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Awesome Cow Elk Hunt

9K views 54 replies 21 participants last post by  Pinetree 
#1 ·
I've never been able to brag on the big game board. My wife got some elk burger from some family and she loved it. So she convinced me to put in for cow elk for the first time ever. I thought of where my family shot one out of the parking lot when I was a kid maybe 15 years ago. Luckily, I drew! First day I walked through the snow about 2 miles in and found the herd in the bottom of the valley. I picked the biggest one and dropped it. I still had maybe an hour left of daylight. I gutted it and started to drag it. I got maybe 10 feet and realized they're much bigger than deer. After tagging it, I marked the place and buried it in the snow. The next day I went back up with an XL jet sled. The herd was still hanging around the same area. A lot of them were small bulls. 5 hours later, I had it at my truck where two locals helped my throw it in.

My LEM #8 meat grinder got here and so far I'm 75% done processing this thing. Lots of burger, a few roasts, and some backstrap steaks. It was a fun hunt, but would have been a lot better having someone to go with or a horse. I hope to do it again!
 

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#4 ·
I've never been able to brag on the big game board. My wife got some elk burger from some family and she loved it. So she convinced me to put in for cow elk for the first time ever. I thought of where my family shot one out of the parking lot when I was a kid maybe 15 years ago. Luckily, I drew! First day I walked through the snow about 2 miles in and found the herd in the bottom of the valley. I picked the biggest one and dropped it. I still had maybe an hour left of daylight. I gutted it and started to drag it. I got maybe 10 feet and realized they're much bigger than deer. After tagging it, I marked the place and buried it in the snow. The next day I went back up with an XL jet sled. The herd was still hanging around the same area. A lot of them were small bulls. 5 hours later, I had it at my truck where two locals helped my throw it in.

My LEM #8 meat grinder got here and so far I'm 75% done processing this thing. Lots of burger, a few roasts, and some backstrap steaks. It was a fun hunt, but would have been a lot better having someone to go with or a horse. I hope to do it again!
Going to put the grandson in again next year for youth elk, just out of curiosity how much meat do you get off of one the size you shot. Trying to figure out if I will need to get a new freezer if he gets one
 
#7 · (Edited)
Going to put the grandson in again next year for youth elk, just out of curiosity how much meat do you get off of one the size you shot. Trying to figure out if I will need to get a new freezer if he gets one
So far about 35 pounds of burger, 6 butt roasts, and 28 small butterfly steaks from the backstraps. I'm expecting maybe another 30 pounds of burger from the front half, but it's hard to tell. I'm guessing somewhere between 140-155 pounds.
 
#8 ·
Dragging out an elk 2 miles? Dang, you're motivated!

Good job, and congrats. I think elk are the coolest animals around. Seeing your pic in the valley of the small herd just made me happy.
There were about 50 elk in the area. As soon as I shot, they all stood up and walked out of the trees all around me. The picture is of the herd I shot mine out of. And I'm willing to bet that all the others around me were 50% bulls. Small ones though. The biggest was a 4 point.
 
#11 ·
I'd have to ask my wife what the bill was, I forgot. Elk are just too **** big to process myself. I do all my own deer and pronghorn... but elk, ugh. I did partially cut up a elk this year (we got two), gave away bulk pieces to neighbors, inlaws etc.

But I will say we turn as little into burger as possible. Few roasts but I want everything else turned into steaks. You can always turn steak into burger down the road if you want. But I want as much steak cuts as I can (we thin strip that into jerky as well).


-DallanC
 
#12 ·
But I will say we turn as little into burger as possible. Few roasts but I want everything else turned into steaks. You can always turn steak into burger down the road if you want. But I want as much steak cuts as I can (we thin strip that into jerky as well).

-DallanC
This is an interesting thought, and one that should probably have been obvious to me, but was not. We use burger the most, so I historically have turned most of my elk into burger. But it is true that you can always turn steaks into burger later. I'm going to keep this in mind for next year. Thanks for the tip!
 
