Do you dress your small game in the field?

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I dress small game in the field. Why would I want all the internals to stink up my trash can :scrutiny: or throw in the woulds to attract other animals :uhoh: not to mention my own mutts/cats who would just love to drag those parts around the yard.:barf:
 
in the field. i have roommates who would be pretty upset if i did it in the kitchen.

small game is so fast to dress and clean, you might as well do it in the field, as to not mess up your kitchen or backyard. take the meat and leave the rest for the scavengers.

as with all field dressing, don't do it next to a road and don't leave a mess. throw the guts into the brush and let nature take care of it.
 
I used to, when I hunted rabbits and squirrels as a kid. The sooner you field-dress a grey squirrel, the better the meat tastes. I never did find a way to make rabbit meat taste good!

Now I only hunt birds. I field dress quail, but age pheasant and chukar.
 
field dress, taking home is just nasty (guts in the garbage attract skunks, possums, and cats), not to mention a quick way to p.o. the sig-other (or mother) is gutting a bunny on her kitchen counter. Leaving the guts out in the field is a great way to know where to hunt coyotes too.:D I hunt jacks with my SKS or my mauser long range. I don't want to risk nasties oozing internally 'til I get home. A bunny hit with a 7.62x39 at 10 yards goes down hard. I hit one in the hind leg and the shock killed it, if you get a good hit and not a graze (bad hunting practice) they go down quick. And yes I'm getting a shotgun sooner or later.
 
Yes. The sooner I remove the internals the better. Also, skin or pull the breasts (doves, quail) shortly after and into an icebox. The heat will cook anything out here if left too long;)
 
The most important thing to maintain the quality of the meat is to dress it out immediately so as to cool the carcass quickly. Skinning in the field is not so important but skin it as soon as you get home.
 
Yup, Thanks! I've seen some coyote sign around, so the field it is. :D

BTW, they used to serve us chicken fried rabbit in the service. Took me a couple years to figure out it wasn't chicken. I was wondering why the chicken had such funny looking bones. LOL...

Do you carry scissors to cut the esophagus? I used to gut chickens for a living. That's how we did it.
 
I carry a small 2" folder that I keep razor sharp, and a larger 5" buck knife that I always try to carry, just incase I lose or break the small one.
 
I used to do it at home, in the basement near the chest freezer...

I say "used to" because one cottontail I bought home was absolutely covered in fleas, and once I started skinning and cleaning, they were everywhere on the newspaper and basement floor. Yikes! :eek:
 
Depends on how long I will be out. If its a morning hunt, and I will be home in an hour or two, I may field dress, and take them home (in a cooler with ice) and skin them there. If I am going to be out all day, I will dress and skin them, put them in baggies, and ice them down.
 
Got me a bottle of water freezing right now with that idea in mind. Dress them and skin them on the spot then put them in a baggie and put that with the ice water bottle and all wrapped up in a kitchen sized garbage bag. I HAD wondered about fleas and ticks too, thanks for bringing that up. Another good reason to do it outside.
 
don't use the trashbags, they wern't designed to keep food safe and many are treated with chemicals that you don't want on your food. Buy somve ziplock bags they have up to 2 gallon size IIRC.
 
I dress them in the field. I'm usually out there too long to want them sitting around undressed. I use a soft insulated soft drink carrier with a shoulder strap as a game bag. I put a couple freezer packs in it to keep them cold. Dress them out and toss them in. They're as good as refrigerated within a few minutes of being shot. Keeps them very fresh this way.
 
Gotcha on the trash bags, I plan to put them in a gallon baggie and then wrap them and the frozen water bottle up in the GB for insulation, however I DO like the small soft drink cooler idea better. There's GOT to be one of those around here somewhere. Just got the leased land permit for tomorrow so I'm goin' huntin'! I get to test out the new to me old Savage .22/.410, it's such a sweet little gun, I can't wait!! :D
 
My misread. That's fine with a barrier, I've just heard too often of someone transporting their venison in a garbage bag. When I'm in the desert the ice is a must, and skinning is better done in the field though I have left it til at home out of laziness. Didn't seam to affect the meat, but fleas are a concern.
 
Back when I hunted squirrels as a boy if it was cold I would wait til I got home to clean them.
 
Yes.:D


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The garbage bag thing does remind me of another job I had once. Popping popcorn. Yes, I've done it all. We used to pop 50 lbs once a week and store it in big garbage bags. Like the Glad kind. Enjoy your popcorn next time at the movies. :p

I'm pretty sure I'd be in deep doo doo if I brought a nice flea infestation upon the house of mrs 280. We don't want no part of that. Believe me. :D
 
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