Hanging Moose Whole: Why?
- Thread starter X-man
- Start date
Once we got him to the road we had to get him into the truck, no easy feat.
Drug him down the road a short distance until I found a spot that we could pull him up the bank with a high point and could back the truck into the ditch.
Drug him down the road a short distance until I found a spot that we could pull him up the bank with a high point and could back the truck into the ditch.
As CV32 said, we're not crapping on other Moose hunters! Just something that I noticed and always wondered about. I guess because of our terrain it makes it a lot more difficult for us to attempt. I can see where keeping the meat clean is a no brainer. I usually like to get the hide off ASAP to aid in cooling the meat. I've actually skinned my quarters at the kill site on occasion and then wrapped the quarter in cheese cloth/meat socks, but mostly I just quarter the moose and pack it out to the closest place I can get my ATV. From there its back to camp and skinning. I usually take along a couple of pounds of black pepper as well. Once skinned, I rub in lots of black pepper. It eventually forms a hard layer after combining with blood and fluids from the freshly skinned quarters. Black flies, etc...have no impact on the meat thereafter. For transporting home, I usually opt for cheese cloth/meat socks and the bed of the pick-up has a layer of fresh, clean cardboard. If its hot, I'll also put down several sticks or pieces of 2X4 to ensure good air flow over the meat and to make sure no quarter is touching another.
As they say, the real work to moose hunting begins after you pull the trigger, so I can certainly appreciate guys wanting to get theirs as close as possible to a road. I can remember one year a friend of mine shot a nice bull at the far end of a cut-over, he was hard hit, but he took off back into the woods. It took over two hours of tracking to catch up with him and as luck should have it, we found him dead several kms from where he was shot, on the edge of another cutover and actually laying in the center of the old logging road. Can't tell you how happy we were after fearing the worst. If the moose had gone the other way, it would've taken us a week to pack all the meat out!
There was a monster bull hanging around my favorite MMA for a number of years. Two years ago I spent almost 6 weeks hunting him. Had at least a dozen, very doable chances at him, but he was always across the river in one of the most inaccessible areas around. As my brother said, the only way we could get him out is if we took the frying pan and 10lbs of onions to him and ate him there! I wanted him badly, but let him go, as it would've been insane to shoot him there. There was no way we could've gotten all the meat out before he spoiled, so he's still on the go today. Might get another crack at him, but he's one smart, wily old man!
As they say, the real work to moose hunting begins after you pull the trigger, so I can certainly appreciate guys wanting to get theirs as close as possible to a road. I can remember one year a friend of mine shot a nice bull at the far end of a cut-over, he was hard hit, but he took off back into the woods. It took over two hours of tracking to catch up with him and as luck should have it, we found him dead several kms from where he was shot, on the edge of another cutover and actually laying in the center of the old logging road. Can't tell you how happy we were after fearing the worst. If the moose had gone the other way, it would've taken us a week to pack all the meat out!
There was a monster bull hanging around my favorite MMA for a number of years. Two years ago I spent almost 6 weeks hunting him. Had at least a dozen, very doable chances at him, but he was always across the river in one of the most inaccessible areas around. As my brother said, the only way we could get him out is if we took the frying pan and 10lbs of onions to him and ate him there! I wanted him badly, but let him go, as it would've been insane to shoot him there. There was no way we could've gotten all the meat out before he spoiled, so he's still on the go today. Might get another crack at him, but he's one smart, wily old man!
- Location
- WMU248 near Edmonton
well I shot one 10 km back from the road, on a cutline, of course it took off into the bush.
This is why I have a chainsaw, the process is simple,
1. gut moose,
2. cut trail as required to get quad to moose
3. drag moose to cutline
4. drag moose to road
5. drag moose into truck
6. take moose home and hang moose
7. Butcher Moose steaks, roast, burger, mmmmmmm....
I just find it easier to handle the moose whole untill you get to butchering it
and it helps when you have a little snow on the ground to make dragging easier, if not then a little quad trailer is good.
This is why I have a chainsaw, the process is simple,
1. gut moose,
2. cut trail as required to get quad to moose
3. drag moose to cutline
4. drag moose to road
5. drag moose into truck
6. take moose home and hang moose
7. Butcher Moose steaks, roast, burger, mmmmmmm....
I just find it easier to handle the moose whole untill you get to butchering it
and it helps when you have a little snow on the ground to make dragging easier, if not then a little quad trailer is good.
It could be that the reason you see pictures of Complete moose hanging from tripods, is it is a good picture, shows how big. I don't think I have ever seen a photo of four quarters hanging any where. It doesn't make an impressive photo , even though the moose may have been an impressive size. In some areas in B.C. you want to get the moose out of the area in one piece before the grizzilies decide they want a piece of it. Leaving some behind as you pack out the rest, leaves it unprotected and an easy claim by what ever animal that decides it is his.
While we've got some pretty big black bears down here, we don't have to worry about Grizzlies. I haven't lost any meat to bears thus far. Had a face to face encounter with a big old boar a few years back out around the Glenwood area. (my Dad screwed up and dumped grouse entrails at the edge of our camp) that wasn't fun! Don't think I'd want to argue with a grizzlie, although that black bear was a little over 600 lbs, so I guess he was getting near small grizzly territory (I know how much he weighed as I helped a native trapper take him a couple of days later).
