by Robert Killam

Created on: May 17, 2009   Last Updated: May 24, 2009

After you have bagged and tagged your elk, the next steps are probably the most important as a responsible hunter who eats their kill, or sells the meat to be consumed. Field dressing is somewhat awkward and pretty messy, but nevertheless, it is the "work" part of the pleasure of hunting. Still, after you've bagged an elk, the work can be well worth the reward. In order to field dress an elk, you need a good skinning knife, a sharpener that you can use in the field, game bags to store the meat, garbage bags for any entrails you pack out, a reasonably small (but versatile) spool of cord or twine, a saw with a durable, small-toothed blade, and a buddy or two if you can get them. Plastic tent stakes would also help.

An elk is a large animal, so the first thing you need to do after the animal is down is approach it safely to ensure that it is dead. It is not a good idea to approach it from the antlers; if the animal is merely wounded, it could rear up and injure you. It would be wise to approach it from its back (not to be confused with the backside), with your weapon aimed in a safe direction but ready to fire a "kill shot" if the animal is only wounded. Never wound an animal and then simply leave it to suffer; that is both irresponsible and cruel. Always do your best to ensure you actually kill what you are hunting.

The first task after ensuring your elk is deceased is to get him on his back. If you're on a slope, tie his legs off with some cord to nearby vegetation, so you won't have to worry about the legs. If you have tent stakes, you can use them to stake the animal's legs apart, so you won't have to keep hassling with them. If you have a buddy, they can help you heave your beast on its back.

After you have your elk on his back, you are ready to begin cutting. First, pinch some of the skin from the belly and puncture it, but do not cut through the fatty tissue. Slit the skin open from the anus to the throat, again being careful not to cut through the fat. Don't worry about cutting through the bones; just cut down to them (the sternum and ribcage are especially sturdy, not to mention the pelvic bone).

Growing up in Colorado, I've been required to leave evidence of gender attached to the kill for as long as I can remember, so I've never cut off the testicles or the mammary glands of the elk. If you bagged a bull, simply cut between the testicles and leave one on each hindquarter. Bring your knife blade straight down (to avoid cutting into hunks of meat) right to the middle of the pelvic bone.

Next, use your knife to cut around the anus. Once you've "cored" it out, set your knife aside and utilize your saw to cut through the sternum. When you finish there, the ribcage should be wide open. Cut the pelvic bone as well, but be extremely careful not to puncture the bladder that sits beneath the pelvis. There's no sense in ruining perfectly good meat.

Pick up your knife again, and look to the elk's chin. You should be able to see the windpipe; cut it and get a firm grip. Use your knife and hands to slowly separate the muscle tissue that holds the entrails in, and as you slowly pull on the windpipe, what they call the "gutpile" will come out fairly easily. Just be certain that you don't spill any stomach, liver, spleen, kidney, or bladder fluids on your meat. If you like the heart or liver, you can remove them from the rest of the entrails at this point and put them in a separate bag (you might want to drain the blood first, though).

After what seems like a short process in reading but a long time in doing, your elk is finally field dressed. Happy hunting!

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