Field Dressing a Deer
- Thread starter kinetic711
- Start date
Well looks like there are many ways to gut a deer ! 
My personal method:
I don't like to split the pelvis as this exposes meat that will have to be trimmed later during butchering. Instead I core the rear end of the deer, like you'd core an apple.
Insert knife ( it should be sharp ! ) between the anus and the tail and start cutting around the anus. Don't thrust your knife too deep (maybe an inch or two ) or you might puncture intestine or bladder.
Before I finish cutting all the way around the anus, I find the urethra below the skin, behind the ##### and scrotum and follow it back to where it goes through the pelvis, carefully cutaway the connecting tissue to the pelvic bone until the anus and urethra are hanging free.
I do this before I open the guts, cause this area tends to be messy once the guts are coming out. With the back end cored, a quick clean of the knife, then I start gutting at the sternum ( I find I'm less likely to accidentally puncture the guts here. I have a short knife so it cradles nicely in my hand with the spine of the blade resting on my index finger and the back of the blade tip on my finger tip. With my finger under the belly skin, blade edge facing up so it can't cut guts only hide, I run it down to the pelvis and stop.
Going back to the sternum I start cutting upward into the chest cavity. With a stout knife you should be able the cut just off to one side of the center line where the ribs join to the sternum and push you way through cartilage.... if its too tough a small saw helps. I cut high enough I can reach in a grab the windpipe and sever it with the knife in my other hand.Be Careful !! its easy to cut yourself instead of the deer. Pull down on the windpipe carefully cutting any connective tissue as you go. Once you get to the diaphragm, it just a matter of moving guts away with one hand and cutting the diaphragm with the other.
Eventually you'll be close to the pelvis, I usually put my knife out of the way and taking care not to rip the bladder, pull the guts out of the cavity, ripping any little remaining connective stuff with my fingers, at this point if you cored the back end right it'll all roll out in a heap.
Collect anything you want to keep like the heart or liver, put it in a ziplock you keep in your pocket or pack. Prop the deer up and the clotted blood etc will drain out the pelvis hole. Secure the ziplock bag inside the cavity, and drag your deer back to camp.
Back at camp, hang your deer. Plastic milk jugs cleaned out and frozen full of water, are handy to hang inside the cavity to cool your meat quick. Failing that, get the hide off as soon as you are able cause it holds the heat in a long time. The faster you cool your meat, the better off you'll be.
It took longer to type this, than to actually do it.
My personal method:
I don't like to split the pelvis as this exposes meat that will have to be trimmed later during butchering. Instead I core the rear end of the deer, like you'd core an apple.
Insert knife ( it should be sharp ! ) between the anus and the tail and start cutting around the anus. Don't thrust your knife too deep (maybe an inch or two ) or you might puncture intestine or bladder.
Before I finish cutting all the way around the anus, I find the urethra below the skin, behind the ##### and scrotum and follow it back to where it goes through the pelvis, carefully cutaway the connecting tissue to the pelvic bone until the anus and urethra are hanging free.
I do this before I open the guts, cause this area tends to be messy once the guts are coming out. With the back end cored, a quick clean of the knife, then I start gutting at the sternum ( I find I'm less likely to accidentally puncture the guts here. I have a short knife so it cradles nicely in my hand with the spine of the blade resting on my index finger and the back of the blade tip on my finger tip. With my finger under the belly skin, blade edge facing up so it can't cut guts only hide, I run it down to the pelvis and stop.
Going back to the sternum I start cutting upward into the chest cavity. With a stout knife you should be able the cut just off to one side of the center line where the ribs join to the sternum and push you way through cartilage.... if its too tough a small saw helps. I cut high enough I can reach in a grab the windpipe and sever it with the knife in my other hand.Be Careful !! its easy to cut yourself instead of the deer. Pull down on the windpipe carefully cutting any connective tissue as you go. Once you get to the diaphragm, it just a matter of moving guts away with one hand and cutting the diaphragm with the other.
Eventually you'll be close to the pelvis, I usually put my knife out of the way and taking care not to rip the bladder, pull the guts out of the cavity, ripping any little remaining connective stuff with my fingers, at this point if you cored the back end right it'll all roll out in a heap.
Collect anything you want to keep like the heart or liver, put it in a ziplock you keep in your pocket or pack. Prop the deer up and the clotted blood etc will drain out the pelvis hole. Secure the ziplock bag inside the cavity, and drag your deer back to camp.
Back at camp, hang your deer. Plastic milk jugs cleaned out and frozen full of water, are handy to hang inside the cavity to cool your meat quick. Failing that, get the hide off as soon as you are able cause it holds the heat in a long time. The faster you cool your meat, the better off you'll be.
It took longer to type this, than to actually do it.
I just do what I think is pretty much the standard:
- cut around the anus and tie it off
- cut from the ribs down to the pelvis
- trim the diaphragm away up both sides to the spine
- cut through connections around the anus and along the spine
- push guts back and out as far as possible
(- break through the breast bone/cartilage if you need more room for the next step)
- reach as high as possible inside and cut trachea and esophagus
- heave it all out swiftly
I would very strongly recommend this to anybody starting out. It will take probably over an hour to do your first deer this way. But once you learn it it really is a 15 minute or less task.
One more thing I just thought of about gutting - it's pretty easy to accidentally puncture the any part of the gut or the bladder or the urethra, especially until you learn your way around the guts. If possible, have a gallon of vinegar-water solution (I do about 1:3) handy for a bit of washing up. I don't know how much good it really does, but it'll make you feel better if you make a little mistake.
