[5ptdeerhunter]

I stumbled onto this site. It has some graphic images but it shows and tells almost the same way I clean my kills. Does anyone do it the same way as this guy? Or does anyone clean there kill in a very different manner?

And I figured this would get the blood pumping.

Remember very graphic.

http://www.huntingnut.com/faq/fielddress/fielddress_a.html

[TNT]

I didn't go through the entire thing but it's pretty close to what I do. One of the biggest keys is to have a SHARP knife.:D

[Keith]

It looks like a big waste of time to me - in fact I know it is. I grew up "field dressing" deer just like this site indicates. I don't even know what the point of it is any more. When you're done, you have a dead deer to hang in your garage with its insides exposed to the air, drying out, picking up oils from the hair (where much of that "gamey" taste comes from), attracting flies. And worse, since the critter still contains much of the blood, all of that congeals inside the meat and degrades the flavor and makes the meat tough!

In the same amount of time (or just a little more) that most people take just to "field dress" a deer, you can completely debone the animal, put the meat in a pack and stroll out of the woods.
You'd be surprised at how easy the skin comes off and the meat cuts up when you do it while the animal is still warm. And talk about bleeding out! When you cut the meat up "out there" you leave the blood out there! Venison dressed in the field like this tastes far superior to what most folks think of as venison.

I learned this from Alaska natives.

You'll need a short, sharp knife. Some plastic bags and some cotton or muslin game bags - and of course, a frame pack. After some practice you can completely process a deer in 30 minutes or less.

As you cut off meat, just pile it on a clean bag to drain of blood.

Lay the animal on its side. Make a knife cut from the top of the neck to the tail bone along the apex of the spine. Begin peeling the skin down the exposed side of the animal - to do this you'll need to make a few lateral cuts as you go along - I usually make one on the neck, one about the shoulders and one down by hindquarters - it's not really important, just make them as needed, but be careful not to cut into the body cavity at any time!
Since the animal is still warm, the skin will peel off almost as easy as a banana.
When you have one side exposed, make a cut alongside of the backbone from top to bottom. Easier to show than explain, but you'll find the knife will slide alongside the backbone (with its tip touching the ribs underneath) and separate the backstrap from the spine. Now make a similar cut with the knife now following the ribs, the tip touching the spine. When finished, you've separated the backstrap in one long piece. Lay it aside to drain of blood.

Joint the front shoulder and with an easy slash from the front of the shoulder, the entire thing will come free in one piece. The meat on the front shoulder is the only meat that doesn't come off easily, so I generally just leave it on and take it as is. These are the only bones I take home.

OK, now go back to the hindquarters. This is the only part that is at all difficult. It's real easy to poke a knife through into the body cavity (or even the bladder!) while peeling the skin off the inner thighs. And it takes a little practice to get the meat off in pieces big enough for roasts - go slow the first few times and you'll be fine. Small knife - small mistakes. Big knife - ick!
You'll note a white line of fat running the length of the upper ham. This line indicates where the major muscle groups tie together and runs parallel to the femur. Cut straight along that line all the way down to the bone. Then separate the entire ham at the top and bottom and sort of cut around the femur to loosen the entire thing. With some practice you can pull the entire boneless ham off in one big chunk. At first you'll probably end up having to take off "roast-sized" parts in maybe two or three large "chunks". That's no big deal since you'll probably want to separate this when you get home anyway.

Ok, almost done! You've got all the major meat groups off one half of the deer. Now, you back and trim off all of those little parts that end up as "stew meat". There's quite a bit of meat on the neck and other places here and there on the skeleton. DON'T mess with the rib meat yet! Or any other meat that will crack that body cavity!

You're done with that side. Repeat the process with the other side of the animal.
When you're done with that you can now crack the body cavity (if you want to) to get any organs in thereand the rib meat, the little filets along the spine, etc. The chest cavity is full of blood, regurgitated food and stomach acids... all kinds of nasty stuff that flavors meat. You don't want to contaminate the clean meat you've already removed with this tainted stuff. This stuff goes in a separate bag - try it later and you'll note that it tastes very different.

When you get home immediately wash all of the meat, package it and refrigerate it to cool overnight - or just pop it in the freezer. I generally refrigerate overnight because a little more blood will drain out as it cools - not much, though.

