Drew my ND moose tag!

[NathanSteg]

I got so lucky and drew my North Dakota moose tag in unit M10 this year, and I’m very excited for this upcoming season. I’ll be out scouting as much as I can leading up to the season for sure.

I’ve deer hunted for years, but I’ve never processed one myself. I was planning to start last year but didn’t end up getting a tag and had no luck with my bow. If I am fortunate enough to harvest a moose, I’d really like to process it myself with some help from two friends. Only one of us has processed their own deer before, I wouldn't say were armatures in the area but definitely not pros.

For those who have done it, am I getting in over my head trying to process a moose for the first time? Any advice, things to plan for, or lessons learned would be greatly appreciated. This is definitely not somthing i want to mess up.

Also open to any general tips on habitat or patterns in M10. Thanks in advance.

 

[thriller1]

I'd never do it again. The wife and I always process our own deer and make our own sausage, summer sausage, sticks, etc. I was lucky enough to get a cow tag 15yrs ago. That is a WAY bigger animal than a large deer. You better have the space to hang/skin it and a process for handling the quarters when you get to that point. I highly encourage anyone to process their own game but to start out with a moose? Not a good idea in my opinion.

 

[LBrandt]

Moose processing should be left to the professionals. Its a lot of work if you dont know what your doing. LB

 

[luvcatchingbass]

Congrats and good luck. I've done my own deer for years but if I were to get a moose I would plan to have a professional lined up. I guess if you want you can try to work it out with them to get a quarter and one of the backstraps to do yourselves and that will give you an idea what you would have been into.

 

[Downrigger]

Congrats and good luck. I've done my own deer for years but if I were to get a moose I would plan to have a professional lined up. I guess if you want you can try to work it out with them to get a quarter and one of the backstraps to do yourselves and that will give you an idea what you would have been into.

I agree with this statement. You’ll be overwhelmed with the amount of meat if you harvest one. I’d be more concerned with taking good care of the meat and getting it to a place that can handle the volume. Id save 20 lbs to play with yourself and learn the process if you want the experience. By the time you’ve ground the meat, mixed, seasoned and stuffed it using non-commercial grade equipment, you’ll probably feel like that’s enough.

 

[NodakBob]

My last elk I quartered it myself, cut all the trim off, processed the back straps and front quarters myself. and then took the hind quarters to a butcher. Otherwise waaaay too much to process and keep cool in the process. I also wanted the butcher to cut out the best steaks and roasts…

 

[bucksnbears]

Cut off the backstraps and grind the rest into burger. Just get the meat off the bone and cut the chunks up anyway you can as long as they fit into the grinder.

 

[Allen]

I tend to agree with the above recommendations of getting it professionally processed. I've probably done 60-80 deer, antelope, and an elk over the years. Without a walk-in freezer to hang it, a moose would be tough early on in your processing career.

I shot my moose in 2024, fortunately I was on private land and just winched the moose up onto my utility trailer. Drove straight to Meyer's Meats by Parshall and they winched it off the trailer and had me on the road home in just a few minutes.

It would have been a long, miserable day if'n I had to get home and start processing a near 1200 lb critter.