User Friendly

So, a week or two ago, I got to go pick up my processed elk in a more user friendly format.

Because I am anal retentive/detail oriented, I was highly curious to see how my 230 pounds of hanging elk translated to eatable elk, so...I weighed and counted it all.

I ended up with:

25 pounds of pepperoni sticks

4.8 pounds of jerky(they start with 10 pounds of round that turns into jerky).

12 pounds of 'steak'(comes from the sirloin and tri-tip)

28 pounds of chops(tenderloin and loin(the butcher didn't like the term 'backstrap')).

99 pounds of ground meat(90 pounds of elk mixed with  9 pounds of pork fat).

So...I don't know how much fat they add to the pepperoni sticks, but...I was pretty pleased with 165 pounds of elk being harvested off that spike. The jerky and pepperoni (which cost more than burger and chops) were supplemented by some of my friends...and so I only kept one package of each. The rest I gave to the guys who helped pay, and then gave some pepperoni and 3 pound of ground to each of the guys who helped me get it out.

Should still be enough to make it through the year.

Once upon a time...

You see, I used to do this blog thing.  And I enjoyed it, and then...well, I kind of stopped. At first, it was to punish myself...break a jinx because I said something silly guaranteeing success on a hunt.  And then,wasn't successful, so I told myself no blogging until I fill a tag.

I just didn't think it would go that long...

But...now, I can start blogging again!

Got my elk this year.  Yes...I know it's 'only' a spike, but in Eastern Washington's general Modern Firearms season, all you can shoot is a spike.

It's still a decent sized animal...probably about 500 pounds on the hoof.

The only reason it came out in one piece is that I hunt with six other guys. If I was alone it would have come out in bite size pieces.

For the technical minded out there, the gun is a Remington Model 700 chambered in .35 Whelen, using Hornady's Superperformance load(200gr bullet at 2900fps). It did quite a number on the front shoulder(powdered it)...I just didn't get pictures during the skinning.