I've been asked a few questions regarding the elk hunt. In a nutshell:
1. Yes, they drive.
2. It's about 27 hours, straight through and in great weather, to the cabin they rent.
3. They sleep in shifts on the drive and only stop for gas.
4. Cabin rental is about $25 per person per day. Wood heat only.
5. There are four rifle seasons, each 5-7 days long.
6. One of those rifle seasons is permit by lottery only, the first season.
7. This year the guys bought over the counter permits for second rifle season.
8. Each permit was $616 and allows you to shoot a bull elk ONLY.
9. Success rate at their camp was 5 elk for 50 hunters - 10%.
10. For Matt's crew: 100%
11. My husband is the "elk whisperer."
12. Seriously, this was his 11th year out there (10th elk) and this year alone he spent about 45-50 hours studying topomaps to select his hunting spots.
I can't get over how beautiful Colorado is...this is straight out of camera. Gorgeous!!
Ok, now some details. A few exampes of the terrain they hunt.
They even decided to forego the luxury of their cabin for a few nights, hiked REALLY far into the mountains and pitched tents.
It was while they were in this area that they could hear elk buggling all around them and where Brennon and Cort both shot their elk. This was so far in that the guys wound up hiring an outfitter to pack the meat out. Cort went out with them, three horses and three mules. In my opinion, Cort had the best day ever. His trip, riding the horse with those guys and spending the day in the mountain. I don't know. It just sounds amazing. The day started out beautiful.
Ended a little snowy. But still. I would have gone in a heart beat.
While Cort was packing out his and Brennon's meat, Matt was busy too!!
Its kind of funny, a week later I'm just learning that although the outfitter packed out half of the meat from Matt's elk too, it wouldn't take the rack. Scroll back up, see how there are only two racks in the snowy picture? It's because one of the three mules REFUSES to carry a rack!!! I don't know who that mule's union rep was but he managed to get it in his contract that he doesn't ever have to carry a rack.
So, that was Tuesday. That means the guys had Wednesday, Thursday AND Friday to "play!" They went Ranger riding and fished. The evidence of that fishing happens to be in my freezer too.
The guy who owns the cabins called these "toads." I'm not sure what that means other than he would mount them on the wall. And maybe someday, we will have a replica of that one made. (So...I've learned that mounting an actual fish can be not so awesome, but if you get great measurements and pictures you can have a replica of it made which will last much longer.)
All in all...sounds like it was an awesome trip. I'm so happy for the guys. They did awesome and get to feed their families.
So how big is an elk? How much meat do you get. Here is a shot of Matt laying next to his animal. Matt is 5'9".
A mature bull elk can weigh between 750-1000 lbs. We estimate this particular animal netted 300 lbs of meat - that is bone, skin, and external fat removed. Of that, Matt and Brennon packed out 88 lbs and 115 lbs, respectively, on their backs 4.25 miles on the Continental Divide. Shoot man, that's a LOT of work. But that's just the start of the hard work.
Monday Matt and I spent 4 hours each cutting and trimming the backstraps and rear quarters.
That first picture is the "backstrap." On a cow this would comprise of the cuts coming from the longissimus dorsi, things like the ribeye, strip and the strip portion of a t-bone. We don't keep any bones from game in this house which is why that top photo is the muscle only. Middle photos are all the large cuts from the hind quarters: sirloin, sirloin tip, botton round, top round, eye of round, etc. In all, about 80lbs worth of meat. That bottom photo, those are the two sirloins, nice roasts or sliced into large steaks. They're each 7 lbs (I weighed them...my kitchen scale might be one of the most used "small appliances" in this house!).
We used a commercial grade vacuum sealer from Cabelas (Cabela brand) to get all this into the freezer. That's what I did Tuesday night with the help of a neighbor who kept me company (with two of his munchkins...thank you Kevin!) and held the bags open.
Wednesday we had "off" (company dinner) but Thursday we were back at it. Cutting and trimming the front shoulders and neck. This meat is tougher and generally used for ground meat, whether that be packages of 100% grind or blended with pork for flavored sausage.
Friday we relaxed because Matt was home late from work. Thank goodness! It was nice to just relax together.
And then Saturday we were back at it. And boy was Saturday a LONG day. We packaged 58 lbs of 100% ground elk. For sausage we made about 32 lbs of sausage with spinach and bleu cheese (25 lbs meat, 5 lbs spinach, 2.5 lbs of cheese), 32 pounds of breakfast sausage divided into 12 oz packages, 25 lbs of Polish sausage (that are still in the smoker!!), 24 lbs of bratwurst style and 12 lbs of chorizo.
Right now everything from that elk is in the freezer except the Polish. Oh, and about 20 lbs which are curing/bringing in the fridge for corned elk. I will note that we have already cooked up and enjoyed a portion of the psoas muscle - the tenderloin. The filet mignon. The piece that if you go to Wegmans and buy D'Artagnan deer tenderloin will run you over $40/lb. It was delicious!
So wrapping it up...
13. We have commercial grade meat grinder, sausage stuffer and vacuum sealer along with other miscellanous equipment, i.e. totes, trays, to do this ourselvers.
14. "It sucks ass" - Matt Ruminski. It's a lot of time, a lot of effort. You really have to love it.
15. But wow, being that close to your meal from animal to plate really makes you appreciate the sacrifice and all the work that goes into it.
15. No, meat isn't for sale. Per regulations, we can't.
