WHERE DO YOU GUT EM?

[shaman]

I'm with KYdeer88.   First off, you have to understand my situation.  I'm up on a ridge top.  If the deer runs to the bottom of a ravine, I'll gut in place before trying to get it back up the hill.  Otherwise, I can probably get to it with the truck.

Better than 80% of our deer fall on top of the ridge. We call back to the cabin. Somebody drives out with the truck.  The truck has a hitch-haul.  Usually we just toss it on there and drive back to the cabin.  Assuming I make the call right after the shot, the truck is there within 15 minutes or so.

Once out of the woods, we pull up under the meat pole, hook up the deer to a block and tackle, hook up the rope to the back of the truck and the deer lifts up as the truck pulls away.  The deer is elevated head first.  A wash tub is brought underneath, a few minutes everything falls into the tub and the deer is lowered back down onto the bed of the truck.  Off we go to the processor.

Variations:

If deer is taken in the evening after the processor closes we have the option of hoisting the deer into a large chest freezer.    We do that if the weather isn't cold enough to leave the deer outside.

Skinning is usually done by the processor.  It protects the meat, especially if the processor is getting stacked up. About 1 in 5 get skinned by us.



PLAN B:

If the deer is either big or its fallen in a place inaccessible to the truck, we call for the truck to come to the nearest intercept.  On the truck is all the stuff we need to process the deer in place-- block and tackle, knives, saws, bags, etc.  We also have a game cart, although we've found this to be more of a hassle than not.  I have to tell you that getting the deer elevated is worth the wait and the extra effort.

PLAN C:

2008 was the first time in a long while I took a deer with nobody at the farm but myself.  It was a nice sized buck, and I had a shot at getting the deer to the processor before he closed.  I was losing light.  The buck had conveniently turned up hill to check his back trail just before dying.  Out came the knife.  After gutting, I walked back to the house, got the truck and got to within 30 yards of the carcass.




DISCUSSION:

PLAN A vs B  :   If I have the means to get a deer back quickly to the house, I prefer it.  The meat stays cleaner.  I have all the tools. I've got lights.  The only heavy lifting is rolling the beast onto the hitch haul. The rest is all down with a block and tackle.  For scent control, you can't beat it.  All the messy stuff gets done after I've had a chance to change out of my hunting duds.  I have an old rainsuit and boots that I usually get into before doing the dirty work.  The big point here is speed.  I can sometimes be at the processor within 90 minutes of taking the shot.  On the Opener, that's key.  The processor may be filled up before Noon.

PLAN B:  Elevating the deer head first really improves two things:  speed and ergonomics.  The block and tackle are there pretty quick.  I get a chance to collect my gear and get it to the intercept with the truck, and that's about it.  The deer goes up a tree, 10 minutes later everything is out.  It's all done standing up or kneeling, and gravity works with you to get done. 

PLAN C:  I hadn't just gutted in place with nothing but a knife since 1992.  The 2008 buck made me remember why all the elaborate plans. I came out of the woods looking like Sweeney Todd.  I had leaves inside the carcass.  My back was killing me. Sure, it was fun trying to gut under a full moon, but I missed my worklights.  I bagged the beast at 4:30 in the afternoon.  I missed the processor closing by 15 minutes at 7 PM, and had to schlep the big boy back to the house and hoist him into the freezer.


One last thing:  I split the pelvis whenever I can.  I've got a cheap flush saw I got from Harbor Freight. It cuts pelvis like butter.  I've done it with a pruning saw. I've done it with a hand ax.  I find that it's easier to get the rectum, etc. out.  I also find that splitting the pelvis allows you to open up the carcass more and aids in cooling. I also run the saw up through the middle of the rib cage.  It makes it easier to get my big hands up into the chest cavity.  I usually aim for the boiler room, so there isn't much good rib meat left to begin with.

[Woods Walker]

Good heavens shaman! That sounds like a government health care plan!!!

Here's mine......

Shoot the deer. Gut the deer. Drag deer out of woods. Hang for 5 8 days. Butcher and eat......repeat as necessary.

