Kinda taboo around y'all ? I noticed around these parts almost no one does it except me, and every time the subject comes up I get alot of weird looks. I've brought in alot of hogs I field dressed and the first thing some of the guys ask is why in the lord good name do I gut them before I bring them home. Is Field Dressing viewed similarly for any of y'all ?
I don’t field dress my deer because I can normally have my deer hung at my cleaning shed, skinned, gutted, rinsed to clean and pre-chill, then hung in our walk-in cooler within 45 minutes of the kill. In some cases it is even quicker. Depends on the farm and stand location.
No hair or debris touches my carcass. Haven’t drug a deer in 20 years. Either back truck or 4-wheeler up to them and away we go to the shed. All my stand locations are on lanes with easy vehicle access. I am a lazy hunter.
I never killed a wild hog. Often I even clean rabbits and squirrel in the field. Carry zip lock bags just for that. I think you get better meat when you immediately gut deer and elk. I keep fish alive. Throw them in a cooler with ice for the trip home if Im more than a half hour away. They get dressed as soon as i get home. I have also used used fish cleaning stations at the reservoirs. Put the meat on ice. I am a firm believer in taking care of your meat right away.
Rarely shoot deer farther than 10 minutes from the house. Bring them home quarter off the carcass, remove backstrap and tenderloin. haul the rest back out to the coyote pile. Same with elk take them home or quarter off the carcass if in the woods.
The 2 deer I killed last season I loaded them up brought them home hung them and butchered them Never got Into the guts. I use to do It In the woods not anymore. All the moose and caribou I either shot or helped field dress we never gutted any of those animals. Sure Is a lot less messy.
We field dress the deer once they drop and are confirmed dead, then haul back and let sit for a day or two in the shed to tenderize ,then skin and butcher.
If I field dressed the deer where they died then the ravens for the next day would let every hunter that drives by know a gut pile is there and my spots would be polluted with guys from Winnipeg real fast!
Field dressing is beyond normal here. Often times game is taken where vehicles aren't allowed or can't go. Nearly every elk we've ever killed landed up in the canyon
I do it both ways...if I can get it home and hung within an hour, I’d rather skin then gut. Much cleaner that way. I have a chain block and tackle on a gib arm in the garage, and I put a big Jet Sled on the floor to collect all the mess. Haul everything away with the quad when I’m done.
The only deer I ever dressed at home was one of the two that I killed at home. Like said above, get the insides outside. No hogs here. The only bear I shot was brought back whole to camp, and the guide hung it and gutted it.
Lots of guys do the gutless method on deer around here....Ive tried it a few times and find the the meat is alot more bloody the when we field dress em
Intresting to hear. I'm still trying to figure out why no one dose it here. Deer hogs ect, field dressing is just not a thing. I remember last time I field dressed a hog with someone they where looking like they where about to have a panic attack the whole time. It seems the idea is you shoot it bring it home and string it up no if and or butts ,it's just how you do it. Same thing with filleting fish, it's just not something that's really done
Used to but I’ll take my chances with the guts still in than dirt, leaves, and swamp water all in the meat. Seems much cleaner to do it at the house or let the processor do it. It’s included in most processing fees.
Got sons to help drag and load. Get them home, hang em up and get on with it. Once we get them home, we can them weighed, skinned and gutted and rinsed down in under 15 minutes. We have been timed at having one done in 7 minutes, ready to either hang in a cooler or break down and put on ice.
The only time we field dress is out of state hunts on land where motorized vehicles are not allowed.
The 2 deer I killed last season I loaded them up brought them home hung them and butchered them Never got Into the guts. I use to do It In the woods not anymore. All the moose and caribou I either shot or helped field dress we never gutted any of those animals. Sure Is a lot less messy.
I do the same nowadays lot less mess, and its not necessary if working it up quick.
Do you have a lot of dog runners in your neck of the woods Wolfy? They do not gut in the field because the dogs will eat the guts and refuse to run for the rest of the day.
around here the only people I have ever met that don't field dress are the Mung
but they don't field dress for a different reason the guy I asked if he needed to borrow a knife as he was dragging out a nice big doe , said no his mom , grandma and sister did that
the men hunt the woman clean the game , you could say they use everything but the squeal the heart , the liver , wash all the intestines out boil the bones for broth ,everything
I have done one no gut , it was road kill and you can't gut on the side of the road.
