Thread: Field dressing - best methods/process (not including hanging)

Hey team,

Keen to really improve the quality of meat that I take off the hills. I’ve never lost any significant amounts of meat to spoilage however it always comes back home with hair, bush detritus etc on it that I end up trimming off and feeding to the dogs.
I’m keen on a field dressing process that I can use anywhere (i.e. rules out hanging the deer as you can’t do it in some areas.. tops etc). That results in quickly cooled, clean meat that I can bag up and get into my pack. I can’t take it out whole as I only really backpack hunt.

At the moment I am basically doing the gutless method, cutting the skin along the belly and skinning it out to the backbone. Remove the legs then the backsteaks, tenderloins, any misc meat from ribcage, brisket, neck etc.
I’ve been trying to do a quick check on the organs for any sign of disease (lungs, liver etc) however I watched a video today on how to check for TB (cutting into 9+ odd glands across the liver, lungs and 5 -6 in the head) and I have not been doing that .. does anyone check all of those spots?

I use a thin, light groundsheet to place the meat to keep it clean or if there is a something handy like a tree or scrubby bush I’ll try and hang the meat off that. I try and get as much air around it (assuming there is no flies) to cool it. Then bag it (using plastic rubbish bags to keep my pack clean) and take off from there. I’ve played around with skin on and skin off and there are benefits to each....

If anyone has an really dialled in process they are happy to share or a video on it I am all ears.

Cheers all

For a one day backpack hunt the only way to get really good quality every time is to carry them off whole. Look up the Grafs vid on carrying deer. Their pack out frame can be greatly improved upon by adding a quality gut belt ? harness. Shoot the rising yearlings from now through spring - very easy carry and great eating

Plastic bags are a big no if the meat isn't well cooled or during the summer time. Use pillow cases or huntech meat bags. If you don't want blood in your pack turn the fresh animal down hill and stick it like a pig and pump its ribs with your boot a few times. Its gets rid of a lot of blood, and that artery in the hip joint will gush a lot less if you hit it with your knife. The packs that seperate from the frame for meat carrying are good for keeping the pack bag clean too.

take loins out continue skinning back and skin outside legs take all the meat from back legs and that's it,never take fronts.
very clean way of getting most of the meat with making a mess with guts blood etc.

hair and greenery is just one of them things that comes with practise..... pillow cases are absolute GOLD for keeping stuff clean.
take legs off in one bit then put them aside and skin n bone them one at a time,into one of those pillow cases, back steaks and neck meat come out easy through slot up the spine....easy enough once youve removed all that lot to whip in for heart and tenderloins. the beauty of taking legs off first is when your shot wasnt ideal and has nicked gut bag.... none of that anywhere near your nice clean meat.
I USED to skin one side of animal...remove all that sides meat,then flip and do same again... but have realised its lots of work for little gain. a few bootlace sized bits of string will help keep those legs up off ground to bone out...even sitting it ontop of matagouri beats bending over to do it.

Dont know if you already do it but always make your skinning cuts with the knife blade upwards cutting from underneath the skin , you will get half the amount of hair coming out that way.

bit of cord/old shoelace etc to tie a leg off works to stop it buggering off down hill.take your time is a big part, use a pillow case of meat bag make sure its not the flash harry one or there will be problems .


"I’ve been trying to do a quick check on the organs for any sign of disease (lungs, liver etc) however I watched a video today on how to check for TB (cutting into 9+ odd glands across the liver, lungs and 5 -6 in the head) and I have not been doing that .. does anyone check all of those spots"

I look at the organs only if the deer looks not so flash, check the spleen , kidneys ,liver .looking for red dots with a ring round them, pussy bits "wrong"looking bits etc. if in doubt give it to mother inlaw. theres a guy on one of the hunting pages R'eilse or something think hes a mpi meat inspector he knows his shit , have a glance at the bladder if its fullish and the urine is red/pinkish wash your hands real well if you get crook tell the doc esp if hunting farmland or near to some , lepto is not fun.

if it has active tb the animal likely wont be great condition , look for lumps that are cheesy when cut. never seen it in a deer. lots of info on the web tho .