The point of all this is:

1. Butchering while the animal it is still warm takes 75% of the work out of it.

2. It's much easier to pack 80 pounds of deer meat on your back, than to drag 200 pounds of (mostly) waste out of the field. OK, I'm lazy...

3. It tastes much better. Allowing a dead critter to cool in one piece, allows the blood to cool and congeal within the meat. That blood flavors the meat and is full of things like adrenaline that toughen the meat.
Trust me on this; if you butcher a deer in the field, it will taste much better and will be tender enough to cut with a fork, even when cooked rare.

Keith

[5ptdeerhunter]

Ok I understand where you are coming from. But I work part time for a butcher and he refuses to cut meat unless it has had the proper cooling time. Meat that is warm is much harder to cut. And I know that deer that have been hanging just the right amount of time taste much better. I have eaten the tenderloins of a deer I have just killed and altough it does taste great I can't compare it to a deer I have had hanging in cold weather. In cold weather mind you I don't have a problem letting a deer hang. But when it comes to warm weather the deer is taken care of as quick as possible.

[Preacherman]

I'm with Keith on this one - Keith, that's almost exactly how I was taught to field-dress game. Did it in Africa on animals up to 2,000 pounds in weight (eland, and buffalo a bit lighter). No way are you going to drag a ton of dead animal out with you - but a few hundred pounds of field-dressed meat will nicely fit into the back of a pickup! :D

[5ptdeerhunter]

To me that seems like a waste of excess meat. Yes I know it is a lot of kill to carry out but I was taught not to waste.

[dakotasin]

i've read in several places from several sources people that make the same claims and ideas as keith... i'd love to try this method, but i believe that it is illegal here... they want you to have the whole deer (to easily and readily prove species and sex). i'll have to check into this a little deeper and see for sure, but i think it is illegal - here, at least.

[Keith]

There is no waste because you take all of the meat.

As for it cutting easier when cooled; you're just wrong. I've done it both ways, more times than I can recall. Butchering a hung, cooled deer is much tougher than de-boning a fresh kill. Once that blood congeals inside the meat it gets tough real quick - and it stays tough even on your plate.
Taste is a matter of preference, I suppose. But there's no reason you can't hang meat in a game bag in cold weather.

Heck, try this. I think if you do, you'll never go back to doing it the hard way.

Keith

[Art Eatman]

5pt, your butcher is correct about final cuts for the table; it's a lot easier with cold meat. But, Keith is talking about the major portions, not the steaks and suchlike.

I've always been sorta in between. Gut the deer in the field, haul it into camp and skin it with the Jeep. Then, butcher it out into the major parts. I always left the thigh bones in place, and barbecued the whole ham. Shoulders, side meat and neck all went to deerburger.

I'm gettin' hongry, chilluns...

:), Art

[Keith]

Preacherman,

I suspect it's done this way in Africa for the same reason it's done this way in Alaska. That is, the method originates with people who have learned to kill and carry critters back home as a matter of routine practice. They're going to do it in the easiest and most efficient manner and without wasting a lot of energy dragging home bones and guts and other stuff they want to discard.

On the other hand, the "traditional" American/European method of dragging out the entire animal comes from farmers who don't rely on wild critters to survive. Instead, they tend to think of a game animal as a "prize". Something to take it out whole and hang up for a few days so everyone can admire it.

Keith

[mete]

The USDA has done all the scientific research when it comes to butchering animals. First the most important thing is to cool the carcass quickly, that means dressing it out IMMMEDIATELY. Failure to do this is the main reason for "gamey" flavor. Aging - as far as tenderizing freezing is the equivalent of 5 days aging. Proper aging is done ONLY in a butchers cooler, temperature and humidity controlled . NOT with the hide on ,not in your garage where it picks up gas and oil flavors. As far as the website - he cuts the hide with blade edge down . This means cutting many hairs which stick to the meat, a mess. Always cut the hide blade edge up. My venison is always delicious ,never gamey.

[4v50 Gary]

Thank you Keith. Now, like Art, Ise gittin hongry and wanna kill one. :)

[Moparmike]

So its illegal to feild dress and carve in the contUS? I think it is in AR, but I am not sure. I havent even hunted yet.

[Gordy Wesen]

Not so graphic.
Lots of fiddling.
There are better variations to the procedure if one is going to hang the carcass, but clean cold meat is the common denominator.

