First Deer, Lots to Learn

Got a mugshot of this buck?

Congratulations. It’s an awesome learning experience harvesting your own food. Everyone on this planet should have to do it at least once just so they know where food comes from.

Firstly CONGRATULATIONS! and yes more pictures if you got em!

couple easy things that can help. go grab some old pillow cases right now and put them in your bag so that you have an option if you forget game bags (better than game bags since flys have a hard time laying eggs thru them), they also do in a pinch for carying out chunks of animal tied end to end and slug over your shoulders.
Also add a 4" or so fixed blade to your gear. When gutting i usually take the cut from the pelvis, all the way to the upper part of the chest cavity (unless its going to be a long drag, and that just allows more dirt in). If you do that theres no blind reaching trying to get and the stuff above the sternum.
If you have a hill always put the deers head UP hill (horns hooked on trees or rocks help) and pull down, the guts will work out and you can cut the diaphragm from behind rather than trying to go around the stomach.

Congratulations on the deer.

Congrats on your hunt. I can still recall with great detail the first deer I shot and gutted from so many years ago. Youtube is a great resource for you. You'll be able to find lots of very good resources to show you how to gut, skin, and process a deer. Here's a good video from Steve Rinella. He'll be a great resource for you as you continue your journey:

Welcome to the addiction.

Welcome to the club. My first deer was a button buck at age 23. Never too late to start.

Congratulations. Have to admit I chuckled a bit to see that pic with HAIR everywhere. On the knife, on the meat, on the tailgate. Looks like a Wolf Attack. But the important thing is...you got it done.

Congratulations on your first deer.

I didn't see you mention rifle type or cartridge info. Would like some details please.

Nobody is born knowing how to do it. Good on you. I'll dressed and butcher a good number of deer, it still probably looks like a drunk did the cutting sometimes too.

Congrats, Tex.

EJ

Congrats..... I was lucky the first time I harvested a deer. An experienced friend was right there to give me a "hands on" lesson, and he still did most of it and explained it to me in detail as I intently watched. Nowadays you can get all that knowledge off youtube. After the first couple deer it gets easy. Haven't gotten a deer in a few years now and I'm looking forward to trying out the "Butt Out" tool that I got last year. They even have a video "how to" for that thing also. There's always something new to learn.

I have been told the most important thing is to stand back and poke the "dead" deer in the eye with a long stick before attempting to gut.

Doesn't look like you are saving any "mementos".

May I be so bold as to suggest something if it isn't too late. What ever horn there is, save it regardless how small. You can make buttons out of it for hats, a sling, pouch, ect... that way no matter what when you use a sling with an antler button you are guaranteed to "at least SAW a little horn".

I'd also save the empty cartridge for any one's first deer and the TAIL if the chance is there. Split that tail and get out any meat and bone you can and really coat it heavy with Borax. In a few weeks when it is good and dry you can tie a few inches of string to the tail, get the primer drilled out of that cartridge. Get some E6000 glue at the hardware store. Now pull the string through the shell and out the primer hole. While it is just the string in the brass, fill it with the glue and then pull the butt end of the tail up in there. Hang it all up some place until the glue drys and then I etch the date killed and what ever else people want to remember. We used to get metal tags at the check station here and I made that a part of them back in the day.

You can use the tail as a deke for deer or coyotes or just hang it up in the gun room. Goes nice with a good picture even if you don't get a mount or anything else.

Congrats, like others have said, nobody knows how until you learn it. Each one gets a little easier. I had the luck to hunt with a butcher for several years and with a little practice I don't even see the guts anymore, hang it from the hind legs, pull off the hide, take the front shoulders, back straps, and then debone the hind quarters, and the coyotes get the rest. The only meat I really leave is the tenderloins inside, but they always smell like guts to me and they aren't worth it to me.

Your friend’s description of your field dressing was far kinder than the one I received after my first many many years ago as a teen Congratulations and well done!

ilbob said:

I have been told the most important thing is to stand back and poke the "dead" deer in the eye with a long stick before attempting to gut.

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My policy is always walk up from behind and observe whether the eyes are open or shut. Poke a hindquarter. If the deer gets up, you don't get run over. Be prepared for a finishing shot.

Jack Ryan said:

Doesn't look like you are saving any "mementos".

May I be so bold as to suggest something if it isn't too late. What ever horn there is, save it regardless how small. You can make buttons out of it for hats, a sling, pouch, ect... that way no matter what when you use a sling with an antler button you are guaranteed to "at least SAW a little horn".

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This would be my thought as well. Hide and horns... yeah, I know the difference, whatever... and make a useful piece of gear like maybe a possibles bag, knife sheath, etc. Stuff that can ride with you for a lot of years.

