How do you hang 'em?
Steve
some action going!?! First question: Just wondering how most hunters
hang their deer to process? We've always hung ours head up but have
always had trouble getting alot of hair on the meat when taking the
hide off. Then its a hassle to get the hair off the meat. Sometimes
end up picking it off one hair strand at a time. This year we plan to
hang with the hind legs up using a gambrell hanger. If we are so
lucky enough to get a deer that is... Wondering if removing the hide
is any way easier and if getting hair on the meat would be less of a
problem?? Would appreciate any help on this. second question: My
wife, if she gets a deer, would really like to gut it out herself this
year. She has been assisting me doing this the past few years. She
wants to get a good knife and is interested in the swing blade knife
that has been advertized on some of the hunting shows and is in the
Bass Pro and Cabellas catalogs (sells for about $60). Has anyone had
any experience with this knife and would it be worth the money??
Thanks again for any opinions on this!
Steve
pheasant16
> Ok only 2 weeks to go until the MN rifle season starts so lets get
> some action going!?! First question: Just wondering how most hunters
> hang their deer to process?
By the hind legs. I make cuts between tendon and muscle to hang them,
then skin while still warm, it comes right off. The only time I need a
knife is to make the cuts around the legs. I use my hand and rub the
skin away from the carcass. May take a couple extra minutes, but no
hair to deal with. Then when you have it pulled down to the neck, get
the saw and cut the neck and front legs off.
The only hair is from opening the body cavity to eviscerate it, and my
brother in law says we should take the hides off first, then eviscerate
so we wouldn't have any hair. Will let him see how it goes before I
jump in. Still don't think we want gut piles around the yard or have to
make a trip to the dump. Let the scavengers find 'em in the field.
Mark
John Grossbohlin
news:767ba5cb-7cca-45ab...@s21g2000prm.googlegroups.com...
I hang 'em head down using a homemade pine gambrel and chain hoist. If I
get the hide off while the carcass is still warm it's a lot easier and there
is less hair. The older and colder the deer is the harder it is to get the
hide off and the more hair there is on the meat.
The chain hoist allows me to get the carcass at just the right height for
easy butchering. I bone the meat while it's hanging and let gravity help
me... I don't take the skeleton apart except for chopping it at the end of
the rib cage so there are two pieces so it fits in the trash easier.
John
Long Ranger
Every individual or national degeneration is immediately revealed by a
directly proportional degradation in language.
Joseph-Marie de Maistre
"Steve" <kske...@2z.net> wrote in message
news:767ba5cb-7cca-45ab...@s21g2000prm.googlegroups.com...
Although I have seen photos of what you describe, I can't ever remember
seeing any one in person hang a deer "head up". Lots of folks (me) like to
take a rag soaked in cider vinegar to the deer after it's skinned to get
hair and debris off. It repels the hornets until you can get a bag on it, or
inside a cooler. It all goes away in a short time. I use straight vinegar,
with a bowl underneath to catch the drips, and can be re-used as you go
along up to a point, depending on how much blood etc get in it.
Frank
I hang by back legs but first cut hide above leg area, strip down
towards body and cut off legs.
Do same for front as it makes hide removal easier. Since it is
generally warm around here in early bow and muzzleloader seasons, I
remove hide and quarter on day of kill. When weather is cold, I'll
hang by head as drainage is better if you're waiting a while to remove
hide.
When you cut around legs, slit hide down legs and circle from under
hide to cut. If you make leg cut from outside, you'll cut a lot of
hair and it's messier to keep off meat.
For knife, I like my Buck folding hunter. I use in the field and to
remove hide. Traveling light in the field I have a cheap, 2 inch
folding Cabela's knife, that I've gutted a couple of deer with.
In field, I gut asap to get out blood and heat.
Beartooth
[...]
> my
> brother in law says we should take the hides off first, then eviscerate
> so we wouldn't have any hair. Will let him see how it goes before I
> jump in.