[stephen_g22]

Keith,

Is there any harm in gutting or field dressing the deer before skinning and butchering as you described?

I think I would get partway through the process and poke a hole in the body cavity and get innards all over everything.

[Keith]

The only place where you might poke into the body cavity is when you skin the inner thighs. If you're careful and use a proper small skinning knife Instead of one of them big honking knives some people want to use), that won't happen.
And of course, if you gut the deer you've now got innards all over the place anyway - the very thing you wanted to avoid. You don't want the stomach, guts and bladder, so leave them in the carcass where they belong.

Keith

[Sunray]

"...you leave the blood out there..." What no gravy? That's where it comes from. When the guys on the cooking shows are talking about juices, it ain't. It's blood. No blood, no gravy. If you garage has oil in the air, don't hang it there. It should be hung with the hide off in a cool room anyway. Not a garage.

[Atticus]

I like the field butchering method...but I think it is illegal here as well (I'll soon confim that). I believe that a tagged whole deer has to be checked in. My deer are usually killed in fairly thick cover, and with my luck, they usually roll down a ridge into a thorny thicket or creek (just to make it interesting haha). I field dress them in a similar way to the method shown, check it in, then take them home and spray them out real good with a garden hose. Then off to the processor (I am too lazy). I also like all those fancy (and tasty) summer sausages blended with jalepeno cheese, peperoni's, and other thing's I don't know how to make.

[Keith]

Blood,

You make your gravy out of blood? Don't bother inviting me to dinner at your house!

For those of you wondering about the legality of this style of butchering in the field, I really can't help because different states have different rules. In Alaska, deer and caribou hunting in most locales is "either sex" and it doesn't matter.
When it is a buck or bulls only hunt, you must have "evidence of the sex" attached to the meat in some fashion. You can do this by carefully leaving one piece of hide attached to the meat of the inner thigh, with the testicles attached to that. I've only been checked by a Alaska F&G a couple of times in all the years I've lived here. And they've never checked any of that. They just want to know if I have a license and how many deer I've used up off my tags.

Keith

[Doc]

i agree with Keith, for meat, take meat
for trophy, that entails more work, but take the meat first

just FYI the same site lists Keith's described method of
field dressing also under the How is a moose commonly field dressed in Alaska? (http://www.huntingnut.com/faq/fielddress/fielddress2.html) link
on the FAQ list

[Duncan Idaho]

Proper aging is done ONLY in a butchers cooler, temperature and humidity controlled .And aging also doesn't work with game meat. The dry-aging process for beef works on beef because the meat is "marbled" with fat. No game meat that I am aware of contains sufficient "marbling" for the dry-aging process to have any effect whatsoever.

Keith is right, but you do have to check your local game laws concerning transport of the carcass. For instance, when I lived in the People's Demoratic Kommunewealth of Massachews***s, a successful hunter had to take his/her deer to the local game-checking station, so that the local Gruppenfeuhrer(s) could tag it with the Supreme Leader's Transport Tag of Approval a.k.a. the S.L.T.T.A.

Folks like Keith live in a more civilized area, and so they don't need to crawl on their bellies. Unless they are doing so to sneak up on a deer. :p ;)

[Lennyjoe]

Field dressing is pretty much the same. Skinning and processing depends on where your at. When I was hunting in Southern Georgia during the early bow season we would field dress in the woods and drag it out to the road. From there we would hang it, skin it, quarter it and put it in a cooler. Next stop would be at a store for ice depending on how far the drive is. Same for here in Arizona.

In WVA we field dress in the woods and return to the barn for skinning and hanging. Let em hang till they cool, partially freeze. Process at your leasure. No more than 2 days.

[mothernatureson]

Wow, so many opinions! I guess there are more ways than one to skin a cat. I hunt deer with a flintlock rifle here in Iowa. Any deer the old fashioned way is a trophy to my eyes, and I can't brag to my family and friends with a plasic bag full of slimy meat! Hang that Buck! Skin it from the pole, show the little woman your prowess with a knife. If she don't like it, drag her back into the cave and demonstrate to her why she married you to begin with! Besides, deer taste better if you gotta sweat and grunt to haul it through blowdowns and creek bottoms. I call it "tenderizing". Happy Hunting.
mothernatureson