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Deer question

2K views 11 replies 10 participants last post by  fishon!! 
#1 ·
I'm hunting some public land where I have an hour walk to my stand. I was wondering if I get a deer should I field dress it to lighten the load and prevent spoilage? The reason I'm asking is because I'm worried about dragging it through mud and water for an hour with an open belly. Also I was wondering if anyone could help me out with dressing it in the field. I have never shot a buck and I'm wondering what to do about his junk. Do I cut around it/them? I have looked online and found very limited info. Thanks.
 
#3 ·
I prefer to handle it as little as possible and just leave it in the gut pile. Cut out the glands in the legs too. I do that in the field as well. As far as stuff getting inside, its a fact of life. Try and keep the tenderloins and fish clean, but a good hosing before butchering is usually needed. I hate the hair more than the dirt. Deer fat is the stickiest substance on earth and hair is my biggest enemy inside the deer. Now I take as much care as I can to make a clean even cut being careful not to cut hair off. A hot rag does a lot for hair and dirt removal. It seem to liquify the fat and make clean-up easier.
 
#5 ·
Hey, I'm another one of those Orlando FL deer hunters. I'm headed up to Ocala tomorrow mid-morning for a 2.5 day hunt. I hunt between 1 and 2 miles back off a sandy road - takes about an hour to get to my furthest stand spot.

Your best bet is to bring a bike or game cart with you. It makes life a lot easier. I rigged wheels on a ladder stand and use it as a game cart - lots easier than carrying stuff.

Your buck isn't gonna go bad in the hour or so it take you to get him out of the woods. I say not to gut him until you've checked him in.

Also - NEVER CUT THE GLANDS OFF. I clean and butcher all my deer and anyone who wants help. Don't try to find any glands or such. My venison is always sweet and tender - never had any problems with glands or such. The only glands you can see are the tarsals onb his hind legs/hocks and they will be ripe/stinky if he's rutting.

Gutting a deer is easy once you do it once. LOL! I favor splitting the pelvis - you can spread his legs as far as they will go, stand on the hocks and pull up on the tail - it usually works. If you indavertantly rupture the bladder, you will want to rinse the cavity so make sure you at least have a bottle of water handy. Go slow and take your time.

Follow the pee tube off his "junk" - don't cut it. It goes around to the back and in there.

Be gentle when you first poke a hole in the skin - try not to rupture the intestines.

The lungs and stuff will come out easily - reach up into the chest cavity and grab the wind pipe/esophagus/etc. and cut it with your knife - then it all comes right out with the "hoses" being a useful handle. The stomach and guts will basically roll right out.

I think your only trouble spot will be the pelvis area. I like to split it and if the step and pull method doesn't work, I use a saw - then the bladder and poop shoot come right out.
 
#7 ·
We have to agree to disagree with the glands. I've also butchered Whitetails for 15 years for profit. I do several dozen a year with 2 people (my wife and my buddy) wrapping. On years when I don't do my own, I worked for a butcher. My father was a butcher when he was laid off in the 70's.

I've seen and tasted meat that had a FUNKY smell that was inedible from deer gland spoilage. If you can locate it, cut it out. Its not hard and you don't waste much meat even if you do a hack job. Why wouldn't you? If its way out from the rut, MAYBE. Naw, I'd cut it out.
 
#8 ·
Don,

My dad was a butcher as well. I've only cleaned 25-30 deer and haven't had any problems with the meat. He taught me using a saw and then we switched to boning the meat out long enough ago that I forgot how to steak & cut one up with the bones in.

Perhaps a reason for the lack of my having any encounters with the glands is that we cut the legs off above the hocks and tarsal area - there's no meat there, so it gets cut off.

Another reason could be that I skin from the head down - not from the legs down. That may be another difference. The guys down here use gimbels and I use the antlers. :rofl: I think it goes faster and gets less hair on the meat.
 
#9 ·
We kill all of our big game aminals and have to walk them out to the neariest road we can get to with the truck. We alsofield dress them right there and just drag them on the hide it wont hurt the meat or anything. Did you find a good way to field dress them there alot of ways to do it?
 
#10 ·
Take the guts out. Get a game cart if your worried about dragging they work fine if you have good going. I got mine end of season at Walmart for $35. Used one of Cabela's roll up deer sleigh things for a few years too, they work good, just a big piece of flat plastic with some gromets.

Aren't you in Florida? How big a deer are you going to get that it'll be a problem dragging? No disrespect intended.

Here in Maine we get them over #200 gutted and worry about where we are after. Hook a rope on them, tie on a dragging stick, sling your rifle, point your nose to the nearest road and go. Granted we have snow quite often and that makes dragging much easier,

The 10 point I got a few years ago was completely bald on one side by the time I got him to the truck. It took me 2 hours to get him to the road and another 3 to drag him up the road, my uncles showed up after dark when I had about 1/2 mile to go. I was pretty happy to see a couple of flashlights headed towards me. We got 10" of snow 2 days later and the other 2 we got came out much easier.
 
#11 ·
I don't have as many deer cleanings as some on here, but I have cleaned a few. The longer you wait in heat the worst it will be for the meat. If your in colder areas, shouldn't be an issue, but in Florida, invest in a cart. I know some folks that hunt here in North Fl that gut their deer and hang it outside overnight (upper 50's).
 
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