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I was fortunate to learn a little from a friend in high school on how to butcher deer. I since then have learned more by doing and picking up tips here and there. Here is a few tips I do. Please share yours.
I skin when the animal is still warm if possible to make it easy to skin and cool the meat rapidly.
It is rare, but I like to completely skin on a gambrel then gut. I only do this when I can get a deer out whole and on the meat pole right away. I keep tarps in camp to collect all the guts, blood and skin.
Guts come out as soon as practical unless no gut field dressing. The guts are full of stinky stuff in permeable membrane containers. I don't want it sitting around near the meat.
Always cut the skin parallel to the direction of the hair if possible to reduce hair contamination. I also make the skin cuts on the thin inside leg skin with less hair. If I have to cut the skin perpendicular to the hair, like around the lower leg, I cut from the inside out at an angle with the hair.
My left hand is the dirty hand and only touches the hide. My right hand is my clean hand and only touches the knife and and occasionally the meat. I pack rubber gloves to cover my left hand if it needs to hold meat, like holding a front shoulder or hind quarter as I cut it off.
I carry a couple big black plastic bags and smaller white kitchen bags. They are useful for laying on the ground for clean areas for butcher knives, meat quarters or covering hanging meat if it rains.
I carry 150-200 feet of cord and two small double pulley blocks. Mostly if I need to move an elk to a better position or area to gut or field dress. The cord also gets used to hang quarters, make carry handles on quarters, hold a leg up etc.
I now carry quality reuseble synthetic game bags. They have a better barrier to dirt and seem to dry and cool the meat just as good.
I keep a small pocket steel to keep an edge on knives in the field and a regular steel in the truck.
This year, I strapped a big wheel barrow on top of my hunting rig for my kids elk hunt. Yeah, I looked like a dork driving around. However, we got a whole quartered elk out of the woods in one trip with hardly a sweat. I am making a better one wheel game cart for future deer and elk hunts like I used with an old friend years ago.
Depending on the situation, I will put vinegar on the skinned carcass before drying. I just pour it on and maybe slightly rub bloody areas. An old butcher suggested it years ago as a disinfectant. After drying and hanging a day the vinegar smell goes away.
I always separate the inside of the front shoulders from the rib cage to open that area for cooling and drying. That area collects fluids, and sometimes blood depending on the shot, if the front shoulders are left tight to the rib cage.
I always cut the meat as soon as convenient after the carcass drys. When I was young I spoiled part of a deer thinking hanging for days was necessary. I only let it hang more than a day is if it is cool weather and I can't get home easily. I have had to cut up a deer in camp on long hunts and ice it.
I skin when the animal is still warm if possible to make it easy to skin and cool the meat rapidly.
It is rare, but I like to completely skin on a gambrel then gut. I only do this when I can get a deer out whole and on the meat pole right away. I keep tarps in camp to collect all the guts, blood and skin.
Guts come out as soon as practical unless no gut field dressing. The guts are full of stinky stuff in permeable membrane containers. I don't want it sitting around near the meat.
Always cut the skin parallel to the direction of the hair if possible to reduce hair contamination. I also make the skin cuts on the thin inside leg skin with less hair. If I have to cut the skin perpendicular to the hair, like around the lower leg, I cut from the inside out at an angle with the hair.
My left hand is the dirty hand and only touches the hide. My right hand is my clean hand and only touches the knife and and occasionally the meat. I pack rubber gloves to cover my left hand if it needs to hold meat, like holding a front shoulder or hind quarter as I cut it off.
I carry a couple big black plastic bags and smaller white kitchen bags. They are useful for laying on the ground for clean areas for butcher knives, meat quarters or covering hanging meat if it rains.
I carry 150-200 feet of cord and two small double pulley blocks. Mostly if I need to move an elk to a better position or area to gut or field dress. The cord also gets used to hang quarters, make carry handles on quarters, hold a leg up etc.
I now carry quality reuseble synthetic game bags. They have a better barrier to dirt and seem to dry and cool the meat just as good.
I keep a small pocket steel to keep an edge on knives in the field and a regular steel in the truck.
This year, I strapped a big wheel barrow on top of my hunting rig for my kids elk hunt. Yeah, I looked like a dork driving around. However, we got a whole quartered elk out of the woods in one trip with hardly a sweat. I am making a better one wheel game cart for future deer and elk hunts like I used with an old friend years ago.
Depending on the situation, I will put vinegar on the skinned carcass before drying. I just pour it on and maybe slightly rub bloody areas. An old butcher suggested it years ago as a disinfectant. After drying and hanging a day the vinegar smell goes away.
I always separate the inside of the front shoulders from the rib cage to open that area for cooling and drying. That area collects fluids, and sometimes blood depending on the shot, if the front shoulders are left tight to the rib cage.
I always cut the meat as soon as convenient after the carcass drys. When I was young I spoiled part of a deer thinking hanging for days was necessary. I only let it hang more than a day is if it is cool weather and I can't get home easily. I have had to cut up a deer in camp on long hunts and ice it.
