Thread: Removing the windpipe and esophagus

Who does/doesnt do it? What is the idea behind doing it? I have never done it as was never actually shown how to do it and dont really like the idea of a bloody open neck flopping all round my head while carrying an animal whole. If it's just a hygiene thing ie: no risk of half chewed feed ending up in the gut cavity, I have never experienced that happening and if it has it's been so minute and a non issue it hasn't been noticed. Keen on some insight into this practice as I see heaps of photos of guys carrying animals whole with them removed and often wonder if I'm the odd one out and doing something wrong?

I think it goes back to maet hunting practice.....but its added weight you dont use either way.

If i am carrying i leave it in till i get back to bike or truck. I have hung a animal in the chiller for a week forgetting to remove it and it was going smelly around this area, more the grass going rotten i think. Lately when skinning a animal i get it down to the neck and cut through the neck . job done

I mostly don't. For the reasons you say and its just another entry for dirt and shit.
I just make a cut in the thorax and pull it out from the inside. That lets the air in and the blood out but leaves the neck sealed up. A lot cleaner until you get home when you can take it all out.

Out of habit from my meat hunting days I leave the ears on too. To me they look naked without their ears.



p.s. when I was meat hunting I would drain the blood through the neck hole I made and leave the arse in and tie the bum tube off. That way I didn't have blood running down the back of my legs from the arse hole during the carry.

@Tahr whats the green rope pulley? good quality

Originally Posted by bigbear

@Tahr whats the green rope pulley? good quality

Its at Brian's - his killing shed set up - so I will link him and get him to answer. @Brian

Brians got a chiller so a lot of our deer end up in that. Especially if we can get them out whole like these.

Yes , I do it. It is the usual practice of any game keeper / hunter in the uk who takes its animal to the game dealer.

Micky Duck said it in part, weight and quick cooling, keeping in mind nothing had to come out but meat.
KH

I do mainly to let the chest cavity drain and just so there is nothing manky in there to go off prematurely.
Also saves trying to find somewhere to dispose of it at the chiller.

I dont open up the skin on the neck usually, if its a young animal it will all pull out attached to the lungs if you reach up around them and grab the pipe.

Ends up looking no different to a gutted deer with its head cut off.

I'm With you Thar - small slit below the voice box and a few little cuts around the Oesophagus to clear from the neck muscle if any that makes it easier to pull through from the chest cavity.
But then I pull it out a bit and cable tie the end til its tightly closed (I know some tie in a knot but I've found this easier and super light , and always have a few carried in my belt kit (ostensively to ensure) just on the off chance that if the deer I shot was sitting down and chewing cudd or freshly eaten grass it can't smear this on the inside of the neck and chest cavity unseen as i pull it back through.

A cable tie means I don't open a big slit down to free it up ot give enough slack to tie an overhand know with.

Just my personal preference.
CD

Interesting. Conversely I was taught to take everything out and have never stopped to think about leaving it in. I always thought that by taking it out you were opening up the carcass to allow better draining and better cooling.

I guess it just goes to show there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Not much on the neck for meat anyway so I have in the past cut it off at the shoulder , saves it banging about and evens up the balance when carrying...so windpipe is left behind with the rest of the offal...well, most of the offal, the liver comes home to join the bacon and onions in the pan...gutting useing a small cut just under the breastbone just big enough to get a hand in to remove guts and tie off the shitter tube saves that feeling of the blood leaking through ones arse crack.

On the odd occasion I shoot something I have taken to milking the colon and cutting it then prolapse it out the butt hole and deal with it later. Takes me ages to get it out normally.

Everything else is whipped out but that's just how the old Maori pig hunter who taught me how to do it did it.

Heart is saved if it's not buggered. Everything else is left as pig bait.

If it is an immediate carry I can understand what is being said about leakage but I don't agree. It is not possible to make a perfect gutting job without removing the widepipe because when that is pulled down a membrane inside the chest and gut cavity peels down and leaves the whole inside spotless. I will give Tahr and Brians method of making an incision at the larynx a go
Buy a 'Game Gear' Carry cape, no blood on clothes and replaces your lightweight raincoat.
Ryan try this:
1)Animal faced down hill, cut artery at jaw line to drain
2) 'Bung hole' animal - Arse hole / vagina cut around pull out tie off, pizzle off, tail off
3) split skin on tummy with the animal faced down hill which keeps pressure off the lower abdomen so the intestines aren't bursting out through the incision as you cut.
4) turn animal to face uphill
5) free up and tie off wind pipe trying Tahrs system
6) finish abdominal incision up to ribcage
7)Start the guts coming out to make room for hands
8) reach in cut around both sides of the diaphragm all the way to spine
9) Grip windpipe and pull down, everything will come out including arsehole to leave a perfect clean Gold Medal winning job
10) Inspect lungs/wind pipe , diaphragm, liver, for disease cyst's, TB lesions. Check liver for Fluke if taking it

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

If it is an immediate carry I can understand what is being said about leakage but I don't agree. It is not possible to make a perfect gutting job without removing the widepipe because when that is pulled down a membrane inside the chest and gut cavity peels down and leaves the whole inside spotless. I will give Tahr and Brians method of making an incision at the larynx a go
Buy a 'Game Gear' Carry cape, no blood on clothes and replaces your lightweight raincoat.
Ryan try this:
1)Animal faced down hill, cut artery at jaw line to drain
2) 'Bung hole' animal - Arse hole / vagina cut around pull out tie off, pizzle off, tail off
3) split skin on tummy with the animal faced down hill which keeps pressure off the lower abdomen so the intestines aren't bursting out through the incision as you cut.
4) turn animal to face uphill
5) free up and tie off wind pipe trying Tahrs system
6) finish abdominal incision up to ribcage
7)Start the guts coming out to make room for hands
8) reach in cut around both sides of the diaphragm all the way to spine
9) Grip windpipe and pull down, everything will come out including arsehole to leave a perfect clean Gold Medal winning job
10) Inspect lungs/wind pipe , diaphragm, liver, for disease cyst's, TB lesions. Check liver for Fluke if taking it

I'm owed some gold medals then