Bone in or bone out?

D

DTP

Administrator
Jun 13, 2017
1,848
We've got a lot of guys on here who hunt all over the US.
In the area you hunt and with your hunting style, do you prefer to pack out your elk bone in or bone out?


What benefits do you see to your method?




 
I bone out. Most of my hunts are solo and several miles in. Depending on weather and temp I usually break it all the way down to muscle groups instead of just taking the bone out. When warmer, I try to make the first trip the heaviest, Back straps, tenderloins, and best cuts from each hindquarter.


I think it helps it cool faster and stay cooler while hanging. That way if anything happens to me or the meat hanging the best cuts make it out first. It may sound wrong to some but IMO everything has to have a value put on it when you're back in there. I lost some meat several years ago in early September packing whole quarters bone in and it led to doing this, especially when I'm solo.
 
Depends on the situation.  If the weather is warm and you're looking to get meat cool and off the mountain asap, then boned out is the way to go.  Regardless of weather, if you want to save your back some pain and you do your own processing, then boned out is also a good choice. 
If it's cold, you can manage getting it out in quarters, and you take it to the processor, then my suggestion is gutless quarter method.  If it really cold (i.e. most of my rifle seasons) I use a modified gutless method with the hide left on the quarters.  This ensures the meat stays clean and will provide the best packaged meat yield from the processor.
 
Typically I'd quarter it up and pack it out bone in, then brought it straight to the butcher.  It was always thrown on ice right away and never sat in a high heat. 
After a few years of paying the butcher bills I decided that I needed to educate myself on butchering and start doing my own. 

So my tactic will be similar to wapiti_will's. 

If I need to get it off the mountain quick then I will get it back to camp, get it cool, and then butcher it down at camp once the temps are right. 
If I find myself having the time and the conditions are right, then I'll bone them out up where it lays. 




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Where we hunt now we use the gutless and pack the meat out bone in. We have a couple small freezers to get the meat cooled down quickly then we process them in camp.
 
Bone out for this guy if I have to pack it much farther than 10 feet haha. I hsve talked to butchers and they said that when you weigh an animal with bone in that you only get about 40% meat back. How true is that? I don't know but I don't see any point in carrying any extra weight ever when hunting.
I get all the meat I can in chunks and then when I get home I can take the time to cut it how I want.
Every extra pound starts to feel like 10 pounds after a mile.
 
For me, I always packed out our elk bone in. But in the country i used to hunt in Washington, we were never more than a mile from any road.  Now that im hunting in deeper and steeper ground in idaho, I'm going to try the bone out method if we harvest a bull in the back country.
 
Bone out!!!Have no idea why anyone would pack out any bone whatsoever any distance from the road. With today's backpacks and meat bags it is truly a colossal waste of time and energy. 3 loads become 4-5 the one time my buddy insisted on it. never again!
 
We typically pack out bone in unless the situation calls for boning the meat out. Plenty of reasons we decide to do this including ease of packing one with the bone in, less meat loss due to the outside of the meat drying out, and it also allows us to keep the meat cleaner by de-boning and processing later on in a clean environment instead of on the ground.
 
Bone in as cohunter14 discusses.  Haven't boned one out in the sticks, so I cannot compare. 
 
Boned Out for me, 90% of the time... I'm hunting solo and miles into the backcountry most of the time though.


The only reason I see to leave in is the structure it provides in a pack. I haven't really encountered any additional meat loss from boning out. Taking those heavy femures and humerus's out saves a ton of weight. I can get an elk and camp out in 4 trips (3 for elk, 1 for camp or a combination) boned out. Bone in it's more.... or more work. On average, a normal size bull elk rear quarter will come in somewhere between 60 and 65lbs (detaching the hoof and lower 3'rd of the leg w/ no meat). Loosing the femur/tib/fib cuts that number down signifcantly and I can comfortably carry a boned out front quarter with it, Bone-in - a rear quarter and maybe a back strap or some hamburger is a full load (for me).


Boning out in the field is actually pretty easy once you do it. If you can find a good tree to hang a quarter so it's suspended, you can fillet the meat in one piece off the bone pretty quickly and with ease. The key for me is to not have a bunch of little chunks or muscle groups, a properly boned out quarter should look almost identical to it boned in, minus the bones obviously.
 
