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I've got an either sex archery elk tag and I've read the Big Game Brochure on tagging, evidence of sex and transporting game. Here is how I plan to deal with the elk. Let me know where I might be illegal or give me some tips on how to do the process better.
1. Bull down
2. Sign, date, detach tag from license
3. Bone out the meat into 6 game bags (How do you guys leave evidence of sex naturally attached at this point?) Remove head/rack from spine and skin it out
4. Stick the tag to one game bag and load 4 game bags into 2 packs for my brother and I to haul out to truck. Stash head/rack and 2 game bags in shade.
5. Drop off 4 bags at the truck and put in cooler on ice. Detach the tag from the bag and take it back in with us to get the remaining 2 game bags and head/rack.
6. Stick tag to 1 of the remaining bags and haul everything to truck.
In another state it was recommended to me by a warden to bring the "tag" out with the first load and leave it with the first load. During a long pack out process there is always going to be some "untagged" meat whether at camp or at the kill site. I don't think it's good to leave "untagged" meat in the field, but you have to make a choice. I don't know if you are familiar with packing meat or not, but 2 bags apiece will be a load if it is a good bull. However, you did say bone out, so that is probably doable on a reasonable packout. Tie the rack off to a tree if you shoot a nice one...
Nothing seems to be illegal here, but a few suggestions. Take the rack out with you first trip, and lock it in the truck. Anywhere else, and there's a chance it'll get taken. I've seen it happen a few times. I would also leave the tag with the first load. I've actually been told by a game warden that that's the preferred way to handle the tag. As far as evidence of sex, it's simple to leave the scrotum attached to the hind roast cut and pack it out. By far the toughest part of your entire list is 2-6, but the most difficult is number 1. Here's hoping you get to do all parts of that list. Good luck out there.
Last year in Colorado, I didn't bone-out and attached the tag to the quarter with the evidence in it and left that for my last load, I was checked by a game warden at the trail head, by the time he got there, the pack out was done and tag was on the bag with evidence and I had no issues. That night I boned out the quarters and since I had already been checked, I put the nuts in a Ziploc just in case. But in Wyoming, which basically has the same rules, I was told by someone at the WYO G&F that I could carry the tag with me during pack out and then once everything was back at the truck I could attach the tag to quarter with evidence. I was not checked by a game warden in Wyoming.. I think as long as the carcass tag gets signed it gets attached to the quarter with nuts or udders, then your good. I have worried about what would happen if you were stopped in the middle of a pack out and the quarter with evidence and tag was back at kill site, but I guess you could always take the game warden there and he could see for himself, as the regs state that the tag must be attached to quarter with evidence on it..
Yep, just remove the gonads and leave the skinned out nut sack attached to one hind quarter. Some guys say it's easier and cleaner to leave a chunk of his crank attached rather than a dirty hairy nut sack but I've never tried it...
Incidentally, for what it's worth, some horse packers that I used in NM a couple times always wanted to keep the nut sack, I guess they put it over the saddle horn...
Evidence of sex does not need to be attached in Wyoming. We were checked with multiple cow elk in coolers. G&F said we could put all the udders in one zip lock bag
A piece of the “crank” is super easy and what I’ve done. My saddle growing up had a nut sack saddle horn. Seems a little strange now to be holding nut sack all the time...
In Colorado, the carcass tag doesnt need to be attached to the quarter until the meat is going to be transported, in camp or at a residence. Tags stay on meat until consumed or processed.
Page 15 of the Regs
Is it just me, or is what singlepin and Dirk Diggler suggested just wrong?? I have always made sure that the antlers/cape was always the last load out. I feel it is unethical to pack out the trophy part first and then pack out the meat last. My first plan of action after a kill is always to make sure the meat gets cooled down as soon as possible. Get the meat to the truck first and then pack the antlers out. Hear of too many people that pack the head out first and then for whatever reason can't make it back for the meat in time to save it from spoiling.
I'm with you Elkwhisperer... rack last.
I had a nut sack on my pickup stick shift back in the days of yore. We called it a "fuff" and it was sort of the cool thing for a young hunter. When the hair wore off it was a smooth leather cap. Not exactly a chick magnet....
If your skin the elk nut sac you cant make one of these handy dandy ivory pouches :)
To my knowledge Colorado doesn’t require you to take out the horns last. I would because they’re more likely to get stolen at the trail head. I was also told that you should keep the carcass tag on your person as you go back and forth and to the butcher so you can produce it if requested and it’s not buried in some bag of bloody meat. This was from a Colorado fish and game officer. Super nice guy.
