Hunting Forum

to keep ur pants from getting bloody stop field dressing them in the woods with modern conviences me and my friends almost always drag ours back to the house hang them and skin them first then gut them and we r using a portable sawsall to split the ribs open and i can tell ya from expirence u might get a lil blood on ur hands and wrists but thats all

ps we are doing this over 1/2 a plastic 55 gal barrel to collect the blood and guts

great job!!!

Nice slef filmed process.

If you have an option to either hoist the deer up on a tree or use a hoist it is a lot easier [ I attach a hoist to my SUV (I found something lke this but cheaper on eBay http://www.cabelas.com/product/ForE...ucts)]

Anyway, without a video here is my process:

1. Cut a slit on each back leg in the skinny part of the hame area; side in the ganmbriel on each leg
2. Hoist the deer
3. With my Swingblaze, I find where the breat plate end on the deer my just pushing on the chest with two or three fingers; then use the blade to cut up and around each side of the buck genitals up to the anus; The I skin back the hide as far back as I can; cut off the top part of the guts and the rest just falls out with gravity; cut the bottom part off and toss the guts into the woods.
4. With the chest clear of guts, I go for the inner back straps
5. Next, I cut out the top back traps
6. Lower the gambriel a bit and skin off the hide around the hams. You can also do the same with the front legs if you wish.
7. The remans of the deer can be tossed into the woods and with the backstraps and hams it is into the kitchen some some timming and de-bone work.

I have that same hoist from Cabela's.  Talk about nice!!  I still gut mine on the ground though and drag them out of the woods if needed. Then drive my truck to the deer and hook up, crank up, swivel around, and drop into the back of my truck.  I bought it so I wouldn't have to depend on either my boyfriend, uncle, or brother to come and help me load 'em up.   

I use a cable come-a-long and hang it in a tree, there is plenty of them around, just crank it up load the deer in the truck and off I go!

I used to hunt the top of a 2300 ft mountain and have dragged deer down that boulder and deadfall strewn mountainside if I had split the ribs and pelvis I would have had half the mountain inside the deer till it got it to the vehicle. We then started to butcher on top and backback the meat down. I can actually butcher a whitetail without even gutting it except for the tenderloins. Of course if you have a real drag ahead of you the weight reduction of gutting is necessary. Time of year also has an impact on how soon you need to remove the entrails and also location of the shot may make it necessary to gut immediately. I have seen deer treated so bad no wonder some people think deer meat isn't fit to eat. I try to treat my deer like it is the very best beef and have not been disappointed in the taste in all my years of hunting. Been doing this since 1955.

Great video but personally I think it's way easier if u cut between the ribs split them open and cut the throat that way then u don't have reach in there without seeing what your doing I also cut off the bucks balls to just to get them outta the way when ur working ur way down.

You be suprized by how many hunters that dont know how to gut or even butcher a deer.

On the rare times I had to field dress, I pretty much followed the rib-to-crotch process above.

Most of my deer hunting has been at a farm/club of about 350 acres of mixed field and woodland/swamp. Any deer taken could be back at the camp & hung up for dressing-out within 30 minutes or less, so we rarely field dressed. Any one that wasted much time getting to the job, would find himself alone, with no one to "hol' da-feet".
The occasional exception would be deep in the woods, usually in or near the swamp, our farthest stand area being more than a mile back in the woods on the property line.

Knew a fellow once, that refused to gut/clean/butcher his deer. Field-dressed or hung at camp, he always got sick. The sad thing was he never once offered any meat to the person that stepped up & did the job. He was a guest/prospective member at our club, so I dressed & butchered 2 for him. By the time it came around for his 3rd or 4th, we were all a bit tired of it, & I told him it would cost him a back strap if I did the work. He declined. I never did hear whether or not he wasted that deer, 'cause by that time, we had discovered that he had no character to speak of and he was never invited back.

Deer gutting
Shotgun slug, arrow, or rifle. 
1ST. Do the tag thing.
2ND Look the outside over really carefully to make sure there are no old wounds, especially old arrow wounds. [nothing like reaching into where you can't see and finding a broadhead]
 Okey to go?  Turn the animal on it's back, put your feet on each side, find the bottom of the rib cage and make a hole only big enough to pull the hide up with a finger. Either use a gut hook, or regular blade, and split the hide by cutting from the inside of the hide from rib cage toward the rear. This way you'll get a lot less hair and the gut package lays away from where you are cutting so there is less chance of cutting the bowel. 
             yekcim

That's the way I do it but I cut up the chess cav. so you can get the wind pipe cut easier,and get the lugs cut out fast for me. great Vid man, lot a people can use this for the first time..

FIrst time I've ever watched field dressing. Good job, TLC!
I'm like backstrapper. Most everywhere I hunt is 4 wheeler accessible, with the occassional short drag to the wheeler. Once I get the deer back to the shop, if I'm not gonna mount it, I use the wheeler to pull the hide off, then gut. Using a Swingblade knife on all soft tissue cuts and a sawzall on the bones.

Not only was it narrated Great, but performed as well.  I still manage to screw up my game from time to time.

If you prefer to gut this way, there is a knife on the market called Buckbuster.  I forget the manufacturer...but its tailor-made for your type of gutting process, you should check it out.  It has a rib breaker and pelvis dislocator.  I have one that was a gift, but not my style of gutting.

It's got to be tough getting video without another person getting all the great angle shots, especially the inner membrane incasing all the organs. One crucial point is to NOT cut too deep while opening the belly or you will open the guts and really have a mess! Hence, good purpose of the gut blade. Learned the hard way years ago.
I believe the reason for the "butt-out" tool is to enable the gland to be tied off so to prevent fecal mattter from touching the meat when pulled through. You can never stop all those little pellets from escaping it seems? I also watch for a full urine bladder, this can taint the meat also. Plus, the bladder fluid along with the taral glands, you have another tool for future hunts or for your friends. It doesn't get more natural to the area than that. I also leave the testicles in the field to rid of all glands that may spoil meat. Nice job TLC.

Great video for someone just starting out. I remember the first deer I gutted myself. It seemed like a daunting task but I had hundreds of squirels under my young belt back then and I just kept telling myself that this was just a REALLY big Squirel. I wish someone had posted a step by step back then though as I didn't know what to do with the anus and bladder that first time. This video is a great tool for the newcomers. Thanks for being the teacher to thousands TLC.

I am another fan of the butt-out. I have found it works GREAT!!! I just got back from a trip to Texas used one and left it for the guide. He had never seen one before and when he used it he loved it. And on that ranch they shoot a couple hundred deer a year. In the five days we were there they put 21 in the cooler. If you follow the directions I have found that it is really easy....wish they had one for large (elk,moose) game!!!