Dividing the spoils

[shaneharley]

#5565

So I’ve been polling some of my fellow hunters with the question of how you divide up the meat at the end of the hunt with your hunting partners. I usually, almost exclusively, hunt by myself but I am planning a hunt this year and next where there will be others hunting in my camp. 2014 there will be 6 or 7 families if they all go. Some considerations are if it is an antelope or an elk taken (amount of meat), how much season is left. The antelope hunt is over when we pull stakes but there will be 4 mire weeks of deer season left… In the past we always share elk. But if one of us gets a deer and we chunk it up 7 ways that’s not much meat, then one of the other guys might kill something 2 weeks later so is he forced to divide his deer amoung the 7? Some guys hunt hard. Others drink beer and tell dirty jokes in camp. So I know this might sound complicated but it is something I need to think about and make known well in advanced as to what we want to do. Obviously I refuse to force someone to divide their meat if they don’t want to. So what I’m looking for are your opinions in this matter. What have you done that works where most everyone is happy?

[Stephen Graf]

#42759

If you are hunting with a group, it can’t be just about the meat. So share freely with your camp mates and don’t begrudge it.

But as far as sharing after the communal hunt, that’s up to you. There is no obligation.

For myself, I take care of the freezer solo. Then I am free to enjoy my friends (few though they may be) when we get together for a week of “hunting”. I usually don’t plan for the meat to come home, i.e. I don’t bring coolers. I let the others have the meat.

That said, my best trip with friends as far as meat goes… was an archery hunt in Quebec for moose. Five of us hunted together and we got 3 big moose. I had to buy 5ea 100 qt coolers to get my share home. Oh, that was good. Usually I have to subsist on our scrawny carolina “deer”. But I have grown to love my backyard deer. They are always there to feed my family. Who could ask more? Such Faithfulness and Sacrifice!

[Etter1]

#43373

We don’t typically split up any meat, but we have very liberal seasons here in the south and I don’t know anybody who doesn’t end up with plenty of meat at the end of the fall.

When somebody helps me out on a blood trail, or dragging, or especially packing one out of the mountains, they’ll usually end up with a ham or backstrap.

[Ralph]

#43438

We eat what we need, share with friends and I always take burger meat when we bow dudes go on tourney trips or whatever. Always we plan to leave about 1/3 to give to the local feed the hungry and homeless group.

[blacktail]

#44091

it sounds like your hunting season could be fun (with the dirty jokes and beer drinking)..that is some thing i try to stay away from..i mostly hunt by myself OR maybe with some one from church…i would just divide up the meat evenly…and hope for no complaining…BLESSINGS..john

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#44177

I’m typically only hunting with more than one other person if it’s bird hunting. And on extended bird trips with a group, we always just divide it all up at the end of the trip. It’s not really about the “meat” anyway.

When it comes to bigger game, it’s usually only when one of us gets an elk that a few phone calls might be made to help with packing out. And in those cases, meat is always shared as a ‘thank you.’

[shaneharley]

#44183

blacktail wrote: it sounds like your hunting season could be fun (with the dirty jokes and beer drinking)..that is some thing i try to stay away from..i mostly hunt by myself OR maybe with some one from church…i would just divide up the meat evenly…and hope for no complaining…BLESSINGS..john

Yeah I’m not a dirty joke and beer drinking kind of guy. But that’s how others enjoy their trips. These future trips are with people from my church and are family friendly. But I know a lot of guys who like to do ‘guy stuff’ in their camps and that’s fine. Just not my cup of tea. I’m there to enjoy the woods and hunt. So I’m typically hunting by myself but have of recent decided to try a couple deer camps out and see how that goes.

I do appreciate everyone’s input. I think once I get the might hunters together we can figure it all out then. Thanks again

[Troy Warner]

#45926

If we hunt together, we pack together, we share camp chores together, we all eat evenly together.:D

If you don’t do camp chores, you don’t hunt hard and ethically(ethically is more important than hard), you are drunken slob, you don’t help pack out, you won’t eat my meat, and you don’t come back to my camp ever!:x

Don’t get me wrong about drinking, because a good toddy at the end of a hard hunt is a wonderful thing,:D but a mouthy pushy drunk is someone I want to avoid. So I choose my long hunts and long hunting partners carefully.

I have shared hunting camp with up to 10 people with only 2 elk down. 9 of those hunting went home with meat split evenly. One left camp with hurt feelings and a new understanding of what sharing the experience really means.

Good luck

Troy

[shaneharley]

#45950

I do appreciate everyone’s opinions and advice. Thank you.

I think mainly it boils down to sharing time with folks who have a like minded opinion of the hunting process and choosing to avoid making camp with others who have a differing opinion of hunting in mind. I have very dear friends that though I love them I would not hunt with them for the sake of our friendship.

[Jason Wesbrock]

#46993

Shane,

When I hunted elk in Colorado several years ago I had planned to send everyone in our group home with some meat. Unfortunately, I shot my elk on the second to last day and didn’t have time to butcher it in camp. I ended up mailing everyone a pack of their favorite broadheads. One guy was into primitive arrows, so I also sent him a few hundred Canada goose primaries.

A few years after that a good friend of mine and I headed to Northwest Ontario to hunt moose. We agreed that if only one of us killed a bull we’d split the meat. I ended up filling my tag, and when we butchered my bull we split it right down the middle, two quarters for him, two for me.

[sinawalli]

#47992

tradhunter1 wrote: If we hunt together, we pack together, we share camp chores together, we all eat evenly together.:D

If you don’t do camp chores, you don’t hunt hard and ethically(ethically is more important than hard), you are drunken slob, you don’t help pack out, you won’t eat my meat, and you don’t come back to my camp ever!:x

Don’t get me wrong about drinking, because a good toddy at the end of a hard hunt is a wonderful thing,:D but a mouthy pushy drunk is someone I want to avoid. So I choose my long hunts and long hunting partners carefully.

I have shared hunting camp with up to 10 people with only 2 elk down. 9 of those hunting went home with meat split evenly. One left camp with hurt feelings and a new understanding of what sharing the experience really means.

Good luck

Troy

Absolutely, 100%, correct! There is one other thing, if you are a slob, and don’t clean up, help/do the dishes without having to be asked, you will be persona non grata, and not invited back!

[Author]

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