Lou.......you might not want to be sharing how you plumb wore the hair off some bulls nut sack until it was "smooth" from fondling it with you hand.......jus sayin'.........LOLOLOLOL
Meat always come out first with me. Antlers won't spoil and if some needs those antlers enough to steal them they can have them. Especially the little ones I shoot.
Brad that’s weird. Especially the trophy picture you posted first. Lol.
I come to Bowsite to be entertained, and I am, in fact, entertained.
I agree with the "horns last" group. Even if it isn`t the law I believe it shows others...including Wardens...proper hunter etiquette. Horns are easy to hide.
Tag remains with meat until it is consumed?
Yep. My tags are attached to magnet clips on the outside of the freezer
Little confusing. If packing out on foot, tag animal and leave with elk or keep tag with 1st load of meat. Going to be times without tag, one end or the other.??
“Hear of too many people that pack the head out first and then for whatever reason can't make it back for the meat in time to save it from spoiling.“
So by “whatever reason”, you mean Sloth, Stupidity or straight-up, Premeditated Wanton Waste???
Regs are very clear: tag must be attached TO THE CARCASS.... IN CAMP.
JMO, that means that meat with EOS goes in the first trip so that any CO passing by can confirm that tag and sex match up, and they can swing by later on if they need to count points.
I don’t know where you guys hunt and camp that a CO or a rack-thief is more likely to come across you (or your trophy) at the kill site or along the trail than in camp, but I’ve never had a conversation with a CO that didn’t begin with him stepping out of a vehicle. I have a feeling they have way too much ground to cover to be able to do any of it on foot. And if you did see one on the trail, I bet they’d be a lot happier to follow you back down to your camp for a cup o’ coffee than to follow you up the hill to a kill site that might end up being “just up over that next ridge”... or which you might just happen not to be able to find at all..
And no need to carry the TAG with you, because you’ve got your LICENSE. Just don’t be found with a license, no tag, and a weapon in hand.
Why do you need evidence of sex for an either sex tag? Seems pointless
"Why do you need evidence of sex for an either sex tag?"
Because in many units, spikes are off limits due to point restrictions. Just like you're required to bring out the head if its a bull. Regardless of point restrictions
You "horns last people" can say I'm wrong all you want, and I'll even ignore that you hijacked the thread with your unnecessary opinions, but I have a good friend that had a 350 class 6x6 rack stolen last year because he left it in the field while he was packing out the meat. My average pack out is about five miles. I can't pack out an entire elk in one trip, so why does order matter?
I usually take out the loins, backstraps, front legs (boned out) and antlers first trip. I have always gone back in for the hind quarters. I usually leave them in a creek or hanging in the shade, and they don't spoil in one day. It's funny, some of the same guys that say you can hang a deer in 70 degree weather no problem are also the guys saying that meat will spoil at 11,000 feet in the shade, all just to support their opinion.
The problem with you guys acting like what I do is unethical is that you only read the part of my post that you want to read. I clearly talked about "the first load" which would imply more loads after that. If someone is going to just take the antlers, they don't need me to tell them to do that, and that was their plan to begin with. Anyone who takes antlers and leaves the meat should never hunt again. When you make a kill, take the proper and ethical amount of meat off the animal and get it to the vehicle. How you do that, how many loads it takes, or how you feel before or after should have no bearing on how you handle your kill. If the entire thing doesn't make it out of the woods (emergency excepted), that's a character problem, not a pack-out priority problem.
So you guys citing "proper hunting etiquette" or "I hear of too many people" and all that can just continue your self-righteous jabber, like every other person who wants to blame circumstance and not the person for the crime. I'll continue packing the entire elk out in whatever order I want. If someone doesn't pack out all the meat, first load or last, that's their fault, not mine, not yours, and definitely not the order that they chose.
I agree that it doesn't really matter what order as long as you get it all out. I killed a nice 6x6 at 11,600 feet in Colorado 5 miles from the truck and 2500 feet in elevation gain. I was hunting with a fanny pack on and no way to carry a large amount of meat. I packed the antlers with skull plate out on the first load since I could carry it without a meat hauler pack. I returned with my meat hauler and spent the next few days packing the meat out. I went back for the cape on the last load; it was draped over a log covered with a light dusting of snow.
I usually pack out loin and antlers first load, for the same reason Mike just stated, I hunt with a Daypack, and pack successive loads out with a meat frame.
Who steals another guys horns? I’d be worried what I might do if I found someone stealing my horns after coming back tired and grumpy from hauling a big load of meat out.