De-Boning in Alaska..What you think?

[Butts2]

I found a 2006-2007 Alaska guide hunting reg's. booklet and reading through it there was a portion that stated in some units of Alaska it is illegal to de-bone an animal due to waste of meat. Maybe, it is because it could be so far to pack them out of those particular units whereas my farthest for Elk has been 3 miles with no issues. You think?

[Tom Leemans]

I would think the less time I spend in bear country taking time to bone out everything, the better off I am.
  :eek:

[juneaulongbow]

I think it has to do more with moose hunters who just want of get the meat out so they can take the antlers out, which must be taken out of the field last.  This leads to bad butchering.  Also more meat exposed can lead to more spoilage.

[John/Alaska]

Yep Juneaulongbow nailed it. The areas with this requirement had a history of waste due to lazy trophy hunters that frequented the area. AK F&G figured that this requirement might help reduce this waste. They went this way instead of the other proposal which was to cut the antlers in half thus reducing the so called trophy value. The requirement is sort of a pain though.

[Steve H.]

Actually those regs came about in units that had high incidents of meat spoilage over the years.  It was units that have a larger amount of Non-resident use as many people come up here not really understanding what they are up against to take care of pack meat.  Meat lasts better on the bone and stays drier because of less opportunity for bacterial growth.

Obviously an experienced elk hunter will not likley have much issue with these rules.

[swampbuck]

While this really doesn,t concern me personally how would that work for the back straps? would ya hafta take out the whole spinal colume?What about the lower section of legs?It almost sounds as if you'd hafta pack out the entire carcas.The hind 1/4s would be a big deal but some area's could be a pain....do hooves count what about the head other than the skull plate?

It's a shame that some folks had to ruin it by being wasteful.

Steve,do "experienced elk hunter's" take the items I mentioned out or just pop the hip outta the socket and take the 1/4s whole?Not sure where the line would be drawn on this,I try to save as much as possible and hope that someday it won,t be an issue with whitetails here when I,m way out in the swamp.....draggin sucks

[ChuckC]

Maybe the various state DNR departments need to make videos available showing everyone exactly what they consider adequate, then hold them to it.  I personally think that boned out means lighter, smaller, easier to cool and care for.

ChuckC

[juneaulongbow]

It varies in certain units.  Some require meat from the front and hind quarters to remain on the bone and some require rib meat to remain on the bone.  As far as I can tell the backstraps always come off the bone.  This however is not the entire regs for moose. See the link.

 Meat Requirements

[The Ursus]

I love it!, packing out a "full" bull moose hind quarter makes me feel alive!  I just hate it when you step in a soft spot and land on your face, it's dang hard to get back up.

[AkDan]

so much for feeling alive eh LMAO!  

  Bone out is lighter, can get cooler quicker and if you know what you're doing can help from spoiling a lot easier then a 150lb hind quarter of a moose.   Bacteria is definatly an issue once you start cutting on things however if you can't get it cold bacteria is still an issue!!!  

Unlike most of these guys I prefer to bone out my game more often then not (unless it's small. an easy pack, we have lots of good young backs WILLING to help, the catch there is willing, or lastly the law requires it).

[Steve H.]

Don't get me wrong, I'd waaay rather not pack bones and about the only time I remember not removing bones was on my buddies caribou in '05 that was 30 yards from salt water and where we could get picked up!

I don't believe I've ever hunted in one of these bone on areas except PRIOR to them initiating that reg.

I believe their logic is that by keeping the amount of meat surface area reduced, there will be less spoilage in our often wet state.

Like Danny pointed out bone sour can be a  bad thing especially on the big boys like moose hind quarters that are hard to get cool as they are so thick.  It's a balancing act.

[swampbuck]

LOL I see that I goofed "The hind 1/4s would be a big deal..."That should say "wouldn,t" since they'd pop outta the hip socket fairly easily.

I,ve been very happy boneing out my deer and really hope to be able to continue to do so when not close to an easier option like floatin them in the creek.We never used to even gut them untill at least gettin across the creek and outta the muck....sure they float real easy but when ya gotta get em up and over things thru the muck ect the backpac is tuff to beat

Good luck guys

[AkDan]

SB,

In your preveious post you made it sound like you cannot do as good of a job as taking it out hole.  

Quite frankly when quartering and deboning in the field you can get just as much as if the animal was hanging on your garage.   YOu are however going to loose a tad more due to the crust that forms on the boned out meat VS the meat thats left in tact.

I highly doubt that'll become an issue for us.   THe other option we have in the bone in areas are to cut the quarters in half themselves reducing weight.   And no hoofs are not part of the quarter, you cut them off at the nuckle just like any other deer.

The front shoulder is only held on by tissues and membranes (gotta love the high tech verbage) and comes off very easily.  The hind quarter it's just to easy to pop the ball and socket, being careful of the stomach of course.   Most areas of AK you can bone out the ribs, take the backstrap and tenderloin off, and take the flank meat off also.  I personally like to bone out the neck usually cutting it into two halves, makes life and my back a HOLE lot easier!  After removing the quarters, neck and backstrap, it's time to gut to take care of the ribs, flank, and inner tenderloins.  The process sure makes field care of a moose and really most other game animals so much easier!!!

I dont buy the reach in and snatch the loins out method commonly used out west were ribs and flank meat is not required to be taken.

Lastly, the only meat left on the carcass is due to the person doing the cutting.  AK has obvious strict want and waste laws!  Enough so we try to starve the ravens on our left overs.  If it wasnt for a gut pile the size of a typical whitetail, we'd probably accomplish starving them too LOL.