Bull or Cow?

Bulls can be from 700lbs on up to......well not sure what the heaviest has weight in at

Cows are usually 500lbs to about 700lbs.

These are numbers I've seen published. Hunted these things most of my life, but never actually had the capacity to weigh one in the field. Not sure how one would go about doing that. Only know generally how much meat they will yield once butchered.

Let me just say that these animals are too heavy for your friend to haul out of the mountains by himself. You need help with elk.

Elk like any game animal can vary widely in weight. From around 400-500 for cows up to 1200 lbs for a very large bull. I would say average weight for a full grown bull would be in the 700-800 range and for a full grown cow about 500. This is for Rocky Mountain Elk in Colorado. Don't know if elk in other states run larger or smaller.

My bull this year was well over 800 on the hoof. The hind quarters were over 120 pounds. Made for a great pack.
Hank

The hind quarters on my bull this year were about 120 lbs. They say if an animal is butchered correctly you will yield about 50%-55% of the live body weight in meat. My bull this year yielded about 350 lbs of meat so I'm guessing he weighed about 700 lbs.

From what I've seen published is about what WesternHunter mentioned.

I have been lucky and have gotten 3 elk to the butcher whole. skinned and gutted, etc quarters and rib cage.

6x6 weighed in at 442 minus a front shoulder.
spike weighed in at 263
5x5 354

so I don't know if guts and skin and head would be equal to half the weight or not.

tim

One time we weighed the guts of a bull moose(field dresed) and I believe it was either 125 or 135 lbs.. Animal was then 650 lbs. After skinning,head removed,legs etc, I believe we got about 350 lbs of good meat.

I 'm going to go with about 60- 65 % loss from the hoof to the dinner plate