Newbie advice - gutting

[brian]

Most new deer hunters put most of their focus on simply catching sight of their prey. Their thoughts are filled with weapons, ammo, and the gear that they need to hunt that animal, but they have given much less thought as to what will happen after that animal is on the ground. That was my experience chasing blacktails in the chilliwack valley. But the reality is the true hard work in hunting comes after that animal hits the ground. You will need to figure out how you are going to get the meat out of the field and back to your vehicle. Now I’m not going to get into hauling meat. There are many solutions to that problem. But I will say this, at least consider how you plan to get the animal out of the forest. If your like me then you will usually be at least a few kilometres away from your vehicle. Adding some decent ropes to your pack is amazingly useful for what will be a long haul out. I am going to give some practical tips for when you are finally looking down at a dead animal with a mixture of disbelief, elation, and possibly remorse. I am giving advice on conventional field gutting, I like to try and keep the pelt so I have little experience with gutless method.

First off, let the adrenaline subside if you still have any shakes. Cut your tag and take a breath. Get out your headlamp if light is dwindling. If you don’t have a headlamp, then remind yourself to get one. You’ll be happy to have both your hands free. Move the deer into the best position you can, it’s best if you can keep him on his back with minimal effort (they always want to roll on you). If there is a slope then it is best to have the butt end pointing downslope. You do not need a large knife for gutting. In fact I tend to use a small folding pocket knife for most field gutting. Big knives can become a liability in the abdominal cavity.

I start my cut up on the sternum. That way I never risk cutting too deep into the stomach itself. The abdominal cavity has a layer of skin then a thin muscle wall that you have to cut through to open it up fully. Getting the cut started in the abdomen itself without piercing the stomach is the toughest part. Take your time, go slow and just get through the layers. Just get a hole large enough that you can get two fingers into the cavity. Then palm up use your fingers to guide the blade and keep it from cutting into the stomach contents. Just zip that cavity open all the way down to the pelvis bone. The intestines will try to escape before you are finished, let them. Roll the deer over onto its side just scoope them out of the way. They will be encased in a layer of lacey fat. I would recommend trying to keep that!

First thing I do is find the end of the colon. It will likely be full of poo pellets. I simply squeeze them out in both directions to get a long clean length of the colon. I cut it and tie both ends off with a simple granny knot. I do not core the anus out in the field! It’s just another place to get lots of dirt into the meat. Now most of the intestines are loosely connected to the body. You can rip these connections out by hand. In fact this is my preferred way, less chance of cutting into the tender loins. There will be one tighter connection point that you will want to cut. This connection also houses the main artery. The process will be very blood free until this cut is made. This cut will cause blood to fill the abdominal cavity. Just try to clear it away. You will find large clots begin to appear quite quickly. Don’t worry, this is normal. Keep freeing up the intestines, stomache, liver etc. One note, the bile duct is a small pale sac on the liver. You can remove it by tearing it with your fingers. The fluid inside is pretty pungent, try your best to leave it in the bile duct.

After all this you will find a thin wall of muscle separating the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity. This is the diaphragm. Simply cut it all the way around on both sides. You will now have access to the heart and lungs. Pull at them and free them up. The only thing holding everything in now is the trachea. You can work it free with your knife and tugging quite hard on it. You can also just cut it and leave it in place, you only risk a bit of food falling into the cavity. I’ve done both and it turns out just fine. The gut pile should be completely divorced from the rest of the deer and you can happily start the long haul out. Of course it’s best for a mentor to show you this process for the first time, but don’t be afraid to get in there if you don’t have someone there to guide you. It’s not that difficult. Hope this helps.