Packing out after butchering

If an animal like a deer, Sheep etc. is butchered up and deboned, How do you pack it out? tie pieces on the outside? Line the pack with bags & fill the bags? What about the scalp/head how is it best secured to an external frame pack & how much string/rope is necessary?

If anyone can offer advice from their experiences it would greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Simpatico

Hey Simpatico,

Once I have deboned the meat I place it in a dry-bag (water-proof rafting bag) and then it goes in the pack making sure the weight is central and close to the body. Also, I have plastic bags on hand to seperate the good cuts of meat before placing it all in to the dry bag.

As far as the head I lash it with parachute chord to the top of the pack trying to again keep it close to the body.

Where do you tag it when you bone it out?

Tagging trophy sheep, goat - one tag through the nostril and, as soon as the skin is removed from the skull, one tag around the lower bone of the eye socket leaving the horns and eye intact. So all you have to bring out is the head properly tagged and whatever cape you want to show sex of animal taken.
Tagging moose, elk, deer, antelope and non-trophy sheep - through the space between the bone and the tendon of a hind leg directly above the hock and around either the bone or the tendon. So you have to bring back the hind leg and have evidence of sex, udder or scrotum, attached by skin to that hind leg to show evidence of sex of animal taken and with deer leave tail attached.
Tagging bear and cougar - to the skin. Self explanatory.
This is how a CO explained it to me this fall.

Sorry, I was referring to sheep and not deer.

I asked F & W about this ... deboning an animal in the field and then transporting it home in your vehicle and they told me that this was unacceptable. Their point was that when the animal was seperated into its parts, they could not - nor could I prove that the meat was not from one animal. I asked them what they wanted me to do if I shot a moose "way down in a gully" and they said don't shoot it.

Now I know people quarter animals to take them out and then drive home with the quarters (and the tag only on one quarter) - I have too ... it sounds like if you met a "sticky" F & W officer you might have some trouble.

Northern

I guess I'll have to stop going on fly-in moose hunting trips. I don't thing we can get 50" bull into a Cessna 180 without quarterring it! Seriously, it has to be legal to transport quartered big game. Read the "evidence of sex" in
www.albertaoutdoorsmen.ca/huntingregs/

BigBull

Any time that it is unreasonable to bring out a whole animal or quarters I will cut it up. The only test it has to stand up to is what a reasonable person would do, don't argue with the officer just take your paperwork and let the judge settle it.

Thanks for the tips on the parachute cord, dry bag & additional plastic bags. I was missing the dry bag and little bags. My plan on past sheep trips was to place the meat into garbage bags. I will go to mountain equip. or Totem outfitters and see if they carry parachute cord.

I am a little surprised about the response from the F&W officer. I seems quite unethical for him to give such an impractical suggestion like don't shoot it. Especially since they will take the time and invest in the technology to perform DNA tests on potentially poached animals. Based on some of the game locations in the province it is only necessary to quarter/skin/debone game.

I think i would have had to debate that on the spot with him, get frustrated and tell him to snap out of it, as i speed of peppering him with gravel. Man those guys tick me off. Sometimes they are there own worst enemy. But then again so are some hunters & anglers.

That F&W guy was wrong -- my dad's with SRD, and he's quartered out plenty of game. Tag goes on a quarter that retains evidence of sex and species is all -- so leave the skinned out scrotum or udder on the same chunk as the tag.

The one thing I always worry about is spoilage when you cramm all that hot meat into a bag or box, especially if it's early in the season. I always try to let it cool out as much as posssible before I pack it.
Grizz

Get some new 50 pound grain sacks from UFA or Coop. They are excellent to put meat in, they allow it to breathe, they are light to pack and they are durable enough to tie on the outside of a pack. I always carry a few when sheep hunting.

Good idea Sheep, never thought of that, would keep the flies off too....when it does breath the pepper would stick as well.

As for the Quartering thing, just ask the guy to hold all 4 1/4's in the air while reading the numbers on the new tag system.........make sure the tagged 1/4 is on the bottom.....I don't think it's an issue.

I have to give 209 the credit for the grain sack idea but yes, it does work great.

Good idea, but make sure they are new or just had grain in them.:rollin They pack lots of other stuff, some not so palatable, in those sacks.
Grizz

Princess Auto has some brand new sacks for cheap which i have used to pack my meat out.. they're great, but if you put your meat into a creek or river to let it cool, be sure to put a waterproof bag around it first. didn't do this with my sheep and had a little extra work washing the fine silt from the meat.


Fudd!