Hollywood might depict grinning hunters cruising into town with a whole big game carcass strapped to their rig after a successful day afield – but it usually doesn’t work that way in Wyoming.

When an elk falls to a bullet or arrow, hunters in Wyoming or elsewhere in the Mountain West will find themselves miles from their truck, standing over a carcass weighing anywhere from roughly 400 to 1,000 pounds.

Gutting the animal out and dragging it back to the rig isn’t going to work, even with several hunters present. Bear in mind that many Wyomingites like to hunt alone.

So, how do they do it?

The short answer is, add butchering to the list of skills that Western hunters should have.

In the field, this can be distilled down to a process called “quick quartering.”

Even if an animal is fully

See Full Page