Weight Of Moose Hindquarters?
Moose
I've personally never hunted Moose before! I've hunted plenty of elk & know that a good average for a bull elks hindquarters if he weighs in the neighborhood of 750# will go aprox 80-85# sometimes 90# if he's lucky! These are actually weighed quarters on a scale.
So what can someone tell me that an actual moose hindquarter would weigh, this is without any ribs or spine attached. I know moose can vary in wt. from 1100#-1500# so maybe you can give a rough estimate of your live wt. & hindquarter wt.? Thanks guys!
ElkNut1
The hind quarter of the ontario moose we took this past fall weighed 182 pounds.
I've packed a few moose and when I get them to a butcher’s shop hind quarters that have been cut off the backbone usually weigh from 110 to 120 pounds. They have been hanging a few days by that time so they were probably a bit heavier than that in the field. I'd like to see a moose that had a 182 pound hindquarter, wow!!!
182 is ver very big. The hind quarters from my moose this year weighed 160lbs, but that's back bone attached. I would guess just the hind quarter to weigh 140 if it was cut off at the joint. In total the quarters from my moose weighed 704lbs.
Sorry - I got mixed up. It was 182 pounds of front quarter.
well that makes perfect sense then. 182 up front is a good moose.
I've never hunted the big moose, just the Shiras. I've been on many Shiras moose kills and packed many hind and front quarters, both up and down hill. (hide included in the early, dumb days) and every single one I packed was heavy. I have never weighed them as such, but they are much heavier than an elk quarter of which I have packed my share of those too. All I know is the fact that I was always mighty glad to have the meat back to my four wheeler or truck so they could pack it. They seem to do much better than I do.
Does anyone have an idea, the difference in weight between a big Shiras bull and say a big Alaskan bull as far as a hide quarter goes?
The picture above is a bull whose photo I took last fall on the evening I shot my muley. For a Shiras, he's a big one.
Have a great bowhunt. BB
All the shoulders I've packed have been lighter than hind quarters. You must be talking about with the rib cage still attached? Not cutting the shoulder off?
Lets See, I think this was Oct 1961 ,Horsefly B.C A 3and half yr old bull. I killed it with 375 mag I borrowed from buddy. I was 19 at time and second moose hunt. Had a short pack of 2oo yrds to mud rd.
Hide off ,legs off at knees and all bones in ,quarted as hanging beef. Guide (the late freddy Jones of Horsefly)took one front quarter and loaded the other on me. My buddy took a hind. They informed me I had to pack out the last hind. Guide told me to be prepared as hind quarter is heavier than you think.
I said no way, and they lift packboard up and loaded me. Guided said you ready and they let go . I went almost to my knees, stumbled a few steps and then guide let go of pack. Front quarters are heavier!!
At least if you use a 5 lb pole axe to quarter the old way.
Milt
I think people define this differently. a quarter means you split the animal up into four parts, two front quarters and two hind quarters. It can't be called a quarter if you have 6 pieces of the animal. The front quarters will always weigh more than the hind quarters.
I have packed out elk and moose quarters and the moose was considerably heavier. don't know the weight but I struggled, but I was in chest waders and trying to negociate muskeg swamp, It was hard.
Bob, years ago we always quartered our moose by cutting it in half across and then taking a bone saw and sawing it down the back bone. Many times, like a dummy would do, we kept the hide attached if the guy who got the moose was not going to mount it. If you do it that way (and I never do anymore, nor would I advise anyone too unless their bull die right next to a road) the front are heavier than the hinds.
Have a great bowhunt. BB
You guys leave the bones in? Interesting.
Never packed a moose, but most the elk I've packed (not that many, but been in on 10 or 12.) we've boned out. These were fairly long packs (to me anyway! shortest maybe 1/2 mile, thank God.) Only times we've just quartered w/bone in were a couple times we had horses. Much easier, no doubt.
They're sure quite bit bigger it seems. My buddy tells me it was all he could do to pack antlers and whole cape on a 52" bull. Does that count as a "quarter"? LOL!
