Once I read about gutless boning of game, I tried it on the next game I killed. After doing it for years, it is much easier, cleaner, and much less gross than gutting. I still remember the smell the first time I cut open the gut of my first deer. It was awful. I've gone on recent hunts with guys that insist on gutting the animal. It is a terrible way to process an animal. It is messy, and then you have to lift those heavy chunks of meat. I never shoot from a road, so I'm always packing the meat. It is so much lighter without the bones. I put the meat in plastic bags, then into the cooler. Just make sure you bags don't have additives to control the smell. Meat cools much faster once it is cut off the bones. I keep ice in a bucket in the cooler, so it doesn't wet the meat, just keeps it cold. You can leave it in the ice chest for a week with no problem. I butcher my own meat. I get more meat, and package it better (wrapped in Saran wrap, then butcher paper). I also get to keep the scraps for the dogs. By field butchering, I shorten the time to butcher and wrap at home. I found out on my second deer that you can't mess up butchering. The meat is good, no matter how you cut it. In general, the higher on the animal, the better the meat. Hence the expression, "eating high on the hog".
Help- I’m squeamish
- Thread starter DESERT ED
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Help Support Long Range Hunting Forum
ndking1126
Well-Known Member
I've never heard this term, but I completely agree with the recommendation. I did it for the first time this year on a whitetail with the help of my cousin and it was great. Also, I was always the kid and young adult that wanted to go hunting, but rarely got to because my dad was in the Army and moved every 3 years. On top of him being too busy to take me, it seemed like every time we found a place to go, it was time to move again. As an adult over the past 12 years I went hunting about 5, 6 times, killing two animals. The past two years I've been able to be in the woods a lot more and killed 2 more. All that to say I never got used to the field dressing part and found it a little uncomfortable myself. Well, really the thought of it was uncomfortable. What I've learned the last two years is use nitrile gloves and just get started. After the first cut, the squeamishness seems to evaporate. I think, at least for me, the worst part is the mental games I play with myself a head of time.
Lastly, there's no shame in having buddies help you, especially at first. Everyone has to learn and start somewhere. At some point your buddies will shoot an elk and ask for your assistance packing out the meat as payback for their assistance.. it's a team effort when hunting elk.
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Revolting Peasant
Well-Known Member
Everybody has to start somewhere. Everybody has their limits. Some folks never get over it. Gutless method may help. One buddy, if he gutted a deer he could not eat it. Even months later. The smell would come back to him looking at the meat. Mental thing.
Take some of your buddies up on their offer. If possible reverse the offer. Go with them on a deer hunt and help them clean their deer. Ease into it and check your tolerance level. If you can't complete it they will still appreciate the assistance. And don't totally give up on venison. Try an young fat doe before you write venison off. Just me and my thoughts. Good luck and take care of those buddies willing to give you that kind of help.
Take some of your buddies up on their offer. If possible reverse the offer. Go with them on a deer hunt and help them clean their deer. Ease into it and check your tolerance level. If you can't complete it they will still appreciate the assistance. And don't totally give up on venison. Try an young fat doe before you write venison off. Just me and my thoughts. Good luck and take care of those buddies willing to give you that kind of help.
Just thought of something. Were you reloading a stock shoulder angled piece of brass in a AI die? If you are then that is why you are getting the dimpling. You need to fire form your cases first.
I agree w/ yorke-1 there are a lot of very helpful comments here. Desert ED, good on-you for knowing your limiting step and seeking assistance.
As a chef I have observed chicken, swine and cattle slaughterhouses - it can be arresting and desensitizing at that scale. As a hunter and chef, I have slaughtered and butchered most everything that flies or walks and when it's you, up close with your quarry, it's different, it's very personal. The transiting of a living thing to meat is a confusing time - at once we're hit with awesome responsibility and a messy task that must be executed with clinical speed and neatness. I believe that the confusion of emotions is what make us unsettled - our big ol' modern brains don't really know what to think. Using our monkey-brain, if we keep focused on the task and reminding ourselves that dressing/butchery is a necessary process that leads to food keeps the process in context.
I would add that for me the scale-up from small game and white tail to elk-sized game is huge. On my first elk hunt, what surprised me was the size of the animal (4-5 times the size of VA white tails) and realizing that physically, there was no way I could have managed to handle it by myself with any reasonable amount of time or effort. We didn't have gambrels, winches or a concrete and tiled kill-room to work in. It took three of us (a chef, a doctor and an experienced guide) to man-handle and deconstruct the animal - it took us about >1 hour to gutless quarter the animal and get it packed and headed out. I would recommend participating on a buddy's hunt, ask question and when the time comes, take all the assistance that you're offered. Good hunting!
As a chef I have observed chicken, swine and cattle slaughterhouses - it can be arresting and desensitizing at that scale. As a hunter and chef, I have slaughtered and butchered most everything that flies or walks and when it's you, up close with your quarry, it's different, it's very personal. The transiting of a living thing to meat is a confusing time - at once we're hit with awesome responsibility and a messy task that must be executed with clinical speed and neatness. I believe that the confusion of emotions is what make us unsettled - our big ol' modern brains don't really know what to think. Using our monkey-brain, if we keep focused on the task and reminding ourselves that dressing/butchery is a necessary process that leads to food keeps the process in context.
