What do you use for field dressing game?
08-30-2002, 10:13 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Tigard OR USA
Posts: 48
What do you use for field dressing game?
I've never dressed out a big game animal before so please forgive me if the following questions seem silly. What tools do you recommend for field dressing a deer? I'm assuming that I'll at least need some kind of hunting knife for gutting a deer and another (or the same?) for skinning. I've also seen knives advertised with a "gut hook". Presumably this is used to open the deer up without puncturing the intestines or the bladder. Does this device really work? Thanks.
08-30-2002, 10:58 PM
#2
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Victoria British Columbia Canada
Posts: 204
RE: What do you use for field dressing game?
My main "go to" item for everything from blacktails to moose is a small fixed blade knife made in Finnland. It has a fairly heavy ~2 1/2" long blade and a 4 1/2" handle. It fits nicely in my hand and I can put my finger over the point when I gut animals so the stomach, etc doesn't get punctured. It also works well for skinning and caping. I also carry a secondary knife that is a smaller fixed blade Buck Knife skinner.
I also carry a folding pruning saw for the pelvis and quartering/head removal.
I've never used a gut hook and because my knife works so well I doubt I will. Some guys love 'em, I don't see a need for it. Buy a good quality blade and don't get sucked into thinking that bigger is better.
RC
I also carry a folding pruning saw for the pelvis and quartering/head removal.
I've never used a gut hook and because my knife works so well I doubt I will. Some guys love 'em, I don't see a need for it. Buy a good quality blade and don't get sucked into thinking that bigger is better.
RC
08-30-2002, 11:13 PM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Montgomery IL USA
Posts: 1,231
RE: What do you use for field dressing game?
I've never used a gut hook. My favorite knife for dressing and skinning deer is a Shrade LB5. It's a folding lockblade that's about 2 3/4" long and has a chip point blade.
My best advice is to get a hold of a video by Larry Metz entitled "Processing Deer From Field to Table". I believe it's now a two video set available from Cabelas. He shows the easiest method for field dressing deer that I've seen.
In simplest terms...
1) "Core out" the anus. This frees the end of the intestinal tract.
2) Cut from reproductive organs to breastbone, using two fingers under the blade to keep from cutting the internal organs (very easy to do).
3) If you see something inside the deer near the pelvis that looks like a blackish water balloon...it's the bladder. Sometimes deer will empty this when they die, sometimes they won't. At the base of the bladder, nearest the pelvis, there will be a "tube". Pinch off this tube with your fingers, cut it away from the bladder, and get it out of there...FAR away.
4) Roll the deer on it's side.
5) Pull the intestine out of the anus and into the body cavity.
6) Gently pull out the intestines and stomach. There will be several areas of connective tissue under the spine. Some gentle pulling and minimal cutting with the knife will detach the tissue.
7) Cut and break through the diaphram (muscle wall separating the intestines from the thorasic cavity (heart/lung area). Use your hands and your knife around the edges of it to cut it away from the body cavity wall. If you got a perfect broadside double-lung passthrough, this is where it'll get very bloody very fast.
8) Reach up and grab the heart. It'll feel like a soft rock. Pull it out firmly. The lungs, or most of what's left of them, will come out attached to it.
9) Finish removing the entrails. They should come out in one big piece, with the exception of "lung froth" in the thorasic cavity, which will be in the pool of blood in the body cavity.
10) Reach up and cut the windpipe from the inside.
11) Lift the front end of the deer up and drain the blood out. It should run out the hole where the anus used to be. You can always roll the deer on it's belly and drain it that way too.
12) Get ready for some GOOD eating!
A word of caution...ALWAYS make sure that there is no broadhead or blades in the deer first. If there is...go slow and be VERY careful.
JRW
My best advice is to get a hold of a video by Larry Metz entitled "Processing Deer From Field to Table". I believe it's now a two video set available from Cabelas. He shows the easiest method for field dressing deer that I've seen.
In simplest terms...
1) "Core out" the anus. This frees the end of the intestinal tract.
2) Cut from reproductive organs to breastbone, using two fingers under the blade to keep from cutting the internal organs (very easy to do).
3) If you see something inside the deer near the pelvis that looks like a blackish water balloon...it's the bladder. Sometimes deer will empty this when they die, sometimes they won't. At the base of the bladder, nearest the pelvis, there will be a "tube". Pinch off this tube with your fingers, cut it away from the bladder, and get it out of there...FAR away.
4) Roll the deer on it's side.
5) Pull the intestine out of the anus and into the body cavity.
6) Gently pull out the intestines and stomach. There will be several areas of connective tissue under the spine. Some gentle pulling and minimal cutting with the knife will detach the tissue.