I do that often with squirrels in Appalachia, so that I have
running water to rinse off the carcass before I open it -- and I get away
with it, because a squirrel is small enough to cool clear through fast
enough.
You *might* get away with it with deer in Minnesota if you do the
whole job right when you first get to the deer -- IF you also have a way
to drag a skinned deer out without getting it dirty (like if the snow is
deep enough).
Rule Zero for care of meat in the field has always been to get
the body cavity empty and the meat cooled as fast as practicable. Even if
you're hunting well North of Duluth, I'd be mighty skeptical about the
flavor of your BIL's deer.
--
Beartooth Staffwright, Neo-Redneck Not Quite Clueless Power User
I have precious (very precious!) little idea where up is.
Alex Vitek
>Lots of folks (me) like to
>take a rag soaked in cider vinegar to the deer after it's skinned to get
>hair and debris off. It repels the hornets until you can get a bag on it, or
>inside a cooler. It all goes away in a short time. I use straight vinegar,
>with a bowl underneath to catch the drips, and can be re-used as you go
>along up to a point, depending on how much blood etc get in it.
The vinegar not only will keep some of the hornets and and other
flying critters away but will keep down the bacteria count on the
surface. The acid content will protect against a fast bacteria growth
while you are processing.
I will use a vinegar soaked cloth to clean the surfaces of the
cutting boards while making sausage. Doing this every 5-10 minutes
cannot hurt and does not have an effect on the taste of the sausage.
Like you mention the liquid will evaporate quickly.
Alex Vitek <ale...@ix.netcom.com>
http://home.ix.netcom.com/~alexvit/outdoor/amv.htm
Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers.com
> The only hair is from opening the body cavity to eviscerate it, and my
> brother in law says we should take the hides off first, then eviscerate so
> we wouldn't have any hair. Will let him see how it goes before I jump in.
> Still don't think we want gut piles around the yard or have to make a trip
> to the dump. Let the scavengers find 'em in the field.
Mark,
A couple years ago, a friend from Texas came to visit me in northern
Wisconsin. We grilled a couple of venison steaks on the grill and what we
didn't realie, was that my friend Rob didn't really like venison, but was
too polite to say so.
After dinner (which he ate two good sized steaks), he asked what the meat
was. When we told him simply whitetail steaks, he couldn't believe it,
saying he'd never had such wonderful tasting deer meat in his life, and he
deer hunted for years. He asked my wife what she marinated the steaks in,
and she said the only prep she'd done was salt and pepper.
He asked me what I'd done to the deer and I said, "the only thing I did was
shoot it, field dress it, then brought it home, immediately skinned it,
boned it, trimmed it and put it in the freezer. He looked at me blankly and
asked, "Field Dress It?"
It turned out that in his part of Texas, they shoot a deer, then bring it
back intact where its hung, skinned, boned out while hanging and the guts
are never removed as when it's hanging head down, all the "guts" fall into
the rib cage. Then once the meat is off, the entire carcass is then hauled
off to someplace for the coyotes.
He now field dresses his deer and says the quality of the meat is much
better.
I think you might want to show this to your brother in law.
And if you're worried about hair on the meat, try to make your cuts in the
direction the hair lies, with the blade coming up from the bottom, (hide
side) and then cut upwards. Doing this will cut through less hair and
there'll be less on the meat. This is the way you can easily hand pick the
few remaining hairs off.
Long Ranger
Every individual or national degeneration is immediately revealed by a
directly proportional degradation in language.
Joseph-Marie de Maistre
news:20JEm.13443$MZ1....@newsfe11.iad...
Who knows, he might have even discovered the tenderloins in there.
Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers.com
>
> Who knows, he might have even discovered the tenderloins in there.
I did ask about that. Evidently the guts fell far enough down that they
could get the tenderloins out. But I can only imagine what that meat tasted
like after having internal organ damage from a shot, then stewing in body
heat generated gut juice!
I think I'll put up with some hair on the meat and risk getting dirt in the
body cavity and continue to field dress my deer.