What is the average weight of a bull leg bones, minus the lower hoof section because that's easy to remove with a knife? What about a cow elk leg bones?
 
I typically leave the bone in for better handling until I get back to camp or home.


There have been a few times I did bone out the quarters in the field, but I like to shoot elk
that are close to my truck and let others hike in for miles.


If you're worried about heat/cooling, just make a slice down thru the thick meat portion to the bone and put in a game bag



 
I prefer bone-in if it's not a colossal effort to the truck.


It provides a great handle and hanging point for the meat to cool and age (if that's your thing). Keeps the meat contained without slop while packing. Packs and rides better in panniers (if you use horses).  I think you lose less meat to crusting/drying out, dirt and bugs with the reduced amount of exposed surface area as well.


That said, if we are in somewhere really gnarly, more than 5 miles in or without horses...the bones are coming out.
 
I'm split with everyone here. It depends on weather, location of kill site in reference to my vehicle, as well as if I have to pack a camp out.  I would prefer bones out if you have the time and ability for sure.  Saves my back tremendously!
 
backcountry_hunter said:
Boned Out for me, 90% of the time... I'm hunting solo and miles into the backcountry most of the time though.


The only reason I see to leave in is the structure it provides in a pack. I haven't really encountered any additional meat loss from boning out. Taking those heavy femures and humerus's out saves a ton of weight. I can get an elk and camp out in 4 trips (3 for elk, 1 for camp or a combination) boned out. Bone in it's more.... or more work. On average, a normal size bull elk rear quarter will come in somewhere between 60 and 65lbs (detaching the hoof and lower 3'rd of the leg w/ no meat). Loosing the femur/tib/fib cuts that number down signifcantly and I can comfortably carry a boned out front quarter with it, Bone-in - a rear quarter and maybe a back strap or some hamburger is a full load (for me).


Boning out in the field is actually pretty easy once you do it. If you can find a good tree to hang a quarter so it's suspended, you can fillet the meat in one piece off the bone pretty quickly and with ease. The key for me is to not have a bunch of little chunks or muscle groups, a properly boned out quarter should look almost identical to it boned in, minus the bones obviously.
Click to expand...
My thoughts exactly. Once quartered, hang in for 5 minutes in a tree while the heavy bone is filleted off the quarter. Definitely no extra meat loss as only the meat that was already exposed after skinning is still exposed. Super clean too.  I can take a hind, a backstrap, and antlers in 1 load comfortably (ish) . It seems to me that when I left the bone in, the femur and tib fib weighted more than a backstrap and rack for sure,  3 loads and done!
 
montanaelk31 said:
It seems to me that when I left the bone in, the femur and tib fib weighted more than a backstrap and rack for sure,  3 loads and done!
Click to expand...
It might seem like that, but in reality the bones on a hind quarter are going to weigh roughly 8-10lbs. On a front quarter you are talking 5-6lbs.
 
Bones out.  I did in once and that was less than a mile, and I was on call for work so I was under the gun to get it back to town in case I got beeped.  I was in a deer stand that I didn't know elk were around that time of year.
 
Have never boned out.. I cut up all my own meat after I've hung it for 7 to 10 days (which is usually at 10k feet in a tree)  and i have found that what ever surface of the meat that is exposed to the air you then have to cut off which leads to waste.  Just my opinion. A lot of guys boning out quarters so it definitely is a tactic, I would have to look back UEH but I thought that Corey weighed the difference in boned out versus boned in and it wasn't exactly a staggering amount.  I know ounces are pounds but that meat is what your there for...
 
Bone in or bone out, what a great question! For me, it entirely depends on how for I'm in and what the terrain is like. If I'm within 1.5 miles of camp or the truck and the terrain isn't terribly steep, then I will leave bone in and get it out. If I'm further than that 1.5 - 2 mile range and the terrain is steep and nasty, then I will bone the entire elk out and take it out in pillow cases or homemade elk bags. One thing I have started doing to save time, mess, and energy is to get the meat off the animal using the gutless method of meat removal. This method is so much quicker and cleaner that, I'll never go back to gutting an elk.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 27 (members: 0, guests: 27)

Latest posts

Share this page

Back
Top