How do I overcome the gross factor of field dressing?

first thing you do with your kill is stick your index finger up it's butthole then pop it into your mouth - it's a piece of cake after that!

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ROFLMAO..... thats funny as hell!

btw.... i gag too, so I made a deal w/ 2 nephews to gut my deer IF I should get one.

LAtex gloves and N 95 facemask at the local medical supply.

No one likes field dressing, the tolerate it because the hunt, the event, the food makes the few minutes of field dressing worth it.

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I like field dressing deer. For me the game is to see how fast I can do it while at the same time making a minimum of mess. No matter how cold, I just strip down my upper half to my t-shirt and field dress barehanded. I just wash up afterwards. I like to come back and watch the gutpile later in the day to see if I can kill a fox or a bobcat.

I don't like skinning deer much, but I know how to do it without damaging meat. I just haven't figured out how to do it without wearing out my hands and forearms. Skinning bobcats, yotes, and foxes is much easier, even when being supercareful around the face.

Quartering is something I don't mind at all. I get a lot of satisfaction out of being able to get the entire backstrap out with a minimum of meat loss. I use a flatblade screwdriver when it's time to deal with the hindquarters. Very handy for popping loose the ball and socket joints.

How do you get over the gross factor?

Hunt with grizzled old guys who have been doing it since 1950, and who would point and laugh if you admitted to being squeamish.

Works for me.

Just part of hunting. You could hire a guide and have him/her do the job. I don't find it particularily gross unless you gut shot the deer.

Just dig in and it really isn't so bad as far as I'm concerned. Starting is always the hardest part. Go slow. It helps to have some water nearby that you can wash your hands and in my case arms after you are finished. I usually do it wearing a tea shirt and my blaze orange cap. If it is cold, it tends to motivate you to move along and get the job done. Cleanup and put your regular hunting clothes back on.

Just part of hunting. You could hire a guide and have him/her do the job. I don't find it particularily gross unless you gut shot the deer.

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Even that doesn't bother me too much, especially if I stay upwind on the deer. Of course, I have a 2 year old, and I've been changing diapers and pullups for a while now. Tends to dull the senses a bit.

I was in the same boat last year. 38 year old city boy who discovered the joy of hunting. Pigs, axis, sika, etc. Frankly, if possible, just lend a hand or two to those who are dressing something already. Two or three times, and you're probably ready to skin and cut off the lower leg portions. Next time or two, it'll be time to gut. I'd recommend a small pig - 40 lbs or so as a first. They smell on the outside, but in my experience, they small better on the inside than a large axis. It's also a very manageable size. Don't have to worry about guts going everywhere and they're easy to manhandle.

Good luck, keep at it (we're Men afterall), and enjoy it for what it is.

ETA Also, what for cuts and just be sensible with regard to sanitation. You can catch a bug but you're not going to die or anything, usually. You'd be amazed the number of cases of Giardia are misdiagnosed as food poisoning.

It is my personal opinion that everyone who eats meat should do this at least once in their life. This is where meat comes from, whether you do it yourself or the butcher does it for you before you buy meat from the store

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+1 wankerjake!

The only thing I can't do is use that new fangled Butt Out tool one of my buddies bought. Intellectually I know that is not violating the animal any worse than I am about to by gutting it the old fashioned way, but it just seems so wrong.

I gutted 5 deer this weekend, no big deal. Just suck it up and do it. It ceases to be gross after doing a few.

The only thing I can't do is use that new fangled Butt Out tool one of my buddies bought. Intellectually I know that is not violating the animal any worse than I am about to by gutting it the old fashioned way, but it just seems so wrong.

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That just sounds wrong. On many levels.

Now I have to google it and find out what it is.

This is part of hunting, if you dont kill one then you dont get field dress it! it has never been a proublum for me , no its not the best smell , but it is success! hunting is not all about the kill, if that was all it was i wouldnt still be going after all these years, and like one of the other posters said! you realy dont have to field dress it, but that is where you get the tenderloins, from the inside, not alot of meat but mighty tender! good luck and dont worry you will do fine im sure, csa

You don't have to immediately field dress your kill based upon the prevailing temperature, if it's warm field dressing should be done quickly but if it's 40 degrees or below you can sometimes wait to get it to the processor. I've seen the processor who does my meat field dress and skin carcasses for an extra fee. So why don't you call whomever your meat processor is and ask him what the charge will be to do it?

Agent-J said:

Oh, so assume I manage to gut the deer, not cut myself, the stomach, or the piss sack... how do I transport it without a pickup truck? I have a yuppie CRV with leather so I can't put it inside!

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If you have a trailer hitch receiver, pick up a Hitch-Haul. I have a Bronco II for my hunting vehicle, and even if I wanted to put the carcass in the back, there's not a lot of room once I've tossed in the gun/bow case and climbing tree stand. So I just wrap the kill in a tarp, heave it up onto the Hitch-Haul platform, and head to the check station.

I've never field dressed a deer in my life.

Then again, I use a .700 NE, so that kind of does it for me.

All joking aside, I live a mile and a half from where I hunt. Field dressing is superfluous.

