field dressing. useful link

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Guys,
check out this link.

http://www.bestpracticeguides.org.uk/carcass_gralloch.aspx

it describes very well how we go about gralloching our deer in the uk. the technique shown is clean, easy and pretty quick. this is how i do my animals.

i hope it is useful

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[heeler]

I am a little confused as to why they are saying to cut the aorta to release blood into the chest cavity.
Do U.K. hunters make a practice of using neck or head shots??
The reason I ask this is because once you shoot a deer behind the shoulder with your typical centerfire deer rifle you generally obliterate the lungs and many times with it the heart and once you open the deer up what you have in the chest cavity is a soupy mess that after you open up the chest cavity just lay the deer on it's side and basically poor it out.
Now on the other hand a neck shot which does not destroy the heart or lungs results in the deer retaining most of it's blood and so bleeding it at that point I can see.
I Myself do not neck or head shoot deer.

 

[desidog]

That site is well done; but is there any mention of gland removal? If so i missed it; but otherwise quite informative. I'm also interested in the artery cutting question above...

I stick to heart/lung when i can, which jellies the contents of the chest cavity. However, despite the way slaughterhouses do it, the only deer i ever head-shot was almost inedible, quite rubbery....but it was a shot from the back into the brain-base and DRT.

 

[heeler]

Desidog are you talking about the hock glands by chance?
During the rut since the buck is constantly pissing down on them I always remove them with a small sharp pocket knife before field dressing the deer.

 

[desidog]

Desidog are you talking about the hock glands by chance?

Yes, the tarsal glands just below the hock. It's the dark patch of longer hair, that the buck pees on, the surface area helping him spread his musk. You definitely don't want to get that on your hands and then handle the meat. Contamination is no laughing matter. Much like you don't want to get any brain or spinal fluid in contact with the meat at any time.

It's nice knowing where it's been from the hoof to the plate, unlike a fast food burger.

 

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ok, we don't look at them glands too hard, they come off when we fully larder the deer with the lower leg, this is before butchery. as for the aorta cut, i always open up the front of the chest and pump out the blood even if it is chest shot. i also have shot lots of deer with a centrefire rifle, some in the chest some in the neck. i always do this to bleed as well as possible. I take some rope with me and if it is a small enough deer i hang it in a tree to bleed out for half an hour before gralloching, if it is heavily chest shot and i open up the hole at the front of the chest properly and fairly quickly a good proportion of the blood and clots just drop out, making the subsequent gralloch cleaner.

we tend to gralloch in the field then larder, (take off the legs remove red offal and head etc) back at home or in the deer larder leaving the deer to hang for a while prior to skinning.

I try to do a really good job as i view the finished carcass as a product. some go to my freezer some to butchers and dealers.

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