7) Cut and break through the diaphram (muscle wall separating the intestines from the thorasic cavity (heart/lung area). Use your hands and your knife around the edges of it to cut it away from the body cavity wall. If you got a perfect broadside double-lung passthrough, this is where it'll get very bloody very fast.
8) Reach up and grab the heart. It'll feel like a soft rock. Pull it out firmly. The lungs, or most of what's left of them, will come out attached to it.
9) Finish removing the entrails. They should come out in one big piece, with the exception of "lung froth" in the thorasic cavity, which will be in the pool of blood in the body cavity.
10) Reach up and cut the windpipe from the inside.
11) Lift the front end of the deer up and drain the blood out. It should run out the hole where the anus used to be. You can always roll the deer on it's belly and drain it that way too.
12) Get ready for some GOOD eating!
A word of caution...ALWAYS make sure that there is no broadhead or blades in the deer first. If there is...go slow and be VERY careful.
JRW
08-31-2002, 01:18 AM
#4
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Kilauea Hawaii Hawaii, USA
Posts: 155
RE: What do you use for field dressing game?
I just use a knife. Any sharp knife will do. For field dressing, the shorter, the better. Well not too short. I just mean to say, don't use a fillet knife. There really is no need for a saw of large knife to cut any bone while you are field dressing. Many people do it differently. I myself do not cut the pelis. I find that it reveals the meat to dirt.
Here is a good web site that shows how to do it:
http://www.angelfire.com/bc/canuck2/gutting.html
Here's how I do it.
1: Carve out the anus. You might want to have someone hold the back legs together and pull them forward bringing the anus up to you where it is easy to work on. You can also use rope and a tree to hold them up for you. With your left hand, pull the tail down and with a very sharp knife cut deep between the top of the anus and the base of the tail. Then cut a deep outline around the edge of the anus and work the intestine free from the inner pelvic wall. You want it loose enough so that when you pull on it, you can feel it ripping out. But be careful not to pull it out because you don't want any intestines coming out the butt. Once your done, let the legs down. Some people live to take off the penis first but there really isn't much need to.
2: Now you want to carefully make an incision far back on the belly close to the front of the pelic bone. You need to be carefull not to actually cut any of the intestines. Once you get through all the membrates and into the stomach cavity, the intestines will start to squeeze their way out because the body cavity is naturally compressed. They will be warm. As long as your arrow passed through the chest cavity and din't contact any guts or the liver, they should be clean and blood free. Next you need to cut up towards the chest. There are many ways to do this. And if you had a gut hook, this would be much easier because you could start from the top and just cut downwards with the hook. But so long as you don't have the hook, you need to just use the blade. I myself like to hold my hand up onto the back of the blade and place my index finger over the tip. The finger over the tip makes it so the tip doesn't catch on any of the guts. Then you can just run it up intill you hit the brisket. Another method is to inset two fingers and lift the skin up away from the guts and then cut between the two fingers with the knife until you hit the brisket. You do not need to cut the brisket.
3: By now you should be able to see the intestines, the stomach pouch, and the liver. There should be a layer of flesh restricting you from going any further. It is called the diaphram. Cut it out and you will find the chest cavity containing the lungs and heart and lots of coagulated blood. heach your knife up as far as you can into the chest cavity until you hit the front. Then reach your hand up into it. This is the part where many who are not careful badly cut themselves. So so grab the lungs and pull them and then cut them free from the esophogus or whatever it is. Once that is don't everything will rip right out.
4: Rip out the guts started with the lungs and heart. Everything will come right out with it. Then once only the intestine that runs through the pelvis is left, if cut out properly, you should be able to give it one hard yank forward to free it.
And that's basically how I field dress game.
Nic
Here is a good web site that shows how to do it:
http://www.angelfire.com/bc/canuck2/gutting.html
Here's how I do it.
1: Carve out the anus. You might want to have someone hold the back legs together and pull them forward bringing the anus up to you where it is easy to work on. You can also use rope and a tree to hold them up for you. With your left hand, pull the tail down and with a very sharp knife cut deep between the top of the anus and the base of the tail. Then cut a deep outline around the edge of the anus and work the intestine free from the inner pelvic wall. You want it loose enough so that when you pull on it, you can feel it ripping out. But be careful not to pull it out because you don't want any intestines coming out the butt. Once your done, let the legs down. Some people live to take off the penis first but there really isn't much need to.
