A question for the hunters

[Lavared]

I watched Into The Wild the other week and his disasterous attempt to field dress the moose left me wondering. Couldn't he have put the carcass into the nearby river and weighed it down with rocks to avoid the blowflies, thereby giving himself time to get a smoke fire ready and have his few tools at hand?

 

[Saint Peter]

I watched Into The Wild the other week and his disasterous attempt to field dress the moose left me wondering. Couldn't he have put the carcass into the nearby river and weighed it down with rocks to avoid the blowflies, thereby giving himself time to get a smoke fire ready and have his few tools at hand?

It would take a quarry of rocks.

 

[breakwall]

It would take a quarry of rocks.

You can ride a dead moose like a canoe.

 

[Saint Peter]

You can ride a dead moose like a canoe.

I have known you for a few years here and I still am not sure of your definition of "ride" in the above statement.

 

[Lavared]

You can ride a dead moose like a canoe.

Immediately or after it starts putrifying?

 

[breakwall]

I have known you for a few years here and I still am not sure of your definition of "ride" in the above statement.

I'm passionate about nature. PASSIONATE.

Immediately or after it starts putrifying?

Dead moose float. Immediately.
Dead deer don't. I have no idea why.

 

[Image]

I watched Into The Wild the other week and his disasterous attempt to field dress the moose left me wondering.

You've been thinking about this for a week?

 

[Lavared]

You've been thinking about this for a week?

Oh yeah. This is the kind of thing that gets stuck in my mind.

 

[Lavared]

Dead moose float. Immediately.
Dead deer don't. I have no idea why.

Weird.

 

[PeterHenson]

I watched Into The Wild the other week and his disasterous attempt to field dress the moose left me wondering. Couldn't he have put the carcass into the nearby river and weighed it down with rocks to avoid the blowflies, thereby giving himself time to get a smoke fire ready and have his few tools at hand?

The carcass would have been taken out by the current and it would have turned into fish and bird food, eventually washing to shore and other scavengers would have eaten the remaining food. Also why would you want to put a soaking wet anything over a fire your wanting to cook with?

Also you should have thought about the weight of the moose in relation to the amount of rocks you would need to anchor that sucker down. You would have been out there all day collecting rocks only to lose that carcass to wolves, bears, or other animals.

 

[marshalt]

I haven't seen the movie, but I have been to a moose-gutting or two. Moving a moose isn't the easiest task in the world, even after it's been dressed. I think they weigh like 1000 pounds.

 

[KRCummings]

I've only hunted in the winter when flies are not around and rivers are something to avoid.

 

[Lavared]

I haven't seen the movie, but I have been to a moose-gutting or two. Moving a moose isn't the easiest task in the world, even after it's been dressed. I think they weigh like 1000 pounds.

It's a large animal. The thing that struck me most on watching this was how important it is to have a companion or two when hunting larger game.

 

[KRCummings]

It's a large animal. The thing that struck me most on watching this was how important it is to have a companion or two when hunting larger game.

I've never been moose hunting but I've seen them enough to know that I wouldn't want to do it by myself. Them is some big fuckers. I assume that moose hunting would be fairly remote also and that would be enough reason to have at least one other person.

 

[PeterHenson]

It's a large animal. The thing that struck me most on watching this was how important it is to have a companion or two when hunting larger game.

Not to mention an ATV or truck to transport the carcasses. It gets real tricky when your hunting Mountain Lions, because they may be in the trees or brush hunting you as well and all you have is a hand gun in most cases.

 

[thør]

I watched Into The Wild the other week and his disasterous attempt to field dress the moose left me wondering. Couldn't he have put the carcass into the nearby river and weighed it down with rocks to avoid the blowflies, thereby giving himself time to get a smoke fire ready and have his few tools at hand?

It takes me about an hour to get the innards out of a moose by myself. Even with the innards out, there is no moving a moose carcass until the hide is off and it's quartered.

 

[marshalt]

When my grandpa shot his moose, it was in ideal conditions. A flat, frozen field and there were six or seven of us around. But even then I don't think we moved it more than a couple feet without the help of a 4-wheeler.

Maybe in the movie he could have done something like cut off a big hunk of meat and taken it to the river, then get his fire going. The rest of the meat would be wasted, but at least he'd have something. In a survival situation, you take what you can get.

 

[zotique]

Moose?

I haven't seen the movie either, but I remember reading about this incident when it occurred.

Like others have mentioned, a moose is an intimidating pile of meat once it is on the ground, a chore to gut when you're alone (though long stout ropes and anchor points help), and a bitch to move even in quarters. I've moved moose and big elk quarters with two guys carrying each piece and it's a bugger just to lift them up and carry 30 feet to the truck.

He'd have to have a deep stream and tons of rocks and even in cold water it would start to decompose in a couple days and besides, he'd never be able to dry it or smoke it if it was wet would he?

No, if you're going to to keep a moose over the winter in primitive conditions you have to wait until it is late enough in the year and shoot it when it feezes at night and stays frozen during the day.

Either that or do it the way the Natives did, have a bunch of grannies and women and children all doing the work for you cutting it up and hanging it in the smoke.

 

[thør]

When my grandpa shot his moose, it was in ideal conditions. A flat, frozen field and there were six or seven of us around. But even then I don't think we moved it more than a couple feet without the help of a 4-wheeler.

Maybe in the movie he could have done something like cut off a big hunk of meat and taken it to the river, then get his fire going. The rest of the meat would be wasted, but at least he'd have something. In a survival situation, you take what you can get.

He could have at least cut off the backstraps.

 

[The Heretic]

You can ride a dead moose like a canoe.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v286/jhlipton/bullwinkle-2.jpg

 

[MakersandIce]

He'd have to have a deep stream and tons of rocks and even in cold water it would start to decompose in a couple days and besides, he'd never be able to dry it or smoke it if it was wet would he?

Water is no "wetter" than blood is it? Of course he could smoke it. It wasn't as if he was gonna put it in a pipe.

 

[zotique]

Water

Some hunters argue, - and I'm one of them - that getting your game animal wet at all with stream or lake water introduces more bacteria onto the meat and encourages more rapid decomposition.

I've kept moose meat without going bad for a week in sunny weather in October by bagging it in clean cototm sheets and hanging it inthe shade of large trees with a tarp over it fo radditional shade and protection from the rain.

But there were three of us and we got it done fast.

 

[Lavared]

Water is no "wetter" than blood is it? Of course he could smoke it. It wasn't as if he was gonna put it in a pipe.

Thanks for making that point. I was going to mention that flesh doesn't soak up water like a sponge; it is already bathed in fluid so wetting it further won't keep it from cooking, smoking or even drying out once it hits the open air.

 

[Lavared]

Maybe in the movie he could have done something like cut off a big hunk of meat and taken it to the river, then get his fire going. The rest of the meat would be wasted, but at least he'd have something. In a survival situation, you take what you can get.

That would have been the smartest thing to do.

Zotique made a good point about the women and children. That's the way to do it; set up a temporary camp around the animal until you finish the job.

 

[Ishmael]

Dead moose float. Immediately.
Dead deer don't. I have no idea why.

Body fat.

Ishmael