Packing out an Animal

Broadside_Shot

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I have packed a few animals out on horses but mostly on my back with pack frames. My question is, why do people keep the bottom parts of the legs and hoofs attached when they pack and animal out?
 
I bone the meat off so I don't have any of that extra weight.


Maybe the ones you saw had plans for a Full Body Mount and need the hoofs.......


Robb
 
Nope. I don’t go completely boneless but on the rear quarter I cut at the knee/stifle. Remove the meat from the lower leg and leave that bone/foot in the woods. On the front quarter I separate at the elbow and do the same thing.
 
There are a few ways to pack out an elk on a horse, but the legs and hooves being attached usually means they are using them to hold the antlers in place. A stick will be shoved through the tendon slot above the hooves and be used to keep the antlers off the horses back. Then the antlers can be tied to the hooves to keep them moving from side to side. I hope this makes sense and can answer your question above
 
InkedElk Leg Packout_LI.jpg
 
This is what I mean, I'm always trying to learn something new and wondering what I am missing when it comes to packing out lower legs. Are the hoofs being used for something? I just thought the scent glands, mud, pee, whatever is stepped in could get all over the your hands and meat easier. No big deal, just wondering what I am missing. I see it often enough that I figured there was something to it.
 
For the front and rear quarters I just cut off as much as I can without taking the whole appendage off, I loose quite a bit of meat but honestly that cut of meat isnt all that good especially on muleys and in the end it just gets turned to jerky.
 
There are only three reasons to leave bone in when doing a packout:

1. You don't know how to effectively bone out an animal and doing so runs the risk of significant meat loss
2. You are close to the road/camp/truck etc. so weight isn't as much of an issue.
3. You need to keep the bone in for rigidity and ease of strapping it to the pack/frame/backpack etc.


I prefer to do complete bone outs of animals as I normally hunt miles away from roads. It is not worth bringing out that which I can't eat. I'm a half decent butcher and can pick a carcass clean while employing the gutless method on deer and elk. In the event we can get an animal to the house whole, especially an elk (rare occasion) then I'm all for that. Virtually no loss there of edible meats, especially ribs!
 
If I have to go far or over extreme terrain, I bone it all out and backpack it out.

If I don't have to go an unreasonable distance, or over extremely rough terrain, I remove the lower leg at the joint and all the skin but leave the bone in the quarters. It's way easier to age with the bone in and easier to handle. (when I'm with the wife, she insists the bone be left in the quarters and she pulls her weight)

It can all be done either way with a knife, no saw needed.

Zeke
 
Zeke and Travis basically said what I was thinking. The longer the pack out the fewer bones get to make the trip. I almost exclusively do the gutless method now. Front legs never make the trip. My last deer was only a few hundred yard pack out so I separated the lower legs later when I had a little more knife
 
For me personally cutting the legs off is part of the field dressing process. That’s how I was taught as a little kid watching the family field dress animals. It’s extra weight and when dragging out the legs get hung up in sage brush or the underbrush depends on where you’re at. ?
 
Well i have reasons why i keep my legs and hooves on when packing out with horses. Sometimes i am in nasty country and the way i tie to load is to counter balance for all the shifting going on and the legs are great to really crank down on and tie.

Secondaly in wyoming i dont have time to deal with it. When ya got grizzlies coming in i really dont want to mess around with popping a joint. Its best to hurry up and get out
 
For the front and rear quarters I just cut off as much as I can without taking the whole appendage off, I loose quite a bit of meat but honestly that cut of meat isnt all that good especially on muleys and in the end it just gets turned to jerky.

I'm sorry, but maybe I'm not understanding here. You don't quarter your animal out? You just cut some meat off? Please explain, because maybe I'm not understanding.
 
Definitely easier to hang and cool with legs attached. If packing I take them off at the joint as it makes strapping easier

View attachment 52787
There’s no right or wrong way to do it. Everybody has their own method. As long as you get it hung and cooled down. This is our hanging rack in camp no legs ever make it this far.

2A4BBFC2-D62D-4906-B9CF-14238341F892.jpeg
 
Have any of you ever packed out the rib cage with the meat on? I had never thought of it until I saw a cooking show with the ribs of an elk prepared much like you would beef. Sounded good.

If I was using my horses to pack out I would leave the legs on . When the quarter had stiffened up they made for a good handle. A boned out quarter of an elk or moose can be hard to handle. Sometimes I would just use the gutless method and put the meat in game bags and tie off on my saddle horn and walk out.
 
You've got some good answers already. Maybe one more idea could be that you're in a hurry to get off the mountain, maybe to get the meat on ice for example?

I've never boned out or even cut up an animal. We always dragged the whole thing down off the mountain. Often more than a mile. We just never hunted further than we could drag a deer. I'm pretty sure it was nuts! LOL.!
 
I was young & dumb ! I killed my first elk (a spike bull) when I was 14 and carried it out in three pieces-both HQ , front Qs and the neck..up hill about 1/2 mile.....with the legs on. Just plain crazy & poor ! Looking back I must have been a strong son-of-a gun. Dumb really helps those types.
 
I'm sorry, but maybe I'm not understanding here. You don't quarter your animal out? You just cut some meat off? Please explain, because maybe I'm not understanding.
I’ll probably get a lot of hate from this but I don’t quarter it, especially when I’m many miles in a area that I’m not willing to hike back into. I guess technically I debone on sight(which saves a lot of room and weight).
 
I’ll probably get a lot of hate from this but I don’t quarter it, especially when I’m many miles in a area that I’m not willing to hike back into. I guess technically I debone on sight(which saves a lot of room and weight).
So you're packing out an entire de-boned elk in one trip by yourself?
 
not legal to debone in alaska, why i dont know. ribs bone in are the best eating on the animal imo
It’s legal to debone in the majority of Alaska. Only a few selected areas have requirements to keep the meat on the bone.

The simplified reason why they do require meat left on the bone in some areas is because there is meat loss if you debone in the field. Fact.
 

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