catscratch
Well-Known Member
Post your methods if you feel it makes a difference in eating.
Meat cleaning and prep after the kill.
- Thread starter catscratch
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Heart shot
Active Member
I use the gutless method and it has never been better.
Bring deer to camp
Hang by back legs
Skin down to the head
The cut off all the meat. Start with back straps, front legs, and carve the roasts off the rump and back legs.
This is the easiest and fastest way to get a deer broken down and ready for the freezer.
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Bring deer to camp
Hang by back legs
Skin down to the head
The cut off all the meat. Start with back straps, front legs, and carve the roasts off the rump and back legs.
This is the easiest and fastest way to get a deer broken down and ready for the freezer.
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Elkaddict
Well-Known Member
I’ve meticulously cared for meat for years and have seen a real improvements. Steps include quickly gutting/cleaning/using a different knife for skinning, and cooling meat down asap. Despite these efforts, we occasionally come across a super rutted up buck that no level of care or marinating can fix. Even the dogs won’t eat it…. It’s not lactic acid build up…but something else IMO. I’d love to find the fix.
swat1018
Well-Known Member
I remove the kill to my shop, hoist it up and gut it. I take care not to get around the tarsal with my hands or knife, do my best not to rupture the intestines or bladder. When the cavity does get contaminated, I rinse it out with a hose. I have the luxury of having a walk-in cooler, which I believe has done the most for my meat quality. Once gutted, my meat goes in the cooler where it maintains a steady temp with no fluctuations and is cooled quickly to about 37 degrees. I then allow the deer to hang 7-10 days before processing myself. Most of the time a deer is in the cooler hanging less than 2 hours after being killed.
rusty1034
Active Member
weekender21
Well-Known Member
Not trying to answer for heart shot but I can explain how I access them using the typical gutless method (on the ground).
Follow the rib cage back until the main rib cage ends, around the last 12” of spine. Here a membrane separates the tender loins from the intestines etc. I can usually remove them without a knife although a small cut or two may be necessary.
If I hang deer I gut them as well but I never considered the gutless method from a gambrel. It certainly works in the backcountry.
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Deadeye
Well-Known Member
I have gone to Gutless as well. Won’t ever go back.
Take animal to skinning rack.
I prefer to pre-cut the legs and head off and slice along each leg to body.
Start skinning from rear legs and go down. When I’m done the entire body is hanging there with no fur on.
Start with the Backstraps. Then start at neck meat and work my way up.
Once I have all the meat off to the rear quarters, I carefully slice into the belly skin near the quarters joining and left the guts there drop down. From there I can reach inside and get both tenderloins with no problem.
Then I lower the body into my Junk Bin to where I can cut off leaving nothing but the two Rear Quarters and let it drop into the bin.
Move the scrap bin out of the way then cut off the quarter from the hocks they are hanging by.
When I’m done I have a Bag of Burger Meat. A bag of Backstraps. A bag of Front shoulders. And a bag for each Rear Quarters.
Then I place each bag onto a Wooden Block Frame I have set on the bottom of the 120 Cooler and cover with ice.
I let the drain open with the other end set on a block and replace ice as needed for 5-7 days. The water and ice never touches the meat.
The meat is then cut up by me as I see fit.
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Take animal to skinning rack.
I prefer to pre-cut the legs and head off and slice along each leg to body.
Start skinning from rear legs and go down. When I’m done the entire body is hanging there with no fur on.
Start with the Backstraps. Then start at neck meat and work my way up.
Once I have all the meat off to the rear quarters, I carefully slice into the belly skin near the quarters joining and left the guts there drop down. From there I can reach inside and get both tenderloins with no problem.
Then I lower the body into my Junk Bin to where I can cut off leaving nothing but the two Rear Quarters and let it drop into the bin.
Move the scrap bin out of the way then cut off the quarter from the hocks they are hanging by.
When I’m done I have a Bag of Burger Meat. A bag of Backstraps. A bag of Front shoulders. And a bag for each Rear Quarters.
Then I place each bag onto a Wooden Block Frame I have set on the bottom of the 120 Cooler and cover with ice.
I let the drain open with the other end set on a block and replace ice as needed for 5-7 days. The water and ice never touches the meat.
The meat is then cut up by me as I see fit.
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MarkDarvin
Well-Known Member
We're pretty primitive at my place. In a good year, I have running water. This past year, zero water. The shallow well was dry.
I bring the animal up close to the road on my SE corner and gut it there and let the gut pile scent blow across the road. Then I hang and skin immediately. If it's cool enough, I'll let the deer hang for a day to cool the meat and stiffen up a little. Then it's quartered and deboned and tossed in ziplocks. Backstraps segregated from the rest. The rest is destined for canning. Before we debone, we'll run a torch over it to singe off any hair that's left over.
I bring the animal up close to the road on my SE corner and gut it there and let the gut pile scent blow across the road. Then I hang and skin immediately. If it's cool enough, I'll let the deer hang for a day to cool the meat and stiffen up a little. Then it's quartered and deboned and tossed in ziplocks. Backstraps segregated from the rest. The rest is destined for canning. Before we debone, we'll run a torch over it to singe off any hair that's left over.
snowracerh
Active Member
With the gutless method is it easier to manage the hair? I feel like the traditional gutting method keeps most of the hair away from quarters and loins.
