Skin on or skin off when field dressing Elk?

[rayporter]

In the place I'm thinking of, I learned to first always carry the gut-pile minimum 20+ yards away!

moving the guts on elk and moose is not particularly practical.

that is why many do not remove the guts.
like the pic above by cnelk where he split it up the belly but left the guts in. you can also split it down the back and do the same thing. tenders come out last.

i have done it several ways and now i just cut off a leg and hang it then cut off another leg and hang it. the hide can now be peeled down to get the straps and neck meat. roll over and repeat.

now if i am packing on my back or keeping in camp for days i will then peel the hide off the legs. if going on the horse right away i will peel the hide when i get it off the horse at truck.

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[Jethro]

My first cut is around the hock, split / skin down to the EoS, skin around the hind quarter, up the belly, and down the ribs to the spine.

This gives me a nice place to lay the quarters after removing before getting them into a game bag.

I may try that next deer. I always start base of neck and do down spine to the tail.

In Sept I killed a cow elk at 1pm. Gutless, skinned, quartered, bagged, and was packing out a front, the heart, and loins/straps at 5pm . True story.

My overnight meat cache.

 

[ID_Matt]

I have always skinned as I quartered like most probably do. This last trip, the guy I was with went straight through the hide and cut quarters of with the hide on. We had 4 guys in total so it actually worked faster because as soon as he would hack a quarter off, the next guy would skin it. I think we had the elk completely done in less than an hour and a half. I would consider doing that if I had multiple guys with me to speed it up, but it definitely is hard on a knife to cut through hide like that.

 

[cnelk]

Cutting through the elk hide definitely takes the sharpness off the edge, especially when going through the long neck hair with all the dirt and grime collected there.

Thats why I like to end up my skinning/quartering at the neck.

There isn’t a right or wrong way to do it, just be proficient in your way.

 

[Beendare]

Never hide, but I can’t drive up to them.

Hide off, reglove…. Rinse and repeat. Met comes off in muscle groups with the casing intact, less blood- right in game bags

 

[devious303]

Always off

 

[Tarkio]

Just depends on temp, conditions, time of day, distance to outfit. Etv

 

[Indian Summer]

Hide comes off in the walk in, helps keep the meat clean. Or it stays son while aging, less dry loss.
You would be surprised at how much cooling happens just laying those quarters up off the ground with the hide on.
Shot cows in the heat one Sept and we had a mile back to the atv to haul them out. Gutless with hide on we layed them across some sage bushes in the sun- no shade.
By the time we got back with the atv the meat was cool to the touch.
Back at the walkin the hide came off and the meat was already cooling at the bone.

Have never packed out meat with the hide off except for the boneless trimmings.

THIS ^

 

[Slickhill]

I start at the top and skin one side down. Remove quarters, filet neck roast off that side, peel backstrap, remove tenderloin. Roll and repeat. After finishing either split brisket and pull ribs back or have used a small saw to cut a couple ribs off to be able to reach in and remove heart. Cut meat off brisket and leave attached to front quarters.
A couple years ago I timed the process for fun. Myself and my dad on a small 5 point bull, 47 minutes from start to ready to head out.

Family had a bad experience long ago losing an elk to spoilage due to not skinning in time. For that reason we’ve always skinned immediately.

We still guy deer and bring them out whole to hang in the barn if it’s cold enough. Deer cool much faster than elk. I gutted my last elk long ago.

 

[Jon Boy]

I leave the hide on in late season. It has no discernible weight and the meat stays incredibly clean. I hang in my garage and then skin. I wrap the quarters in plastic wrap to prevent the dried out rind and hang until ready to butcher.