours. The place we are looking at is between Fort Worth and Weatherford.

If we can ever get this off the ground, we could look at moving it around the state, and having it in areas more centrally located, so more people could attend.