Field Dressing

I see on the internet that more and more guys are using the gutless method to field dress a deer - I've always gutted my deer by starting near the rear end by sawing through the pelvic bone providing a channel to pull out the crap tube with the rest of the guts - tempted to try something new with my next deer - I'm always amazed at the amount of guts that is in a deer - we use to eat the liver and heart but over the years stopped doing that - somewhere we read that the liver's function was to remove the toxins in an animal so thought maybe it ain't the best thing to eat - well hang in there guys -

going to be honest here I have never heard of the gutless method, so I looked it up. Not for me, I will stick with gutting my deer. I also don't cut through the pelvic bone, I only cut the belly open and remove the guts that way.

Have you tried Butout 2 .... everyone in deer camp has one now or the Peavey version
Good luck and play safe
Glen

Gutless is very efficient for larger game like moose

The only trouble with the gutless (or Alaskan) method is if you want to keep the hide and cape, the carcass needs to be skinned out accordingly. That takes quite a bit of very careful knife work. I've seen and helped do it on a couple of occassions. It worked very well.

Depending on location I do both. If pack out is longer gutless for me although that doesn’t mean leaving the heart, liver or tenderloins.
Nothing wrong with eating liver Joe. Unless you’re in an area with high cadmium which northern Ontario is so ill only eat young ones there

Got a butt out tool years ago. Was never able to make it work well and eventually went back to the old fashioned way. Also abandoned splitting the pelvic bone after the first couple deer I killed 35 years ago. Just cut around the back end with a sharp pointed knife and pull it through when removing the guts now. Find that quicker and cleaner. I don’t split the rib cage either


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I’d never heard of the gutless method either before this post…..looked it up on Utube……not one I would use.
Just wonder how many hunters that do gut their big game remember to take out the windpipe. Many years ago at a conference we were told by a professional butcher/hunter that the windpipe is a major source of bacterial contamination of the meat. He taught us to cut in right under the jawbone and cut the windpipe as high as possible, then pull it down and out the body cavity along with the rest of the body contents. He said that if you just cut it high in the chest cavity the upper windpipe keeps adding bacterial contamination to the meat as long as it is left in the carcass.
I’ve been doing that jawbone cut first with my deer ever since.

Excellent point about the removing the windpipe completely. By opening the neck all the way to the jaw, you also help that part of yhe carcass cool down. The neck is a common area of the carcass where spoilage happens.

We usually split deer and bear from the back end up to the jaw bone and cut the pelvic bone as well. Especially with the weather during recent hunting seasons we also prop the rib cage open for air flow on the game pole and sometimes have skinned deer immediately when hung.

The reason I stopped opening the ribs, pelvis and neck during field dressing is to stop the introduction of dirt to the meat areas during dragging and keep things clean. I suppose if you have an atv or the like to bring game out of the kill site it’s probably a non issue but if it has to be dragged exposing as little of the edible areas as possible is best practice imo

I severe the wind pipe with a cut up under the jaw and pull it out with the lungs. Admittedly it can be hard to grip and takes quite a pull but keeping everything clean and dirt free during handling is paramount for good table fare.

I’m a big fan of skinning any animal soon after the kill while the carcass is still warm and hanging the skinned carcass inside or out of the elements in a controlled temp of around 4c. If it’s to be hung outside in the elements and variable temp then skin stays on, again to promote cleanliness of the meat areas and protect it from exposure to rain and weather elements.

Controlling the hanging temperature and keeping it constant however possible is probably the most underrated aspect of game handling imo. No one would freeze and thaw a steak multiple times or expose it to water multiple times and expect it to be good eating afterwards.

Anyone who doesn’t have a walk in refrigerator or cold room should look into UMAi dry aging bags (available on Amazon) to age whole cuts like back straps and strip loins in the fridge before steaking it’s the way to go. I know beef farmers who’ve been swearing by bag aging for years even before these breathable bags were available. Hanging game outside in varying temperatures should be a thing of the past.


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I agree with you, outdoorlife, if I were dragging any distance I wouldn't want to open up the neck and chest until after it was hung. We typically are within 15 minutes of recovering by ATV so end up gutting in a hanging position to keep from dirt getting inside.

Also considering building a walk in cooler of some kind after 2 years in a row having to leave camp to get the deer into a processor's cooler due to the outside temps.

If the animal is in a " dirty" area or wetland with muck,what is wrong with pulling out the animal as whole-and field dress it in the camp,or if the camp is far -at the first dry and clean spot.
Unless it is an extreme case(afternoon kill ,far in the muck and warmer temp)i do not see a point of doing the gutless method.

Different for sure-but i think it is a bit of a fad thing.
To each their own.

