Been hunting about 6 years total. After viewing some vids of seeing people skin the deer then gut it while hanging. I think to myself. Why even gut it. 100% of my deer are butchered by me with in 2 hours max after retrieving said deer.. Besides not being able to get the tenderloins from the inside, why bother gutting? Why the extra work? Why not hang it, skin it then cut off the meat? Maybe cut a hole in neck to drain internal blood? Is that even needed? Then you have a skeleton with the insides to drag away. Yes if you field dress it it's lighter to drag,carry etc. why is there a need to gut if not eating liver , heart etc. Been thinking bout this all day and wanted to hear your guys input etc. thanks.
Gutting a deer takes like 3-5min...I wouldn't call it that much work. It's much lighter and easier to drag after gutting too.
When I would go elk hunting we never gutted the elk. We quartered it up and packed it out. There's a way to get that inner loin out without guting them.
I don't gut them. I hang them by their back feet and after skinning cut the top of the abdominal wall and reach in and cut the loin out. The guts stay in. When I'm done with the deer I drop the carcass in a 55 gallon drum cut in third with handles on each end. I slide the tub under the deer while skinning to catch any blood that drips. The handles are made with a piece of pipe with rope run through it and the rope is tied to holes that have been drilled in the barrel.
If I'm dragging it out its a must do for me. Just to lighten up the load. But I have talked to many people that say they will never gutt one again. They quarter everything up and pack it out that way. Elk,deer, whatever.
If you didn't gut a deer before butchering it, couldn't the possibility of puncturing the organs and contaminating some meat occur? for instance if you were cutting a strap out, push a little to hard and get some intestinal matter on it, then when removing the knife, the fluids or whatever would naturally progress into the laceration in the meat. I have never butchered a whole deer by myself so I cannot say this from experience, just a thought.
As long as temperature allows we let our deer hang for a few days before we butcher. Besides the fact that we gut it to lighten the deer before we drag it out I also do not like the idea of the guts just sitting in the deer for 3 days. What if you ruptured the stomach or something happened to the digestive system and all of that leaked all over the inside. That can ruin your deer meat.
I never gut anything anymore. Everything, for the most part, gets boned in the field and packed out. Inner loins are easy to get out without gutting. No need to pack a saw or gut the animal where I hunt.
Having been a chef and done some whole animal butchering for a past career, If your going to leave the carcass in the field then you can cut the meat around the carcass with out gutting it.Care must be taken not to puncture the abdominal cavity. As soon as an animal dies the digestive juices in its internal cavity begins to breakdown and eventually out into the muscle tissue. If your going to take it back home it is recommended that you completely gut it out. I am meticulous when I gut my deer. Everything internally from the neck down through the anus is removed. The blood also has bacteria in it that will spoil meat if not flushed and the meat cooled down as soon as possible. the quality of the meat is dependent on how it's handled in the field. I've had people eat some of my venison say they couldn't tell it from beef.
you know as a person who had worked for a deer processing company you learn a lot. Your absolutely right if you can get to that deer and cut it all up in 6 hours there isn't a need but then we come to the problem of having rotting guts in a barrel and the bone yards don't really like guts in there and when the weight is how we get charged fitting as much in a barrel as possible is important. So this is y we preferred them gutted it makes it easier to cut down and discard of. With elk hunting quartering it up is amazing. You do that with a deer in some states and your going to jail. I know in several states it is illegal to cut the head of the animal off before it is out of the woods. So be careful and be as clean as possible good luck
I've honestly probably gutted 150-200 deer. Takes me 3-4 minutes tops. Its lighter to drag out, and the deer can begin to cool out immediately. Leaving the guts in an extended amount of time can sometimes be a real bad thing. I'm gutting it where it falls, unless I'm in a situation where I can't (which is very rare). Then I move it to where I can, and do it there. Ain't bringing no guts home with me, that don't make no sense. I understand why some folks dont gut elk. But its kinda tough to drag an elk out majority of the time. Quartering is your only option.
If you are gonna quarter and pack out, by all means, don't gut...but for the life of me I don't know why someone wouldn't tske the 5 minutes and pull out the guts ...it cools the carcass MUCH faster, lighter to drag, lighter to hang, no bloat to worry about.... 5 minutes ...I am sure there is a way to get the heart out too...