Steve
fish...@charter.net> wrote:
> A couple years ago, a friend from Texas came to visit me in northern
> Wisconsin. We grilled a couple of venison steaks on the grill and what we
> didn't realie, was that my friend Rob didn't really like venison, but was
> too polite to say so.
>
> After dinner (which he ate two good sized steaks), he asked what the meat
> was. When we told him simply whitetail steaks, he couldn't believe it,
> saying he'd never had such wonderful tasting deer meat in his life, and he
> deer hunted for years. He asked my wife what she marinated the steaks in,
> and she said the only prep she'd done was salt and pepper.
>
> He asked me what I'd done to the deer and I said, "the only thing I did was
> shoot it, field dress it, then brought it home, immediately skinned it,
> boned it, trimmed it and put it in the freezer. He looked at me blankly and
> asked, "Field Dress It?"
>
> It turned out that in his part of Texas, they shoot a deer, then bring it
> back intact where its hung, skinned, boned out while hanging and the guts
> are never removed as when it's hanging head down, all the "guts" fall into
> the rib cage. Then once the meat is off, the entire carcass is then hauled
> off to someplace for the coyotes.
>
> He now field dresses his deer and says the quality of the meat is much
> better.
Very peculiar....... I was just watching a "hunting show" the other
day where they were bowhunting trophy (of course) whitetail deer down
in Texas.. They were also apparently being sponsored by one of the
side by side 4 wheeler manufatcurers as they were wheeling around
quite alot on one. Then towards the end of the show after the trophy
deer was procured they showed the hunters driving off with the deer
loaded onto the flatbed rack on the back with the deer facing back
towards the camera and the belly fully exposed and there wasn't a mark
on it??? I wondered...... Geezzz, they didn't even gut it out?? I
thought maybe they didnt want to get their nice new side by side
bloodied up or something??? Must have been alot of work lifting that
nice big buck up there....
Steve
Steve
> I hang by back legs but first cut hide above leg area, strip down
> towards body and cut off legs.
> Do same for front as it makes hide removal easier. Since it is
> generally warm around here in early bow and muzzleloader seasons, I
> remove hide and quarter on day of kill. When weather is cold, I'll
> hang by head as drainage is better if you're waiting a while to remove
> hide.
>
> When you cut around legs, slit hide down legs and circle from under
> hide to cut. If you make leg cut from outside, you'll cut a lot of
> hair and it's messier to keep off meat.
>
> For knife, I like my Buck folding hunter. I use in the field and to
> remove hide. Traveling light in the field I have a cheap, 2 inch
> folding Cabela's knife, that I've gutted a couple of deer with.
Looks like we've caused ourselves alot of undue troubles and
frustrations over the years by hanging head up..... I guess its just
been the way we've always done it since I was a kid??? Thanks to
everyone who replied and sounds like head down is by far the way to
go!
Thanks also for all the other tips on skinning and cleaning the hair
off the meat!
By the way, we do take the hide off asap while the animal is still
warm and that works great. Of course the tenderloins are the first
matter of business! Mmmmmm!
Steve
Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers.com
Looks like we've caused ourselves alot of undue troubles and
frustrations over the years by hanging head up..... I guess its just
been the way we've always done it since I was a kid??? Thanks to
everyone who replied and sounds like head down is by far the way to
go!
Thanks also for all the other tips on skinning and cleaning the hair
off the meat!
By the way, we do take the hide off asap while the animal is still
warm and that works great. Of course the tenderloins are the first
matter of business! Mmmmmm!
Not to mention that if you want to have a buck mounted, if you hang by the
head, it stretches the neck hide and creates problems for the taxidermist.
Larry Caldwell
cc5cff...@s21g2000prm.googlegroups.com>, kske...@2z.net (Steve)
says...
> Ok only 2 weeks to go until the MN rifle season starts so lets get
> some action going!?! First question: Just wondering how most hunters
> hang their deer to process? We've always hung ours head up but have
> always had trouble getting alot of hair on the meat when taking the
> hide off. Then its a hassle to get the hair off the meat. Sometimes
> end up picking it off one hair strand at a time. This year we plan to
> hang with the hind legs up using a gambrell hanger.
