The Colorado Division of Wildlife has a new product available to help elk hunters learn an easy method for deboning elk in the field. Down to the Bone, A Quick and Easy Method for Deboning an Elk in the Field is a DVD that demonstrates the deboning method step-by-step. The DVD teaches hunters a quick, legal and efficient way to take the edible portions of an elk out of the field while significantly reducing the weight they have to carry out by more than 50 percent.
“Many hunters come to Colorado from areas of the country where the big game species they harvest are significantly smaller and more accessible than elk in Colorado,” said Tyler Baskfield, producer of the video for the DOW. “This DVD will help enhance these hunters’ experience by teaching them a technique that makes the task of packing out a downed elk more manageable and gives them the knowledge to do it in a legal way.”
The DVD shows two professional butchers with more than 80 years experience between them and a Colorado wildlife officer deboning an elk in the field. There are freeze frames and close-ups that show the most important cuts. The DVD includes a checklist that hunters can take with them in the field to help them apply the technique. There is also a segment that explains which portions of the animal are used for specific cuts of meat, allowing hunters to gain the necessary knowledge to do their final processing at home if they choose. Also included in on the DVD are skinning techniques that help protect meat, legal methods for keeping evidence of sex attached and a description of knives and gear necessary for the technique.
“This DVD will not only let novice elk hunters learn how to logistically get an elk out of the field, but it will also teach veteran elk hunters a technique that will allow them to hunt elk farther in the backcountry,” said Baskfield. “The hunters who have had a chance to see it have really been pleased with it. According to them, it simplifies the process and takes a lot of the guess work out of where to make the next cut. Even the hunters who have deboned an elk before have learned to simplify the process.”
A DVD copy of Down to the Bone, A Quick and Easy Method for Deboning an Elk in the Field is $17.95 including shipping and handling. It can be purchased at DOW service centers or on the DOW Web site at www.wildlife.state.co.us under Shop DOW. The DVD can also be ordered by calling the DOW’s customer service center at (303) 297-1192.
