Thread: field butchering

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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Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

That vid has no tie off of the windpipe. Also the pizzle and balls are not taken off, nor the bung hole released and tied before pulling the guts out. Then at the end there is a wipe out with grass. If the windpipe is tied and freed from the neck and the diaphragm is cut round after the guts are out it is a simple reach in, grab the windpipe and pull everything down leaving a spotlessly clean job as a membrane lining the chest cavity will pull down and carry any blood etc out.

All the points you make are very valid, however:

I've only just learnt of the tying off of the windpipe. Wish i knew of that along time ago!

The pizzle and balls (it wasn't a rutting stag so wont contaminate anything) were taken off as soon as i got the animals home (1hr later) along with the windpipe. If you had watched the skinning video you would have seen that. I explained in the video why the ring gear (ass) wasn't cut out to stay cleaner while carrying and also explained to cut it out while gutting if in hot weather or the animal wasn't going to be out and hung within a short space of time.
The reason i don't cut everything off is that you end up with more exposed meat to get dirty on the carry out, especially carrying through bush or scrub or if you roll the animal down a hill at any point. The skin is the only meat protective cover so the less you open it up the less dirty it all gets.

The wipe out with grass...yep you are right about that not being best practice. Never had any fallow go bad from this though.

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

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!

Originally Posted by Roarless20

All the points you make are very valid, however:

I've only just learnt of the tying off of the windpipe. Wish i knew of that along time ago!

The pizzle and balls (it wasn't a rutting stag so wont contaminate anything) were taken off as soon as i got the animals home (1hr later) along with the windpipe. If you had watched the skinning video you would have seen that. I explained in the video why the ring gear (ass) wasn't cut out to stay cleaner while carrying and also explained to cut it out while gutting if in hot weather or the animal wasn't going to be out and hung within a short space of time.
The reason i don't cut everything off is that you end up with more exposed meat to get dirty on the carry out, especially carrying through bush or scrub or if you roll the animal down a hill at any point. The skin is the only meat protective cover so the less you open it up the less dirty it all gets.

The wipe out with grass...yep you are right about that not being best practice. Never had any fallow go bad from this though.

I cut the pizzle and balls off as a matter of course and remove it still connected to the bladder. I have open the abdomen anyway so grab the cock and cut that down to the arse.(Good practice for if you ever catch anyone in bed with your Mrs) Rutting or not the pizzle can have urine in it that can drain back into peritoneal cavity. If the bung hole is removed at gutting the animal will drain really well. Cut the tail off, they flick blood everywhere. Buy a 'Game Gear' cape. I carried a deer out last night, not a drop of blood on me but it was on a Graf Boys styled pack frame

And good on you for posting the vid which has spawned an excellent discussion.

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.

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


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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

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).

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.