Define please.

[Amadeus]

Sorry. I'm a newbie to the hunting jargon to please don't get too uppetty.

To me field dressing is either a roll of bandages, two sticks, and some duct tape or it's something you do after having some nooky in a meadow.

With regards to hunting, what is field dressing?

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Removing the innards.

 

[Outdoorsman]

It is the act of gutting the animal in the field.

 

[Amadeus]

Um. Yeckh.

And this is done in the field because..... why?

 

[ReadyontheRight]

And this is done in the field because..... why?

If you do it in the kitchen, your spouse won't eat any venison.

You might also clog up the garbage disposal.

 

[Art Eatman]

It's just the first stage of butchering that happens to everything you eat. Somebody's gotta get his hands dirty. Heck, pulling and cleaning veggies gets somebody's hands dirty, much less beef, pork or chicken...

You do it quickly so the body warmth doesn't start the decay process and ruin the meat. You leave the guts out in the field so the coyotes and buzzards and suchlike do their janitorial services and get a free meal in the process.

Death is part of life, and dirty hands are just part of being well-fed.

, Art

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

It needs to be done right away so no meat is spoiled by fluids from possible punctured organs.

Yeckh.

It doesn't bother me, or most experienced hunters. But some people really can't handle it, maybe from never being exposed to cleaning an animal. Have an experienced hunter with you so you can see how it is done. Rubber gloves are a big help, as are wipes.

 

[cordex]

And this is done in the field because..... why?

I'd guess for a few reasons.
1. Disposal of guts. Animals will consume the gut pile within a few hours or days. Buzzards got to eat too, same as the worms.
2. Weight. Why carry the extra dead weight that you don't plan to use when you can make a few cuts and dump it where the critter dies?
3. Decomposition. The innards will decompose more quickly than meat, I think. Decomposing matter in contact with meat you want to eat is not good form. Additionally, as you gut it, you release most of the blood which you don't want pooling in the critter. Plus, you quickly seperate the feces and urine remaining in the animal from the meat you want to consume.

There are probably other reasons, but those come to mind first.

What is so disgusting about it?

(Edit: Looks like I was beat to the punch)

 

[Amadeus]

It's not THAT disgusting. I mean -- I've disected countless frogs and mice in science class. I've cleaned fish and even squid so -- dressing an animal doesn't seem beyond the capabilities of my constitution. The reaction was more one of conditioning than anything else.

I think I could handle it.

 

[HunterGatherer]

I think I could handle it.

As was said before, an experienced hunter can show you some tricks to make the process a little less messy and onerous. Also keep in mind that some animals can have broken arrow points from old wounds in them. A friend of mine got cut pretty badly by one once. Be careful, and good luck!

 

[Kcustom45]

Removing the innards will also help the animal cool down a lot faster.

 

[Amadeus]

I don't yet know if I will actually wind up hunting. I DO want to take an H.Ed course just to see what it's all about and get more information on the sport.

But if I do get into the field and if I do have the fortitude to take a life I see no reason why I should scoff at the prepping of the meat. I mean -- if that's part of the experience then why not participate.

After all -- I cook. I like to cook. So really field dressing a carcass is merely the first step of cooking a steak from scratch. Right?

(Yah. I say that now. ). No seriously. It's just hearts and lungs and squishy stuff. I've seen it in the chickens and turkeys that I get at the market. Only difference is -- depending on the animal -- some of those items might be larger than what I am accustomed to.

 

[Stand_Watie]

Amadeus if you kill the animal really close to a spot where you can set up properly, it's a lot more convenient. We dress and butcher at the neighbors, which is just two minutes from anywhere we'd kill any game. It's nice to have a garden hose to wash the innards out, a table to lay your knives out on, your tree all rigged up with the hanging hooks etc. - on second thought, I guess that wouldn't count as 'field' dressing would it?

p.s. If you've never done it before the likeliest thing to bother you is the smell.

 

[Art Eatman]

For sure, the first time out on a deer-sized animal, it's a lot easier to have somebody along who's experienced. Once you know how, you hardly get any blood on your hands until you get up into the lung area. (With a neck shot, hardly much blood, even then.) Some instruction is quite helpful when splitting the pelvis and skinning out the ????, in order that it be a clean job of work.

The main thing in hunting is to get out and go hunting. Learn how to walk silently, and how to sit very still for long periods*. You don't even need a gun to do that.

Art

* I've often said, "Think like a stump," but I've come to realize that would also qualify a person for elective office. (Sorry; it's an election year.)

