Field Dressing??

[Cr0ck1]

gotta start that.

[pcbfish]

OK some of you are going to jump back at me , But what did your Grand father and Great Grand father do after they shot their game. I have hunted since I was a small boy 53 years. Back when I started hunting you didn't have bags of ice or people to process your game. Yes we would gut the game as soon as possible and hang it from a tree. I use to carry a can of pepper with me and would cover the meat the best I could this would keep the blow flies off. Then wash it off and cut up meat . also keep it out of the direct sun. Many people in other countries hang meat out side for days and then eat it and I have to say many of them out live us. Oh and what about the old days when people would strap a deer on the hood of their truck and drive it around town showing it off. You would think this would cook the deer, I never heard of someone dieing from eating it. Gut them as soon a you can and try to keep the meat clean and as cool as possible but remember you GGGG Grand father ate meat that hung for days and weeks and it didn't kill them, if it did you wouldn't be hear reading my post.

[Cr0ck1]

i only used a processor one time. and it was for two hogs i shot early in the morning and i was 3 hours from home.. was tired so i dropped it off at the processor.. otherwise i process my own now.. unless im just too tired.. or have to drive back south and will be back the following week.. or if i want sausage (dont have the stuff to do it) or slim jim or summer sausage.

[vonnick52]

gotta start that.

You can get to them without gutting, after you pull the backstraps, look inside the body cavity along the spine in the rear 1/4 of the animal. They are only an inch or two around, and maybe 8-12" long. They are so tender you hardly need a knife to get them out. I usually cut a slice up each side of them then just pull them out with my hand.

[flags]

I gut them where they fall and then start boning. I carry a collapsable pack frame and a big canvas bag. I can put the frame together in less than 5 minutes and an entire deer will frt in the bag. The meat stays clean and since the bag lets air circulate through it, the meat begins to cool. Since most animals only produce about 42% of their live weight in edible meat it makes getting it out easier. I leave the bones, skin, guts and head for the varmints to consume. After all, they have to eat too.

When I get the bioned meat bag to the truck I put it in those big ziploc bags and put it inb the cooler. I always have at least 2 bags of ice in the cooler when I go out. That way the meat gets nice and chilled and I can leave it in the cooler for a day or 2 if needed. Just add more ice if it melts down.

The WMA I hunt (Perdidio River by Pensacola) doesn't have a check station so I can take them out legally this way. I grew up in Colorado and we always used the same system for elk and mule deer, both of which are a whole lot bigger than these southwern whitetails. I personnally wouldn't drag a deer 10 yards. It's much easier on your back to pack them on a frame than pull them along the ground. I've never understood why more people don't carry a pack frame in the woods in the east and south. It's a common sight in the west and it really makes the job easy and clean.

Cheers

[nachogrande]

Flags, as soon as you mentioned a pack frame and boning out. I thought of elk hunting in colo, and still have my game bag. if you bone out a pig under 65 lbs you will probably be able to fit the meat in a daypack,lol. I've hunted in app 6 diff states and never seen anything remotely as complicated or confusing as the rules and regs in fla. by me there are 3 wma's within about 10 mi or less of each other and the dates/rules/regs/limits for each are so different it's unreal. at 2 of the 3 wma's the animal needs to be seen at the check station before any gutting is done. but agree with you 100% about boning out, but you need to know what you are doing or are gonna end up with a real mess. the soil and swamp water down here contain some real nasty bacteria. I'm a bit of a germaphobe,and I carry a btl of dish soap and a brush (in the car) so I can wash the animal before skinning, as most of the wma's I have hunted in have a hanging system and water.

[DONY1]

You're kidding about washing it before you skin it right? Do you bring a gen and blow dryer too? j/k

[GoodOyster]

You're kidding about washing it before you skin it right? Do you bring a gen and blow dryer too? j/k

The washing part ain't too bad, it's the scented shampoo and conditioner he uses afterwards on them, along with a little cologne, that really goes over the top!