Sounds like you did a good job, and as others have said far better than I did the first time...i left the heart in the chest by accident. You also dont have nearly as much hair everywhere as one of my buddies does after cleaning stuff lol.

Kudos!!

Congratulations on your first buck. You sound like you are going to be a good hunter, you are willing to learn . The most important thing is being out there.

Congratulations on the first buck!

In Michigan, if you were from the upper peninsula, you would no longer be a "Buck-less Yewper". (sorry that's a reference from a comic movie about Michigan deer hunting called Escanaba in Da Moonlight involving a guy getting his first deer)

LD

somethingbenign said:

Ate the heart today

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Nice.
The heart is usually the first thing I eat.

Congrats on your first deer. And don't worry, we all did a bad job on our first few cleaning jobs, unless we had someone experienced looking over our shoulder the entire time. No big deal. You'll do it better each time until it's second nature.

Sounds like you guys did alright with no experience. I had lots of training and my field dressing jobs were pretty rough the first couple of times!

Any legal deer is a trophy once it is the frying pan. I hope you are proud of your first one. May there be many more.

somethingbenign said:

Had enough time to put ear pro on,

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Its always a good idea to use ear pro when firing any gun, but for the 1 shot (hopefully 1) I take outdoors deer hunting, I suck it up. I wouldn't risk the extra time/movement when hunting deer to do it, but that's just me.

somethingbenign said:

He really wanted to start tracking right away and I seemed to remember it being prudent to wait a bit.

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It's always best to wait if the deer has ran out of view after a shot. The deer won't be any more dead, and you don't want to turn your tracking job into a "chasing a wounded deer you may never find" job. Start a stopwatch, relax, quietly eat a snack and pack up your gear, or find some other way to kill time and calm down. Take your time tracking, too. And yes, best to bring a friend to help track/drag, if that is an option.

somethingbenign said:

the only thing we could remember about field dressing was don't cut anything South of the stomach and need to get the organs out to cool the meat quicke

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There are many good youtube videos on everything from hunting strategies, tracking, field dressing, quartering/processing, and recipes. Also there is a wealth of knowledge on TV like pursuit channel. There is also an infinite number of ways to do all of them. Research and find the one best for you. You may want to invest in a good set of knives like the sets available from outdoor edge. Some people, some places, will let a gutted deer hang overnight to drain blood/cool. Not an option here in Fl most of the time (too hot) so we cool the quarters and other meat in a cooler full of ice for a day or 2, draining the water and replenishing the ice as we wait. If you hang the deer overnight, make sure its high enough critters don't get to it. If you use a cooler, put it in a closed garage or shed for the same reason.

somethingbenign said:

learned to quarter it out on the tailgate of my truck.

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I generally bring out the whole deer intact, and so everything including the quartering is done with the deer upside-down hanging from a gambler hoist (you can get these cheap from wal mart, amazon, etc.). I took a fence post and ratchet-strapped it between 2 trees in my back yard to hang it all from. There are also setups you can get to hook into a receiver hitch on a truck that work well to do it all in the field. As far as hairs on the meat, I think everyone gets just a little bit on it. I have heard a good way to get rid it after removing the hide is with a propane torch before you start the quartering process.

somethingbenign said:

but something to carry a quartered deer would be preferred.

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I normally drag them out intact, either by hand and/or using a 4 wheeler, to the shortest distance that can be accessed by a truck. My "drag" is rope noosed around the deer's neck, attached to a padded machinegun sling that I loop around my shoulder. Great work-out, if you are up to it.

somethingbenign said:

Bring written instructions on gutting if only for confidence.

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Good call, or if you can get phone/internet service, refer to your favorite youtube video that you researched prior. Take your time- mistakes can be difficult to rectify. And be careful- some of the worst self-inflicted cuts I have had were while skinning/quartering/processing deer. I finished more than 1 deer after crazy-gluing a finger or 2. Wyoming-type "gut hook" knives pay dividends when gutting, as does the "butt out" tool..

somethingbenign said:

Clear a spot in the garage for butchering,

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Some type of table outside with a large (think restaurant-type) cutting board and adequate light will keep your garage or kitchen from looking like a crime scene. For years, we used an old door (and later a partial sheet of 3/4" plywood) on top of 2 saw horses covered with a cheap plastic table cloth we staple-gunned to the "table". A little bleach spray and a water rinse after, then put it all away.

somethingbenign said:

Dedicated hunting boots,

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I use lightweight US mil desert boots in warmer weather, and heavier boots with thinsulate for when its cold. 3 things you don't want to scrimp on- good boots, good gloves, a good beanie for whatever weather you are facing.

Practice makes perfect! Congrats!