Field Dressing Your Deer
By Mike Guerin
Your persistence has paid off; your deer is down, now what do you
do? What you do now will determine the quality of your bucks meat
at the table. Proper care of your deer is very important in
making sure that its taste good when it is served at the table.
This article is to tell new hunters how to field dress, skin and
prepare a deer for butchering. Experienced hunters might also
learn something new.
False Hoods
One of the most persistent beliefs among hunters is that you must
bleed your deer by cutting the deer's throat as soon as you get
to it. This is suppose to bleed the deer off blood and make the
meat taste better. Never cut a deer's throat. This has no
positive effects. Once a deer is dead the heart no longer pumps
blood. If the blood is not circulating then cutting the throat
will not bleed any blood from the deer. It can however mess up a
cape (the deer's hide around the head, neck and shoulders) if you
decide to mount the deer. It opens the deer's up to dirt in an
area that would otherwise have been protected from dirt and
bacteria. It is in a word "USELESS".
If you want to bleed your deer you will first need to hang the
deer (best done head down) and then make a cut at the lowest
point so that the blood can gravity feed out of the deer. I don't
do this myself. I get the blood out of the deer after the deer is
home via soaking the meat in an ice chest for a few days. This has
the added benefit of ageing the meat a bit before it is frozen.
Another fallacy is that you must cut off the tarsal glands of the
deer or the meat in that area will be ruined. This is nonsense.
It didn't taint the meat while the deer was living and it will
not taint it after the deer is dead. You don't want to touch the
tarsal gland and then touch the meat however. If the animal is
not yet dead, simply shoot the animal again. It is very dangerous
to approach a buck that is wounded from the front and down right
stupid to try to cut its throat with a knife.
FIELD DRESSING
A sharp knife is better than a dull knife when it
comes to field dressing a buck. A sharp knife will actually
reduce bad (unneeded) cuts and will make the entire procedure
easier. Take your time when dressing a buck, mistakes due to
haste will often require you to make a trip to the hospital to
get stitches.
Prop the animal on its back and begin field dressing by making
a
cut from just above the genitals up to the rib cage. You now have
to make a choice. Some people cut through a number of the ribs in
the rib cage to make it easier to reach up into the deer's chest.
I find this unnecessary but its up to you. If you do plan to cut
through some of the ribs you should do it of center to avoid the
sternum. When you make this cut from just above the genital to
the sternum take care not to cut too deep. You only want to cut
through the hide and through the animals stomach muscle. If you
go to deep you will puncture the deer's intestines and you will
have to deal with the smell.
NOTE: If you plan on having the deer mounted don't cut any
further up the belly than the sternum to save the cape.
Now turn the deer on its side and allow the guts to fall out.
They will require help from you by cutting away the fat that will
hold the intestines in. This is usually at the top of the cavity
in the area near the spine. Care must be taken to not puncture or
break the deer's bladder. The bladder will be in the area where
the cavity narrows down at the hips. I leave this part of the
deer's intestines intact but many or most do not. If you plan on
removing all of this then you must have a very sharp knife and
must ream the deer out from the back. Cutting around the anus and
tying it off with string. Then cutting either forwards or
backwards from the abdominal cavity to remove this entire area.
Easier said than done. Care must be take not to puncture anything
here this is where the deer droppings and urine are located. The
deer's abdominal cavity is separated from the chest cavity by the
diaphragm. This separates the lung and heart from the stomach and
intestines. This must be cut out to remove all of the intestines.
This is how it usually works for me, with the guts half in and
half out I cut the diaphragm away from the deer's chest cavity, I
then reach as far up into the deer's chest as possible and grab
the deer esophagus. With the other hand I carefully slide the
knife into the deer's chest and work my knife up into the chest
to cut the esophagus just above my other hand. After it is cut I
simply pull the heart and lungs out and with it comes the rest of
the intestines.
Wash up.
Drag the deer out.
Load in truck.
Go home or to camp for skinning.
SKINNING
When skinning a deer it can either be hung head up or head down.
I have always hung mine head up. Begin by making a circular cut
around the deer's neck. Connect this cut with the cut made in the
stomach during field dressing. Remove the hide by grasping the
skin and pulling down hard with both hands. Use your knife
carefully when freeing the hide from the carcass to avoid cutting
the skin. If the flesh begins to pull off with the skin, stop
pulling and try again after cutting the flesh back with the
knife.
NOTE: If the cape is to be saved, you can cut the middle and rear
portion of the hide free by starting skinning just behind the
shoulder and working down from there.
When you have the hide down around the shoulders you will have to
cut off the front legs with a hacksaw just above what you would
think is the deer's knees. Then on the inside of the deer's legs
cut toward the chest and connect this cut with the one made up
through the chest and abdomen during gutting. After you work the
hide free around the front legs with a knife. You can continue to
work the hide down the deer's back towards its feet and tail.
Once you get the hide down around the deer's tail, simply cut the
tail off with a knife. Let me say this again. When you are
pulling and cutting the hide from the deer and you can see that
the hide is now coming off of the tail, you can now simply cut
the tail free. This cut you understand is not through hide but
only through the tailbone itself because you have pulled the hide
down far enough so that it exposes the tailbone under the hide.
That's a long explanation for something simple just so you will
not get confused. Continue until you get the hide down around the
deer's tarsal glands (the dark patches on the inside of the hind
legs) then take a saw and cut through the leg just above the
tarsal gland.
By now you are tired from unpacking, driving, getting up early
and dragging the deer out of the woods, skinning and gutting. But
you are not finished yet. You must still store the meat for
butchering. I will not go into great detail at least not today
but this is how I do it. I first cut out the backstrap and
tenderloins out and place in an ice chest. Then I cut the front
legs free (no bones to cut) and place them in an ice chest. Then
I cut the back hindquarters free with a knife. You can works a
hindquarter free with just a knife if you work your way to the
ball and socket joint that holds the hindquarters to the hips.
Just work the point into this joint and work around the ball.
Once both tendons are cut the hindquarter will be free. Place any
other meat such as ribs and neck into the ice chest. Now place a
bunch of ice in the ice chest with the meat. I am now totally
exhausted from all the work. So I am in no mood to begin
butchering the deer. So I usually wait a couple of days before I
begin butchering.
Each day you need to drain the water and add new ice. I usually
will do a little butchering each day until I am finished, this
usually takes me 5 to 7 days. I could do it all in one day if I
wanted to but cutting up one hindquarter is easy but butchering
an entire deer is work so I spread it out.
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