Nevada Elk Hunting/Mounting/Hauling Head, Hide, Horn off the mountain.

[BATTLEBORN]

We just returned from a Successful Elk hunt. My buddy had the tag and killed this bull opening morning. While we are experience Deer hunters this was our first Elk hunt and we found out quickly there are some major differences when field processing. My buddy is going to mount his bull so we figured we needed the Head, Hide, and Horn all together like we are accustom to when we take a deer. I loaded the whole shebang up in my Mystery Ranch Bighorn and headed down to the trail..... This mother was HEAVY!!!



My question is. Is there a better/easier/lighter way to take the necessary parts out if you are going to do a shoulder mount?? Once I got to the trail we loaded everything into a Cabela’s Alaska frame pack (Which sucked) and took it 3 miles out to the trail head. Needless to say we had to hang the meat and go back in the next day.

Here are a few more pics....




The hunter

Base camp


Thanks in advance for the replies.

 

[Highcountry_Hellrazor]

Awesome bull man!!! You could cape the hide and remove the lower jaw. That would save some weight for sure.

 

[realunlucky]

What a great bull X2 cape and leave behind everything you don't need

 

[Hardstalk]

Talk to your local taxi. They will walk you thru cutting off the skull cap and skinning out the face. Leave the whole skull if possible. Congrats!

 

[Big Sky]

The best way that I have found is to shoot smaller animals. Once you get a big bull down there is no good way to get it out. They are a big animal.

 

[Buster]

First of all, tell your buddy to smile when somebody takes a pic of him with such a great bull!

Second, learn how to cape an animal completely. Will shave you a pile of weight on the pack out (if you also cut the skull plate to get rid of the upper half of the head).

From the pic you show packing out that thing, looks like a lot of that weight is down low and a long ways away from your back. Get it up higher and closer to your centre of gravity.

Just so you know, I learned the hard way too.

 

[LazyV]

Congrats to your buddy on that bull but man oh man does the pack load out in the first pic look painful.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

There are better ways to load the head up. I like the skull to be as high and as close to my head/shoulders as possible, with the antlers draping down and forward over my shoulders.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

Oh, I forgot to say it, but... Sweet bull and congratulations to your buddy!

 

[Becca]

Congrats to you and your buddy!

Awesome bull man!!! You could cape the hide and remove the lower jaw. That would save some weight for sure.

Removing the lower jaw and cutting excess muscle off the face and neck saves weights for sure. Also, our taxidermist recommends we don't leave the skull in the hide longer than 72 hours without freezing it anyway, so I have been investing some time in learning how to take the hide off the skull for trips where we can't get out of the field that fast.

The best way that I have found is to shoot smaller animals.

Yep, we have been known to employ this strategy I know nothing about elk hunting, but meat bulls in other species sure eat well in my opinion. If you find yourself with extra time, it would be worth caping out the face of a meat bull you don't intend to mount simply for the practice. Taking the head out of critters is harder than itinerary looks.

 

[Rizzy]

Nice Bull! Cape them out completely if you have the time to spend on it. I know this is easier said than done when there is a pending storm and you want to get out of there, but it will save you 20# or so.

 

[elkmtngear]

Nice one...Congrats!

Yup, I agree with leaving the whole skull, and just sawing the skull plate off.

Tricky parts are eyelids, base of antlers, and the lips. Just go slow in those areas.

A screwdriver or flat blade works great around the antler bases, to pop the hide loose.

 

[bbrown]

A screwdriver or flat blade works great around the antler bases, to pop the hide loose.

This is a great trick. Learn this along with caping and it will lighten the load and don't worry about turning the ears - that's the taxi's job. I have not gotten anything mounted personally (i like euros) but almost every animal I have taken or been along for the ride I have caped out to some degree for practice - hell a good cape is worth some money.

 

[Hardstalk]

The tear ducts are the largest oops! Nice and slow around the eyeball!

 

[BATTLEBORN]

Thanks for the tips. I guess this was our only option at the time as I have no experience capeing the whole head and I wasn't about to lean on an animal we were going to mount. The pack out definantly could have been more comfortable with this new info and better loading. In reality I think that little 3000 cu inch pack did a pretty good job packing such a big load. Dont get me wrong it was painful but it got the job done.

Ill have to practice the caping technique like Becca suggested.

 

[hunter4life]

Learn how to take the head skin off, that part is actually pretty easy. Leave the turning of the ears, eyelids, and splitting the nose and lips to the taxidermist. These parts are a bit more difficult and if you are not needing to salt the hide and leave it unfrozen for an extended period of time the cape will be good for a few days till you can get it to the taxidermist. I like the Wyoming Saw II for cutting out the skull plate. It works well, cuts very quickly and at 23 ounces it pays for itself many times over in weight savings. I have used other smaller saws and with the amount of energy and time it takes to use them to cut an elk skull plate the extra weight of the Wyoming Saw is worth it.

 

[jonny5]

Congrats on a sweet bull! A trophy for sure.

jonny5