Just my 2 cents

At age 55 and mainly a solo hunter I will no longer drag a deer back to the truck. I will now skin and quarter the deer up removing all edible meat and pack it out. Hopefully I can fill my last archery tag to actually try it out... lol

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Originally Posted by bellerivercrossbowhunter

At age 55 and mainly a solo hunter I will no longer drag a deer back to the truck. I will now skin and quarter the deer up removing all edible meat and pack it out. Hopefully I can fill my last archery tag to actually try it out... lol

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I recall dragging my first deer using the Mennonite way, wrap the front legs around the head and pull, it was a lot of work I did not wish to repeat. Since then I got a kids snow taboggan, its way easier to drag a deer, glides through a swamp, easily over marsh grass, and on snow its almost effortless.

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Originally Posted by Marker

I recall dragging my first deer using the Mennonite way, wrap the front legs around the head and pull, it was a lot of work I did not wish to repeat. Since then I got a kids snow taboggan, its way easier to drag a deer, glides through a swamp, easily over marsh grass, and on snow its almost effortless.

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That's what I used this year for my bear and deer, lot less effort and the meat keeps clean. I also used the butt out for first time, worked really good.


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Originally Posted by gbk

If the animal is in a " dirty" area or wetland with muck,what is wrong with pulling out the animal as whole-and field dress it in the camp,or if the camp is far -at the first dry and clean spot.
Unless it is an extreme case(afternoon kill ,far in the muck and warmer temp)i do not see a point of doing the gutless method.

Different for sure-but i think it is a bit of a fad thing.
To each their own.

Just my 2 cents

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I butcher my own so I do all those steps anyway. Maybe takes 30 min longer in the bush as your working on the ground but no dragging anything out of the bush probably saves me close to that and is way less effort

I don’t think it’s a fad at all. It’s been happening since deer were being hunted. Maybe a new idea to you but it’s certainly not a new idea. Perhaps just got a name put to it.

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Originally Posted by FishHog

I butcher my own so I do all those steps anyway. Maybe takes 30 min longer in the bush as your working on the ground but no dragging anything out of the bush probably saves me close to that and is way less effort

I don’t think it’s a fad at all. It’s been happening since deer were being hunted. Maybe a new idea to you but it’s certainly not a new idea. Perhaps just got a name put to it.

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I do also drag-field dress (or vice versa)and butcher all my deer.I prefer my meat to be processed in clean environment in my garage, instead of handling it in the field,where many thing can happen to the cleanliness of 6-10 chunks of meat.Plus the logistics of all the clean bags needed to carry the meat out.

I am absolutely sure this thing was around for millennia. So did quartering a deer or quartering and deboning (or other methods)
Assuming is a new idea for me ?- is not! I have seen it done more then 15 years ago,not in Ontario though.......even then, i was not impressed.

As far as the fad thing is concerned- no one can deny,the gutless method permeated the eastern Hunting Community via TV shows/You tube .
No one hunter i know(and believe me i know quiet a few- some with hunting experience of 35-50 years )was ever doing this method.

But-to each their own.
If it works for you....so much better for you.

My nephew guides for moose professionally and tells me always uses the gutless system now.

I recall first hearing about it about 40 years ago: the old name has pretty much disappeared. At the time, it was called "hot boning."

I've butchered a lot of deer and received payment for doing so for many years now.
I've done the gutless method a few times now and it works but I know for a fact it's not my best work and my yield is lower (I've always cared about my yields)

There is no need for meat to get dirty. Work on one half at a time on top of the skin. I also lay out a garbage bag to lay cuts on or if I’m packing quarters I hang them.

Not much in logistics. Couple garbage bags in the bottom of your pack doesn’t take up any space.
As soon as I’m home everything comes out of bags to dry and cool. If I was remote and a long pack I would use game bags

Not trying to convince anyone to change what they do that works. But’s it’s good tool to have if needed and no one has heart attacks from packing out boneless meat but it sure happens when older guys try to drag out of the bush. Close to half that weight is waste anyway so I leave it where it is

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Originally Posted by FishHog

There is no need for meat to get dirty. Work on one half at a time on top of the skin. I also lay out a garbage bag to lay cuts on or if I’m packing quarters I hang them.

Not much in logistics. Couple garbage bags in the bottom of your pack doesn’t take up any space.
As soon as I’m home everything comes out of bags to dry and cool. If I was remote and a long pack I would use game bags

Not trying to convince anyone to change what they do that works. But’s it’s good tool to have if needed and no one has heart attacks from packing out boneless meat but it sure happens when older guys try to drag out of the bush. Close to half that weight is waste anyway so I leave it where it is

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I definitely think it's a great thing to know this method. I've considered it when hunting bear alone if I were to shoot one too big to handle on my own even with an ATV at camp breaking the animal down where it lays makes a lot more sense.

I’ve done 2 bears this way. One pretty much quartered as I had my jet sled handy to drag it out from the kill spot. The other completely boneless as it was a tough hike in. Took that out in 2 backpack loads to the canoe then back to camp