Correct, the way I do it the pieces technically should not be called quarters. There are 4 pieces with legs sticking out of them, a boned out neck, boned out rib cage, boned out backstrap, brisket and loins. If you do it that way, which is how I do everything to pack out on my back, the rear legs are heavier than the front legs.
If you quarter for a horse, the cut from front to back should include the last couple ribs left with the hind so the packer has a good tie point. First one I did for a packer in WY got me chewed out since I did it like I was used to for backpacking. The above method really increased the hind quarter weight since you have some of the spine and ribs included.
I've always backpacked out moose, that's why I'm 3 inches shorter than when I started guiding in AK.
If you're by yourself packing a moose on your back it is 9 trips, that's 4 Qtrs, 3 loads of loose meat, 1 for cape and one for Antlers out last.
If it's a short pack or hard ground, a guy could do it in 7, but if it's ashort pack or hard ground, why beat youself up? It's still safer to do it in 9 trips.
Those are 70+ lbs a load with the antlers usually being lighter(50 lbs+), but more awkward especially through alders.
I've never had a hind,(leg-only, bone in(it's the law)) weigh more than about 135, 120-ish is way more common.
Fronts are usually 105-115, taller and more awkward with so much weight above your head.
That leaves, rib-rolls, neck rolls, straps and loins for about 220-240 lbs of loose meat split up into 3 trips.
Capes usually go about 70-75 lbs, unless he died in the water.
So that's that, solo-moose packing is not real fun, but doable and you'll never look at packing a deer the same way again. LOL!
Don.
In NB we must present the entire carcass,head,hide and all at the registration station.Boning is illegal.Like LH describes,if we need to quarter a moose,we cut it in half at the 3rd rib from the bottom and split the quarters down the backbone,then cut off the head for 5 peices.Done in this method,hind 1/4 from a good size moose(8-900lbFD+/-)with hide attached easily weigh 150lbs or more.If you can't get to it with a boat,truck,ATV,skidder,or what have you,once you squeeze the trigger,the fun is over and the work begins.
Hollywood, next time you're in Wasilla, go to WD Taxidery, Owner has 3 B n C moose, two with bow. It takes him 6 trips and he doesn't bone out the legs. He is about the strongest man I have ever seen who doesn't work out. I don't know if he'll show you his moose, but the biggest I believe was 236.
Grinr, MN used to make us take the deer in whole. I think they just wanted to see how many heart attacks they could get each season.
Just got back from a successful AK moose hunt, and we had to bring the ribs out. In the area I hunted all meat, including the ribs, had to be left on the bone.
Hollywood, that sounds about right to what I was thinking! I assumed 115# 140# range in moose hindquarters only, no ribs attached but on the bone! I find like in most hunting guys are guessing weights on their critters, the further they pack them the more they weigh!! (grin)
Thanks everyone for your responses!!
ElkNut1
I packed out a moose by myself this year, and it was a small bull. The hind quarters were about 115-120, and the fronts were much lighter. My last load was a hind quarter, and I could barely lift it.
LH, I hear you, I had a buddy and his partner do one in 5, those guys were animals, emphasis on the "were". His spine is a slinky now like mine. I've got the "Rice Krispies" spine, snap, crackle POP! That moose packing is brutal. I've got a lot of friends in Wasilla and I fly out of Big Lake all the time, I'll try to check out next year. He's on that first right as you come into town right??? Way before Arctic Fox?? ...or am I thinking of someone else?
Zbone,
in Southwest AK that bone-in law went into effect in about 1997 and did require rib-bones to come out, but that was a huge hassle and basically just ruined game bags and made a pile of money for transporters that charge by the pound. The law was relaxed in 1998 to just include leg bones, however you better know how to do the boneless rib-roll, because that's what burns most guys for wanton waste is leaving too much meat on the rib bones. The neck-roll gets a lot of guys too. If there's a bone-in law that applies to ribs, it's certainly not in Southwest.
I use the gutless method for moose and it is the method encouraged by ADF&G.
Don.
