Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

I know some of you guys have your meat butchered (I do)....and I know some of you can probably take it there, un-skinned......Heck...some of you might can take it there, whole (not field dressed).

Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory to at least field dress and skin your deer, though???,.....lol :D

I swear itwould takesomething away from the experience, if I didnt get to do this.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

LOL...anybody that doesn't field dress their deer (or at least have their wife do it, if they don't know how:D)unless under some highly unusual and infrequent circumstance is a complete idiot. This is basic stuff.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

my dad has always had a simple rule, you kill it, you clean it... literally ALL of the butchers around here won't take a deer thats not field dressed... most will take it with the hide still on... but they charge extra if you wanna keep the hide... no big deal i guess...

I'd agree on the field dressing part... but that's what i was raised with... i won't even help someone else clean a deer unless they are a newbie, then i'll only "supervise" the procedure... imho, like you, if you can't handle cleaning it, you shouldn't be out there hunting it...

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

i killed my 11th deer this past weekend. ive skinned tons of OTHER peoples deer, but never my own. he was the first one i skinned of my own. only reason i did it was because the temps were boarderline. we were going to skin and quarter it and throw it in the fridge, but once the hide was off, he was cold and the weather got alot colder.

dad used to do it ALL himself. but got out of it before i started hunting. he loves his smoked meats and sausage and all that..says its easier to have it done than do it ourselves. just the way i was taught.

down the road i really see myself doing it all myself. but right now, dad wants his sausage and kilbasa! lol...

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

Depends..at camp we have/can do it ourself. At home..nah don't want the mess at home. My butcher is right up the road he only does it for a few select people and he is by far the best!

Of course we field dress them.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

Hell my doe I brought home, other than Matt gutting it (THANK YOU Matt), I hung her up, skinned her, quartered her, deboned her, freezer bagged her and she's in the freezer waiting for my buck and then off to the butcher for bologna.

You know it's good Jeff. :D I'll be sure to have some thawed when you come up next week. Between you, Lisa, Matt, Kurt, Jenny and I we'll eat it up.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

Wow, I would be shocked if a butcher even took one that wasn't gutted. Talk about unsanitary! Plus, if I gut it myself, I at least know what happened in there, ie: popping gut bag, bladder, anything like that, which doesn't usually happen, but at least I know if it does.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

I have never skinned a deer. I have feild dressed my own deer since my first & I have done buddys deer. Definatly something I hope to learn once I get my next deer

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

Raise your hand if GMMAT has too much time on his hands[8D] lol. Seriously, I skin, quarter, and usually debone, my deer and cut , wrap, and vacumm seal my own so I am ready to go. I try to keep it pretty self sufficient.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

Kidd....in another thread people were taling about how they had to take it (what condition) to have it butchered. That's what got me to thinking about this.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

What gets me thinking about it too Jeff is how some people describe the anatomy of a whitetail. I know immediately they've either never processed one or simply didn't pay attention whent they did. Especially when it comes to the front shoulder etc...

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

I heard from Rob you were a deep thinker......Socrates deepman we will have fun in Wyoming[8D]

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

Brings up a good point, Rob. I usually don't......but I think the next doe I take...I might slice her all the way up (I usually stop at the sternum when field dressing and pull the vitals out)and see the vitals in a more natural state (albeit DEAD). I've never done that.....and the positioning of said vitals would be easier to see if I did.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

here's another question, maybe worthy of a poll...

do you gut where it drops?
take it to a barn/garage and hoist it?
if you hoist in the barn do you do it head up or head down??

personally, i'm more of the gut it where it drops camp... unless the barn is nearby...

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

I do the whole process. Field dress, skin, and quarter. Then the wife gets involved and we cut it up depending on our mood at the time. I love making sausage, though. We make a lot of minute steaks, too. Just easier to make meals with our schedule.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

Yeah but if you "deep" thinkers are sitting around the evening fireand the obligatory, relaxing, adult beverage, becomes3 or 4..please leave the laptops at home..Those of usminding the board in your absence,beg you!

Don't let GMMAT drink and post! ;)

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

I grew up a city boy, and although my dad deer hunted we never skinned or processed our own deer. Of course, we gut them on the spot where they died.

We've always paid the deer processor to skin, process, and package our meat. I don't have the right facilities, tools, or equipment to process my own deer. I drop off my deer whole (gutted) and pick it up the next day packaged and labeled like something you'd see in a grocery store. Costs $60. It's SO convenient and money well spent IMO.

If I killed more than 2 or 3 a year I'd probably process my own for the sake of my wallet....

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

I do my own, but if I used a processor I would at least field dress it.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

GMMAT, when you do this you will have a whole new appreciation for how tough these whitetails are.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

I think everyone should butcher their own deer. It is just an enjoyable thing to do, and it costs about as much as 3 trips to the butcher to get everything you need to do it right.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

My thoughts?:D Well, this pretty much sums it up for me. This is my youngest boy at 10 years old with his first deer. I would show him on one side, he would do the other.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

Critr, that's interesting how you hunt it by the hooves. I skin it out around the tarsal on the ground, cut the bottom of the legs off and hang them by the Achilles Tendon and leg at the tarsal. In your situation it would get the deer higher off the gound but it looks like your on some sort of hoist and that might not be an issue.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

I do it the same way as shown. Any higher and the deer will "Swing" as you're working with it. Leaving it that low allows the head and neck to act as "anchors" of sorts.

Whoa! I just looked, again.....wrong tendon!... I go to the next one up on the leg to insert my gambrel hooks.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

Jeff, I'll show you when your up here and down that bruiser.;)

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

When i used to butcher meat for a living we always had it mandatory, if its not cleaned, its not cut, field dress your deer before dropping it off.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

Rob, I do have a hoist, and we raise the deer as we skin it down. The young-un works closer to the ground than I do, hence the reason for hanging it from the hooves. If it were me I would hang it the same place you do. It was a little deer anyways, pretty easy to get it too high for him.

