1500 Miles, One Hour Hunt, One ElK!

[Aught-SixGuy]

Congrats brother!!! And welcome to long range hunting lol!

 

[goldenarrow49]

Nice job I don't know if I could shoot that far. I am obsessed with elk hunting and I don't think I will be able to go until fall 2016.

 

[CaliCoyoteCaller]

Congrats on the filled tag. I'm thinking you must have shot a calf? I got nearly 200 lbs of meat from the cow I got in Nevada? Just checking myself here, as I butchered myself vs having it done... Or did I get a giant cow?

 

[CaliCoyoteCaller]

To be clear, the cow was boned out

 

[cjack]

Yes CaliCoyoteCaller it was a younger cow. It was a herd of 40+ and after my first 3 misses on the lead and largest cow and the herd moving away from me I simply took aim at the closest one without antlers that presented a broadside (or quartering away) shot. We boned it out ourselves and a couple of other factors came into play, we were unable to keep the rib meat on the far side due to contamination from the fragmenting bullet spreading undesirable gut matter throughout as well as some lost meat where the bullet entered near the front of the near side hind quarter. We found the bullet in the hide on the far side near the front ribs. I also estimated the weight of the back straps and tenderloins as I kept and processed them myself. The remainder of the meat was weighed on hook at the butcher. How was yours weighed?

 

[CaliCoyoteCaller]

I weighed my bags of meat on my scale at home. I don't recall the exact amount, but I do know it was very near 200lbs

 

[signguy]

Congrats! Sorry to hear you have not been more successful in AZ-
Just applied for the AZ lottery and I went for a late season rifle tag because I don't have AZ residency yet-
Figure next year I will go for an early season archery tag- as my chances will go way up with residency and if I don't harvest the hunt cost is fairly small- especially when you can sleep in your own bed every night!

 

[daddy63]

Cjack

Just curious how you got your meat back home. Quartered up in ice chests or did you have it frozen first?

 

[rvrrat]

Congrats and thanks for sharing the experience!

 

[cjack]

Cjack

Just curious how you got your meat back home. Quartered up in ice chests or did you have it frozen first?

Because of the Chronic Waste Disease problem in Wyoming and other states the guide boned it out completely so there was no problems when crossing into California at the Agriculture checkpoint. After boning it out I put it in the bed of my truck to cool down in the 2 degree weather while traveling back to my hotel then I placed it in a ice chest and covered it with 4 bags of ice which lasted until I got home the next day.

 

[daddy63]

Thank you and congrats again. I built a "coffin" out of plywood and 2" rigid foamboard for my out of state cow elk hunt which still hasn't happened yet but one year it will. Always curious what others do with their meat on the long out of state drives.

 

[nickman123]

How I bring it home depends on the weather. Most places I've elk hunted the weather is such that you can hang the meat overnight and get it really chilled. Then, as long as the weather for the trip home isn't real warm, I'll bring it home just wrapped in a canvas tarp. If the weather is pretty warm, then maybe i'll put it in ice chests or tubs with some ice. IMO once your able to initially chill the meat really well, it doesn't spoil as easy as alot of people think.

 

[jbv]

I know i am late on the congrats...but way to go!

nothing like elk meat in the freezer!