Finished out 2013 hunting season with TWO more elk

[dk17hmr]

Words from my dad: [/URL]

"Bout mid afternoon the snow let off & visibility got better. As Doug glassed a saddle he said "Dad there some right there!" They were about 2 miles away & I reached for my rifle & pack. Doug said "uh, we're going to drive around to the road on the other side of the valley" as he fire up the truck.

With the snow, it took about 30 minutes to get as far as we dare take the truck. We unloaded the 4 wheeler & went until it got stuck. Then it was hoof it time. We walked a side hill to get with 500yds but figured we could use cover to make a better shot.

We closed to within 350yds & found a suitable lump to sit against. 4 of them broke from cover and paused in an opening. I picked what looked like a mid sized cow & settled on the bipod for my shot. Doug was ready for the follow up. I squeezed as the 300yd tick mark centered on the shoulder. She crumpled up and went down. Spine shot, she was immobilized but thrashing a bit. I didn't have a second shot as all I could see was butt.

Just then another cow broke cover & I told Doug to try a shot. Seconds later he fired & spin shot his too. Down she went in a heap. His shot just a fuzz over 300yds.

Now the work was going to start. Doug walked down while I spotted. I heard the coup de gras on his then I started down toward mine. A minute later Doug finished mine.

By now it was nearly 4pm & we had two to quarter. I'm here to tell ya, Doug is wicked fast with one of those surgeon knives. We got all the meat put in one place just as dark was coming. We had about a 1/2 mile walk back to the 4 wheeler...up a steep hill. I carried both rifles while Doug pocketed the inner loins and draped all four back loins over his neck and shoulders.

We'll head into the back country to retrieve the other 8 quarters tomorrow morning with 400' of rope and a couple sleds. Turns out both cows were not medium sized. Both a fully mature and probably 600lbs or more on the hoof. Just the back straps are 50lbs in the sack.

Who whee, the real work will be underway in a few hours.

Now for the pics!

Doug's cow where she dropped. Hit with a 280 Remington.

[URL=http://s30.photobucket.com/user/skruske/media/DSCN4051_zps45ba9077.jpg.html]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c324/skruske/DSCN4051_zps45ba9077.jpg ([/IMG)

Mine thrashed and skidded it's way down hill about 10yds. I was using my 300 Win mag Remington 700.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c324/skruske/DSCN4059_zps199ff837.jpg (http://s30.photobucket.com/user/skruske/media/DSCN4059_zps199ff837.jpg.html)

Doug doing what he's really really good at.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c324/skruske/DSCN4055_zpsd362d329.jpg (http://s30.photobucket.com/user/skruske/media/DSCN4055_zpsd362d329.jpg.html)

Back straps, 3 feet long and 6 inches through.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c324/skruske/DSCN4056_zps7ca8db28.jpg (http://s30.photobucket.com/user/skruske/media/DSCN4056_zps7ca8db28.jpg.html) "

Back to me:

We spent about 7 hours today getting all the quarters and trimming meat back to the truck with our pack frames, sleds, rope, and my four wheeler. This was my dads first elk and this was my second for the season. We will be busy the next couple days cutting, grinding, packaging, and canning elk meat.....sore and tired but worth every minute of it.

[MBTcustom]

Good for you Doug! That's meat in the freezer.
It would take about 3-4 Arkansas deer to equal one of those.

[MBTcustom]

Good for you Doug! That's meat in the freezer.
It would take about 3-4 Arkansas deer to equal one of those.

[C. Latch]

Mmmm.. Someone's gonna eat like a king for the next year.

[CastingFool]

Congrats! That is a great story, and I love the pics!

[Wolfer]

That's not just quantity, it's also quality meat! Woody

[ultramag]

Great story and congrats on the meat!!!

Been a long time since this flatlander got to enjoy some elk.

[Dean D.]

Thanks for sharing the story and pics Doug. No finer eating than fat cow.

[Grendel99]

Good job and nice shots! What loads are y'all using in those rifles? Do you add any kind of fat when you grind the elk meat?

[AlaskanGuy]

Dont forget the ivories... I know they are small, but grab them anyway... They make good earrings.... Way cool for all that great meat... It would take about 20 Sitka blacktails in our neck of the woods to make up one of them fatties...

AG

[dk17hmr]

Dad is running a 180gr Accubond with IMR4350 at about 2900fps out of his Remington 700 300 Win Mag. In my 280 Remington 700 Mountain Rifle I'm shooting a 160gr Partition at 2825fps with a heavy load of Reloader 17. Both bullets went all the way through and left 2 holes in the hide. The 180gr Accubond took out a good sized chunk of vertebrae, the 160gr Partition went through a shoulder blade and clipped the spine.