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Heart shot
Active Member
If you do the gutless carefully and when it is hung, it is very easy to keep the hair off the meat. Basically by cutting around the back legs and slicing the skin down to the white hair near genitals. I cut from the inside to the outside to keep from hitting the hair and cutting it up.
Once you make these easy cuts you are able to fold the skin back and pull it down, it really keeps the hair off the deer.
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Once you make these easy cuts you are able to fold the skin back and pull it down, it really keeps the hair off the deer.
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FL Plotter
Well-Known Member
I'm with Heart Shot....cleaned both my deer this past weekend that way--we have a skinning rack at our lease. Head down....Front legs and head off like Deadeye first to get them out of the way, then cut from hock to hock and skin like sock. Zip tie on the anal tube when I get to the tail. Cut the anal tube on the outside of the zip tie when I cut the tail off, then final step, when dropping guts down is to pull the tube with zip tie through the pelvis to keep that area clean.
Minimal hair but only at the top on those initial cuts. I carry about 15 gallons of water with me every time I hunt to wash down as I go. I blew out a shoulder Saturday, so I put that to the side and cut out all shredded meat and bone and wash really good before putting in cooler. No bloody meat goes in cooler. Anything with a speck of hair or blood is rinsed off first.
I work my way from the neck UP to the hams. Cut neck meat, then backstraps, then anything I can get around the ribs or the belly. Cut the neck off...lower the hoist. Work the ribcage waist area....some real tender meat along the belly. When I am getting those tender cuts, the guts are actually open and exposed but usually stay right in the rib cage like a cup. Once I get the belly as good as I dare, I cut the spine (with hacksaw) that drops the ribs with guts into the bucket.
Then I take the inner loins and cut the spine just below the hams. Then I hacksaw the hams to split in half. Put them on the table and cut off the rear legs and wash really good as this is the one place I might have a couple of pieces of hair.
All meat is layered with ice (I bring ice every hunt) and drained daily until goes to the processor.
Sorry that was way too long....
Minimal hair but only at the top on those initial cuts. I carry about 15 gallons of water with me every time I hunt to wash down as I go. I blew out a shoulder Saturday, so I put that to the side and cut out all shredded meat and bone and wash really good before putting in cooler. No bloody meat goes in cooler. Anything with a speck of hair or blood is rinsed off first.
I work my way from the neck UP to the hams. Cut neck meat, then backstraps, then anything I can get around the ribs or the belly. Cut the neck off...lower the hoist. Work the ribcage waist area....some real tender meat along the belly. When I am getting those tender cuts, the guts are actually open and exposed but usually stay right in the rib cage like a cup. Once I get the belly as good as I dare, I cut the spine (with hacksaw) that drops the ribs with guts into the bucket.
Then I take the inner loins and cut the spine just below the hams. Then I hacksaw the hams to split in half. Put them on the table and cut off the rear legs and wash really good as this is the one place I might have a couple of pieces of hair.
All meat is layered with ice (I bring ice every hunt) and drained daily until goes to the processor.
Sorry that was way too long....
Drycreek
Well-Known Member
I find it easier to skin and quarter from the head end. I just can’t remove the hindquarters as well as I’d like if their butts are in the air. If it’s a buck I’m gonna shoulder mount of course I’ll hang it from the back legs, but those are gonna be few and far between from here on out. Everything is easier for me from the head down.
BenAllgood
Well-Known Member
Ever since I started hunting across state lines with CWD restrictions, I leave the carcass on the property it was killed. I do the gutless and debone method. I pack the meat back to the truck where the ice chest is waiting. Processing is done back at the house. I prefer to hang them in a cooler to age on the bone, but this method is pretty nice once you get used to it.
Mentioned already, but bears repeating: Cutting from the inside of the hide out and with the direction of the hair keeps most of the hair off the meat. It also is easier cutting against hide than hair.
During processing it helps to have an assembly line. Have one person picking off any missed hairs or debris, then go to the cutter. Having a picker for the stuff going into the grind pile helps too.
I like to keep the meat as dry as possible. I don't like to marinate the meat in bloody water. In my early years, I would put the meat in an ice chest and keep the drain plug open with ice on top. I stopped that practice long ago. Processing meat is much easier if kept dry.
Mentioned already, but bears repeating: Cutting from the inside of the hide out and with the direction of the hair keeps most of the hair off the meat. It also is easier cutting against hide than hair.
During processing it helps to have an assembly line. Have one person picking off any missed hairs or debris, then go to the cutter. Having a picker for the stuff going into the grind pile helps too.
I like to keep the meat as dry as possible. I don't like to marinate the meat in bloody water. In my early years, I would put the meat in an ice chest and keep the drain plug open with ice on top. I stopped that practice long ago. Processing meat is much easier if kept dry.
badgerfowl
Well-Known Member
I take it to a guy that has it skinned and deboned in 45 minutes to 1 hour. Best $70 I spend every fall. Backstraps and inner loins saved for steaks, rest for sausage trim to be made wherever I decide to take it. I was a little weary of the meat from the old rutted up buck (took 3 days to get smell off my hands and 2 washings of the clothes) but the meat has been fantastic so far. Not even a hint of gameyness. Not sure if its the overnight milk soak or what but it's been good.