 

[10ptr]

My.02

I have killed quite a few deer in my day, and the smell STILL bothers me. I have a real sensitive nose (I in fact have recovered deer by smelling them before I have seen them). A little trick I learned a few years back is to carry a jar of Vick's Vapo-rub in my pack. When it comes time to do your dirty work, shove a little dab into your nostrils and you won't smell anything but Eucalyptus (for about a day and a half ).

 

[cdbeaver]

If you think deer innards smell bad, try cleaning a gut-shot cottontail.

 

[cordex]

The odor (while slightly pungent) has never really bothered me all that much.

 

[Sunray]

"...I think I could handle it..." Sure, you can. Those frogs etc in Biology class smell far worse than a freshly killed animal. A freshly killed animal doesn't stink at all. Yep, field dressing is taking out the guts so the carcass cools faster and the rest of it doesn't get tainted. That would be extremely bad.
However, do not throw away the liver, heart, kidneys and sometimes the intestines. All of that is edible in camp and you can use the intestines to make sausages. Cleaned, of course. Pig intestines are the casing for most of the sausages you have for breakfast.

 

[dongun]

I recall as a kid, my dad would take me to deer camp. The guys were great, but didn't know a lot about proper meat handling. They hunted with dogs, and after chasing a deer for several miles, would shoot it, haul it to camp on the hot hood of a truck, and gutted it when they got around to it. My early memories of venison were of extremely strong flavored meat on the order of beef liver. It wasn't until my mom remarried after I was a teenager that my stepdad introduced me to the culinary delight of properly cared for deer meat. He was adament that the guts came out before you moved the deer and the hide came off as soon after that as possible - get the meat cooled down as quickly as possible.

I recall the first deer I gutted. My gorge came up several times, but I stuck it out. Now, border line old (who am I kidding, I'm full blown old), after many times being bloody up to my elbows and many wonderful meals later, field dressing doesn't bother me any more.

 

[twoblink]

Well..

Unless you are Chinese (like me) then you eat everything...



It's not that bad, I had to fielddress a deer with my friend's husband...

The worst part was probably "Hey, ok.. get the saw.. OK... do you want to hold the deer or do you want to saw the head off? I'll let you pick.."

Of course, I opted for sawing the head off... Why let him have all the fun??

 

[4v50 Gary]

Kcustom nails it. Specifically, remove the scent glands & colon. The intestines are also removed to promote cooling and prevent spoilage. Some of the insides are mighty good eating. I'm not much for cow liver but venison liver is yum yum. The heart is also good eating. The small instestines (cleaned out) may be eaten, but I'll pass. Being "green," it's good to share with creatures great & small so the buzzards, coyotes, flies & ants get their share too. The blood that soaks the soil fertilizes it. Nothing is wasted.

BTW, I used a Swiss Army Champion knife to gut one once. Wasn't easy either.

 

[MeekandMild]

IMHO field dressing may be overrated if you can get to somewhere reasonable to clean the deer within a 20 minutes or so of killing it. Personally, I like to hang up the deer and then remove its insides into a bucket which makes it easier to transport them to wherever you feed the buzzards.

Also I believe that leaving innards in the field might upset the other deer, "Eek! Look what they did to Bambi!"

 

[Dr.Rob]

I've been known to carry an aromatic cigar for "just in case" you get a particularly stinky dead animal.

Even a well placed shot can send bone or bullet fragments into the stomach.. and depending on what your deer has been eating that can smell pretty ripe.

 

[twoblink]

The one I had to fielddress had quite a bit of tomato and herbs for dinner (and the woman who shot it said.. "That's for eatin' my tomatoes!!")

Most of the innards aren't bad at all... unless you get the stomach blown.. then it's "How long can you hold your breath?"

Liver and Heart is excellent. Heart makes good coldcuts after you season it well.

 

[Smoke Rizen]

Define please

With the prevailence of CWD in some herds Wildlife officials are suggesting an alternate method of field dressing without opening the cavity at all. This does away with most of the smell and goo issue. I dressed an elk this way last season and was very pleased with the outcome. It basically is boning the animal around the diaphram membrane,down the spine, around the legs,and up the neck. You still have to open up at the flank,and at the front of the ribs, to get tenderloins, and backstraps, but this is done after all the other meat is removed. It will take some getting used to as it took me about 40 minutes to do a 15 min. job. But when you've finished, there's alot less weight to carry out,(about 45-60 lbs. of bone). You can even trim all the strips between the ribs so there's little waste. S.R.