Is that the same thing as a single tree? The first thing I do is cut
the musk glands off, then (if possible) hoist it up by the hind legs
with a single tree and cut the head off to let the blood drain.
> If we are so
> lucky enough to get a deer that is... Wondering if removing the hide
> is any way easier and if getting hair on the meat would be less of a
> problem?? Would appreciate any help on this. second question: My
> wife, if she gets a deer, would really like to gut it out herself this
> year. She has been assisting me doing this the past few years. She
> wants to get a good knife and is interested in the swing blade knife
> that has been advertized on some of the hunting shows and is in the
> Bass Pro and Cabellas catalogs (sells for about $60). Has anyone had
> any experience with this knife and would it be worth the money??
> Thanks again for any opinions on this!
> Steve
My favorite skinning knife is a Wyoming knife. I put less holes in the
hide with it than any other. I salt the hides and save them until I can
brain tan them. I love the way the leather smells after it is smoked.
If you are strong enough, you can just make the cuts down the inside of
the legs and the belly, tie off the anus and urethra, and pull the hide
off rather than cut it off. I tried it, and went back to my Wyoming
knife. I can cut a hide off in 5 minutes with it without poking any
holes. For gutting I use a straight blade with a serrated back to cut
the pelvic bone.
To get the blood out of the liver, soak it in cheap wine.
Joe Bleaux
We, in TX, MS, OK and AL, generally do what others have described - hang by
slots cut in the rear legs, gut, then strip the hide, take off the head, then in
this order, the neck roast, the backstraps, front quarters, hose the cavity,
tenderloins, scrape rib meat for sausage bin, rear quarters. Never a problem
with hair. We put all the meat into an ice chest with ice and water with a
little salt and let it soak, changing the water and adding ice, for at least a
couple of days, 3 or 4 is better. Then bone out, package the "cuts" and sausage
meat, and freeze. At the end of the season, the sausage meat goes to our
sausage maker. At one ranch in TX (20K-plus acres, next to a similarly-sized
place), the usual practice is to field ground dress to keep the guts well away
from the ranch HQ and houses. If you know what you are doing and are careful,
there isn't a hair problem doing it that way, either.
A couple of things to add/address:
First, a lot of folks have "skinning racks" or similar at their camp (I don't
know of a ranch, lease or camp without one, in fact). A couple of posts, a
cross-bar, and most often, a boat trailer winch or similar with a t-bar
gambrel/spreader. Some places field-dress while others clean at the rack (and
use a "gut bucket" to haul off to a specific location - some folks hunt coyotes
over them). If the hunt you saw took place on ranch/hunting camp that did the
latter, it probably did take much longer to get the non-field-dressed deer "rack
dressed." Also, consider that what appeared to be "X" amount of time on a taped
show might have been a different amount of time "in real life."
In any case, another tip: We use latex/nitrile gloves and while skinning, we
use the cheap cotton brown or white gloves (they are something like 5 pair for
$5.00 at Walmart) to get a good grip (and it helps a little bit with cold hands
when it's particularly nippy). Also, if you section the carcass, it makes
getting a grip on the meat a little easier (and again, it helps when cold).
decalod85
We hunt my uncle's farm in North Dakota, so cleaning is easy.
We start gutting as soon as we are done taking pictures. Deer goes
back to the farm where we hang it head down from the tractors bucket,
then raise the bucket so the dogs can't reach it. As it is usually in
the 30's or 40's temperature wise, the meat cools down really fast.
If we are tired, we wait to skin and butcher until morning, but it is
tougher work.
I actually carry three blades for field dressing, all from Gerber. I
use their gut hook, the bone saw, and a nice little caping knife they
sell. I know I could do it all with one blade, but I like these and
they make the work faster for me.
