Field Dressing Deer

[svnmag]

Thought maybe something new could be learned for someone:

 

[svnmag]

^^^^Contradicts? If I had the skill, I'd prefer not splitting the hip mainly for the danger of piercing the bladder. Why are they always full of piss?!!

 

[SDMF]

Runnin’ ‘Round the chili-ring is guided by the pelvic bone. SHARP knife, small puncture just inside the bone, get a couple fingers into the slice to keep the entrail termination out of the way and run the knife up against the bone all the way around. <30 Sec.

 

[db-2]

no longer gut. cut backstraps and 4 quarters out. rest is cat, dog meat. db

 

[svnmag]

What I'm garnering is: If it's "hot" split the hip; if it's "cold" core the butthole. Maybe the "Buttout" isn't marketed correctly. My experiences were a fuck story:

 

[svnmag]

no longer gut. cut backstraps and 4 quarters out. rest is cat, dog meat. db

Understood. Just so you know the tenderloins and heart are the best meat on a deer.

 

[VDAWG]

Once you start boning them right in the field you’ll never go back. After you’ve done it once or twice, you’ll discover that it takes damn near the same amount of time to bone it vs field dress it, drag it, hang it, etc….

 

[svnmag]

 

[svnmag]

 

[Paddledogger]

I am one that no longer field dresses deer....it is so much easier to gutless quarter the animal out in the field and put the quarters in a cooler and get on ice, if I harvest during warm weather. No sawing needed....just a good sharp knife. The only part where you have to get into the rib cavity, is after you peel out the backstraps, make about a 6 inch cut at the back rib along the backstrap bone, reach in an pull out the tenderloins. Good stuff right there Clark!!! YUM..YUM!

 

[SLE]

I'm on board with a few of the others, we haven't gutted/field dressed a large game animal in probably a decade. Fabricated a good receiver hitch hanger for the pickup so when we have a deer, antelope or otherwise, it's gets hung up immediately, skin it, pull off front quarters, back-straps, then a couple little cuts and the gut sack will go right up into the chest cavity so you can get the tenderloins, sawzall the spine at the rear quarter, split the rear quarter, sawzall the hooves off and everything is in the cooler within 20 minutes or so and the entire mess stays in the field for the fox & coyotes.

 

[KDM]

I still and will always field dress, drag, and hang. I don't like the hair and other contaminants that ALWAYS get on the meat when boning in the field. I also like the ability to cool a deer down instead of piling warm meat on top of itself inside a cooler. Too much chance of spoilage IMO. Having the excess fluid and moisture be able to leave the carcass is also a plus as I don't like having the meat sit in juice for any length of time. I am also one of those that likes to age a deer. I think it makes for a more tender product. That said...to each their own. If the meat is eaten and not wasted, I could really care less how anybody treats their deer once it's harvested. I don't have to eat it. Carry On!!

 

[jdinny]

you can grab the tenderloins without gutting it.....

 

[jdinny]

didnt read the above posts like others said no need to gut to grab the loins.
we were blessed enough to go 7/7 for elk this year and didnt gut one. hang the qtrs at camp, and the backstraps are melt in your mouth tender. you can also grab the heart and liver without gutting it if you learn your way around an animal.

 

[wjschmaltz]

I grew up in a butcher shop and I'd say 90% of the deer meat we got in I wouldn't eat. It was covered in hair and other crap. I'd guess close to 100% of them were field dressed and hung. Not a method problem, just people didn't know what they were doing.

Now that I have numerous years of breaking down animals in the field basically because that's the only option, that's probably how I will do it from now on even if I can drive a pickup to an animal. It's just nice and easy to do it gutless and very clean IMO. Use a gut hook to strip from base of neck to tail and down back leg and then another cut by the neck. Don't cut through any hair that way and bonus for not having to deal with guts and exit parts. Both methods work fine for people that know what they're doing, but that's the route I prefer now.

One of a couple moose this year. Got the inner loins out just fine. But it is easier if you got a hatchet with and can quickly take off them last few ribs. Each of our moose this year took 2 hours or less from taking pictures to ready to pack. Quick and easy. I'll add it was about 50 degrees this day. Just laid the meat out so air could get all around it and rotated frequently. And tarp it if raining. Wasn't in the freezer until 48 hours after the kill and just fine. Outside temperatures ranged from probably 40-55 degrees in that time.

 

[Paddledogger]

Ya...getting the heart is when done quartering...then you can access the chest cavity at grab the heart unless the shot tore it up. But it is nice to age the quarters on the bone and misc meat on table racks. I just find it easy this way since I live in town and don't have a lot of room.

 

[guywhofishes]

No right or wrong way?

What are we supposed to argue about? How will Vollmer pay for fishing gas if we don't get this over 100 posts?

Come on people. This simply isn't going to cut it.

 

[Twitch]

No right or wrong way?

What are we supposed to argue about? How will Vollmer pay for fishing gas if we don't get this over 100 posts?

Come on people. This simply isn't going to cut it.

You’re not wrong….grin

 

[WormWiggler]

If a person does the field dressing method and leaves X amount, say a shot up quarter... could wanton waste come into play? I don't think I've ever removed meat between ribs.

 

[Shockwave]

I'm with KDM, I still gut and hang them for a bit.