I would do others no gut if I can get to butchering right away
when we group hunt , I often do all the gutting as I am the fastest and we have more hunting to do , burning daylight by the time you can get the truck I am easily done with 2 deer.
For the last 8 years, I have shot the deer I killed within sight of my house. I just drag them up the hill, cut off the lower legs and head, hang them, skin them, take off the front legs at the shoulders, take out the loins and then gut them to get the tenderloins, heart and liver. It's so quick the guts don't bloat.
Depends -- if it is within easy equipment distance and not more than 10 min from home ---- I'll take the easy route. If I have to carry very far (or drag), or cannot get equipment to it easily field dress.
Used to but I’ll take my chances with the guts still in than dirt, leaves, and swamp water all in the meat. Seems much cleaner to do it at the house or let the processor do it. It’s included in most processing fees.
Water I can understand though if I have to cross creeks I wont dress the deer until I get to where I dont have to worry about water. I dont have leaves or dirt get into the cavity dragging deer out. Only time I ever had to deal with such was when my dad always insisted on splitting the chest, pelvis and putting a spreader stick in the chest. You almost have to intentionally put leaves into the deer or have a wind storm blow em in as your trying to dress the deer. The cavity lays closed when your dragging it unless your prop it open.
Used to but I’ll take my chances with the guts still in than dirt, leaves, and swamp water all in the meat. Seems much cleaner to do it at the house or let the processor do it. It’s included in most processing fees.
Water I can understand though if I have to cross creeks I wont dress the deer until I get to where I dont have to worry about water. I dont have leaves or dirt get into the cavity dragging deer out. Only time I ever had to deal with such was when my dad always insisted on splitting the chest, pelvis and putting a spreader stick in the chest. You almost have to intentionally put leaves into the deer or have a wind storm blow em in as your trying to dress the deer. The cavity lays closed when your dragging it unless your prop it open.
Must be nice to hunt wide open terrain. You drag a deer through some of these places and that joker will be full of everything in the woods, lol. We split from tail to throat. Much easier for me just to attach a rope or if small enough to throw it around my neck and go. At 53, the rope gets used more now.
Folks have gotten spoiled. I still field dress on the first available spot I can transport with getting trash in the cavity. I still know how to process but the wife promised to kill me the next time I use her kitchen to break down the halves.
I field dress everything I hunt, ducks geese grouse pheasants rabbits squirrels pigeon and deer. I even bleed my fish out. No idea why anyone would bring the mess home.
Not saying it's wrong, I just don't understand it lol
Gcp, we use everything minus the guts. The intestine is only used for real special meals. Heart and liver are cooked up. The ribs (deer and elk) are some of my favorite parts to eat. Thinking about it. Small game is the only game that we don't field dress.
I don't open up the stomach and gut a moose. I don't skin them either
When its laying on its side I take of the front and back leg, skin off and remove the ribs exposing the guts, Then its just cut the windpipe and have one guys start pulling while your cutting diaphragm as you go and drag the guts out the back. Then a tarp is laid down and the moose is flipped onto it, then the the other half is disassembled the same way.
Leaving the hair on keeps the meat cleaner, the pieces go right into game bags before being set down.
I bring home most everything. I love heart, ribs and liver. I cant imagine leaving them. I bring the head and kidneys, and everything even the hide ,lungs gets fed to the dogs. Just the paunch is left when I leave the gutpile.
. Same thing with filleting fish, it's just not something that's really done
Do they just gut fish and cook them whole? My brother was married to a woman from Thailand and she cooked the fish with the guts in it. All she did was scrub the slime off and bake. When it was served family style she would peel skin off and "roll" the guts out then pull the meat off with a fork. Meat tasted good but the house stunk up! Me I fillet and skin.
Never gutting again. Several years ago I tried the gutless method. Much quicker and cleaner. All the meat removed is wrapped in a bed sheet and stuffed into a fridge until butchering day.
Used to field dress where they dropped, gets a lot of weight off so easier to drag, but now I just skin, debone and pack the meat out in a pack frame, no gutting, and no dragging. You can get everything you want without gutting first, and I can get it finished in about 30 minutes...if I take my time.
I have not gutted a deer since the late 80's. Who wants that mess? Skin with a truck/4 wheeler in 30-60 seconds Hang by head cut off rear quarters cut off backstraps cut off neck meat saw/chop spine at shoulders so body cavity falls into tub/wheel barrow--which is later tossed of the bridge for the catfish caught there next month or 2 meat goes into iced salt water and changed daily until just pink, normally 2-3 days, then we cut it up.