"gutless method" is totally discouraged by NBDNR,however commonly practiced on moose during deer season.(insert shocked smilie)That'll getcha mandatory 2 weeks in jail,$5000 fine,and loss of hunting/fishing for 5 years.2nd offence is lifetime ban.
here we do 2-300 moose a year in the meat shop from a 1 1/2 year old bull at 420lbs for the 4 quaters to 794lbs big old bull...Here in Qc the sport is takink them out in one piece...look gooc on the back of the truck...:)
I feel bad for those guys back East that get a moose down and have to keep it whole for check-in.
Is Maine still that way too?
I agree it's kind of a stupid rule in one sense,but I'm sure on the other hand it discourages "wanton waste" by lazy SOBs when the going get's tough.
Take it out whole? You might need a bigger truck.
In QC we dont have to tke it hole it just the way we crazy fremchman do it...
Yep TD,sure fills a Dakota,eh?I hear that moose is likely gonna take over top spot as the New Brunswick record?45 points,62" I beleive?
Mine liked to kill me and I thought I was in shape.
Grinr, sure could be. All I got was an email with a couple moose pictures in it. But I guess they make a point!
Big. Massive. Humongous. Words like that.
Yeah,he's a brute for sure.No word on the official score yet?Actually I guess the 90 day drying period hasn't quite passed yet,but that is a monster of a moose for these parts.Helluva moose for anywhere east of Alaska for that matter.
That moose would make an Alaskan happy. I thought for sure it was a phony when it first appeared because of the vegetation.
That photo shows everything that's wrong with huntin' today, I was about to be impressed, but after closer inspection I now realize the hunters used TRICYCLES to access the hunting area.
That's just wrong.
LOL! Never noticed that! Must have been a party hunt!
We take the moose out in 6 loads, but that is without the cape and the last load is usually just antlers. No bone. These are alaskan moose. My uncle carried out two hind quarters on a 52 inch young bull last year. It was about 1/2 mile from the lake. Brother in law says that the pack was over 240 pounds.......Uncle Rick didn't want to make more trips.
On the bigger moose we got when I was up there, we took the hinds out with bone in and when back at the butcher shop they went 145 pounds - but I would have swore them to be 170!
We do 6 loads. Boned legs = 4 loads. Rolled neck and rib meat = one heavy load. Head/antlers = 1 load. Straps, loins, and trim meat make for the 6th load.
Taking the Moose out whole? I wonder how many moose get left in the woods because they run and die in a spot that they can't get close to with a vehicle of some kind.
Mature 58" Alaskan bull. Actual hanging weight of hind quarter 4 days after kill = 175 pounds. This was bone in, leg off below the knee, with the last rib attached (we like to do conventional, butcher style cuts). I've been doing this for a long time. I don't shoot em if I don't already have a plan to get them out, and I don't consider carrying them more than a couple hundred yards to be a plan. Period.
qu"Taking the Moose out whole? I wonder how many moose get left in the woods because they run and die in a spot that they can't get close to with a vehicle of some kind."/qu
qu" I don't shoot em if I don't already have a plan to get them out, and I don't consider carrying them more than a couple hundred yards to be a plan. Period."
Exactly.ATV and a chainsaw are the norm here.In most of NB these days,you'd be hard pressed to walk a straight line in any direction for more than a mile without hitting a trail,road,power/pipeline etc.Gotta have a plan.
I guided in AK for 8 years. In the 80's we would bone out all meat, it was legal then, don't know about today. If I had to take a gestament I would say a large bull 200 plus for a hind, boned a lot less. i laughed when I saw earlier comment about 3 inches shorter, lot to be said for that comment. The area I guided in was the Stony river area of AK. All game came out in a Super cub. weight was a big factor...Cheers
I was lucky enough after 15 years of putting in for a tag to get a Shiras bull this year in Colorado, like the one BB posted above. Even luckier to get him in a spot that I could get the truck too. It took me 4 hours to gut, cape, skin out, and cut up into quarters and all the neck, back straps, and loins into bags like pictured by 9 point above. I weighted the hindquarters about 5 days after I had him hanging and they were right at 100 pounds each and the front shoulders were at 85 pounds each, both skinned and the legs cut off at the knees. They lost a few pounds hanging. Don't over look all the neck meat, flanks, brisket, and those huge backstraps all that adds up quick. I didn't think to weight all the bags and add them up for a total.