We usually mix in pork shoulder with our grind meat. A lot of it is left just straight elk meat for use in taco's and pasta sauce. We use pork shoulder because its cheap and makes the meat stick together very well.

Never forget the Ivories!!! Several sets in the top drawer of my tool box right now.

[TheGrimReaper]

Awsome, I heard elk is some fine eating!

[357maximum]

Very nice.....can't get one of them while paddlin around in flood waters in Sanford now can ya? :mrgreen:

[DrtRacr09]

By chance area 102???

[dk17hmr]

Yep....102.... muddy creek road

[Bo1]

Very nice Doug... Congrats...

[Smoke4320]

Congrads to you and Dad ..value those days .. sure wish I could have with my father

[starmac]

Great that you both got one, makes for some fine eating and memories.
Is that a havalon knife??

[dk17hmr]

Yep Havalon Piranta....my favorite knife in the field quartering and in the kitchen butchering. Replacement blades are cheap enough I don't worry about saving them to resharpen. I have been tempted to buy a second one for daily carry but I like a stout blade
for daily use.

[DrtRacr09]

Very nice elk Doug, will be some good eating till next season and memories forever. Sure thought some of the scenery looked familiar, it's about six miles due west of me.

[TCLouis]

Life is Good and one is going to eatin "High on the Hog".

[skruske]

Oh man. :eek: It took about 7 hours from the time the truck was shut off until we were loaded and heading out.

Two hours & four trips for both of us to pack the quarters & grinder meat the 600yds to the base of the hill. About an hour and a half to sled it all 100yds straight up hill using 300 feet of rope and the 4 wheeler doing the pulling. Then three trips to the truck to load up.

It was COLD too. It warmed to 5° but the wind was steady at 20mph. The last couple hours was back below zero and the wind didn't let off.

We figure there is 600lbs of Elk in the garage. That should yield between 300 and 400 lbs of packed and canned meat. Once it thaws we should be cutting by Tuesday morning.



Seems a little frivolous stopping to take a pic or two while carrying a heavy load. Just a reminder of all the fun we had.

Doug with his first load. Rear quarter weighing a bit over 90lbs. We started over near that big pine tree off to the right of his shoulder about 400yds down the slope.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c324/skruske/DSCN4066_zps2bddbe41.jpg

I got the "easier" load with a front quarter & some grind meat. Probably around 60lbs. On subsequent loads I carried them lower on the frame so I wouldn't tip over so easily. The sled is about 200yds farther toward the base of the hill just beyond me.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c324/skruske/DSCN4067_zpsc097356c.jpg

Last trip. Last two quarters to go to the sled.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c324/skruske/DSCN4068_zps319c4ed1.jpg

As we rode out toward the main road, we discussed the location where we killed the Elk. This is the third year Doug has pack 'em out of that little valley. Each time he's asked himself "do I really want to do this again."

I'll tell ya, it feels way better with everything on the truck. Way better than it did 10 minutes after those cows went down.:D


Monday we bought a propane heater for the garage & it really warmed thing fast. The hanging quarters were thawed in just a few hours. We set about cutting & packaging. All the back straps were put in a box on the back porch & flash frozen in the -3° temp & 20mph winds. We finished out the day skinning 4 quarters so we can get to cuttin' on those today. More cutting tomorrow.

[white eagle]

great fun was had judging by the out come
I love those fresh inside tenderloins yum yum....

[Catsmith]

Congrats and a gret hunt and spending time together.

[TXGunNut]

Congrats! Was hoping you had a big freezer but it seems you live in one this time of year.

[dk17hmr]

Cut, ground, canned, packaged, and froze. We were at it a couple days but well worth the time.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c324/skruske/image_zps64793c7c.jpg (http://s30.photobucket.com/user/skruske/media/image_zps64793c7c.jpg.html)

Mom helped do some cutting for canned meat she did say it was "kinda gross"....she's not a big meat eater
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c324/skruske/image_zps8caeb8f5.jpg (http://s30.photobucket.com/user/skruske/media/image_zps8caeb8f5.jpg.html)

Some of our cans cooling after a ride in the pressure cooker.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c324/skruske/image_zps54f68449.jpg (http://s30.photobucket.com/user/skruske/media/image_zps54f68449.jpg.html)

We got a pretty good yield. 48pts, 7qts, 73 2lb pks of burger, 22pks back straps, 27pks of steaks & 12 roasts. Not sure on the total weight but I know we have plenty to feed us for a year.