#16 ·
I like to just freeze them whole, skin on. I can always burn off the hair and scrape it for a nice crackly skin on roast later, and you never know when you'll need to do a baron roast either.


But seriously, I usually am in the camp of leaving as many whole muscle cuts as possible and then steaking/grinding the cuts as needed down the road. But if we get enough antlerless tags that I know we can shoot a number of fawns and calves for the roasts and steaks, then I will take adult animals (minus tenders and backstraps of course) in to get ground or grind them myself time depending. Except antelope, I always do my own antelope and always into whole muscle groups. I like those roasts, steaks, and stews too much to have ever tried burgering one.
 
#20 ·
Congratulations. Can you tell me more about how you buried it in the snow? Hide on or off? I always heard that an elks hide had to come off immediately.

I recently took my first cow and quartered it using the the gutless method but left the tender loins for the next day thinking they would keep as the temps were dropping into negative territory over night and day time temps were consistently below 32 and there was 12 inches of snow on the ground. When I returned 24 hours later the tenders were still warm to the touch and I didn't feel comfortable taking them.

Hopefully I can learn something here.
 
#21 ·
Congratulations. Can you tell me more about how you buried it in the snow? Hide on or off? I always heard that an elks hide had to come off immediately.

I recently took my first cow and quartered it using the the gutless method but left the tender loins for the next day thinking they would keep as the temps were dropping into negative territory over night and day time temps were consistently below 32 and there was 12 inches of snow on the ground. When I returned 24 hours later the tenders were still warm to the touch and I didn't feel comfortable taking them.

Hopefully I can learn something here.
I honestly just gutted it, stuck it in the snow, and came back the next day. Hardly any of it was frozen. As long as it keeps cool, you'll be fine. We've deer hunted for 3 days before with deer in the tree in warm Octobers. They've always been fine. If the meat were to go bad, I think you'd be able to smell it.
 
#22 ·
I've learned that meat taste has a lot to do with quality care of the animal after the shot. None that I've come across is that more true than with antelope. It spoils fast in my book. You have less than 1.5hrs to get it on ice or it tastes like what my do left in the back yard. Elk you have considerably longer but I'd still prefer to either take the hide off and gut or hang quarters. Even the warm bone or dense muscle will spoil the meat on a cool day. I've lost boned out meat that was in cheap bags on a cool day. Not enough air circulating to cool off the meat.

As for cuts, I like a hand full of roasts, backstrap steaks, tenderloins and lots of burger with an elk. Antelope makes good burger, great Italian sausage and excellent backstrap steaks. They're a little high on cholesterol but they sure taste great.

Congrats on your hunt.
 
#28 ·
Public land elk that winter on farm ground. Weights were taken off 10 animals that were harvested throughout the state. Some October harvests and a couple January harvests so its a good sample. From taking to others that actually weight there animals from other states as well my weights are right in the ball park for averages.

There just isn't as much meat on a game animal as one would think by looking at them, heck a deer is only good for about 40 pounds at best and antelope run closer to 30 pounds.
 
#30 ·
Public land elk that winter on farm ground. Weights were taken off 10 animals that were harvested throughout the state. Some October harvests and a couple January harvests so its a good sample. From taking to others that actually weight there animals from other states as well my weights are right in the ball park for averages.

There just isn't as much meat on a game animal as one would think by looking at them, heck a deer is only good for about 40 pounds at best and antelope run closer to 30 pounds.
Interesting. In general I agree with your cow elk weights for public land, but I can remember ~5 cows in the last 20 years in my family that were considerably larger. I think your bull weights are light. Spikes, usually are the size of mature cows but mature bulls I haven't had one yield under 200lbs boneless yet. My public land bull from my LE hunt this year was ~5.5yrs I would guess we'll see when tooth data gets back, and I got a bill from the butcher for 182 lbs of ground burger (10% beef trim), and I took home the backstraps and tenderloins (cooler weighed 37.5lbs at the airport with 2lbs dry ice and a cooler weight of 5lbs). I regret to say I didn't have the time to take neck and rib meat so he was only quarters, straps/tenders. I would have ended up with about 25 additional pounds of burger otherwise I would guess.