Joe Bleaux
>On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:51:17 -0700, Steve <kske...@2z.net> wrote:
>
>>On Oct 24, 2:58 pm, "Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers.com" <go-
>>fish...@charter.net> wrote:
>>
>First, a lot of folks have "skinning racks" or similar at their camp (I don't
>know of a ranch, lease or camp without one, in fact). A couple of posts, a
>cross-bar, and most often, a boat trailer winch or similar with a t-bar
>gambrel/spreader. Some places field-dress while others clean at the rack (and
>use a "gut bucket" to haul off to a specific location - some folks hunt coyotes
>over them). If the hunt you saw took place on ranch/hunting camp that did the
>latter,
>it probably did take much longer to get the non-field-dressed deer "rack
>dressed."
NOTE - that should have been "...did NOT take much longer to get the
non-field-dressed deer..."
Joe
Chris Barnes
Hanging - unless you have a REAL meat locker, don't do it. You'd be
much better of packaging it down into meal size portions and putting
into the freezer the same day you kill it than you would to try to hang
it without the proper facilities.
Knife - I use a $15 fillet knife (short blade) I bought from Wal-Mart
for my skinning & processing. The key is to keep the knife SHARP. A
cheap sharp knife if infinitely better than an expensive dull one.
Chris Barnes
> It turned out that in his part of Texas, they shoot a deer, then bring it
> back intact where its hung, skinned, boned out while hanging and the guts
> are never removed as when it's hanging head down, all the "guts" fall into
> the rib cage. Then once the meat is off, the entire carcass is then hauled
> off to someplace for the coyotes.
Horse pucky. I have lived in Texas my entire life and hunted all over
the state.
What you describe is not a "Texas method", but a "lazy, city-dweller
method".
Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers.com
news:hc7crh$oa3$1...@news.tamu.edu...
Nope, I happen to know this gentleman and his family have lived in Texas for
a while. Well, considering that his great-great ran a stage coach way
station in the 1800's and he and his family ranched as well, this man and
his family are not "lazy, city-dwellers."
Plus, when I lived in Rhinelander and worked for the fire department, we
were also a big-game registration station where deer were registered. There
was a group of four guys that came every year from Texas and stayed at their
aunt's lake house just north of Rhinelander. They'd come up with an 18
cubic foot freezer on a trailer and bow hunt for a couple weeks. At that
time, there were unlimited antlerless permits available and they'd hunt all
day, cut meat in the evenings and do this until the freezer was full. All
the deer were brought in to be registered, and none of them were ever field
dressed. When I first saw this, three deer were lying on the trailer,
undressed, I asked if they lost their knives. They said they never field
dress their deer, but prefer to hang them, skin them and bone the meat off.
I said that I knew a guy in Texas that used to do the same thing. They
said, "That's where we're from, San Antonio, Texas!"
Steve
> Hanging - unless you have a REAL meat locker, don't do it. You'd be
> much better of packaging it down into meal size portions and putting
> into the freezer the same day you kill it than you would to try to hang
> it without the proper facilities.
Well, in northern MN about mid November, my garage is about as close
as one could get to a meat locker... Usually about 40 degrees and
usually lower.. Our goal, when we get a deer is to get it hung,
skinned, de-tenderloined the same day or evening it is taken. Then,
depending on the weather, (sometimes it can get up into the 40's or
higher daytime) we try to butcher and package on the 2nd or 3rd day
after at the latest.
> Knife - I use a $15 fillet knife (short blade) I bought from Wal-Mart
> for my skinning & processing. The key is to keep the knife SHARP. A
> cheap sharp knife if infinitely better than an expensive dull one.- Hide quoted text -
>
I hear ya on keeping it sharp... If the knife I'm using doesn't make
a clean cut, I give it a few strokes on the sharpening stone. I was
actually asking about what knife is used in the gutting process? A
plain hunting / skinning knife or one with a gut hook? I don't like
the gut hook because it can get clogged up in the hair and cause
problems.
Thanks for the reply!