[Bryan78]

ORIGINAL: Woods Walker

I like it better. It does seem to waste less meat, and that meat in that area is some good stuff. Now I carry a Rapala 4" fillet knife that I use just for that purpose of coring the anus and cutting the connective tissue. I use it only for that as I don't want to contaminate the rest of the deer.
If you do it right, the whole she-bang pulls out in one piece.

Well you could always get the Butt-Out tool (get the new longer version it is much better).  It does a pretty good job.

[Woods Walker]

My knife works just fine, and it has more than one use too. I have enough stuff to carry as it is, and I'm constantly culling it down.

[shaman]

ORIGINAL: Woods Walker

Good heavens shaman! That sounds like a government health care plan!!!

Here's mine......

Shoot the deer. Gut the deer. Drag deer out of woods. Hang for 5 8 days. Butcher and eat......repeat as necessary.

Except that nobody is mandating that you do it.  If you stay home and don't hunt, you won't have to pay a fine.  You do not have to contribute to my deer gutting, and  furthermore you can complain all you want about my deer gutting and I won't call you a violent fascist right wing racist conspiracy.[:)]  Honest!

It looks complex when you write it all down in detail.  Taken at the simplest level as you wrote, it comes off more like:  "Shoot deer. Call on walkie talkie. Wait 15 minutes.  Haul deer back to camp.  Gut.  Haul to processor."  


The only possible hitch in the plan right now is that  the meat pole is probably kaput.  Here it is in better days:



Right now, it's in three pieces out in the yard.  It's gotten blown over before, but there was an awesome wind storm just at the end of season last year and it really hosed it good.  I built it after the 2003 season, because KYHillChick did not like all the blood on the front porch.  Fleishstange II will be built like a kids swingset.  More on that later.

[Woods Walker]

See? I made it simple for you!

As far as the blood on the porch goes, just by her some really dark sunglasses. Problem solved. And you don't have to build a new meatpole.

Any other life problems you have to deal with? I'm here to serve. It's a calling.....really.....[:D]

[trapperDave]

I gut em where they drop. gut piles dont bother deer one bit. Took a doe one morning, gutted where she dropped, shot a 9 point buck that afternoon just five yards from the gut pile.

[JPH]

I once saw a series of trail camera photos taken over a gut pile (I think it was in D&DH). As you can imagine, all kinds of critters visited it. The most telling photo however, was the one of a doe feeding on the spilled contents of the dead deer's stomach! Does not do much for the theory that deer fear gut piles.

On another note, I have rarely seen an unfrozen gut pile last 24 hrs and I have never seen one make it past 48 hrs. before being totally consumed.

[scottflesher]

It may be largely dictated by your location, north/south, but I think it's more about how you were taught. I've always gutted deer in the woods and rarely will drag them farther than 10-20 yards before I begin the task. I have a few buddies that will take them to the processor with guts intact, but then again that's how their mentors taught them. They also have ATVs so the weight issue that WW mentions, isn't really an issue in their case. I don't own an ATV or other fancy deer toting device, it's grab by the horns and drag to the truck, the old fashioned way.

[Woods Walker]

Scott: Not meaning to bad mouth your friends....I don't even know them....but IMO if you just shoot your deer and then have someone else take care of the field dressing chores, then you are missing out on a significant part of the hunt, and your knowledge of deer anatomy (and your overall hunting skills) will be hindered.

When God blesses me with a kill, I use the field dressing as another opportunity to learn about my shot, it's effect on the deer, amount of trauma (which educates you about your projectile and it's performance) and SHOT PLACEMENT. These are lessons that are best learned by getting your hands bloody, and in some cases are the ONLY way to learn.

I further this knowledge base by butchering all my deer, and most of that is by boning the meat, which is an excellent learning aid for deer skeletal and muscle anatomy. I realize that not everyone has the good fortune to have the place to be able to hang and butcher a deer, but EVERYONE who hunts can certainly field dress their own deer in the woods.

If you bone out a few front leg quarters, I guarantee you that you will never purposely take a quartering to shot on a deer with a bow for the purpose of trying to shoot through a front quarter. That's a LOT of mass and shoulder blade right there!!!!