Thread: field butchering

Originally Posted by tamamutu

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

well now, that reminds me of my late mate Hopey.
He managed to secure a big stag, somewhere up near a farm in cni, toward to end of his days.
He text me saying to get round to his fast and see the huge beast, so I did as instructed ( you didnt argue with Ray )
On arrival, the great white hunter and his mate have a huge stag hanging in the garage, and he and his hunting bud are setting about skinning it..all the while followed by Rays lady who was happily spraying Black Flag all over any exposed flesh.

I politely declined the offer of meat, rightly or wrongly

Originally Posted by Longrun

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

Yep, I'm surprised the "gutless" method hasn't been discussed more. Back legs off, back steaks off, shoulders off. I do occasionally take out a whole animal, but the gutless method is what I normally do whether it's a goat, pig or rabbit (or very occasionally a deer in my case).

To keep the fly's away I go to spotlight and get a length of net curtain and sew it in a tube about 2m long this is then big enough to cover a whole animal and the tie off too and bottom it let's them breath well and keeps it off the body.

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If a deer is cleanly gutted and hung by the head with air flow right through and in a breeze ( deer shot in evening) by morning it will have dried and 'skinned over' and flys wont blow it. They blow the damp moist areas like bullet holes first. Main thing is airflow and getting it dried out. That as well as a spotless job of gutting with no bits of Diaphragm hanging down. Hung on a windy ridge overnight works a treat

Try to remember to not swat flies away with your hand holding the knife.

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I always bring out a ziplock bag with baby wipes, and another ziplock bag with antiseptic wipes. Not necessary but I personally like disinfecting my knife blade and wiping my hands between handling the dirty parts of an animal like the hide, and handling meat.
Watch lots of videos, take the advice from this thread, maybe even write down/print out a rough guide of what to do. Because you might think you have absorbed all of the info but when out in the field some things might get forgotten.

Most new hunters run into trouble around the bum holes and neck area.

I remember doing my first animal and I opened up the entire brisket the next one I shot a meat hunter happened to come along. Said hang on I’ll show you. Wow that was like Time Outs experience.

Never looked back since then. But in saying that I’m always willing to try something new if it looks the business!

Came across this guy Mike Robinson’s videos recently - some interesting techniques I am keen to try out. Worth a watch.http://youtu.be/TLjamrCT3qA

When you bone out the legs is it best to keep the muscle groups together or separate them?

Is it best to separate muscle groups before or after you have left the meat to hang (in the fridge at home)?

Originally Posted by louiannz

When you bone out the legs is it best to keep the muscle groups together or separate them?

Is it best to separate muscle groups before or after you have left the meat to hang (in the fridge at home)?

If I'm doing the boning hot in the field I seperate them reasonably soon because it allows them to cool quicker and you can remove any extra blood and mucus from between the seams.

Originally Posted by louiannz

When you bone out the legs is it best to keep the muscle groups together or separate them?

Is it best to separate muscle groups before or after you have left the meat to hang (in the fridge at home)?

Depends on the situation. I usually carry my animals out whole, butcher the next day and put entire leg in fridge, bone in. Leave in fridge for 3 or 4 days, keeping an eye on it and turn it over. Divide into muscle groups, vac pac and freeze.

Once seperated into muscle groups I find the surface dries out and leaves a 'crust' also more surface for dirt to get on if you transporting or handling it. Just sent a load to the butcher, asked if he wanted it boned out, he didn't mind (charges for the time to bone it out) sent them entire as the legs can get hung on a hook if needed rather than lots of little bags of meat

That’s (cotton SB liner) is what I use for a whole carcass.


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I usually break mine down in the bush.

Gut em, remove tenderloins, remove shoulders and get the skirting and place on a old pillow case. Then remove back straps and then take the back wheels off.

Once that's done I put the tenderloins, back straps and what's left of the shoulders in pillow cases and pop em into my pack. Legs go on my shoulders and then the walking out begins.

Backsteaks get there own special treatment.... Skin animal at home, backsteaks go straight into the kitchen usually to marinate!

Have used gutless method before when the walk is to far for a whole animal (spoilt as my usual 2 spots are all of a 20min walk and the deer come in a portable size)