Jeff,
Give us your thoughts on the complete experience when you have shot 50 or so. Sure I gut all my deer but I leave the skin on when I take it to the butcher. Reason being is that we need to drive ona lotof dirt roads. Leaving the skin on helps protect the meat from all the dust. So everyone has a different situation.Do I know how to skin a deer? Yes. Is my experience not complete if I don't skin it myself? Ummm no!

Darrall

It may very well change when I've shot 50, Darrall. Granted.

I didn't post this to say anyone who doesn't field dress and butcher their deer was less of a hunter. I admit I SHOULD have said it would take something away from the experience, for me. I apologize for not getting that point across, sooner.

I know guys who won't shoot a deer.....because they don't want to field dress it. A lot of people grow up with the mantra of "You kill it....you clean it". I don't think that's all bad. I told my son this when he was wanting to shoot squirrels with his bow. He killed exactly one. I just didn't want him learning he could kill.....for the sake of killing.

My mind's changed here all the time. I can see how it wouldn't be a big part of the experience....if someone had been through it a lot of times. I think it helps, though....especially when one is just starting out.

around here it is nont law to gut it before you take it in but i am told that it might be the law to gut it before you check it in but not sure

i was going to have the butcher gut it for me

i thought that since ihave not done it it would me more time to do it then it would to just drive back home and two blocks to the butcher.

But i plan to butcher my own now so i will do it my self

and most of the butchers around will gut it but do not recommend it or tell everyone they will

Amen to Sevenmag, I work part time at a butcher shop and sevenmags saying hits the nail on the head. I've seen and don't take offense to this but, I've have seen to many city folks who will bring a deer in not field dressed or skinned. Now we do skin the deer brought in but there is a charge for doing it. ( $30.00 or $35.00 for a head mount). YOU KILL IT YOU CLEAN IT!!!!!!!!

Jeff,
I didn't say it wasn't a good idea to know how to do it. Believe me I think it is. In fact it should be a law.It really pisses me off when you go by the butcher shop first weekend ofgun season and all these deer not field dressed have been dropped off. Just gives you the feeling that they just used a friends gun so they could go hunting with the boys. And could really care less about the kill other then to brag to there friends.People like this shouldn't be allowed to hunt.

Darrall

I know where you're coming from, there are hunters and there are people who think there hunters and that's what crawls me. You here these guys who say that shot this deer running full speed and he emptied his clip and had to reload to finish the deer off. What kind of hunter is that? SORRY, but I believe in fair chase, be sure of your shot. These so called hunters not only take a chance of wounding a deer but jeoperdize other hunters in the field with there so called great shot(empty a clip). Some may need to go back to hunter safety course.

I understand. I just thought that perhaps if you were embarrassed because you didn't know how, you may claim it's by choice.

I understand. Just like most kids today know when they have their pants on backwards, still they may choose to keep them that way in orderto prove their ignorance

Never said he was my Idol. Where's that sharp sword of reading comprehension you so readily brandish??

I don't. YOU were the one that initially responded to my post, not the other way 'round. I personally know that the world is FULL of people that don't know how to act. Doesn't bother me. I find it more amusing than anything. Sometimes unbelievable (although that bespeaks of my own occasional naivete about the thought process of seemingly ordinary people)

Why do you care what I think??


AHH, then I guess it shouldn't matter if you try to shoot a deer in the head with your bow, or hunt in a one acre pen or anything else, right??

Many would even state that it matters to them if you walk into a 7-11 with blood on your pants or leave your tailgate down so that the general public could happen to see your kill.

But they're all wrong eh?

No one should be concerned with what anyone else does,right??

The ol' "I'm OK, you're OK"

I feel that neither is ethical myself. But yet, should you choose do them I will not call you a complete idiot. In the end, neither applies to gutting or skinning a deer after you kill it.

We don't have 7-11s, but it's been done many times at the Pantry or Food Lion, just not by me.The "If it's brown it's down" crowd hangs the legs through the cable supports on either side of the tailgate withthe deer laying on it whiledriving down the road to show it off. Is it necessary to put a dead animal in everyone's elses face? No, and I don't support it.

I notice you pull from context only part of thequote. Why is that? I made sure I said that the "traditions" of some hunters are things that I consider disrepectful. But, you didn't see me call them names or criticize them for doing it. Why is that? Because it's part of their experience that they may need to fully enjoy the hunt. I don't need these things. Nor do I need to cut around the anus, pinch it off, split the gut, reach up inside and cut the windpipe, drag out guys and bury them, hang a deer and skin it.....I don't need those, and there are others who don't either.

If you really want a list of complete idiots, I'll be more than happy to send you one. But, I'd be willing to bet a few of them would hit you or others on here right on the mark, as well I may be on someone else's list. But, nothing gets accomplished when A criticizes B. Would I ever pay thousands of dollars to go on a hunt with an outfitter? I don't think so. I fact, if I can't find it and kill it myself I don't see the point in bothering. But, you won't hear me calling someone else a name for doing so. Put the efforts and concerns to better uses such as ethical kills, smart shots and helping others harvest an animal, rather than worrying about what they do between the shot and the table.

Ive never let anyone leave my land with out field dressing. Just as you said, it wouldnt be right. Besides, i live in Texas and it is usually hot or will get hot later in the day, its much better to pack the body cavity with ice when you transport it.