I would add that for me the scale-up from small game and white tail to elk-sized game is huge. On my first elk hunt, what surprised me was the size of the animal (4-5 times the size of VA white tails) and realizing that physically, there was no way I could have managed to handle it by myself with any reasonable amount of time or effort. We didn't have gambrels, winches or a concrete and tiled kill-room to work in. It took three of us (a chef, a doctor and an experienced guide) to man-handle and deconstruct the animal - it took us about >1 hour to gutless quarter the animal and get it packed and headed out. I would recommend participating on a buddy's hunt, ask question and when the time comes, take all the assistance that you're offered. Good hunting!
Lasiter
Well-Known Member
Help- I'm Squeamish
Yes, the Amish get all the attention, but their close neighbors, the Squeamish, get none.
I was born Squeamish, but I left PA and moved to California, where it's more comfortable for Squeamish people. The Squeamish don't talk to reporters, don't have cars, don't have guns, don't hunt, don't butcher animals. Ask them why and they'll say, "We're Squeamish!"
Yes, the Amish get all the attention, but their close neighbors, the Squeamish, get none.
I was born Squeamish, but I left PA and moved to California, where it's more comfortable for Squeamish people. The Squeamish don't talk to reporters, don't have cars, don't have guns, don't hunt, don't butcher animals. Ask them why and they'll say, "We're Squeamish!"
tony d willIiams
Well-Known Member
A few years late, just saw post.
I learned on quail and rabbits. My dad and his buddy would go walking the desert and bring them back to camp. I don't do it neat and pretty or pluck the birds. Just a slit in the belly area, insert two fingers and pull apart, cut the skin off the lower legs, rinse and wrap.
Hunting and preparing rabbit would be a quick and easy way to learn, also for butchering into different steaks and cuts.
I learned on quail and rabbits. My dad and his buddy would go walking the desert and bring them back to camp. I don't do it neat and pretty or pluck the birds. Just a slit in the belly area, insert two fingers and pull apart, cut the skin off the lower legs, rinse and wrap.
Hunting and preparing rabbit would be a quick and easy way to learn, also for butchering into different steaks and cuts.
Tree Farmer
Well-Known Member
Don't conflate the reasons for hunting with the unpleasant chore of gutting/processing. I cherish the experiences and camaraderie of the many hunts I've been part of. I hardly remember the 100+ deer I've gutted any more than the other disgusting things that are part of life (diapers, dog puke, etc). Don't give up the former because of the latter.
ofbandg
Well-Known Member
I have gone hunting with a number of first timers, both male and female, and none have ever given up on hunting because they had to participate in processing the animal. With big animals, like moose and elk, my hunting companions and I usually take the head and hide completely off before we we gut the animal. This helps cool it more quickly but I have also noticed that once it is reduced to this state the first timers seem less reticent about getting involved. The next step is to cut out the breast bone so we have more room to work from the top down. Unless the shot was messy, or you are in a hurry, the whole thing can be done without a great deal of blood and gore. We quarter the big animals if we are loading them on quads or cut them into sixth's for horses. I use the non-gutting style for backpack hunts or long day hauls but I hate leaving the ribs because it is one of my favourite parts. First timers can be stunned by all of this but when it begins to look like meat instead of an animal it can turn more into excitement. Regardless, I don't force them to get involved the first time but they better do their part the next time. One other thing I do with big animals is wear kevlar gloves with extra large latex gloves over them when working inside an animal. I like razor sharp knives and sometimes when working around a wound the sharp bones can produce a cut that may get infected. The nice thing about really sharp knives is they don't leave a big scar but they do go right to the bone. I learned that the hard way.
thwatson2
Well-Known Member
I hunt with 16 members in my club. Only 4 of us were cleaning our harvest. This past season, I suggested to a a few of them, to let me clean their deer. What I planned worked, they all got involved and started using the knife a little. By season end, 2 of 3 of them are now cleaning their deer. I still give them a hand and they are still a little "too deep" with their knife work. Point of my writing, don't let what scares you, stop you. Take your buddies help, learn the process then do the next elk solo. By way, unless you are over using your blade and going too deep, there will be very little blood and open guts.
Snowbird
Well-Known Member
I've seen several types of squeamish people. Do you pass out at the sight of blood? If not, then you can still hunt. Focus on making good shots and learn the gutless method for cleaning game. Watch several YouTube vids on it to the point where it's second nature. Then you can bring a buddy for help. They are large animals and they get bigger when the knives come out.
Beer Baron
Active Member
The first time I shot a deer i was also a little squeamish and hesitant about the field dressing process. I gutted about 7 whitetails that year, a few were mine but most were for other hunters so I could get some extra practice. My hunting partners were there to guide me through the process from field to freezer. Since then I have instructed many hunters who were also squeamish and hesitant to field dress an animal. Many new hunters are hesitant to go hunting because they are weary about field dressing an animal, I know I was. This year I helped two of my hunting buddies through the gutless method on a cow elk and I walked another young hunter through field dressing a SD whittetail. We processed all of the meat and did it as a team. If your hunting buddies are offering to help take them up on it and then pay it forward by sharing your knowledge whenever possible. As others have said field dressing and processing an elk is a huge task when you know what you are doing. I would not attempt it on my own for the first time, good luck!
