Big game hunting: What happens after you shoot it?
 

Can somebody detail for me the process leading from a freshly shot animal lying in the forest to a freshly cooked animal lying on your dinner plate?
How do you extract it from the location, when/where does the skinning and cleaning occur, etc.

What animal and where? Different states require different things that effect what you do.

At a high level:
- shoot it
- find it
- field dress it
- get it out of the woods
- butcher it
- cook it

The process is basically the same no matter whether your tablefare came from a commercial meat packing plant or from the forest floor.

Shoot, confirm its dead
Enviserate it, remove it from said forest floor
typically this involves either dragging or carrying...depending on distance and size of beast (bigger animals may have to be cut into smaller pieces or quartered)
remove hide, legs to the knees, head and all non edible parts
wash all remaining blood and hair from carcass
hang if you desire in a cool place
cut and wrap meat in portions appropriate for consumption
freeze
thaw
cook
eat

Shoot it...Tag it....Take pictures...Field dress it on the spot ( if acceptable )...remove it either to a game processor or to where it will be cut up...After skinning and cutting up or after getting meat from game processor, freeze it...thaw out before cooking and eating.

Really depends on the animal also. For example, when I kill an elk I don't field dress it. We remove each quarter, back straps, neck meat, and inside tender loins, and antlers if it is bull. The parts are packed out and hung for a few days. We then cut the muscle groups off the quarters, cut into steaks, package and freeze. Since a deer is much smaller than an elk (or moose or caribou), I may field dress it if I can get it out whole. If not I will do the same as the elk by taking it a part. Also you can remove the meat off the bone in the field to cut down on weight if need be.

HDMontana has it correct. But the game processor for my hunting group is the group. Everyone pitches in to get it done. To us it adds to the hunting experience.

Ditto Rob in VT!!! That's how we do elk and lately I have even been doing deer and antelope that way!

How do you get to the inside loins? Saw through the ribs?

you can youtube it.

but i usually just reach in after the hind quarters are off.

Thats good idea for cleaaning. I will do this.