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Thread: Newbie advice - gutting

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Location
    Prince George
    Posts
    352

    Re: Newbie advice - gutting

    I take the glands off first thing, and with the same knife. Never an issue, but you do take a bigger swath of the area off around the glands, and never pierce the skin near them. Plus if you bow hunt, they are great to keep in a baggie to use as scent blocking.

    I find that a lot of new hunters when the take off the rear legs while skinning do not take it at the right knuckle, and then you risk the animal not being able to hang off the rear tenon. That is a quick important one to learn.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    North of Hope
    Posts
    2,486

    Re: Newbie advice - gutting

    Quote Originally Posted by brian View Post
    All right Cain, I added paragraphs. Hopefully it reads a bit better.

    HappyJack, I am mostly self taught. Like Danny says, I don’t deal with them. I simply don’t skin that far down. I skin by making my first skinning cuts on the ground and then hoist it up with a gambrel by the hind legs. Never had a problem with them.
    I sure would like to see pics of this as the glands are in the hocks where the gambrels usually go, so just cannot visualize how you are doing this?

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    North of Hope
    Posts
    2,486

    Re: Newbie advice - gutting

    Quote Originally Posted by Danny_29 View Post
    I never touch the glands either...never skin the leg down that far.
    You don't skin down to the shin bone of the back leg?

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Duncan
    Posts
    2,983

    Re: Newbie advice - gutting

    I sure would like to see pics of this as the glands are in the hocks where the gambrels usually go, so just cannot visualize how you are doing this?
    i don’t have pics, all I can say is I simply avoid cutting through them. I’ll do my skinning cuts around the leg at the ankle or above it, open some holes for the gambrel and then cut up the shin bone and towards the stomach cut.

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Central Interior of our beautiful british columbia.
    Posts
    6,340

    Re: Newbie advice - gutting

    Gutting is one way to field dress an animal. If you are by yourself, miles from the truck, short quarter the animal, or gutless field dress it! Not much sense packing out spine/ribs, not much there IMO, and you can rib roll the rib meat. If the deer is gut shot, this is how I field dress it! YouTube is fantastic to watch how this is done! Moosin
    "A good day hunting is mud on your truck or blood on your hands"

    “Some people go to church and think about hunting……………others go hunting and think about God!”

    It's actually called the 375 "ouch and ouch"!!

    "Not asking for any spots or anything like that............................................"

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Sep 2021
    Location
    Coombs Vancouver Island
    Posts
    56

    Re: Newbie advice - gutting

    Quote Originally Posted by brian View Post
    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.
    Awesome advice! Thank you for sharing.

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