Dumb field dressing questions

[campergeek]

I'm planning to deer hunt for the first time this year and am studying every reference I can find on field dressing. I've found that there are a few things not explained for beginners.

First, once you roll the guts out of the carcass, what do you do with them? Do you just leave them there for the carnivores? As a no-trace backpacker, that just seems wrong, potentially disgusting (if rotting precedes the coyotes) and inconsiderate of others who come through the area before the remnants are cleared. That leaves burying them or carrying them out. Carrying requires additional exertion to getting out of the woods, and once you get to your vehicle, then what? The final alternative is burying, but I've seen several hunters brag that all they really need in the woods is their gun and their knife. None have mentioned a portable shovel.

Am I thinking too much about this? What do you responsible hunters do?

Second, I have seen one reference that recommends hanging the deer head-up to bleed out for about an hour immediately after field dressing (before carrying out). I guess that would give time to bury the guts, but does anyone practice this? Other guides recommend that if you're sectioning the deer yourself you should hang it head-down so the blood doesn't taint the hindquarters - which would be contrary to the advice to bleed out head-up. Any thoughts?

I'm sorry if these are truly dumb questions. I'm getting started at this late in life, so am self-educating. If anyone wants to take this newbie along into the Missouri deer woods (or dove fields, or turkey woods, etc...), I'd be grateful for a mentor and the opportunity.

 

[gun-fucious]

mountain hagis

the foxes or the 'yotes or the skunks or the bears have dibs on every gut pile

bury it and they will unburry it

 

[stevelyn]

As the Outlaw Joesy Wales said, "The buzzards need to eat too".
Look at it this way, the deer or other game animal gives up it's life for you to live and in turn other creatures get to live also.

 

[dakotasin]

yep, the gutpile does not last long. 2 days, maybe three at the most. many piles are gone in just a few hours.

as far as hanging the deer- not sure that head-up/down is really that important... though i suspect head down is preferable. i think what is more important is getting it field-dressed and skinned in a hurry (do not skin it until after the drag... easiest to skin while they are hanging).

don't live in missouri, so can't help ya there...but i hunt the counties the missouri river borders on its pass thru here...

 

[mete]

Unless you want " strong and gamey " venison, you must dress out the deer IMMEDIATELY. Besides that will lower the drag out weight by about 25 %. And the guts will be taken care of by the bear/racoon/coyote/vulture etc. All you need is a sharp knife about 4" long. I hog dress ( everything comes out) rather than field dress. It might be easier to split the sternum and pelvis with a small saw. Don't bother hanging it after dressing out . When you get it home hanging it to butcher head up or down is your option

 

[Art Eatman]

A small buck, you can split the pelvis with a sharp knife--but be careful on the "RIP!" effort, so you don't hurt yourself. Larger bucks, I generally just tap the back of the knife blade with a rock.

Ripping through the sternum and on up the neck to remove the windpipe is pretty easy...

Critters clean up the gutpile pretty quick. I've rarely seen anything left after a day or so, if passing "the scene of the crime"...

For me, skinning a deer seems easier if I hang him by his horns. I guess it's nothing more than what one is used to. It's really, really fast if you have some help to pull on the hide, while you're working with your knife.

Art

 

[Mr. Chitlin]

We have never had a gut pile to last more than one night. If I field dress a deer in the morn, the crows are dining by lunch. If in the evening, the night critters have it taken care of by the next morning. Nothing left but a little bloody grass, and very little of that. They will just about lick teh ground clean.

 

[Keith]

Nature is an interdependent system. Therefore, removing that gut pile from the food chain is actually an interruption of the system. A dozen animals will feed on that pile and their droppings will feed the plants that the deer need to eat.
In a truly natural system, your own droppings from eating the rest of that deer would also contribute.

Keith

 

[Andrew Wyatt]

Unless you want " strong and gamey " venison, you must dress out the deer IMMEDIATELY.

We've never had a problem with gamey venison here at the wyatt house, because we remove the membrane that covers the meat.

