For all you lucky flat-landers out there this might not be an applicable type of a question!

However, if you have ever shot an elk in the Rockies it is a daunting task to pack the freakin' horse out!

What is your preferred tool for quartering out the animal to pack it out? Or do you prefer to bone it out on the spot, which is sometimes by far the best option.

Hatchet, saw, chain-saw (yes, it does work if you use a heavy cooking oil as bar oil. We have a cheap and small saw we only use for that if we down the large animal close enough to a practical access point for packing it in) or any other kind of blade?

I think the thing I am interested in most though is the method you actually use. It's just such a labor intensive process I would enjoy to learn some trade secrets of all the combined experience I have seen in this category...

Oh yes it’s a job!
For one thing; any person going elk hunting alone is nuts! For unless you drop that elk by a road you have problems and if you get a broken leg etc your screwed.

I shot an elk in the Bitterroot about 1 mile from a forest service road at dawn. It took 4 people all day to pack out that meat and we were exhausted. If that was here in Alaska a brown bear would have added to the problem for sure!

No matter where I go for big critters like elk and moose I carry a bone saw, small axe, sharpening stone, 3 knives, a small block & tackle, rope, cheese cloth and 2 small tarps and soap & water for the hands.
“He’s down!” Now the *%#*&% job starts. With the help of a friend we field dress it out. This means cutting the pelvic bone and the sternum (Breast bone) and open the chest (so you don’t have to crawl inside) and remove the innards saving heart and liver. It helps to have a friend pull the legs to the side as you work on it and have another sharpening the knives as they dull taking turns at it. In bear country you have a smoky fire going and a armed guard. After its gutted we remove the hind quarters (hide and all), and wrap with cheese cloth. We hang this from a tree out of reach of critters (thus the bock and tackle and rope). We do the same with all the large pieces, cutting the ribs into quarters etc. The back strap and tender loin are removed during all this to prevent damage to that. Now we have the animals quartered, take a break and prepare for the next ordeal.
If there is snow we use plastic sleds or snow machines and drag out as much as we can handle with one person guarding the meat tree. If a river or lake is near we boat it out. If a ATV or horses are handy we transport the pieces out by that. IF (and God help you!) you have zero transport, we leave the quartered parts in the tree and take one down at a time and de-bone it and pack it out. This may take all day, all night into the next day. And if it’s WAY back there maybe 2 days (and pray the temps are cool!)

Any person who tried this alone will loose a lot of meat and may drop with exhaustion.
In Alaska you can’t pack out the antlers and cape until ALL the meat is out and it’s illegal to waste ANY meat.

Yes I have used a small chain saw to quarter a few times with Crisco oil instead of bar oil. But only if we were close to the rig, packing a chain saw for miles is not a good plan unless you have transportation. My 4-wheeler has a wench and a chain saw in a scabbard for such things, and a little trailer to haul out meat. Up here as you know; you have little time to get that meat out. And if you leave it, even in a tree; the eagles and ravens will devour it all in an hour. And then you will have every brown bear within a few miles going to your kill. One brownie is bad; 6 or more is REAL bad!
Imagine being the one left to guard that meat, with THAT problem! And as you know CAM you cant shoot bears here for taking your meat.