I Field Dress where they fall. I want to cool the meat as soon as possible. Easier to drag and less I have to dispose of at home. The coyotes and Fox like the guts, I don't, so they can have them...
1,if you shoot a deer are you done hunting for the day or at least until you get it in a cooler , or to a processor?
2, do most of your deer or hogs go to a processor that will take them that way or do you do it all at home
3 do you have a setup that better deals with it at home
4. do you break down into quarters to haul out like elk out west?
1 we only stop hunting long enough to get it gutted and in the truck , it is almost always less than 40 when we are deer hunting often with some snow on the ground with only 9-10 hours of light to hunt , it's burning daylight
2, when I was a kid we did take deer to a processor , there was a wood shed at the back of the building your deer got tossed in there until they could skin it and bring it inside , that was a day or 3 after you shot it , and hauled it home , field dressing was a necessity to getting it to cool and keep, on my first deer when I was 16 I learned that if you skinned it you leap frogged all the other deer and went strait in to hang and get hosed off. some of the field dressing jobs on the deer in that shed were nasty.
3, where we hunted other than the last 2 years we are there for the stay , 5 hours from home my aunts house has plenty of trees for hanging and I bring a folding table with leg extensions I skin them and quarter hanging in the tree outside the garage and bone them out in the garage , we have to clean it all up when done like mop the garage floor leaving no blood , we have Colman coolers and the cold weather not freezers or walk in coolers. we have buttered all of our own now about 20 years I butchered my first while in my college apartment , paid a classmate a case of beer to show me how to break one down in the garage at the house he and a few others rented off campus. I then took it back and boned everything out in the kitchen of my apartment. bones and hide in the dumpster in a black plastic bag.
4, we just drag deer out and get them on the truck or in the tree by the garage if it was shot in the backyard,
I shot the deer got the truck got It loaded hauled It home backed Into the fur shed. Hooked up the cable from my Skinner to the deer winched It up and out of the truck. Skinned It quartered It and removed the loins. Back the truck back In the shed lowered the deer back Into the truck drove back to the farm and dumped the deer In my carcass dump. No muss no fuss.
Know of corse If I had made a bad shot (gut ) and or would have had to drag It any distance I would be field dressing on the spot. But the 2 places I hunt are very truck and ATV friendly. So dragging a deer very far Isn't the norm. And If I kill a deer I'm done since most of the time I'm hunting alone.
Gcp, we use everything minus the guts. The intestine is only used for real special meals. Heart and liver are cooked up. The ribs (deer and elk) are some of my favorite parts to eat. Thinking about it. Small game is the only game that we don't field dress.
I like deer heart gravy , liver well I have a cousin we give all those too. just not my thing but I have tried it
most of the time I use the elbow length disposable field dressing gloves , grab the heart turn the glove inside out , grab the liver turn the glove inside out tie the 2 together and toss them in the truck , when we get back to the house they go in a bucket of water.
The only big game I did not field dress on the spot were the bears I trapped in Maine. Those had to be taken (whole) to the nearest tagging station and weighed guts in.
In warm conditions flies can be a problem. When skinning for a processor maybe 1 in a hundred or more came not dressed. We concluded it as lazy, and gross. I'd like to try/learn this gutless method.
In warm conditions flies can be a problem. When skinning for a processor maybe 1 in a hundred or more came not dressed. We concluded it as lazy, and gross. I'd like to try/learn this gutless method.
if you can quarter a deer hanging the only difference is you do it without having gutted
the one I did this way was a road kill with a broken gut , so I didn't feel like opening it up to spill everywhere but it was fresh very fresh
hung by neck I use the hook knife to go just below the rope all around , then went down the middle of the back , was not saving the hide, then around the legs at the knee joints
cut the knee joints with saw. because it dulls a knife
once the hide is off
take off the backstraps , the shoulders , the neck meat , then work into the hip joint and separate you end up taking most of the meat , leaving the ribs and tenderloins.
if the gut wasn't broken you can with the back straps removed make a cut on each side to get in and get the tenderloins out
I think this cut works better when you hang by the back leg tendons , I just haven't tried that yet as I was sacrificing the tenderloins on a salvage deer.
it really is almost the same but without gutting only skinning.
i think what Wolfdog was saying is it , that , it is not that people around him are using the gutless method and processing themselves but that they just load the truck fast and get it to a processor.
