after the kill? Field dressing and game processing

How to dress deer and other game?

I've heard this book exists, but I have been unable to find it locally....
The biggest animal I have ever dressed out, or cooked, was a rabbit.
Now I did a lot of dove and quail and even pheasant hunting, in my yonger days...
Honestly, I'd be at a real loss to field dress anything bigger!
Suggestions?
They used to carry a lot of those types of books at walmart, but I haven't seen them for a long time now...
It could be handy, as I'm not a butcher by any means!
Thanks!
Bill

 

Re: "after the kill..." ???

Bill

I have taught my 8 y/o daughter to butcher she has gutted a full size goat by herself. The thing I always tell her is that rabbit or elephant it's all the same, just takes a little longer. If you have done a rabbit you can do anything. Having a couple of knives helps as does a bone saw. You don't have to them but it helps. I have shown DD and DW how to butcher a goat without a meat saw. Just cut through the joints or debone the meat. Butchering a hog or cow is not that hard to by yourself, it just takes more time than a rabbit, but you do it the same.

OGM

 

Re: "after the kill..." ???

I agree to a point with OGM because at least in principal, I would say there's basicly 3 things to know how to butcher, fish, birds and four legged. That said, I would probably say if you have done anything bigger than a dog the 4 leggeds are the same since its considerably harder to just tug the skin or twist by brute fource the head off of a deer or cow than a bunny.

If your looking for a guide, like RH said, I have the info posted for 4 leggeds in Back to Basics and if your interested I have a CD that has that info along with chickens and some more info all better organized than on the forum on a CD that I sell with shipping included in the US for $15 and outside the US for $17.50. If you would like one just drop me a PM and we can arrange it.

To field dress the critter you basicly just stick it then gut it where it falls and then skin it and do the rest as shown when you get it where you want to butcher it.

Oh and while its not how I make my liveing now, I have worked the kill floor at the local locker killing, sticking, skinning, gutting, swinging, and splitting callte and pigs and usualy butcher most of the meat for our family as well as several deer over the years. So have a little bit of experience at it if you had specific questions.

Part of how you butcher it also depends on the situation and goals though. If you want cuts like you get at the store it goes a little different than if you want to get a meal and what you can easily carry off of a large carcass as quick as possible for instance.

 

Re: "after the kill..." ???

I did the course read the book's and just about everything that I could find on the web and printed material, even saw a video.

On my big day, the day that I took my first deer, I nearly ruined it. Thankfully there was another hunter who came to my rescue, prior to that I had done squirrels, rabbits and pigeons, but that first deer was well, a deer.

My advise would be to hunt with an experienced hunter, even if he takes a deer and you don't, talk to him about it, and most of us will be glad to share our knowledge.

Good hunting.

Tony

 

Re: "after the kill..." ???

Here is something I found in the magazine, Missouri Conservationist, about cleaning a dear.

 

Re: "after the kill..." ???

Awesome! Thanks all!
I know I have heard IF I don't know what I'm doing I can ruin the meat by accidentally tainting it from glands.....
Fish, birds, rabbits, is all is I have ever done before.
From what I have been told a Javelina is one of the hardest, but I have NO idea! Has to do with the musk glands on their legs?
Now that strange part, I look at the photos and they are all pretty gross, but when I do it, it doesn't bother me one bit! Like the first time I skinned a really nice catfish, and I had to nail it to a tree/post to cut and pull the skin off....
That was fun! I taught my son how to do that when he was 11....Now, I'm not sure but he doesn't seem to be so enthused to catch catfish anymore!

 

We have a gathering in two weeks and if there is enough interest we can process another goat from start to finish including drying or canning. We even did a snapping turtle(aligator or cooter to some) a few years back. Let me know asap.

 

dragonfly here is a link to a video I bought 20 years ago that covers from a to z for hunters starts with field dressing and goes as far as complete butchering including boning out a deer .

Game Processing DVDs

I think the price I paid back then was still the same $20 they want for it , it is the first video that you see at the top of the page .

In regards to Glands that can taint the meat on a deer on the inside of their hind legs they have "Tarsel Glands" as they make scrapes they pee on these glands and it runs down their leg into the scrape and you should remove them and either change knives or wash the one you're using B4 touching any of the meat while skinning it or so I have been told and I think it is covered in the vid I haven't watched it in a very long time .

Have/had a video somewhere where this guy says after you get a set of these glands off of a deer to put them in a zip lock baggy and then next year use them as a scent atrractent to make your own "Mock" scrape and get a Buck to come in looking for an intruder in his territory .

 

I have been a shooter and a reloader for years, but never hunted for meat. I want to start hunting for meat, probably small game at first. So far, I've done one squirrel. I hope to get a few more this fall and I appreciate the information in this thread.

Bill Giles

 

We don't field dress animals except on the odd occasion where we're hunting a good ways from home. I hunt close enough to home that it doesn't take much more time to get the animal home than to gut it in the woods. With pigs, one thing we've found that makes it a lot easier is to split the hide down the belly and down the back. That makes it much easier to pull the hide off. Also, with a boar you have to be really careful to not bust the external bladder that's just under the skin a few inches ahead of the sheath. If you bust it, the urine that a boar uses to mark will spill out.

 

I recently heard, that with Male pigs, you've gotta castrate them quick after killing or it'll spoil the meat. Spoil as in make it taste funky.

Can anyone atest to that? Is that true with all male game?

 

I've never had a problem with a boar that wasn't castrated in the field, but then again, I usually have the animal hanging within 30 minutes of shooting it. They're still dang near body temperature when we finish skinning.

 

I added a couple files to the "other" section of the file download portion of this site. Look at them and if they do not tell you what you want, let me know.

 

Deer processing...

Check out the DVD over at:
DVDs and Videos

 

Now that I actually have the LAND, where many large game animals come into, I really need to do a lot of reading and studying!
There are several hunters in the area and I have been told I can come to any of the hunts and the butchering afterwards!
That may be the nest way to actually do a "hands-on" experience!
Thanks again to all!
It is greatly appreciated!