Steve
Chris Barnes
> Nope, I happen to know this gentleman and his family have lived in Texas for
> a while. Well, considering that his great-great ran a stage coach way
> station in the 1800's and he and his family ranched as well, this man and
> his family are not "lazy, city-dwellers."
> They said, "That's where we're from, San Antonio, Texas!"
San Antonio *IS* a typical big city. Just like Houston & Dallas (and
even Austin). I repeat my claim above.
Chris Barnes
> On Oct 27, 1:00 pm, Chris Barnes <ch...@txbarnes.com> wrote:
>> Hanging - unless you have a REAL meat locker, don't do it. You'd be
>> much better of packaging it down into meal size portions and putting
>> into the freezer the same day you kill it than you would to try to hang
>> it without the proper facilities.
>
> Well, in northern MN about mid November, my garage is about as close
> as one could get to a meat locker... Usually about 40 degrees and
> usually lower.. Our goal, when we get a deer is to get it hung,
> skinned, de-tenderloined the same day or evening it is taken. Then,
> depending on the weather, (sometimes it can get up into the 40's or
> higher daytime) we try to butcher and package on the 2nd or 3rd day
> after at the latest.
A *real* meat locker has temperature controlled EXACTLY to within 2
degrees. There is never "about" any temperature.
1 hour at a temp over 38 is long enough to go from "aging" to "rotting".
>> Knife - I use a $15 fillet knife (short blade) I bought from Wal-Mart
>> for my skinning & processing. The key is to keep the knife SHARP. A
>> cheap sharp knife if infinitely better than an expensive dull one.- Hide quoted text -
>
> I hear ya on keeping it sharp... If the knife I'm using doesn't make
> a clean cut, I give it a few strokes on the sharpening stone. I was
> actually asking about what knife is used in the gutting process? A
> plain hunting / skinning knife or one with a gut hook? I don't like
> the gut hook because it can get clogged up in the hair and cause
> problems.
I don't use a special knife. I simply make 2 cuts:
First cut gets the skin, but not into the meat (abdominal wall). The
skin there is loose, so a pinch will allow me to insert the knife blade
between the skin and the meat (blade up) and unzip the skin from nads to
throat.
Second cut then opens the abdominal wall, completely free from hair.
Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers.com
Ok, I'll give you San Antonio is a big city, but Burnet certainly doesn't
qualify as big at what, about 5,000 population? And Rob is NOT a lazy,
city-dweller. He's a very good outdoorsman, taught the way in the outdoors
by his father and grandfather, who come from pioneer stock. And that's the
way he learned deer hunting. Why field dressing wasn't done? I don't know
and Rob doesn't either, but it was simply the way things were done in that
region of the state.
Am I defending not field dressing deer properly? NO! But I realize that
people do things differently from region to region. And not always is it
due to laziness as you claim. I wish I knew the original reason for
bringing the deer out intact, but I can't travel back in time to ask Rob's
grand dad why they didn't.....
I do however resent your implication that my friend is lazy as he certainly
is not. Taught differently? Yes. Lazy? NO!!!
decalod85
I was born in a small town, lived on a farm for a time, moved to other
small towns, and eventually moved through a progression of larger and
larger cities across North Dakota and Minnesota until I ended up in
the Twin Cities.
I also know a lot of other hunters: some smart and skilled, others
not so much. The difference is not where they live, but whether they
are willing to learn new things, and whether they pay attention.
In all that time, I have never seen or heard someone hang a deer in
the way described above. It is certainly not a "city" thing.
To claim that city dwellers are lazy and do things wrong is as
ridiculous a claim as someone saying that country folks are a bunch of
ignorant, bible-thumping hicks.
decalod85
>
> I don't use a special knife. I simply make 2 cuts:
> First cut gets the skin, but not into the meat (abdominal wall). The
> skin there is loose, so a pinch will allow me to insert the knife blade
> between the skin and the meat (blade up) and unzip the skin from nads to
> throat.
>
> Second cut then opens the abdominal wall, completely free from hair.
That's the way I do it. Only difference is that I use a dedicated gut
hook for unzipping the skin and the abdomen.