2: Now you want to carefully make an incision far back on the belly close to the front of the pelic bone. You need to be carefull not to actually cut any of the intestines. Once you get through all the membrates and into the stomach cavity, the intestines will start to squeeze their way out because the body cavity is naturally compressed. They will be warm. As long as your arrow passed through the chest cavity and din't contact any guts or the liver, they should be clean and blood free. Next you need to cut up towards the chest. There are many ways to do this. And if you had a gut hook, this would be much easier because you could start from the top and just cut downwards with the hook. But so long as you don't have the hook, you need to just use the blade. I myself like to hold my hand up onto the back of the blade and place my index finger over the tip. The finger over the tip makes it so the tip doesn't catch on any of the guts. Then you can just run it up intill you hit the brisket. Another method is to inset two fingers and lift the skin up away from the guts and then cut between the two fingers with the knife until you hit the brisket. You do not need to cut the brisket.
3: By now you should be able to see the intestines, the stomach pouch, and the liver. There should be a layer of flesh restricting you from going any further. It is called the diaphram. Cut it out and you will find the chest cavity containing the lungs and heart and lots of coagulated blood. heach your knife up as far as you can into the chest cavity until you hit the front. Then reach your hand up into it. This is the part where many who are not careful badly cut themselves. So so grab the lungs and pull them and then cut them free from the esophogus or whatever it is. Once that is don't everything will rip right out.
4: Rip out the guts started with the lungs and heart. Everything will come right out with it. Then once only the intestine that runs through the pelvis is left, if cut out properly, you should be able to give it one hard yank forward to free it.
And that's basically how I field dress game.
Nic
08-31-2002, 04:25 AM
#5
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: egypt
Posts: 1,994
RE: What do you use for field dressing game?
a simple 3" gerber gator and a wyoming saw for cutting off the skull plate if need be. I usually leave my wy saw at base/spike camp and only cary my gerber. I do, on moose, carry a sharpening stone.
For deer, gut them, hang them and immediatly pull the hide off. You will need a knife in only a few areas. The colder the animal gets with the hide on, the tougher it will be to skin! This is what I have found to be the best way to keep hair off. From their you can let it hang if you so desire, we let it cool for a few hours, then we go to butchering. If its late, we do the butchering first thing in the morning. Colder, firmer meat is much easier to cut up then warm fresh off the hoof stuff (found that out the hard way!) We still cant tell what was my buck shot and hung over nite, or my doe, hung for a couple hours, and butchered immediatly.
A gut hook is a waist imo! You can do the same thing with your two fingers. That or their is a neat lil device that slips over the point of your knive. Much lighter, much cheaper, and yet you dont have a gut hook getting in the way when skinning/quartering/butchering/gutting your animal!
As I was taught, you'd be suprised what a sharp pocket knife can do. Its finding a small knive thats comfortable, and stays sharp! The helle polars are nice, I still prefer my gerber gator bar none! Might be a reason why their is almost one in every room in the house......
http://www.geocities.com/tradbow007/...dventures.html
For deer, gut them, hang them and immediatly pull the hide off. You will need a knife in only a few areas. The colder the animal gets with the hide on, the tougher it will be to skin! This is what I have found to be the best way to keep hair off. From their you can let it hang if you so desire, we let it cool for a few hours, then we go to butchering. If its late, we do the butchering first thing in the morning. Colder, firmer meat is much easier to cut up then warm fresh off the hoof stuff (found that out the hard way!) We still cant tell what was my buck shot and hung over nite, or my doe, hung for a couple hours, and butchered immediatly.
A gut hook is a waist imo! You can do the same thing with your two fingers. That or their is a neat lil device that slips over the point of your knive. Much lighter, much cheaper, and yet you dont have a gut hook getting in the way when skinning/quartering/butchering/gutting your animal!
As I was taught, you'd be suprised what a sharp pocket knife can do. Its finding a small knive thats comfortable, and stays sharp! The helle polars are nice, I still prefer my gerber gator bar none! Might be a reason why their is almost one in every room in the house......
http://www.geocities.com/tradbow007/...dventures.html
08-31-2002, 11:24 AM
#6
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: westport in USA
Posts: 282
RE: What do you use for field dressing game?
Identical to what JRW said, except I use an old Gerber folding knife, wear cheap "floor exam" rubber gloves, and tie the anus closed with a piece of string. I always carry a very small hatchet, and split the pelvis, and ribcage. It gets pretty hot and humid here during the early season, so I like to open them up to as much air flow as possible.
08-31-2002, 02:13 PM
#7
Spike
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Bloomingdale Ohio Ohio, USA
Posts: 49
RE: What do you use for field dressing game?
Same methods as outlined by JRW, Nic, & Lilhunter. All I use is a very sharp folding buck knife with a 3 inch blade. I have a friend at work that uses two sharp pen knifes! One for gutting the deer the other for removing the scent glands.