Field dressing a deer sucks
10-16-2008, 08:01 PM
#81
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: oxford county, maine
Posts: 2,206
RE: Field dressing a deer sucks
ORIGINAL: Dark Helmet
that much I get... but I'm a process-oriented person... and I hunt with a bunch of guys who can field-dress a deer in 4-5 minutes... takes me 30-40! kinda embarrassing!!!!
ORIGINAL: TreednNC
make sure all u got left at the end is bones, meat, and hide
ORIGINAL: Dark Helmet
I don't mind it as much as I'm just clueless... I grew up cleaning birds, but only started chasing deer at ~25, this year will be my 4th hunt (at 30) and hopefully my 3rd, 4th, and 5th deer...
I just don't have any idea what I'm doing. My dad can cludge his way through it, but he hadn't dressed a deer for over 25 years when I shot my first one... so he's not really a great teaching resource!!!
someone have a checklist to follow or something like that I can keep in my pocket!?!?!?!
I don't mind it as much as I'm just clueless... I grew up cleaning birds, but only started chasing deer at ~25, this year will be my 4th hunt (at 30) and hopefully my 3rd, 4th, and 5th deer...
I just don't have any idea what I'm doing. My dad can cludge his way through it, but he hadn't dressed a deer for over 25 years when I shot my first one... so he's not really a great teaching resource!!!
someone have a checklist to follow or something like that I can keep in my pocket!?!?!?!
that much I get... but I'm a process-oriented person... and I hunt with a bunch of guys who can field-dress a deer in 4-5 minutes... takes me 30-40! kinda embarrassing!!!!
10-16-2008, 08:20 PM
#82
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: LaFollette, Tennessee
Posts: 492
RE: Field dressing a deer sucks
I'll throw in my 2 cents. All those that say if you can't handle the job after the shot then don't take the shot. I know one of the local processors here charge an additional $20 to gut one. I had one of my best friends to help me drag out my muzzleloader opener buck last season and he after my first cut he kept about 50 yards distance and was gagging and rambling about how bad it was. But usually me and my hunting buddy just toss a coin to see who goes. If it has feathers, fins, or fur we'll skin it.
10-16-2008, 10:09 PM
#84
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location:
Posts: 20
RE: Field dressing a deer sucks
ORIGINAL: rustynobles
wait until you can get to your gambrel. then once you've got it up by the hind legs, start skinning. once you've gotten down to the genitals, make your incision down to the sternum. keep pulling the skin down. remove the urine sack, try hard not to puncture it. cut the innards loose. let them fall into the chest cavity. remove your tenderloins. keep pulling the skin down to the shoulders. remove the backstraps. make your incisions around the elbows and back up to the sternum. pull the rest of the skin off. saw off the front legs at the incisions, and remove the shoulders. if you're going to keep the head, saw through the backbone where the skin ends. drop the innard filled cavity in a 5 gallon bucket. saw off backbone at the hips. split the hams. then saw off the back legs below the knees. it's not that hard, you haven't wasted any meat and you've made a lot less mess. ice your meat, and go dump your waste.
wait until you can get to your gambrel. then once you've got it up by the hind legs, start skinning. once you've gotten down to the genitals, make your incision down to the sternum. keep pulling the skin down. remove the urine sack, try hard not to puncture it. cut the innards loose. let them fall into the chest cavity. remove your tenderloins. keep pulling the skin down to the shoulders. remove the backstraps. make your incisions around the elbows and back up to the sternum. pull the rest of the skin off. saw off the front legs at the incisions, and remove the shoulders. if you're going to keep the head, saw through the backbone where the skin ends. drop the innard filled cavity in a 5 gallon bucket. saw off backbone at the hips. split the hams. then saw off the back legs below the knees. it's not that hard, you haven't wasted any meat and you've made a lot less mess. ice your meat, and go dump your waste.
that's WAY more advanced than I am!!!
I don't have a gambrel to start with... although I THINK I know what one is!!! I just gut them and get them to the processor... I'm hoping that this year a friend will help me quarter it...
09-29-2014, 08:54 AM
#85
Spike
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Sault Sainte Marie, MI
Posts: 1
I am pretty young but I am into hunting. Because I am young I dont have a lot of experience with dressing game. I can do squirrels and stuff fine. When it comes to deer I usually let my dad do all of the big work and I just held the legs apart. I can handle most of it. The thing that really gets me is the smell and sounds. Does it get better with practice?
09-29-2014, 09:17 AM
#86
Fork Horn
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Wisconsn
Posts: 406
I think it's one of those things that if you decide you are grossed out by it, it will gross you out. If you decide it's a vital and important part of the hunting process, just like any of it, then you will be just fine.
Dig in and love it.
Dig in and love it.
09-30-2014, 05:02 AM
#89
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,926
The poor hunter
He gets his hamburger from a fast food restaurant and then he's expected to cut up a deer.
Reminds me of a neighbor who requested I lance a boil. I advised her that I wasn't a surgeon. She answered back that she had seen me do enough enough deer butcherings in the back yard to qualify.
Reminds me of a neighbor who requested I lance a boil. I advised her that I wasn't a surgeon. She answered back that she had seen me do enough enough deer butcherings in the back yard to qualify.
09-30-2014, 05:34 AM
#90
Spike
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 18
The total job should take less than 5 minutes but if you have to try to get around the smell, try this. Take a few cotton balls and coat them with Vics Vapo-rub and put them in a double ziplok bag. When its time to gut, put a soaked cotton ball in each nostril and see if that blocks the smells.