If you have a knife you like, stick with it. For me, I hate folding
knives and don't use them anymore. Too much of a pain to clean all
the blood, guts, hair and tallow out of the handle.
I also won't use anything that has handles that are fancy wood, stag
horn, or anything else expensive. I tend to only buy stuff with
rubberized handles. They clean up quick and go easy on your hands
during butchering.
No camo knives. My brother bought one once, set it down after tending
to his deer, and never saw it again. Funny how that camo handle and
sheathe blended in perfectly with the ground. He bought a knife with
a blaze handle after that.
I'm no longer partial to gut hooks built into knife blades. They are
clumsy to hold while gutting, and don't do the job as well as a
dedicated gut hook.
Good luck picking out a knife and a deer, Steve.
Chris Barnes
> Ok, I'll give you San Antonio is a big city, but Burnet certainly doesn't
> qualify as big at what, about 5,000 population? And Rob is NOT a lazy,
> city-dweller. He's a very good outdoorsman, taught the way in the outdoors
> by his father and grandfather, who come from pioneer stock. And that's the
> way he learned deer hunting. Why field dressing wasn't done? I don't know
> and Rob doesn't either, but it was simply the way things were done in that
> region of the state.
NO - it is *NOT* regional.
Just because your friend, even if he lives in a small town and from
"pioneer stock", does something - it does NOT mean that everyone else
from Burnett does it.
> I do however resent your implication that my friend is lazy as he certainly
> is not. Taught differently? Yes. Lazy? NO!!!
And I resent your implication of an entire region for the idiocy of your
friend.
Steve
> degrees. There is never "about" any temperature.
>
> 1 hour at a temp over 38 is long enough to go from "aging" to "rotting".
I am very much aware of temperature whenever I have deer hanging in my
garage. I am meticulous about caring for and processing my game so it
is the freshest and tastiest it can possibly be. We don't usually eat
much beef or pork so venison is the main meat on the table throughout
the year. Anyone who has ever dined with us on a nice fresh hot
venison meal have always cleaned their plates and asked for more.
What better compliments can you ask for on game you took and processed
yourself? Therefore we must have done something "about" right with
our deer?!
I shudder whenever I see someone transporting their game on the top of
their vehicle or truckbed or trailer and and wonder how many miles do
they have to go to get their game home after a hunt? Some come from
hundreds of miles away to hunt in our neck of the woods. And that's
after their deer have hung somewhere for x number of days in whatever
"about" temperature there happened to be during that time... Does
that sound like a nice fresh venison meal to anyone?
> I don't use a special knife. I simply make 2 cuts:
> First cut gets the skin, but not into the meat (abdominal wall). The
> skin there is loose, so a pinch will allow me to insert the knife blade
> between the skin and the meat (blade up) and unzip the skin from nads to
> throat.
>
> Second cut then opens the abdominal wall, completely free from hair.
Pretty much the way I do it.
Beartooth
[....]
> I shudder whenever I see someone transporting their game on the top of
> their vehicle or truckbed or trailer and and wonder how many miles do
> they have to go to get their game home after a hunt? Some come from
Last time I looked, at least one state (MN) had a law requiring
any deer in transit to be in plain sight.
--
Beartooth Staffwright, Sclerotic Squirreler
All my hunts succeed -- and sometimes I get meat.
Patrick Murray
your deer, or how you hang it, I will state flatly that if you leave the
hide on it, even overnight, you are degrading your meat, no matter the
temperature, or method. I've seen people leave hides on in sub-zero weather,
claiming that they didn't want it to freeze, and people who left it on
claiming it kept the meat clean. I'm not trying to "one-up" anyone with this
statement, or humiliate anyone, or satisfy my ego. I just want you to stop
ruining your meat, and be able to "come out into the light" on how good
properly cared-for deer meat can be.
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go
mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one
--Charles Mackay
Joe Bleaux
>On Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:13:17 -0700, Steve wrote:
> [....]
