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