As a side note to the whole skinning/butchering thing, I think it is a great learning tool for kids on gun safety. I used to have to get onto the kids about muzzle control, that is untill they helped Grampa clean a doe he busted with his 25-06. It made a real impression, both of them are 10 times as safe as they used to be. They realize now that it ain't like T.V., where you get to go to the hospital and get fixed up. You can't fix dead, and that is what you will be if you goof up with a high powered rifle.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

PreacherTony <-----------Hand in air [8D]


Now THAT is hilarious!!! :D:D

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

NICE idea!!! gonna try that with my oldest this year when we go to clean one that we take...

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

If you cant feild dress your animal you should not be hunting. Butchers will not take deer around here that are not feild dressed.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

Why? I don't have to field dress minebecause I live about 15 minutes from the processor. They'll gut it, skin it, cape it or whatever I want and it isn't an extra charge. It's my meat, guaranteed. They're trustworthy and do a great job. I chose and will choose to again not because I can't, but because I don't have to. For what reason would someone need to be classified as a complete idiot for not field dressing by choice?

Those who think it takes away from the experience are completely within the realm of choice. It may take away from their experience, but not mine. I clean my own fish and steaked and fileted huge sharks, king macks, grouper, snapper and amberjacks filled with worms. I'm not missing anything in deer guts that I haven't seen before. I'm not missing anything.

Inmy experience, those whojudge the choices of others on such trivial matters tend to bethe complete idiots.Why be so close-minded and judgemental?To say it take away from YOUR experiencemakessense to me. To call someone a "complete idiot" over it tells me exactly what kind of hunter and person you probably are.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

I've never brought a single deer to a butcher!! It's so easy once you learn how!!

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

I know of a butcher down in southwest georgia that prefers you bring the deer in not field dressed. I'm not exactly sure what he does with the insides but he does make one hell of a deer sausage! (jk) My guess is he either coyote hunts with the entrails or has a pig farm. Either way sometimes it is just nice just to drop off your deer and pick up some deer meat a few weeks later.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

We do most of our deer ourselves now, and only send a few pounds away to be processed. However we butcher it down and wrap it ourselves the day after it is killed.

The first deer I ever shot me and my dad tracked her and found her about an hour after dark. My dad then handed me a knife and said get to work. He stood over my shoulder as I started cutting through telling me what was what and where to go next.. It was that night I learned just how bad a deers stomach smells when punctured by a knife.[:'(]

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

To answer your question, NO! I don't think it should be mandatory. I always field dress my deer, except the last one I got - last year. A friend was with me who always brags about how fast and good he is at dressing out a deer, so I watched. Honestly, he did it exactly how I do it, so nothing learned there. J

If I’m hunting with you and you get one and are timid about field dressing, stand back. I’ll gut it for you. It’s really not that big a deal. I’ve only skinned one. Most time I take it to a butcher hide on.

I would never even drag the thing in until after field dress. I have heard of guys doing this, but to me, the sooner you get those guts out and the meat cooling, the better.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

I have field dressed and butchered my own deer since the time I shot my first. MY friend always has and showed me how. Ive shot 14 deer in the 3 season Ive been hunting and did all the work. Hell, thats 1100 dollars right there I saved . Pays for 1/3 of my Illinois trip this year.
As far as it being mandatory. I feel everyone should atleast filed dress there own deer, hence the term "field dress"!

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

We do it all ourselves, de-boned, cling wrap, then freezer paper.
Most processing places will charge you 10.00 more if its already skined!
The year my Wife did deer processing, we made an extra 800.oo on skins alone!

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

I went back and re-read the original question, and maybe I should clarify my answer. I don't think that you should have to EVERY time, but I think you should have at least field dressed and skinned one a couple of times if you have killed very many deer. I believe you should be operating from a practical knowledge base and not a theoretical one, i.e. I read a book or something. Occasionally I will take a deer to the locker plant if it is late or I don't have much time, but it is always field dressed, and most of the time we butcher our own. I just feel it is a natural part of the process, and that is the way we do it. Just my opinion though, no big deal. My boys know without a doubt that meat comes from a living creature and not the grocery store.;) Nothing like watching a couple of boys poking around in deer guts saying "What's that?" or "Check this out!"

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

Jeff - just out of curiosity, why do you send your deer to have butchered after you've hung it and skinned it? Why do you choose to not go ahead and finish butchering it yourself? It's hanging there skinned. Doesnt' take much more to debone it and cut the meat how you want. Maybe it's common elsewhere. I just never heard of someone skinning the deer and sending it to the butcher. May as well just send the whole thing.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

That's how you catch fish. Tear open the stomach, find out what the one you caught has been eating and use that bait. My son loves to open 'em up. He also loves to take out the eyeballs,cut them open and keep the "crystal." If you let the little round sac dry out it looks like a piece of candy, something to save.

RE: Dontcha think it ought to be mandatory?
 

First deer I ever killed....I had a buddy on stand-by with his grinder and vacuum sealer. It took us THREE HOURS to finish the project. Nowadays....I field dress in the woodlot above my house.......come back to my shed......hang it, skin it, quarter it and put it on ice in a cooler. I leave the cooler to sit for 5-6 days (draining water and adding ice bags, as needed) and take it to my butcher. He charges me $30 to package it in vacuum sealed bags (Backstraps, inner TL's and roast if I want) and puts my burgerand sausage in tubes.

I spent a good three hours the first time I did it on my own.....including a clean up job that I just don't care to go through again. Not if I can alleviate the need for $30.

It's not worth it, to me, to do it myself.