In warm conditions flies can be a problem. When skinning for a processor maybe 1 in a hundred or more came not dressed. We concluded it as lazy, and gross. I'd like to try/learn this gutless method.
if you can quarter a deer hanging the only difference is you do it without having gutted
the one I did this way was a road kill with a broken gut , so I didn't feel like opening it up to spill everywhere but it was fresh very fresh
hung by neck I use the hook knife to go just below the rope all around , then went down the middle of the back , was not saving the hide, then around the legs at the knee joints
cut the knee joints with saw. because it dulls a knife
once the hide is off
take off the backstraps , the shoulders , the neck meat , then work into the hip joint and separate you end up taking most of the meat , leaving the ribs and tenderloins.
if the gut wasn't broken you can with the back straps removed make a cut on each side to get in and get the tenderloins out
I think this cut works better when you hang by the back leg tendons , I just haven't tried that yet as I was sacrificing the tenderloins on a salvage deer.
it really is almost the same but without gutting only skinning.
That's how I do It If I don't field dress the deer.
. Same thing with filleting fish, it's just not something that's really done
Do they just gut fish and cook them whole? My brother was married to a woman from Thailand and she cooked the fish with the guts in it. All she did was scrub the slime off and bake. When it was served family style she would peel skin off and "roll" the guts out then pull the meat off with a fork. Meat tasted good but the house stunk up! Me I fillet and skin.
i think what Wolfdog was saying is it , that , it is not that people around him are using the gutless method and processing themselves but that they just load the truck fast and get it to a processor.
Even self processing it's just like a super uncommon thing. It's always ; Shoot deer Drag deer to truck Load deer Process deer at the house Debone every thing Soak meat Make sausage
And that's how it's done really never any varation what so ever
We don't have hogs up here where I am at. We still field dress all game we get. I would like to keep the guts from tainting the meat and it will make it easier for transporting the meat after skinning, gutting, and quartering up the animal. Caribou we will either leave the body all attached after skinning and gutting. If not, cut it on the spine in half, chest and front legs one end and the rump and back legs the other. If we need to haul a few in the sled quarter up the animals after skinning and gutting.
i think what Wolfdog was saying is it , that , it is not that people around him are using the gutless method and processing themselves but that they just load the truck fast and get it to a processor.
Even self processing it's just like a super uncommon thing. It's always ; Shoot deer Drag deer to truck Load deer Process deer at the house Debone every thing Soak meat Make sausage
And that's how it's done really never any varation what so ever
then they are done hunting for the day?
we get such short seasons 9 days total on gun deer but most of the time you need to pack up Monday and go home because Thursday is thanks giving and it used to be we packed up and went home Sunday afternoon because work the next morning .
when you measure your season in hours and it is less than 24 , making every minute count matters.
if it is sub 40 do people hang deer to cool at all , or is it just get it in a cooler cut up as fast as you can?
logger coffey that's just wrong, sounds like too many people hunting there for horns and not the meat.
I've always gutted them in the woods. I have a hard enough time loading a deer by myself without the extra weight of the guts inside. I'm going to see if there are any videos on you tube with the different ways. My interest is peaked now.
I lost the link but search gut free deer processing , there's a guy from Texas that works for an outfitter there with a video that shows how he does it, very fast, and I picked up a couple tricks from him...
I do a few things different , I take the shoulder , and back strap all as one , it's few pieces
I also do them however they get hung if it is in a tree by the neck I work it that way , if it is on a gambrel I work it that way. no point in working harder to get it moved when you spend so little time skinning and quartering it any way.
a lot more often at deer camp every one has a line or rope and we toss them over a tree limb and pull them up so they will be hanging there , my aunt has a little orchard ladder in the shed I will grab that to get started some times no point in moving them once they are hanging
I don't mean to be mean to those that don't gut where they fall, but if you drag a deer in the mountains where I hunt with guts in, beyond being stupid, you're most likely the guy with Maryland (DC) tags parked at the road just getting into hunting and didn't know any better. It's absolutely THE way it's been done all my life anyways. Once the animal is on the ground, the guts instantly become the enemy and should be immediately removed. I seriously thought that the only people anywhere who drug animals with guts in them were the TV guys who were afraid of offending their audience by showing a little blood on the underside of an animal.
Trees about 50 roadless miles from where we hunt caribou and moose so we process like YukonJeff. Skin top side, remove legs, neck and loin, pull guts, flip, repeat. Game bags if cool enough. For August caribou we have hauled coolers of ice and reduced meat to two gallon zip loc size.