I think its important for everyone who wants to hunt to clean their own game. That being said, I don't enjoy cleaning my deer at all. I take my time when I do it and I always wear gloves. Its a lot more fun when there is snow on the ground because you can use it to frequently clean your hands so they don't get too slippery.

Oh, so assume I manage to gut the deer, not cut myself, the stomach, or the piss sack... how do I transport it without a pickup truck? I have a yuppie CRV with leather so I can't put it inside!

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Get a luggage rack and strap it to the roof. Or if your CRV has a tire on the back like a jeep does you can just toss your deer onto that back tire and strap it down.



Its not perfect but it works.

you don't generally get blood borne pathogens from animals,
the inside of a deer is sterile, its the outside getting in that is bad.

get a handkercheif with your favourite febreeze scent and wear it like a bandito, then use some latex for the hands. just remember the right latex.

Quote:
The only thing I can't do is use that new fangled Butt Out tool one of my buddies bought. Intellectually I know that is not violating the animal any worse than I am about to by gutting it the old fashioned way, but it just seems so wrong.

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That just sounds wrong. On many levels.

Now I have to google it and find out what it is.

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ohh jeeze, i am tearing up, hahahaha.

My first time was just a few weeks ago, and I had the same worries as you. Just accept that it's gross and do it. I yakked three times, then I was done with being squeamish. If friends get deer, ask to gut them for them. No one will turn that down. And yes, I cut the bladder, the colon, and the milk thingie. But not the stomach, thankfully. Expect to smell phantom deer guts for three days. Then move on with life...

If you wrap it in a tarp, put a tarp UNDER it, not around it. Wrapping in plastic holds in heat, which you do not want. They also sell custom molded bed liners for SUVs for about $60 that work well and hose out easily.

iv lost coun of the many deer i have cleaned and quartered over the years. gutted to. i enjoy the whole experience. maybe im weird but i dnt mind pushing my hands into a gut shot deer at all. in fact thats about the only time i field dress 1 anymore is if it was gut shot or if i am a long way from my truck. but in all the stuff iv read on cleaning a deer it seems that everybody thinks you hafta gut the deer. i dnt. here is my cleaning procedure.

1. hang from achiles tendon in back legs from a single tree also known as a gambrel(piece of metal roughly ft and half long with an s hook on each end) and hoist it up.
2. skin around the legs and down to the neck.
3. cut off the front shoulders.
4. cut off the backstraps.
5. make a incision near where the stomach tissue joins the body directly in front of the hindquarters. this creates an opening in the body cavity which enables you to reach in and cut the tenderloins out.
6. cut through the ball and socket joint on the hindquarters.

i also get the neck meat off of largerr deer which is no problem. i dnt get the ribs. not enough meat to warrant it. ymmv. but the only reason i see to actually gut the deer during the skinning process is if you want the ribs.
otherwise field dress it if u must drag a long ways, you cnt begin skinning for a while, or it was gut shot.

I get extremely queasy from the human organs medical shows like Grey's Anatomy and House portray...hell I can't even get a flu shot without feeling light-headed.

All that, and dressing a deer doesn't phase me in the least.

I just make sure to have long thick plastic gloves for the dressing part, and once I get it split from stem to stern just begin at the front of the chest cavity and cut/scoop everything out. Plus it gives me a nice pile to coyote hunt over for the next couple days...

Get the dressed deer back to camp, hang it up by the legs, and go about skinning & quartering it up. I'm not real fast at that part, but once you get the skin off its not any different than any animal you see hanging in a chophouse or freezer.

No one likes field dressing

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I do. I love all aspects of the harvest. Getting up to my elbows in blood is a very large part of my connection to primitive man, which is a big reason I hunt. Absolutely, learn to love it. But don't gut shoot the animal and it will make it much easier smell-wise.

I do. I love all aspects of the harvest. Getting up to my elbows in blood is a very large part of my connection to primitive man

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That pretty much covers it.

Hunting, skinning, then consuming the spoils of the hunt is just plain Manly.

gralloching a deer is not a messy process, if you do it right you will not get to much blood on you and should get no green stomach content on you. your first step is to make a nice job of shooting your deer then follow this guide.

http://www.dcs.gov.uk/BestPractice/Default.aspx

it is a great link to a great site i will post it independantly as well.

interlock

You're thinking about this field dressing bit all wrong. Putting an animal down begins a wondrous science experiment. I love to track the wound channel and marvel at the damage my little .308 does; blown up hearts, jellied lungs, shredded livers, holes in the rib cage, splintered bones, bloodshot meat, scrambled brains. Analyzing the shot you just made and looking at what it just did to this magnificent beast is my favorite part. I don't even really think about the blood and mess, only about getting the guts out so I can see if there was any other damage I missed.

And, the greatest prize is finding your variously expanded bullet in the hide or an off shoulder. I've recovered bullets the last two years while gutting, one from an elk, one from a bear, it's kind of like Christmas.

Think of it as your personal ballistics lab as you do it. Picking through the guts and finding wounds and the occassional bullet fragment will take your mind off of the worst of it.

Tom

Take a bottle of hydrogen peroxide along. It will clean the blood off your hands and clothes much better than water and will sterilize any little cuts on your hands. It also comes in handy if you need to track a blood trail.