Bt,

In a nutshell, the first one is nasty. Youll ask yourself ''why in the hel did i ever shoot this thing?'' If your doing it w/ someone else thats never done it, it will take a while as you wont be quite sure your doing it right.

Thats the way my first was. Since then, I still sometimes ask why i do this but the skill has improved and it doesnt take as long.

Stay out of the guts like has already been said. I have a small hatchet in my kit to split the pelvis w/, usually 3-4 good whacks and its split. I also carry a 5-gal jug of water w/ me in the truck to rinse off w/ and the blue shop towels to wipe/dry w/.

keep your knife sharp and take your time, you're not in a race.

by myself i start at the sternum pull up the hide make a cut to get the knife into the cavity dont cut the stomach.
second i slice down to the penis if it has one have the blade facing up and if you want use two fingers on both sides of the blade to help as a depth gauge.stand over its chest facing the boys.
3. grab the cock and balls and cut around it should be easy to do.i cut it all the way off but watch the yellow thing under the skin dont cut it so ive been told.
4.slice to the anis, cut around it about 1 1/2"away all the way around.pull at it as you are cutting around it but not too hard.take the knife and insert stay along the inside of the pelvic bone.knife blade should face the bone and stay along the bone .go around the bone. for this part i use a narrow but long blade pocket knife.
5.i cut the sternum and rib plate as far up as possible, dont have to but i do and dont cut toward yourself my friend stabbed his thigh.use a serrated knife. gerber gator (i think)for me.reach up to to throat and grab the wind pipe reach up there with the knife and cut it, pull it toward you and pull all the upper organs out.
6.cut the diapham it seperated the stomach from the top organs.cut on both sides of the chest.
7.now pull the stomach and intestines out you may need to cut alittle along the spine dont cut the stomach.you can turn the deer over to get started on this step or on its side.
8.with almost everything out pull the anis through to the inside and out with the guts they should come out as one.
with a buddy do all your cuts and then have buddy sit the deer up on its butt and he holds it like this and let gravity work for you,just cut what needs to be cut.

oh yeah on the first cut dont let the air hit you in the face.
make sure on the first cut you expose the stomach.

Good explaination there buck1. Nice detail and easy to understand for all the newbies. Your comment about not letting the air hit you in the face means you cut too deep along the sternum. Especially if it is a large animal like an elk. They blow up in your face like a green guyser if you make a mistake

What is the etiquette on the gut pile? I've only hunted my own land and let the pile lay for the scavengers. But this year I've got permission to hunt somebody else's farm. What do you guys do in those cases?

Here's an explanation with a few pictures that may be of some use. The first one or two can cause some anxiety but after awhile you will become very comfortable with the process.

http://www.angelfire.com/bc/canuck2/gutting.html

RobKong, when I hunt local farms, I usually take the deer away intact and travel a short distance to crown land to field dress it.

Double check your local game regs. In some states it is illegal to remove the sex organs in the woods -- I guess that's part of the "antlered" and "antlerless" bit. Doesn't really make sense, but double check your regs, just in case.

I didn't gut the pigs that I shot this summer and I was really happy with the results. I simply skinned 1/2 of it while it was laying on the ground, cut the shoulder, backstraps and hams off, flipped it over skinned that 1/2 and repeated removing the shoulders, backstraps and ham. It took about an hour to do 2 pigs and get the meat on ice. (very important in warm temperatures). It was clean and saved some unneeded time and effort in removing the guts. One of the pigs was 150 - 200 lbs and would have probably been harder to gut than it was to just remove the quarters and the backstraps.

I plan on using the same technique for my deer this year.

They are very easy to skin if still a little warm. If you let them hang overnight, skinning becomes much harder. If you get one through the lungs, gutting is not that big a deal.If you gut shoot a deer, it is very messy. One other thing, use a sharp knife. Guys stab themselves every year (sometimes fatally) trying to hack through a deer with a dull edged knife. If you are not sure about removing the urine sack, let someone else show you or wait until you have access to water (no need to ruin any hard earned meat). Good Luck and keep us posted.