>> I shudder whenever I see someone transporting their game on the top of
>> their vehicle or truckbed or trailer and and wonder how many miles do
>> they have to go to get their game home after a hunt? Some come from
>> hundreds of miles away to hunt in our neck of the woods. [....]
>
> Last time I looked, at least one state (MN) had a law requiring
>any deer in transit to be in plain sight.
That must make coming home from a sausage-maker a real interesting experience.
While I'm not an expert on MN regs, I suspect that there's more to it as "in
plain sight" simply isn't practical as a reg, even as some regs and laws go. For
example, would a pickup bed be "in plain sight?" Suppose there is a standard
topper with side windows and a window-type upper rear gate? In both cases, it
wouldn't be "hidden" in any way, but it wouldn't be (necessarily) "in plain
sight," either. Hell, about the only way to be absolutely clear would be on the
hood, roof or any vehicle, or on trunk of a car, or on a truly flat (no sides of
any kind) flatbed truck or trailer.
Joe
Steve
> Last time I looked, at least one state (MN) had a law requiring
> any deer in transit to be in plain sight.
As read straight from the MN Hunting & Trapping Reg. Handbook 2009:
All deer in transport must be readily accessible for inspection by DNR
conservation officers.
Steve
Steve
> I've watched this thread since it started, and regardless of how you gut
> your deer, or how you hang it, I will state flatly that if you leave the
> hide on it, even overnight, you are degrading your meat, no matter the
> temperature, or method.
No argument at all with this statement!
Steve
Steve
Thanks for the info!
I've decided on a knife made by Outdoor Edge called "the swing blade
knife. You can "google it" if you like. But it is essentially 2
blade edges on one knife frame. One blade is a sharp point butchering/
skinning blade and it swings around to expose a gut opening blade with
a blunt point and an upward curving blade that cuts up from the skin
side of the hide. It is supposedly an easy knife to wash/clean as the
knife is basically an open frame due to the swinging style of the blade
(s). I ordered it but it hasn't come yet so hopfully it will be just
in time for the start of the season.
Steve
ps: No fancy camo or horn type of handle either... It is a little
pricy but time will tell if it will be worth it?
Dave
<go-fi...@charter.net> wrote:
>Ok, I'll give you San Antonio is a big city, but Burnet certainly doesn't
>qualify as big at what, about 5,000 population? And Rob is NOT a lazy,
>city-dweller. He's a very good outdoorsman, taught the way in the outdoors
>by his father and grandfather, who come from pioneer stock. And that's the
>way he learned deer hunting. Why field dressing wasn't done? I don't know
>and Rob doesn't either, but it was simply the way things were done in that
>region of the state.
>
>Am I defending not field dressing deer properly? NO! But I realize that
>people do things differently from region to region. And not always is it
>due to laziness as you claim. I wish I knew the original reason for
>bringing the deer out intact, but I can't travel back in time to ask Rob's
>grand dad why they didn't.....
>Steve Huber
I live in the county next to Burnet and hunt the county on the other side of
Burnet. Never in 25 years of hunting have I seen anyone not field dress a
deer. I've had one guest hunter ask which way we do it, but he field dressed
too. Good grief, it's often 80 degrees in November and even sometimes in
December, you've got to get them cooled down fast! So yeah, I would say the
camp-gutters are in the minority, at least in the circles I run in in this
region.
Steve
> I live in the county next to Burnet and hunt the county on the other side of
> Burnet. Never in 25 years of hunting have I seen anyone not field dress a
> deer. I've had one guest hunter ask which way we do it, but he field dressed
> too. Good grief, it's often 80 degrees in November and even sometimes in
> December, you've got to get them cooled down fast! So yeah, I would say the
> camp-gutters are in the minority, at least in the circles I run in in this
> region.
I would say you are probably right on this. I just can't imagine this
to be standard practice for most people no matter where they live or
are from.... However, there are a percentage of people (from
anywhere) who are only interested in getting the trophy mount and
could care less about what happens to the meat....
Steve
Chris Barnes
Nor from me.