Question about the gut hook:
I don't use one. It could be good for the one task of making the main cut along the belly. But I would never have a knife with a gut hook on it - I'd probably hurt myself. If you have a drop-point knife, there is really no need anyhow - you just hold the guts away from the skin with your non-knife holding hand as you go.
Questions about no-gutting techniques:
I have never done these, but I think they have a lot of merit. I think though that they require some rather intimate knowledge of the animal's anatomy, and therefore are not a good option for your first animal, no matter how many diagrams you've studied. I can tell you, there is now way I'd have figured out how to get the tenderloins out of my first deer. At least the back-straps, for example, are easy and obvious to locate, but working though how best to get that meat out will be much better done under controlled conditions back home. My last reservation about no-gutting types of approaches is that there is more opportunity to get dirt, grit and hair on the meat.
Bone-in vs. bone out butchering:
I've done my own butchering for a couple of years now, and hands down - bone out!!!! But you'll never get a commercial butcher to do this as it takes a huge amount of time. I put about 6 hours into a deer. There is nothing nicer than taking your meat out of the freezer and having it perfectly trimmed of bone, fat and silverskin.
RG
<><
- cut around the anus and tie it off
- cut from the ribs down to the pelvis
- trim the diaphragm away up both sides to the spine
- cut through connections around the anus and along the spine
- push guts back and out as far as possible
(- break through the breast bone/cartilage if you need more room for the next step)
- reach as high as possible inside and cut trachea and esophagus
- heave it all out swiftly
I would very strongly recommend this to anybody starting out. It will take probably over an hour to do your first deer this way. But once you learn it it really is a 15 minute or less task.
One more thing I just thought of about gutting - it's pretty easy to accidentally puncture the any part of the gut or the bladder or the urethra, especially until you learn your way around the guts. If possible, have a gallon of vinegar-water solution (I do about 1:3) handy for a bit of washing up. I don't know how much good it really does, but it'll make you feel better if you make a little mistake.
Question about the gut hook:
I don't use one. It could be good for the one task of making the main cut along the belly. But I would never have a knife with a gut hook on it - I'd probably hurt myself. If you have a drop-point knife, there is really no need anyhow - you just hold the guts away from the skin with your non-knife holding hand as you go.
Questions about no-gutting techniques:
I have never done these, but I think they have a lot of merit. I think though that they require some rather intimate knowledge of the animal's anatomy, and therefore are not a good option for your first animal, no matter how many diagrams you've studied. I can tell you, there is now way I'd have figured out how to get the tenderloins out of my first deer. At least the back-straps, for example, are easy and obvious to locate, but working though how best to get that meat out will be much better done under controlled conditions back home. My last reservation about no-gutting types of approaches is that there is more opportunity to get dirt, grit and hair on the meat.
Bone-in vs. bone out butchering:
I've done my own butchering for a couple of years now, and hands down - bone out!!!! But you'll never get a commercial butcher to do this as it takes a huge amount of time. I put about 6 hours into a deer. There is nothing nicer than taking your meat out of the freezer and having it perfectly trimmed of bone, fat and silverskin.
RG
<><
Yeah. I can see the Evidence of Species and ### thing being a PITA for the gutless method. Here in AB, the requirement is to have the Tail and an identifiable portion of the genitals attached to the same portion of the carcass that the tag is on. Must be on it, until it is delivered to a cutter, or you get it to your home, if you are cutting it yourself (page 39, in the regs).
Not a total PITA, just a requirement to plan around keeping the tail and the evidence of ### attached to one hind portion.
I have a tough time with all the worry about innards contacting the inside of the body cavity. There is precious little there that won't rinse clean. If the deer is gutshot, it may be worth using a second liter of water to wipe out the mess, but for the most part, it isn't going to affect things as much as the handling, cooling and storage is.
The body cavity surface has precious little that will end up on the table, either, once the tenderloins are out. Wipe it out, wipe it again with some wet paper towels, get it to camp or home, let it dry. Worked for me for the last 20 years. Even easier when there is snow around to use to clean with. It soaks up the blood nicely.
At one point I could get a deer cleaned and ready to drag or haul back to the truck, in about 10 minutes. The first one of the year is usually a lot longer than that though, as I get back into the groove of things.
Boneless! For the WIN! It's nice to know that what you pull out of the freezer, is the amount that ends up being edible!
Cheers
Trev
Not a total PITA, just a requirement to plan around keeping the tail and the evidence of ### attached to one hind portion.
I have a tough time with all the worry about innards contacting the inside of the body cavity. There is precious little there that won't rinse clean. If the deer is gutshot, it may be worth using a second liter of water to wipe out the mess, but for the most part, it isn't going to affect things as much as the handling, cooling and storage is.
The body cavity surface has precious little that will end up on the table, either, once the tenderloins are out. Wipe it out, wipe it again with some wet paper towels, get it to camp or home, let it dry. Worked for me for the last 20 years. Even easier when there is snow around to use to clean with. It soaks up the blood nicely.
At one point I could get a deer cleaned and ready to drag or haul back to the truck, in about 10 minutes. The first one of the year is usually a lot longer than that though, as I get back into the groove of things.
Boneless! For the WIN! It's nice to know that what you pull out of the freezer, is the amount that ends up being edible!
Cheers
Trev
yeah.. don't follow the guy in the video.. (exactly).. if you notice then he's opening the stomach, he takes about 15 cuts (edge down) to do it.. if you do that, you get a lot of hair in the body cavity.. do 1-2 firm cuts to get inside the stomach, then use the BLADE UP, if you cut from the inside out, then you don't get all the hair being cut off the skin, and falling inside.. I make a "V" with my hand (fingers) not holding the knife and use it to pull the skin away from the stomach,and then use the knife to cut up (the "V" helps so you don't cut the intestines with the tip of the knife when you put it in.