Great info @IamHackmeat, nice having people who know stuff sharing their knowledge.

thinking about it , your main concern when pulling a critter apart is making sure you dont get poos,wees and gut content on what you want to eat.

just watch plastic bags short periods of time only and only after you have cooled meat down really well - they can send meat of real quick - no water near meat that's a definite - dont be tempted to wash it - that's what a sharp knife is for trim any dirt etc - pillow cases are great - or see if your local farmlands has mutton clothe - those liteweight portable meat safes are really good if over night -good gutting technique comes with some experience - I leave hair on hindquarters until I get home and hang up - with experience one can hindquarter and back steak an animal without having to gut it - its what I usually do as quite often have several sets of hindquarters to bring out as one load and normally shoulder shoot and dont bother with the damaged shoulders - unless animal is very skinny I dont check offal - the animals condition is all I am interested in - with some 50 yrs of hunting I have not seen any lungs or liver I would be concerned about - we did shoot a hind one day in the Waiau about 1978 that would have only weighed about 40 lb -just skin and bone - lungs off coloured and stuck to ribcage - did not even take any for dog tucker - but was that TB dont know could have been a lung disease - the golden rule for meat is cool and dry and allow wind thru carcass when possible

If you do gut em (which I have to in the uk as they go off to the game dealer and into the food chain) carry a couple of cable ties. On around the buthole and one around the oesophagus keeps the meat clean on the pull throughs.
Also gives you a chance to check for disease.
For NZ as above. Still carry the cable ties though. Takes me on average 15m to gut one. Might be less on a smaller animal. But also depends on how it’s laying, not that it’s a race.

I dont gut them but if it looks in poor condition will take a look at heart, lungs.

I dont hang, generally do one side then the other side, leaving the skin on the side as long as possible to keep in clean and protected.
- First cut is along the spine to get the first backsteak out. Dont peel the skin back on both sides, just one.
- Push the deer so the side you're doing is up (if you've peeled the skin off both side of the spine, the down side is going to get dirty)
- remove enough skin to take the backsteak out and do that.
- Next skin to go is the skin on the back leg that is facing up. cut the skin down the side of the leg that's facing up, anywhere really, just so that you can peel the skin off the leg thats facing upwards. dont take the skin off the part of the leg thats facing down yet, as its still facing down towards to dirt and if you drop the leg it'll get dirty. Go all the way down to the joint and once there, make a cut around the whole leg. you can put the skin back on the leg at this point to protect it. You might get some hair, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, havent fully figured out why that happens.
- heres a picture of the skinning cut for the leg:
- once you've done that skin cut,do the cuts around the top of the leg (down around the pelvis and through the ball joint) this is key to do now, not later.
- pick up the leg from the hoof end and hold it up off the ground and start removing the skin from the side of the leg that was facing down. You have to do this in one go as you can't put the leg down now because the skin is off the bottom side and will get dirty.
- after you've got the skin off the leg, make the cuts into ball joint from the bottom side towards the cut's you made previously on the spine side of the leg. If you havent done the cuts from the spine side of the leg, this will be miserable and your back will get sore holding the leg up out of the dirt. be careful not to nick the bladder or urine pipes.
- back leg should be off with no dirt on it. I balance it on a tussock bush, manuka, whatever else I can to get some air on it and cooling. If there's flies, chuck it in a pillow case.
- if you're taking front leg, do pretty much the same process as the back.
- once all meat is off one side, move the animal so the other side is facing up. because its still got the skin on, meat will be clean, and repeat.
- I generally have some string and will carry meat to a tree to bone out as its way easier that way. If not, I put it on a pillow case and bone it out.

as someone else mentioned, all skin cuts are from the inside out as its prevent hairs coming out of skin and your knife will get blunt pretty quick cutting hair.

interested to hear any tips or tricks

Here's a couple of things.
If you are right handed take the back steaks out from this direction (in pic). Make your first cut right along hard against the back bone and then start from the front (open the shoulder from the top where you start to get the max amount of backsteak). On the other side start from the hip/pin bone. If you are left handed do it the other way round.
This saves having to do gymnastics and it it comes off cleaner.





Next I take the HQ's off leaving the shoulders on to use as levers if I have to manoeuvre the carcass. Preferably I will hang the HQ in a tree or bush, or drape them over a scrub bush to skin and bone them. To let the meat cool I do this (bone them to the hip joint) and then just one cut drops it into a bag or my pack.:

Neat little trick for the hanging of the HQ there, thanks @Tahr

Don't know the guy but a book called The Game Butcher by Darran Meates , is worth it's weight in gold