RobertSubnet

Greetings all, first time poster.

Hopefully I will be deer hunting this fall and it will be my first time. I was hoping some kind souls would be willing to share some information with a beginner.

A little about myself:
1. I am a fairly capable woodsman. I can read a topo and use a magnetic compass. Don't own a GPS.
2. I own a truck and plan on getting a camper top for the hunt.
3. I am a reasonable marksman. While not a Marine sniper, I am pretty capable with my rifles. I plan on using the 30-06 (scoped). And if I can swing it in time a 50 cal flintlock muzzleloader for primative weapon season. I know where the heart and lungs are-and so know about where to aim.

Some of my questions have to do with field dressing and drag out:
1. Do people butcher at their campsite or wait till they get home? Or use a professional butcher?
2. What techniques do people use to make the drag-out easier? (I don't own an ATV)
3. Should I get some sort of block and line to suspend the animal to drain the blood?
4. What other tools should I have for field dressing? I would think a good hunting knife, a saw and some rubber gloves (!)
5. What sort of physical condition should I be in? I'm 39. I work as an IT geek sitting on my butt most of the day.Hunting is a sport. Should I have the cardio stamina of a marathon runner?
6. How fast do I need to get the animal on ice? Should I bring along a couple of chests with dry ice?

I've read some great posts about location and pre-hunt scouting. I will most likely be going alone, so this is part of the reason why I have so many questions. I want to do this right andnot waste one of God's creatures due to my screwing up.

Thank you all for comments. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
~Robert

cardeer

Robert Hi. Where will you be hunting ??? How far off the beaten track ?? All your questions depends how far from home you are hunting. Dont make hunting a chore. I hunt within 5 road hours of home at the most,A knife for gutting is all I use. When I was healthy I just pulled the deer out with my muscle. Unless it is lover 50 degrees and your heading home I see no need for ice. ATV ?? better be on your own property. Around here if your using a ATV on someone elses or Gamelands your in trouble.Big fines.

tocs

Hi Robert,
Welcome! I appreciate your concern for wanting to do things in the right manner.As Cardeer said a lot depends upon how close to home you are after the taking of a deer.Also the air temperature has a lot to do with how quickly you need to process the venison.It would be good for you to watch someone skin,and breakdown and bone out a deer unless you have experience with these things with other animals.I am a big advocate of getting a deer hung and skinned as quickly as possible after the kill.The skinning is a lot easier and the meat cools down a whole lot quicker with the skin off the animal.A gambrel and pulley system is definitely a good idea especially if there are not other people around to help you.
As it relates to physical condition,you don't have to be in marathoner condition,but the better your fitness level the longer and harder you will be able to hunt and the less apt you are to be fatigued at the end of the day.Dragging is not my idea of fun,unless you have a down hill drag on snow it certainly can be hard work.Having a game cart in camp makes that task a whole lot more pleasant.Make sure you can find your animal by use of flagging or by taking a gps reading,if you are in an area with predators put a clothing item on the animal to keep them away from it while you go get the cart.If it may snow put the flagging(orange tape) high enough so it can't be covered by a deep snow.
Good luck to you! You are about to embark on some awesome stuff,a great past time!!

FlDeerman

First off learn to relax and have fun,I wish I had done that when I first started hunting.As for your first question,all the above.For me it depends on how much longer I'm going to be there weather I take it to a butcher or not.If not we debone it there in camp and put it on ice(I live in Florida).To help you drag out the deer the plastic deer drags do work($19)try it.We don't get a lot of snow so........As to what kind of shape to get in,try putting some weight in a back-pack and walking around with it,works for me.Last HAVE FUN!!!

TURKEY FAN

Wow! alot of questions thats for sure. I can answer all of them. BUT................There comes a time in a hunter's life when he just figures these things out on his own and what works best for him/her. This will take many years to perfect, i know, i have perfected what works for me. It sounds like your making this deer hunting alot harder than what it should be, and i know you want to do the right thing and thats great. Your biggest concern should be your health, how you get the deer out, and if your going to process it yourself or take it to the butcher. I recommend you should do cardio, with some weight training, draggin a deer is hard work on your heart. Focus on your back, legs, and forearms.Hunting with a 30/30scoped, sounds like you might be covering some land and have a way to go to get the deer in the truck. If you never processed your own deer or dont have the space or tools, take it to the butcher, its alot less headache......trust me. I enjoy cutting my own meat, but sometimes its alot easier to just drop it off and go take a nap!........You will work out the details on your own, trust me.

bspencer

one word of advice for a new hunter.................. Patience!......

Rebel Hog

Robert, I don't know how the weather is where you plan to hunt.
[ol][*]gut in the field and skin, bucther in camp[*]Some people use a piece of canvas to drag out[*]Not really[*]Knife with gut hook and if you want use disposeable gloves[*]Reasonable condition[*]Depending on how long you are going to stay. [/ol]

livbucks

I take mine to the butcher. I gut it and that is it. The butcher skins it and everything. Worth every penny, especially if you are married

I use a deer cart in the big woods. In suburbia I drag it to the road, (not far)
Shooting big bucks helps some. They have big handles.

