Time frame to get meat in the freezer?

[muledrhnter]

Depending on a successful hunt. If successful, I plan on field dressing the elk, skin and quarter the meat to get it back to camp. The weather forecast - Hi, mid-80''s and the Low 55. How much time is needed to get the meat cut up and in the freezer before any meat spoilage? Should we debone the quarters? I plan on processing the meat w/ the help of my wife. we'll be hunting less than a mile from camp, i hope! any and all advice would be appreciated. thanks. we're approximately 1-1 half hours from camp to my house.

 

[springbear]

With Temps that warm it is likely you will loose a bit of neck meat.. It happens. with jut your self and your wife, it will take you a bit of time to quarter the bull and pack him out. Of course I don't know you or your wife, but considering the question, I assume you have not killed a lot of elk in the past..

Getting the meat cool and dry will help, especially cool. once you can do that, you have half the battle won. Do you have access to a meat locker that will let you hang the elk for a few days before processing?

I hunt a lot further from my house or town than an hour and early season as well. I quarter the bull, bone the rest out (straps, neck and ribs) think about where the sun is going to be and hang it in a tree. Of course depending on how far out the bull is. Hopefully it will be close to room temperature by morning when I return with the horses, wife, friends or who ever is going to be packing meat. Then it is a matter of getting it to a cooler until I am ready to cut it up.
In my opinion boning the meat out is always and option and may actually help cool it down faster because of the smaller pieces of meat. Provided you don't just fill the game bag up with all the meat... however it is also my experience that you will loose substantially more meat from a boned out critter due to dry, dirty, or what ever meat (more surface area). I also think it is harder to make quality steaks from boned out meat, but that could be because I am used to doing an entire quarter at a time. I know the cuts to make and the mussel groups are easier to identify for me any way.
Good luck, do your best and don't get in over your head by killing something to far from your camp. IF you do, you better be ready to shell out some money to get help fast. either an outfitter or find some young guys drinking beer around a camp fire and make it worth their time to help you out...

 

[muledrhnter]

yeah, we're pretty new to elk hunting. we've located a small herd pretty close to where we'll be camping. I do have alittle help from my kids (15,14,10 years old). No, we don't have access to a meat locker. i was hoping to get the meat cut up asap so i could put it in the freezer. we're not looking for that trophy. i think a spike or small cow would be a great start for us. the herd we found was mostly young cows. we didn't see the bull yet. any suggestions for wrapping the meat when packing out? i'v seen the meat wrapped on several pictures. is it necessary?

 

[M_ray]

Just did this last weekend with an elk 2 1/2 miles in and an hour drive to a locker at 80 plus degrees. Elk was down at 7:30 am and to the meat locker by 5:15. We did pretty much as spring bear did. This in my opinion is the perfect way.
-skin and put each quarter in a bag opening the bone on the hinds & shoulders so they can cool (the bone will sour the meat it is very hot)
-hang each in a tree ... planning for the sun to move, A slight breeze for us was a plus.
-The first trip split evenly a backstrap,flank meat,tenderloin, neck meat and a top round each.
-Second trip grab a hind each (you can bone them if you want we didnt this time, but I would on a bull)
-the last trip bone out the shoulers and take the head.
In our case it was a cow hunt so one guy takes about 2/3 rds of the shoulders and the other takes 1/3 and the head. if it's a bull plan on a few more trips and the cape and horns are a big load by themselves.
We also had 3 100 qt coolers with ice and heavy garbage bags just to keep from giving the meat a bath. We didnt loose any meat doing it this way, Good luck!
MB

 

[M_ray]

Is the wrapping your talking about the white game bags? I carry 3 on me and I have 3 or 4 more at the truck for the return trip if necessary. I also just tried out the Bad Lands 2800 frame pack for the first time and was very impressed. With this you dont have to kill your shoulders on that first load back to the truck to get the pack board, it was very comfortable!
MB