Thread: field butchering

A mate in UK uses cable ties for tying off the tubes at both ends

That’s a good idea, cheers

Ive never tied either end...and never had issues,sure Ive had occasional jelly bean drop inside,but its only a jelly bean and easily removed,if you flick them out back end first its not much off issue.....front end just not an issue.guts are out of animal and pressure gone before reaching into diaphragm region to pull last bit of pipeing out.I think folks have issues if animal has been waiting for a bit before being gutted,eg shot waaay over other side of steep gully or left overnight.

If I gut them I either tie or ziptie each end.

Can't remember last time I did though. Gutless method and then just push down gut bag from behind short ribs and can usually get tenderloins out with mostly fingers, maybe a small (careful) nick at each end with the knife.

Although if hit a bit far back (hey it happens sometimes) I don't tend to bother getting them out.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Yes my chiller is at dads, his perk for power is fillets (he gets plenty)
My take is yes the inside fillets are very good but overated, personally I would rather backsteak from a good animal.

Same, just had a fillet of that fat stag i shot. Thought it was pretty average considering hung for a week and the rest is great.
Im crap in the field when it comes to butchering but normally im too far back to carry animals out so i bone them out. Heres a couple of things
1 Pillowcases or the like is the go to store meat in pack rather than plastic.
2 Take the legs of then hang in the nearest tree, easy to skin and bone out with no chance of getting hair etc.
Always leave in fridge for a few days before freeze it .

and DONT cut yourself doing so..........

For the five minutes it takes to properly gut a deer and check the organs are healthy, why wouldn't you ?
I have two strings on my knife belt for carrying pigs that also double as ties for gutting. Even a bit of green tussock will do as a tie but has the potential to introduce dirt.

From this ..



To this... in about 15 - 20 minutes. I usually use pillow cases or Hunters' Element bags but I was out of them on that trip so I left it cooling for a while before putting it into the dry bag.



If its hot I let the meat cool by boning it to this point and then let it hang off the ball joint for a while. Shoulders cool on the bone a lot quicker than HQs once they are skinned.

Im hungry now having seen that......hopefully the eye fillets from fallow I shot this time thursday will be ok now...always dodgy in the 24-36 hours after death,would be shame to cook it and find its tough as old jandle....

I found if you cut the throat really close to the bottom jaw bone they don’t leak. That’s in sheep I don’t usually gut deer. I have dvd copies of the Graf boys if any one wants to borrow them.

Thing is @Tahr probably shoots more deer in a year than most folks on here would shoot in a lifetime

Pillow cases are good (avoid plastic bags)
Baling twine (or similar) is handy for tying of the esophagus and the poop tube.
+1 for opening up any ball joints that contain fluid
beware the bladder - it always amazes me how you get all the guts out and still leave the bladder in there.

Watch as many vids as you can of people cutting up deer. There are some interesting ways of doing it without gutting the deer. The Graff boys one about boning it out in the field is very good. The cooler the meat, the easier it is to separate muscle groups.

I quarter animals and take backsteaks. No gutting. Hang to cool, bone out and store in stream bagged up with cairn of stones to keep eels out.
Kept meat this way for a week easy

How do you guys get on combating blow flies when hanging your meat to cool?

Originally Posted by tamamutu

How do you guys get on combating blow flies when hanging your meat to cool?

The best thing you can do is not hunt in summer

The next best is only hunt evenings....

Only thing I have found to work fairly well is gut the deer and then drag the deer 15-20y away and most but not all fly's go to the offal pile.
A bit of frantic waving and cursing may also help or it might just give an onlooker something to do.

Originally Posted by tamamutu

How do you guys get on combating blow flies when hanging your meat to cool?

pillow cases...or stand there with manuka twitch and swat them away...good job for the young fella so he doesnt get in way of knifework.