In contrast, my wife's LE bull was shot in an area with lots of year round access to cultivated land. It was 4.5 years old and I got just shy of 300lbs boneless cuts out of him--much bigger body than my bull. But that bull was tiny compared to butcher bill on my dad's 2009 bull aged at 12.5 yrs by DWR (same area as my wife's) with a carcass weight over 900lbs at Carson's Meats in AF. He ended up with over 400lbs of burger from that bull. Cows from that area that we've shot are typically 30-50% larger than the ones we shoot from areas of mostly public ground. My dad's bull the mount size is just ridiculous and makes the antlers look much smaller than they are (365" bull with short beams and busted up 5ths). The shoulder circumference on the mount makes my wife's bull look like a deer by comparison, just a massive bull (thank goodness he died close enough to a road we just winched him in!) I think most mature bulls yield between 200-350 lbs of boneless meat, but sub 5 yrs old your weights seem right.

I'll give you your deer weights for does/young bucks but a 3 year old buck I usually get over 50-60lbs from (not that I've killed bucks older than 2.5 personally---I kill the babies and my siblings shoot the big ones!). Goob did a great break down of antelope butchering yields a while back and he squeaks out a few more pounds than my norm but 30-40lbs for adult does is my usual, and about 10lbs for fawns but I don't normally do boneless cuts on them, I like bone in roasts and rack-o-lope rib/loin combos. My cow bison surprised me, she was 4.5 yrs old and I did bone in rib cuts, the rest boneless and only yielded 385lbs. I thought I was going to get quite a bit more from her but the size/weight of those bones on a bison is impressive to say the least!

I always enjoy seeing that I'm not alone in obsessing over weight details on my animals! Helps me prove to my wife that I'm not THAT crazy!
 
#31 ·
Well all I know is what the animal I have butchered weighed, I weight the cleaned boned meat then it gets weighed again once I start mixing in the pork or beef fat or spices for what ever I am making. I know my scales are on as I get the right number of one pound poly bags filled that I should plus or minus a bag depending on how crazy I get with the stuffer crank now and again.

Reason I started weighing my stuff is I couldn't figure out why I was getting such a small amount of meat from my game animals when others are claiming they got 150 out of some deer or 200+ out of an elk.

Getting a bill from a butcher for whatever amount of meat really means nothing if you didn't weight it yourself as you don't really know if it was all your meat or not. I have heard of butchers adding a few pounds of meat to an order off an animal that was dropped off and never picked up, hunter gets a few more pounds and the butcher doesn't loose money so its a win win deal.
 
#32 ·
I can see your point, but Carson's processes animal by animal and not in a batch. Plus, we get the hanging weight of the carcass before and the final product weight after. And I weigh the ones I butcher myself as well. Either way, way, at end of the day we are all eating well and the OP gets to enjoy some tasty elk for the upcoming months.
 
#36 ·
Congrats Junior! Nothing like elk roast, steak, and burger to make a person smile in the morning...especially if you did the processing yourself.

I use the 1/3 rule on the animals that I process. I figure a 100 lbs animal will yield roughly 30 pounds of processed meat...maybe a little more. For a 400-lbs mature cow, you-re in the 120-130 lbs range. As others have said, I prefer to leave as many roasts and steaks as possible as they can alway be turned into burger or jerk later.

I agree with Dallas though...processing a whole elk is a chore. I love the work, but I don't love the 3-4 nights with two people working until 1 or 2 in the morning to get it done! I figure it's about about 24 hours total to break them down and get'em wrapped for a mature animal. Of course calves take significantly less time (and are more tasty!).
 