I drag mine out whole. I'm usually 20 mins or less from the rack, but more than one of my deer have expired in a swamp or mud puddle. Rather now have that crap in the meat.
I don't mean to be mean to those that don't gut where they fall, but if you drag a deer in the mountains where I hunt with guts in, beyond being stupid, you're most likely the guy with Maryland (DC) tags parked at the road just getting into hunting and didn't know any better. It's absolutely THE way it's been done all my life anyways. Once the animal is on the ground, the guts instantly become the enemy and should be immediately removed. I seriously thought that the only people anywhere who drug animals with guts in them were the TV guys who were afraid of offending their audience by showing a little blood on the underside of an animal.
Well there ya go...the ONLY answer there is. It’s been done that way for years so therefore it must continue to be done, if not then you’re stupid. OR, your man enough to be able to drag a full grown deer to the truck or even take it to the processor if you don’t process it yourself. I’ll be flat out honest, I can’t tell one solitary distance dragging a deer with guts in or out. They all end up weighing about 500# by the time I get them loaded. I guess guts are bad if you gut shoot deer, but now a days most folks got those fancy rifles with fancy optics and can hit where they aim and not hit those enemy guts. Heck, I even know of folks that can do the same thing with a bow.
We handle all or game hole, but, we or close to the cleaning shed. If we or hunting away, and it is hot ,I would gut them and pick up some ice for it on the way home.
I've shot a few deer at dusk and they didn't go down right away. And I've left them till the next day to recover them instead of bird dogging them and run them right out of the country.. As long as you didn't gut shoot that deer and you have cold temps that deer Is going to be just fine come the next morning. Well If the coyotes don't find It first.
I've done the gutless method, but don't care for it myself. Particularly when doing something the size of an elk I find it a lot easier to move it around to quarter without the added weight of the guts. Generally have to either drag or pack out game here, so it is either gutted or quartered. Only time I don't gut where they fall is when guiding deer hunters out of a stand. Personally I've never noticed that a gutpile affected the deer much, but understandably hunters don't like to sit in a stand and watch a gutpile when deer hunting, so if we may be putting other hunters in the stand I'll drag it off whole and gut elsewhere.
Oh and Wannabe. . . if you think hunters can hit where they are aiming with all the new fangled fance equipment. . . you should try guiding for a year or two. You will see some of the nicest, newest, fanciest equipment; and some of the worst shots you have ever imagined. Personally, if I'm doing the shooting, I never worry about hitting the guts, I'm aiming for the vitals, depending on situation either heart and lungs, or spine or head. If I have to shoot through the guts to hit them, or the bullet will hit the guts after penetrating the vitals, oh well, it isn't ruining any meat in the guts and I've never had a problem with gutting a gut shot animal. Do it right away, which I always do anyways and it isn't going to bother any meat, likely get some gunk on the tenderloins, but you just wash them off and they are fine.
I've done the gutless method, but don't care for it myself. Particularly when doing something the size of an elk I find it a lot easier to move it around to quarter without the added weight of the guts. Generally have to either drag or pack out game here, so it is either gutted or quartered. Only time I don't gut where they fall is when guiding deer hunters out of a stand. Personally I've never noticed that a gutpile affected the deer much, but understandably hunters don't like to sit in a stand and watch a gutpile when deer hunting, so if we may be putting other hunters in the stand I'll drag it off whole and gut elsewhere.
Oh and Wannabe. . . if you think hunters can hit where they are aiming with all the new fangled fance equipment. . . you should try guiding for a year or two. You will see some of the nicest, newest, fanciest equipment; and some of the worst shots you have ever imagined. Personally, if I'm doing the shooting, I never worry about hitting the guts, I'm aiming for the vitals, depending on situation either heart and lungs, or spine or head. If I have to shoot through the guts to hit them, or the bullet will hit the guts after penetrating the vitals, oh well, it isn't ruining any meat in the guts and I've never had a problem with gutting a gut shot animal. Do it right away, which I always do anyways and it isn't going to bother any meat, likely get some gunk on the tenderloins, but you just wash them off and they are fine.
Haha. You ought to watch quail hunters with $25,000-50,000 guns come in for a 3 day hunt and kill 3 birds during that time, lol. It’s not about what they can hit, it’s who’s cost more. I have a picture of $100,000 in just 3 guns, lol.
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