Thread: carrying deer

Shot this nice big hind on Saturday. Decided to carry her out whole, I have three kids under 10 so we use a lot of mince, and I wanted to take all the trim and poor cuts I could for this. Carry was just under 2km as the crow flies, which took me three hours.

I’m not particularly strong or tough, she tried to kill me a few times along the way. Ended up head down boots up in a creek at one point.

Unfortunately she was angling away so the shot ruptured her gut bag, so had to leave the eye fillets and was a bit cautious with what I took around the ribs and skirt. Still, got 17kg of meat off her all up.






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by tanqueray

Shot this nice big hind on Saturday. Decided to carry her out whole, I have three kids under 10 so we use a lot of mince, and I wanted to take all the trim and poor cuts I could for this. Carry was just under 2km as the crow flies, which took me three hours.

I’m not particularly strong or tough, she tried to kill me a few times along the way. Ended up head down boots up in a creek at one point.

Unfortunately she was angling away so the shot ruptured her gut bag, so had to leave the eye fillets and was a bit cautious with what I took around the ribs and skirt. Still, got 17kg of meat off her all up.






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

now weigh what you dumped.........and there is MAYBE 1kg of trimmings left on ribs etc that go into mince ok....flaps do to. great work on big carry but you can be a little smarter for very similar result...even boning out front half and carrying back wheels intact is a shit ton lighter and easier on body than whole carcass .
beauty of doing it that way is you dont need a huge daybag to fit meat of front end into...back wheels with pelvis stil lin,so cut off in one lump will ride nicely (and keep your ears warm LOL) if carried just like giving the kids a shoulder ride....

With those gut shot ones a really good wash out with a hose when you get home and hang them to dry overnight and most of that rib and flap meat can be saved- well except for the stuff that is around the exit if there is one and is properly contaminated. If it is clean, freeze it straight away or even better cut it up, brown it and make it into stew so any bacteria are killed - gut contains E. coli.
I am only suggesting a save for the ordinary not too messy ( Rumen) gut shots not the really bad exploded intestines ones

I usually break down the carcass into legs and backsteaks, hanging in a bush or tree to cool as I go, then skin the legs and into the gamebag. Sometimes I bone the legs right out so I’m only carrying meat.

One recent exception was on a farm hunt where the manager mentioned he hated hunters leaving meat in the bush, so I made my nephew carry his fallow hind out whole!

Well...If I can I will carry it out, even those guts like lungs as well blood, but I can `t carry 80kg carcass out of bush for now. I like cooking and actually those guts can make nice meal if you know how. Did anyone here ever taste deer brain?

I love to get them out whole, the shanks slow cooked are bloody nice.

Cut windows out of the rib cage, boil them until tender then maranade in the fridge overnight and cook on bbq, one of the best parts of the animal.

I'm getting smarter, but it was a close call.

My wife shot a nice fat 2yr sika stag yesterday morning just 300m from camp. It was just 6m down in a gut and the way back to camp was across mainly flat tussock, across a flat creek bed then a long rope onto the ute could drag it up to camp.
Geez it would look so good hanging whole in my meat safe.
Now if we gutted it and drag it just up onto the flat I reckon I could carry that. This used to be a doddle for me.
Now wait on, maybe it would be easier if we dragged it across the tussock.

Then the brain started to kick into gear a bit.

On Monday I've got an appointment for a cortisone injection in my lower back.
On Tuesday I have a hip Xray appointment prior to seeing the surgeon who gave me two tin knees.

We relayed it to camp in 8 pieces.

Eye fillet for tea tonight.

I shoot a couple of properties that require the whole animal be removed but it’s a different kettle of fish then on public land. No matter how clean my gutting is I never seem to get the same quality meat hanging a whole carcass overnight in the bush.

Removing and hanging the legs etc individually let’s the meat cool so much faster which I think is the key to limiting waste later on.

Originally Posted by SPEARONZ

I shoot a couple of properties that require the whole animal be removed but it’s a different kettle of fish then on public land. No matter how clean my gutting is I never seem to get the same quality meat hanging a whole carcass overnight in the bush.

Removing and hanging the legs etc individually let’s the meat cool so much faster which I think is the key to limiting waste later on.

If they are clean gutted ( windpipe and arse tied, guts pulled out from the windpipe down) and hung by the head, not the legs and in a breeze, the meat will be perfect

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

If they are clean gutted ( windpipe and arse tied, guts pulled out from the windpipe down) and hung by the head, not the legs and in a breeze, the meat will be perfect

Why by the head and not the legs ? Have probably seen thousands in feral deer premises over the years all hung by the back legs.

Originally Posted by Puddleduk

Why by the head and not the legs ? Have probably seen thousands in feral deer premises over the years all hung by the back legs.

Simple, hanging by the back legs puts the muscle under extra tension while it sets and makes it tough(er)
Hanging by the neck means the legs are only supporting their own weight and as well the animal drains better and and contamination in the gut cavity is kept away from the chest cavity and can drain out through the pelvic opening.
I remember feral chillers hanging animals by a front leg

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

Simple, hanging by the back legs puts the muscle under extra tension while it sets and makes it tough(er)
Hanging by the neck means the legs are only supporting their own weight and as well the animal drains better and and contamination in the gut cavity is kept away from the chest cavity and can drain out through the pelvic opening.
I remember feral chillers hanging animals by a front leg

I dropped a few deer at Wormsleys game chiller in the last week there was a heap in there hung by the top jaw from a professional culler (all from the same shooter).
I generally don't leave the head on but I do hang from the front legs simply because I find it easier to lift the deer that way and get the hook on the rail above my head, put hook through front leg then bear hug the chest and lift as high as I can then whack the hook over the rail at the peak of the lift.

Come to think of it, pretty sure the bulk of the deer in the chiller where hung by the front leg/s

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

Simple, hanging by the back legs puts the muscle under extra tension while it sets and makes it tough(er)
Hanging by the neck means the legs are only supporting their own weight and as well the animal drains better and and contamination in the gut cavity is kept away from the chest cavity and can drain out through the pelvic opening.
I remember feral chillers hanging animals by a front leg

It's seems to be true that you learn something everyday, will try that technique on the next victim.

got these two a while back, took the spiker and his mate came wandering out of the bush to have a look see what was going on, so I took him too before thinking that I'd still need to get the meat out.

front quarters of the spiker were unusable, ended up packing out 45 kg of meat and some bone over about 5km of swampy tussock. my original plan was to bury the gut bag from them both and come back to see if the pigs were interested but I was so shattered from carrying the meat out I couldnt be bothered.
carrying a whole animal with the skin, bone and all that jazz out seems like a young fools game, I'm too old for that sort of carry on

There are reasons to salvage a whole carcass if possible. Leaving the muscles attached to the skeletal structure stops them from constricting to their shortest resting length, which results in a more consistently tender product. Its one of the reasons that comercial processors chill entire carcasses bone in instead of immediately boning out hot carcasses and chilling individual muscle groups or cuts.
I do agree that you probably shouldn't try achieve it at the expense of your body though, especially your spine...