#38 ·
I agree with Dallas though...processing a whole elk is a chore. I love the work, but I don't love the 3-4 nights with two people working until 1 or 2 in the morning to get it done! I figure it's about about 24 hours total to break them down and get'em wrapped for a mature animal. Of course calves take significantly less time (and are more tasty!).
Took me about 3 12 hour days to get two elk in the freezer this year. Luckily I had scheduled the rest of the week off for hunting so instead of work I spent the time cutting and grinding.
 
#37 ·
As hard as I try I just can't do wild game steaks or roasts anymore and the 3 guys I hunt with feel the same. I've cooked elk and deer steaks every which way and there always tough and chewy to some extent, not so much that they can't be eaten but if I want a steak I want a good steak and nothing beats a good quality beef steak. The last 5 years or so I make ground burger and breakfast sausage as a staple and once I get enough of that I use the rest to make bratwurst, link dinner sausages and salami. Against my better judgment I cut about 15 pounds of steaks off the cow I shot this year and had a couple meals of tough steak, I'll probably end up thawing the rest of the steak and grinding it up to make something here soon.
 
#39 ·
I've cooked elk and deer steaks every which way and there always tough and chewy to some extent, not so much that they can't be eaten but if I want a steak I want a good steak and nothing beats a good quality beef steak.
Cook them hot and fast searing both sides and no more than medium ( but medium rare is better). No doubt an old cow will be tougher, but if you get a 2nd year cow or calf, the meat will literally melt in your mouth. Antelope or sheep even more so.

I used to think nothing beat a good beef steak, but I have seen the light in the past 10 years or so! ;)
 
#42 ·
I use a reverse sear method for my wild game steaks. I started cooking my steaks this way after seeing this youtube video. I will never cook a steak another way again. My elk back straps literally melt in my mouth when I follow this process. Top sirloin steaks off the elk this way has been pretty fantastic as well, almost as good as the back straps.



I don't go fancy on seasonings. I use an Alpine Touch seasoning that is pretty basic. Use whatever seasoning you like best, but for crying out loud, DO NOT go and ruin a good steak by covering it in steak sauce!!!
 
#44 ·
Yeah...if your wild game is tough, something isn't going right. The only reason I enjoy a beef steak from time to time is I love the fat, and game doesn't always come through on that! I'd put my average elk, deer, antelope backstrap up against a choice tenderloin any day for tenderness.
 
#45 ·
In the 30 some years I have been eating wild game I have had numerous people tell me there game meat melted in there mouth and I have to say not one of them ever got it right when I eat there steaks. I'm not saying its bad mind you I'm just saying I think there are better ways to use game meat then steaks and roasts. I really like to make sausages and salami's out of it as well as my spicy breakfast sausage.

I was thinking about trying some steak cooked with the sous vide method but haven't yet.
 
#46 ·
My wife and I ate at Flemings the year before last for our anniversary. It was my first (and last) night out at a high priced steak joint. We spent $160 plus tip that night when it was all said and done.

While I readily admit not every single steak I cook comes out to perfection, that is mostly due to operator error and over-cooking it. They usually come out pretty darn good, though. And I've cooked elk back straps that are every bit as tender and good as the $60 filet mignon I bought at Flemings.

Definitely nothing wrong with processing the meat the way you like to eat it. To each their own. I might have my wife take some steaks out of the freezer right now, since we're talking about this...
 
#47 ·
It is simple to age backstraps in your fridge. Simply clean off the backstrap, and place it on a wire rack with a cookie sheet under it. I usually like to place it silver side down. Then take a lint-free dish towel and place it over the straps. Then put it in your fridge for 8-14 days (depending on the fridge). Trim the outer dry edges, and cut into steaks. Easy to leave the steaks attached to the silver and then cut them off all at once. I've helped a number of people do this and everyone has said the steaks are even better.

We raise our own beef and lambs also. They are so much better than store bought or even restaurant prepped. And cheaper too..... Wild game or domestic-- all good if prepared well.
 
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