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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.
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mugrump
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