huntnma

do ya' ll gut and skin or skin then gut? i saw this guy skinning it first, said that was the only way to do it....his dad got busted for baiting and i just had the evil lil thought he didnt want us to see the guts.....but it didnt seem to be a bad thing..after it' s all done, it still goes in the cooler...

Ballistictip

I' ve always skinned, then gutted. I' m not saying thats the right way to do it but thats how I was taught years ago. One thing I' ve never done but seems like a lot of people on here do is field dress. During the early part of the season I get it home as soon as I can but during the later part of the season I don' t get in any rush. I prefer to take the deer home to do the dirty work where I' ve got running water. The way I see it the guts are completely seperated from the meat by a membrane.

BOWFANATIC

I always gut (field dress) my deer in the woods and skin it when I get it in the barn and hung up. Leaving the gut pile in the woods feeds alot of critters too!


A side note for the southern folks! After working at a butcher shop for a couple years , I cant stress enough , the importance of getting the guts out ASAP to cool down the meat imediately. When I harvest one during early season when temps are warmer I' ll fill a few 2 litre soda bottles with water and freeze them to stick inside the chest cavity imediately after field dressing.

plainsman

Always gut in the field and skin later. Come back to gutpile the next day to make the coyotes dance.They sure do know how to 2-step,22mag. step that is.

mugsy

i always field dress the deer first also. reasons are as soon as the deer is dead bacteria starts to set in. it spreads to the meat fairly quick. the quicker you can remove the entrails the better the meat.(most deer shot have some kind of internal organ leakage which will speed up meat contamanation). also it is so much easier moving a 200 pound plus deer minus the 40 plus pounds of undesirable waste

bubba74701

I always field dress
1-The carcass can cool faster.I always stop by the local store afterwards to brag and get a couple bags of ice to stuff in the chest cavity.
2-You lose alot of extra weight to drag bag to the truck.

huntnma

we arent allowed to gut , but we can if need be, they prefer us not too though..hogs don' t matter.... i was taught to get the inside out as soon as possible too....thanks...

halcon

We have always field dressed before taking them out . It makes it a lot easier when you have to pack one out and your meat keeps better . A lot of the places we hunt are to steep and rough to drag a deer so we pack them out

jerseyhunter

I always gut them as soon as possible to get the meat cooling as quickly as you can. When I get home I hang it cut more of the esophagus and whatever I might have missed in the field. Rinse it with cold water. Prop open the belly. Cover with a cheese cloth bag and let it hang for a few days with the skin on. When its time to butcher it I skin it. Good Luck to you. also make it lighter to haul out. Who in the world would skin it in the field? Unless your going to quarter it and pack it out. I hope they don' t skin it and drag it out.[]

lhook7

I field dress them where they fall and skin them back at camp.