First time field dressing
 

I've decided to take up deer hunting for earnest this year and am looking for the best method for a first timer to gut a deer before I take it in for processing. I've been reading online and everyone does it different. Some start with cutting out the anus others suggest starting below the rib cage and working down and some mention cutting out the scent glands. I will be taking it to a processor that offered to gut it but living in North Carolina and the weather being warmer then normal right now I wanted to gut it on site for the hour drive to the processor. Any suggestions as to the best way for a rookie to start? Thanks.:confused:

It's very difficult to describe the process in a forum. If it is impossible to watch someone do it a few times before you do it yourself, then a Google search should give you good verbal and some picture/diagram directions to try. Find some instructions that make sense to you and give it a shot.

In the final analysis, you have to get everything that is inside, outside. There are several methods.

My hunting group starts with loosening the anus and then works from the inside. Avoid cutting any internal organs, of course. Approach it from the angle that there are many ways to do it correctly because everyone seems to have figured out a method of their own. You can too.

We ignore scent glands. We skin while hanging and warm if possible.

The process is different depending on the sex of the deer. A buck is easier to gut out then a doe with a milk bag in my opinion. Take your time, start wherever you feel comfortable and go slow and easy and everything will work out fine. Single most important thing to remember is to be very careful with the urine sack- it will taint any meat you spill it on. Make sure you have a good, sharp knife- will make the whole process much easier. Leave the heart and lungs in the deer and remove them when you hang the deer and remove the windpipe. The anus can be done when you initially gut the deer or back where you hang the deer up- either way is acceptable according to the way I was taught.

I'm sure to each his own on the process but after trying about everything I have read/heard, for me it is a must to remove everything ASAP. Don't forget this is where the food prep begins. Goes from here to the table and anything not eatable will start to spoil soon. Poor care afield will show up at dinner.
I start with the sharpest knife you can get. I use a Buck folding that I have honed to a razor but the kind of knife pref can be found elsewhere on HC. I gently start to slice the skin right at the split of the ribcage then enter just deep enough at this point to expose the insides. After this, I place 2 fingers inside (like the old tricky Dicky peace sign but with the hand facing up) and follow between them to the pelvic bone. I do this using fingers to hold inside contents away from the tip of the knife. Don't forget now to only use enough of the tip of the knife to slice and don't plunge it deep or you will cut things you wish you didn't ..like the bladder as mentioned in an above post. Bladder is close to the pelvic bone. I keep the blade face up and by all means don't draw the knife toward you. Stand by the front legs to do this. (one of those hooked blades works for this). I then don't remove anything until I spread the hind legs as far as I can and slice the skin in the exact center all the way to where the vent starts. Some say this will waste meat but if you do it right, you do not cut meat. It will separate where it needs to. With your sharp blade, find the exact center of the pelvic bone toward the front of the deer (cartilage holds the 2 halves of this bone together. I lay the blade on this center point and apply pressure on top of the blade while a gentle rock motion will split the bone down the center like butter. When it splits and opens, I then grab the vent, pull it up and cut around it. I can then start at this point to pull everything toward the gut cavity. Stop there. Back to the front. Slice the diaphragm exposing heart/ lungs along the inside of the ribcage. Then with your gutting gloves on, reach all the way as far up past the heart and grasp the windpipe. Slice it and you can pull on it like a handle to drag all the contents out. Watch fingers at all times and keep a band-aid in your first aid kit or as I do, a few in my license holder along with a photo copy of current driver license for second ID. (watch for sharp bones from a shot or even a broadhead has been found in there..keep alert for these things. This for me only takes about 3 min to do and is how I taught my daughters. Tuesday morning my daughter found herself helping 2 hunters with a downed deer and not a clue as to where to start. Their dad always did it for them but now he has passed and they were on their own. Proud? A little. Now if it is a doe, you can remove the strip of skin that holds the milk and disguard that too. Hope this is not too graphic for some here but is the most important part of hunting.

Thanks for all the advice. Just want to make sure I didn't muck anything up. Now I just need to get one.

Yea, getting one is the hard part. I never had one knock on my door saying here I am. So part of that secret is get out there in the woods when ya can. Good luck and have fun doing it.

I dress my deer the same way that Skeeter does. However, I would like to re-emphasize what Skeeter said about keeping the blade away from the organs by keeping two fingers underneath the blade. Me. I just keep a single finger underneath the balde, with the blade pointed upward, and I run the blade down to the rear. I use a small knife to do this. Trust me, not only do you not want to hit the bladder, but cutting the stomach or the intestines might make you throw up if you don't know what to expect, and sometimes even if you know what to expect. I use a bigger knife to cut through the ribs and as far up the neck as possible to give me a clean shot at the diaphragm and the windpipe.

As far as getting one is concerned, it is much easier nowadays compared to 20 years ago. There are a lot more deer around than there were a while ago.

I do the SkeeFabs Combo ;)

I dress them anus to snout -- start at belly, be careful like Skeeter posted about not cutting intestines, stomach, etc, down to pelvic, gently pull & lay intestines to side, to make room to split pelvic in the center, you can feel the bump right in the middle, this is where to split it. On older animals sometimes easier to use the saw blade here, but make sure you have the bladder out of the way whichever you use.

Cut thru center of rib cage cartiledge all the way to snout, expose windpipe and cut, which is now a nice handle to pull on, a little cutting required, but once you get to diaphram and cut that, you can pull the entire mass all the way down to anus, cut out, done deal. Takes less time to do than type, well ok, maybe not the first couple times, but it is a fast, clean process, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

Most all mammals are built the same. Field dressing a deer is not really much different than doing a rabbit or squirrel. They are just bigger.
I sure hope you find some instructions, and print a copy to take with you to the woods. Looking down at a dead deer, and not having a clue as to where to start is a major bummer.

Get a Wyoming Knife. Makes it real easy to unzip them. Works great for fish and birds also.

Go to www.wyomingknife.com they have printable instructions there also.

Im new to the site.Just wanted to know.........did ya get one?If so.........how did the gutting go for ya?Its not that difficult once ya know how.

MdMike
 

Welcome to HC. Hope ya like it here. Lots to learn...and hopefully you have lots to share. Where in Md do ya live. I used to live on the Eastern Shore near Chestertown

Thanks Skeet,

A couple of years ago I went on a duck and goose hunt outside of Chestertown.........lots of birds down there!!!I live on the Western shore in Carroll Co.

How is the bird huntin where ya live now?

By the way......on some sites this is called a thread hijacking.Dont want to come in and do the wrong thing.How is that handled here?

I am the kind of thread hikacking. Other sites don't like it, and sometimes it is just an individual that doesn't like it. Yeah, we might get of course sometimes, but people can still write about what the original poster (OP) asked about should they incline to.

Mike, don't trust Skeet, especially around women, and don't get into a shooting contest with him. He is one of the great guys that I have met on this board and I have met a bunch and hunted, shot, and fished with a lot of them. Of course, Skeet did decide to move to Wyoming when I told him I was thinking about moving to the Eastern Shore. LOL