I guess in Grizzlie country, any unclaimed/unguarded meat is fair "game" (pardon the pun). Makes sense to try and get all the meat out in one haul. Must be some work though!
I guess in Grizzlie country, any unclaimed/unguarded meat is fair "game" (pardon the pun). Makes sense to try and get all the meat out in one haul. Must be some work though!
Funny you should mention bears in the Glenwood area, Sean. A couple of years ago a buddy of mine took a moose out that way and a bear(s) made off with a quarter. They initially thought someone had "stolen" the quarter until the saw the drag marks and he paw prints heading off into the woods.
On the topic of quartering at sight vs. hauling out whole. While hunting with my father when I was a kid, he had taught me that this was done so the meat wouldn't "cook" itself and spoil. He also was adamant about not hunting early in the season when it was still hot for the very same reason. He is very set in his ways.
On the topic of quartering at sight vs. hauling out whole. While hunting with my father when I was a kid, he had taught me that this was done so the meat wouldn't "cook" itself and spoil. He also was adamant about not hunting early in the season when it was still hot for the very same reason. He is very set in his ways.
Wrong Way
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Man...you gotta "embellish" that pic a little....here, let me fix it for ya:
Nice moose BTW, congrats.
This time we came prepared...
Wife shot this guy in a cutblock that was across a gully and down the cutblock a couple hundred yards. Shot was off hand, about 400 yds+/-, and since she didn't want to waste any meat, she decided to just take the top of it's skull off.
Nice moose BTW, congrats.
I haven't been lucky enough to draw a tag for moose in Cape Breton, but I've worked in my family's butcher shop for quite a few seasons and have seen and heard some interesting things.
We had one guy bring in a quartered carcass with the hide on the quarters that had been drug up a bank with a winch after being quartered with nothing protecting it. Needles, gravel and lots of dirt pressed into that one.
My cousin got a bull in CB a few years ago and there was a guy with a skidder and another with a tractor and logging winch that were hiring out to go get the downed moose for hunters. Chainsaw + Skidder + Bull Moose = easy drag
My grandfather used to tell stories about dragging out whole moose with a team of horses when there was still a season on mainland NS.
The ones that come into the butcher shop with the hide still on are generally in better shape than quarters and we really don't see a lot of quartered moose, most folks aren't set up to handle an animal that big and will bring it in whole to let us deal with it.
We had one guy bring in a quartered carcass with the hide on the quarters that had been drug up a bank with a winch after being quartered with nothing protecting it. Needles, gravel and lots of dirt pressed into that one.
My cousin got a bull in CB a few years ago and there was a guy with a skidder and another with a tractor and logging winch that were hiring out to go get the downed moose for hunters. Chainsaw + Skidder + Bull Moose = easy drag
My grandfather used to tell stories about dragging out whole moose with a team of horses when there was still a season on mainland NS.
The ones that come into the butcher shop with the hide still on are generally in better shape than quarters and we really don't see a lot of quartered moose, most folks aren't set up to handle an animal that big and will bring it in whole to let us deal with it.
Funny you should mention bears in the Glenwood area, Sean. A couple of years ago a buddy of mine took a moose out that way and a bear(s) made off with a quarter. They initially thought someone had "stolen" the quarter until the saw the drag marks and he paw prints heading off into the woods.
On the topic of quartering at sight vs. hauling out whole. While hunting with my father when I was a kid, he had taught me that this was done so the meat wouldn't "cook" itself and spoil. He also was adamant about not hunting early in the season when it was still hot for the very same reason. He is very set in his ways.
We were faced with that same problem. We ended up stringing twine hung with beer bottles and cans with pebbles in them as a "perimeter" defence. A couple of caribou hunters from St. John's lost their entire head & cape to a black bear that same trip. I'm pretty sure it was the same bear. One swipe of his paw and he was gone! The guys were pretty pissed, especially since it was a book class stag.As for hunting early in the season, ran into that problem too, I think it was back in '98, coincidentally enough, in Area 64 Middle Ridge (across the steel bridge via Glenwood) We had two caribou and a moose to get. I tagged a monster the first hour I crossed the river. My brother tagged out with his caribou the next day. (we had planned on a 10-14 day hunt) Unfortunately, instead of day time highs around 9-10 degrees Celsius, we were hit with a heat wave, with temps in the mid 20s. Had no other choice by to rush home as there was no cold storage space available in the Glenwood area. Never did get a chance to head back for that moose my cousin had tags for.
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Would have been less work to quarter the bear and hang it on the pole next to the mose.
- Location
- Lakes District BC
take them out the easiest way posible, if I can get them out whole (guts and all) I will as well just to keep the meat clean as possible, trust me some days getting a moose out whole is alot harder than just 1/4 ering it up and packing it out, I do it jet boat hunting as well if I can get the whole moose in the river and float it back to camp or a better spot to deal with it I will, 1 area we hunt here its get the moose out NOW , grizz have become a real problem and know gunshots = food, the guides there saw 5 different grizz in 4 days this fall already and still have 2 more hunts
and Im with GTH on that black bear showing up, he would have relised there is such a thing as dominant male in that camp
and Im with GTH on that black bear showing up, he would have relised there is such a thing as dominant male in that camp
