[SkaerE]

1.) how do you carry your dead squirrels and rabbits?

2.) if its warm, how long can you keep dead squirrels and rabbits out? (ie, carry them around while you hunt)

3.) i assume most of you wait until you get home to clean them? no problems if you dont dress them right away?

thanks

[Edward429451]

1) Burlap bag tied to waist, or an old surplus backpack. (WWI)

2) All day pretty much. I hunt at high elevation where the air is cool.

3) I dress em on the spot to help em cool fast, or real soon thereafter if I'm surrounded by the little critters and want to get another. Wash up with snow & a rag, and keep going.

[Al Thompson]

The quicker the cooler, the better, regardless of critter. When I used to dove hunt I kept a cooler to chill'em. If you let them get hot, the meat will be "gamey", AKA "spoiled".

[Atticus]

I always take a garbage bag along. That keeps them from bleeding in or through my game pouch. If I'm hunting a small area, I just pile the dead ones up in the shade till I get finished. It's always pretty cool here during the season so I never have to worry about the heat. I dress them when I'm finished hunting- but before I go home.

[5ptdeerhunter]

If I am hunting rabbits and I get a few really early. And I know I will out all day I field dress them and then put them in a bag or pouch. I really don't like leaving the insides of my kills inside to long.

Field dressing a rabbit is easy and usually not to messy. And I keep my knife clean. You just hold the rabbit by the head. And shake it a few hard times to loosen everything up. Then you squeze around the neck and slide your hand down. All of the rabbits insides slide right down towards the legs. And if you continue squezing the insides will just pop right out of the bottom of the rabbit. Their skin is very thin and will a good squeze if usually all falls straight down and you remain fairly clean.

[Edward429451]

I gotta try that!! Thanks.

[Art Eatman]

One reason for carrying a canteen is for washing your hands after a quick gutting of your critter. Blood will readily cause rust.

In warmish weather, it's best to at least gut an animal right away, even if you don't skin it.

Art

[cooch]

If you haven't a bag, rabbits are most easily carried when "hocked".

Run knife through back leg between achilles tendon and legbone .
Push other back foot through the hole untill the hock locks behind the tendon of the opposite leg.

Makes a useful handle for carrying your underground mutton, and multiples can be threaded onto a stick or loop.

Cheers......... Cooch

[Newt]

I'd have to go along with cooch's idea. I've done that several times when I went hunting without something to carry my game in. Just like everyone else here, it's best to at least gut 'em as soon as you can. I seldom clean my game in the field, but I don't carry it around too long before cleaning it either.

Newt