When I get it to camp, or home, I throw a rope in a tree and pull on the end while lifting the deer with my other hand under it's armpit. They usually go up easy enough.

Some folks cut the legs off and the entire ribcage out by skinning the back and sawing the spine in front of the hindquarter and behind the shoulder and eliminating alot of weight to cart out, but that's only in very remote areas.
Get some good rope and a deer cart.

I'm 39 too. Walk up and down hills in the evenings. Do some pull ups, sit ups. A little weight training wouldn't hurt. A little every day is what works. The trick is build up stamina, not necessarily brute strength. Slow and steady wins the race in hunting.

If hunting in temps above 50 degrees, get it to the butcher quick or pack in ice if possible. If cold out and snowing, no hurry.

Welcome to the boards, good luck, take it slow, put fun in front of expectation, tell people where you are going and when you'll be back, carry a cell phone for emergencies when hunting alone. If you get one late and are alone and it is cold, gut it, pull it in a tree to hang and go home to eat sleep and rest. You can come back the next day for it, when you are rested. Relax, mostly.

danowak

I have not been hunting that long compared to most of the other guys on this board, and I hunt in an area that is tough going and has a small deer herd: the Big Cypress Swamp in South Florida. I have only killed a few deer, but I did a lot of reading beforehand in magazines, books, forums like thisand articleson the internet. I also watched some videos.

All of that helped but I will tell you this, there is a big difference between reading about it and doing it. I will tell you something else, in my opinion nothing beats doing it yourself. I gut, skin and butcher my own deer. Maybe because I haven't been doing it my whole life, I get asense of accomplishmentout of it. I learn more each time. The first time "butcher" was a good description of what I did to that poor deer.

You only need to be reasonably competent with a knife. No mistake you make is going to be that awful. Having said that, there are couple of things you should keep in mind. First is be careful when you are gutting the deer not to puncture the intestines or bladder. That mistake will cause nasty stuff to get on the meat. Second is to get as much of the esophagus out as possible. You won't believe how fast it will go bad and spoil the neck meat, especially in warm weather. Which brings me to warm weather. Maybe it is cold where you are during hunting season, bu here in South Florida, it is a race to get the deer gutted and back to theSUV as quickly as possible (I drive an SUV for a reason which will become apparrent). I have hunted in 85 degree weather. In theSUV I have an icechest with ice and some of those hard plastic cold packs in it. I pack that stuff inside the body cavity as fast as I can. Then I close it up and turn down the air as cold as possible.

I drag deer out of the swamp with a deer drag because whereI bowhunt it is walk in (ie no vehicles), and therefore walk out, only.I am 53, but I try to keep in pretty good shape. Even so, dragging a deer a mile out of a swamp is a chore. Butyou gotta do what you gotta do? Most of the blood drains out during the gutting and the walk out, and I have never found it necessary to drain blood.

Once I am home (about a 2 1/2 hour deal between the drive and checking out at the check station) Icut the meat off thedeer that night, at least in pieces small enough to put in the fridge until next day when I can spend some time on it. You will need a gambrel to hang the deer, and a rope hoist will make things easier.

Last thing:be very familiar withthe hunting regulations in your area to avoid some really nasty surprises. The ranger told me last year, for example, that a guy shot a nice 6 pointer and had it confiscated because he did not check in and out of the check station. Another thing is that here, for example, we have to turn in theheart, liver and kidneys at the check station. Hard to do if you left them in the gutpile.Hope you find this of some use.

SHoNUFF

1. Do people butcher at their campsite or wait till they get home? Or use a professional butcher?
I Butcher my own have for years, we use camp and home. We also have let the butcher do a few if we didnt have the time to do it. but butchers cost!
2. What techniques do people use to make the drag-out easier? (I don't own an ATV)
tie rope around head/antlers and drag head first, unless shes a small one then shoulder her and roll. Also on level ground a wheel barrel comes in handy.
3. Should I get some sort of block and line to suspend the animal to drain the blood?
Any hoist will work. we have used a tree limb with no kind of tackle just yanked them up. have gutted head up as well as suspended from the legs (head down). i like head up personally.
4. What other tools should I have for field dressing? I would think a good hunting knife, a saw and some rubber gloves (!)
Sharp Knife, good hatchet or saw (for back, legs, ribs) never used gloves.
5. What sort of physical condition should I be in? I'm 39. I work as an IT geek sitting on my butt most of the day.Hunting is a sport. Should I have the cardio stamina of a marathon runner?
=) theres a guy on my lease thats well over 400lbs, i would say being in descent shape would be nice but if he can do it NEone can.
6. How fast do I need to get the animal on ice? Should I bring along a couple of chests with dry ice?
NEG on the dryice. and we have let them hang over night with no problems. tends to make the skin harder to get off and you dont have the body temp to help keep your hands warm the next mornin. NOTE: only do this when its cold =)