[frankwt]

yep and a plate of:

[Iluv2hunt]

Now I understand the lipstick in his vehicle

[nachogrande]

I usualy have my hair stylist Raheem work his magic, it's Fab. seriously though after doing my first and only hog I had no hair on the meat but some sandy grit that wouldn't have been there with a quick wash and scrub to remove 90% of the caked on mud and dirt. so if a water hose is avail thats what I'm gonna do. make-up kit might help for the photo, then you could tell the hunter and hog apart.

[Cr0ck1]

my first and only hog I had no hair on the meat

How long ago was that? so you had all this time to clean the meat since your freezer got crickets in it.. LOL.. That meat better be clean!

[fladawg]

Me,weather i do it in the wood's(gut'em) or at home i throw them up on tailgate of truck.Make's it a lot easier on back have'n it waist high,open it up an let it roll off on ground or trash can if at home.I would rather do it at home where i have water hose available in case i boo boo on sump'n...From house to where i hunt is about 10 miles so i can get it there in a timely manner...I've seen guy's that throw them up on tailgate an not even gut'em,reach in an pull tenderloin's out,cut backstrap out,cut quarter's off and chunk the rest.Poacher's skin'n is what i call it,i like to see them tenderloin's when i take them out,and the neck,they'd be surprised at how much hamburger they just threw away....

[M12Gunboy]

OK some of you are going to jump back at me , But what did your Grand father and Great Grand father do after they shot their game. I have hunted since I was a small boy 53 years. Back when I started hunting you didn't have bags of ice or people to process your game. Yes we would gut the game as soon as possible and hang it from a tree. I use to carry a can of pepper with me and would cover the meat the best I could this would keep the blow flies off. Then wash it off and cut up meat . also keep it out of the direct sun. Many people in other countries hang meat out side for days and then eat it and I have to say many of them out live us. Oh and what about the old days when people would strap a deer on the hood of their truck and drive it around town showing it off. You would think this would cook the deer, I never heard of someone dieing from eating it. Gut them as soon a you can and try to keep the meat clean and as cool as possible but remember you GGGG Grand father ate meat that hung for days and weeks and it didn't kill them, if it did you wouldn't be hear reading my post.

Our for fathers did exactly what you described since that was the only way to do field dress, cool meat, and transport animals back then.

The residual effects of them field dressing, attempting to cool, and transporting in this manner during present day is the all too familiar sound we all have heard of how wildlife supposedly has a "Gamey Taste". The "Gamey Taste" is caused by improper field dressing, transportation, cleaning and cooling of meat, in another words, spoilage. Yes, many folks in other countries, as well as our country used to hang meat to dry in the sun. There digestive systems were used to eating meat cured like this and it didn't bother them at all. They didn't eat meat in anyother form since they didn't have anyother way to "keep" it. The meat was dried and cured in the sun or they didn't have any meat at all to eat, period. If we were to do that today, it would make everyone of us sick as hell. Think about it.

As our Supreme Nacho outlines and points out, rinsing and washing hogs prior to skinning and quartering is also my prefered method. Personally I don't like ticks, flees, parasites, dirt, mud, and sh_t all over me, the meat or my game when I am cutting it up. Once I have gotten the hog to the cleaning station or skinning rack, hang him up, out comes the water hose and a quick wash down is done. Now I've only killed about 30 or 40 hogs in the last 12 years and consider myself an amateur hog hunter, but I have never had one that tasted bad or had a "Gamey Taste" after it come out of the oven. Leanest and tastiest pork we've ever eaten...

As for the perfume, make-up, shampoo, soap and beauty salon treatment, normally I pass on all that and try to get the animal washed, skun, quartered, and on ice ASAP. My two cents...

[frankwt]

How about using a curling iron on the tail??

Right on Gunboy, we are not used to all that bacteria now and the reason so many do not eat wild game was the improper care and gaminess of the taste.

Being from TX and living close to mexico where you can still see animals hung in outdoor meat markets with flies all over them even today, it makes my skin crawl. If you ever taste the meat in Mexico in the rural areas in normal places to eat not the tourist traps, you too will taste the gamey flavor of the food...a lack of cooling and care...not my favorite at all.