 

[Keith]

"Gamey" meat isn't caused by failure to field dress immediately or by failing to remove a membrane or by what the critter is eating or any of the other standard explanations.

That gamey taste comes from the oil on the exterior of the hide - or, in the case of a rutting buck; the oils and URINE on the hide!

If you grab the hide with your hands and then later touch the meat (without washing your hands), you will have gamey meat. If you hang the deer and squirt it with a hose to "clean" it with the hide still on (as I've seen many people do) you will also have a lot of that nasty stuff running into the interior and getting on your meat.

You wouldn't let your dog roll in a pile of meat, so don't let the deer hide come into contact with your meat - and the average dog is bathed more often than the average game animal!

Think of getting the hide off and butchering the meat as two distinct operations. Get the hide off without handling the meat (as much as possible). When you get the hide off, wash your hands and any knives you used in the operation - and this would be the time to use that hose to get any hair or dried blood off the hanging deer, if you choose. Any place you see hair is "flavored".

And as has been pointed out here - hanging game animals doesn't improve or tenderize the meat in any way. The longer it hangs, the longer those oils and "flavors" from the hide have to impregnate the meat.

If you butcher a deer quickly and cleanly, it will have no "gamey" flavor whatsoever.

Keith

 

[mete]

Refering to the scientific studies by the USDA - the most important thing is to rapidly cool the carcass- this is done by immediately dressing out the deer. They make no reference to the membrane. Aging of meat ( in a proper temperature and humidity controlled cooler) tenderizes and changes the flavor somewhat because of enzymes . However freezing has the same tenderizing effect as 5 days aging. The typical "aging " of meat done by the hunter outside does this ; alternating freezing and thawing or holding meat above 40F rapidly spoils the meat, oils in the hide become rancid and along with scent glands (especially on the back legs) penetrate into the meat, hung in the garage the wonderfull flavors of gas and oil are added. I usually get my deer in the morning, it's immediately dressed out and brought home ( I live nearby) , hung, skinned washed down. As soon as the carcass is cool I butcher it and thow it into the freezer.From the time I shoot to the time it's in the freezer it's always less than 12 hours. Mine is never strong and gamey. But I'm always amazed at how many people eat spoiled meat and think that it's what venison should taste like.

 

[Art Eatman]

I've watched guys cut the scent glands off the hocks, then gut the deer, and then skin it--all without ever cleaning that one knife. During the skinning, they'll handle the body of the deer without having cleaned their hands from the earlier actions...

Duh?

Art

 

[stevelyn]

As soon as you get the carcass to where you are going to process it get the hide off, quarter it and get the quarters into cheese cloth game bags to protect them.
Depending on the size of the animal you may want to cut down along the bone to speed cooling. Spoilage or souring is most likely to occur first next to the bone where muscle mass is thickest.

 

[zahc]

To bury a gutpile is to waste it.

 

[Newt]

"Buzzards gotta eat same as the worms." The gutpile won't stay there for long. Something will have it ate. We've always hung 'em up by the horns. I went north to hunt one year and they hung 'em by the feet. I don't think it matters much either way. It's just whichever you prefer.

Newt

 

[TallPine]

campergeek:

You DO take a plastic container into to the woods with you to urinate into don't you ...?

 

[Andrew Wyatt]

"Gamey" meat isn't caused by failure to field dress immediately or by failing to remove a membrane

When we first heard about removing the membrane, we made identical dishes, one with the membrane removed, and one with it left on from the same deer. one dish was gamey, the other not.


I do a gree with you about the importance of sanitary cleaning, though.

 

[Ol' Badger]

Well if its your 1st Deer hunt, You'll need the guts! Your buddy's hold you upside down and dunk you in the guts head first. Hey, its tradition man!

 

[Keith]

When we first heard about removing the membrane, we made identical dishes, one with the membrane removed, and one with it left on from the same deer. one dish was gamey, the other not.

The outer membrane on the meat was probably tainted by contact with the hide - or your hands which had contacted the hide. Removing it removed the nasty stuff.

Easier to just avoid that contact in the first place.

Keith