Gutless method deer breakdown

[Enigma]

Who's done it and do you have any tips to pass along?

My deer processing operation was a fiasco later year and I need to change how I get the goods home to the table. The drag, hang, skin and butcher that I've always done isn't practical for me anymore. I'm really leaning towards doing the breakdown in the field and leaving all the non-edibles right there where they lay.

I've cut up my own deer for years. I think I have a very good handle on the mechanics of the gutless method and the tools I might need. Just wanted to ask if anyone here has first hand experience with it and could offer up any pointers. Many thanks.

[suburbanfarmer]

Plenty of youtube videos on gutless method. I have done a few when recovery is late at night and I am too far in to do the drag.

 

Edited August 18, 2020 by suburbanfarmer

[The_Real_TCIII]

I've seen videos with elk and it looks very cool, they even get the tenderloins


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[suburbanfarmer]

Just now, The_Real_TCIII said:

I've seen videos with elk and it looks very cool, they even get the tenderloins


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

In the link I posted Randy shows it on a deer.

[Enigma]

21 minutes ago, suburbanfarmer said:

Plenty of youtube videos on gutless method. I have done a few when recovery is late at night and I am too far in to do the drag.

 

I've watched this vid and others. I see something a little different in each one that I think will be beneficial. 

[Enigma]

I've tried this with a hanging (dressed) deer with some success. After I pop off the quarters, I think I'll try to incorporate something like this without the downward knife strokes. His example isn't exactly gutless lol.

 

[Robhuntandfish]

I know some guys use a come along and a rope and just gut deer, hang it from a tree limb and break it down right there.  

[Culvercreek hunt club]

10 hours ago, Enigma said:

Who's done it and do you have any tips to pass along?

My deer processing operation was a fiasco later year and I need to change how I get the goods home to the table. The drag, hang, skin and butcher that I've always done isn't practical for me anymore. I'm really leaning towards doing the breakdown in the field and leaving all the non-edibles right there where they lay.

I've cut up my own deer for years. I think I have a very good handle on the mechanics of the gutless method and the tools I might need. Just wanted to ask if anyone here has first hand experience with it and could offer up any pointers. Many thanks.

small block and tackle with a gambrel and you are boneless and only taking the meat out. I've done it before. Not a fan of the gutless method becasue I enjoy the hearts so much. For the few minutes it takes to field dress a deer it seems like not a huge expense of time to just gut it. It's also less weight to hang. 

[crappyice]

small block and tackle with a gambrel and you are boneless and only taking the meat out. I've done it before. Not a fan of the gutless method becasue I enjoy the hearts so much. For the few minutes it takes to field dress a deer it seems like not a huge expense of time to just gut it. It's also less weight to hang. 

So are you just doing a full field dress and then skin and de-bone in the woods or are you doing something different.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Pygmy]

11 hours ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

I've seen videos with elk and it looks very cool, they even get the tenderloins


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Which is a GOOD thing, because one tenderloin from a bull elk will feed four hungry hunters...

[Culvercreek hunt club]

31 minutes ago, crappyice said:

So are you just doing a full field dress and then skin and de-bone in the woods or are you doing something different.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When I have done it it is field dress, skin and debone. I have done it hanging and also on the ground. The skin makes a pretty good workign surface to keep the meat clean. The only "bone" i bring out is usually the front shoulder bones, so front quarters whole. All the rest is just meat. 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

12 hours ago, Enigma said:

Who's done it and do you have any tips to pass along?

My deer processing operation was a fiasco later year and I need to change how I get the goods home to the table. The drag, hang, skin and butcher that I've always done isn't practical for me anymore. I'm really leaning towards doing the breakdown in the field and leaving all the non-edibles right there where they lay.

I've cut up my own deer for years. I think I have a very good handle on the mechanics of the gutless method and the tools I might need. Just wanted to ask if anyone here has first hand experience with it and could offer up any pointers. Many thanks.

https://www.harborfreight.com/gambrel-and-pulley-hoist-99758.html?cid=paid_google|||99758&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=&utm_content=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-O35BRDVARIsAJU5mQXYfItN25L8JvaPJclproFHgazvziF3tVVsfy8kYT9HCH2gQ5vxILoaAkpNEALw_wcB

 

Pretty good price and it breaks down to pack. 

[Enigma]

Appreciate the comments so far, keep them coming. 

That being said, I won't be gutting anything. I know it only takes 5 minutes but that's 5 min I'll be skipping. I can retrieve the heart last, if salvageable, from inside the upper ribcage when done. 

[catskillkid]

I've done it on moose, stone sheep and mountain goats. It is usually done in wilderness area where you need to breakdown the quarters, backstraps and tenderloins. We also de-boned the quarters at the kill sites. This lessens the load for the pack out. 

Not sure why someone would need to do this in NY, unless you are hunting remote areas inn the Daks.

[BowmanMike]

I watched some videos on it and it looks like something i might try if i find myself far from any roads. Getting the inner loins is what i can't fathom,that looks tricky at best. I think I would gut the the deer and then cut it up. Hopefully i will have to make that decision in a little over 6 weeks.

So far I have dragged my deer out but this year will be my first on public land with longer drags...

[Culvercreek hunt club]

2 hours ago, Enigma said:

Appreciate the comments so far, keep them coming. 

That being said, I won't be gutting anything. I know it only takes 5 minutes but that's 5 min I'll be skipping. I can retrieve the heart last, if salvageable, from inside the upper ribcage when done. 

Wondering why you are so adamant about not gutting?

[crappyice]

Wondering why you are so adamant about not gutting?

After watching the videos, gutting skinning and butchering seems easier- granted my drags are never more than 1/2 mile. Still sucks to drag that far but not worth the effort of gutless IMO


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[moog5050]

24 minutes ago, crappyice said:

After watching the videos, gutting skinning and butchering seems easier- granted my drags are never more than 1/2 mile. Still sucks to drag that far but not worth the effort of gutless IMO


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If its more than 75yds, the ATV is coming out!  The only benefit for me (really my garbagemen,) is that if I butchered in field, there would not be a smelly carcass in my tote as occasionally happens from Oct. through Dec.  But to each his own.

[crappyice]

If its more than 75yds, the ATV is coming out!  The only benefit for me (really my garbagemen,) is that if I butchered in field, there would not be a smelly carcass in my tote as occasionally happens from Oct. through Dec.  But to each his own.

A six pack of cold high Lifes often accompanies the contractor bags from Oct-December.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Don_C]

I began using the gutless method last year and will never bring a whole deer home again. We have a gambrel hung from a tree near our parking area on our lease where we cut them up. After the shot we recover with the atv and hoist it up. 20 minutes later all of the meat is in coolers and we take the carcass in an atv cart to another spot on the lease. We stop for ice on the way home and cool the meat. We usually leave it in the cooler for a day or so then butcher and freeze. No mess at home, no ticks, no blood in the truck and best of all, all the hard work is done in the field.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Enigma]

8 hours ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

Wondering why you are so adamant about not gutting?

Because Biden told me I didn't have to do it if I didn't want to. And I don't want to. Tough crowd here lol!

Anyway - back on track . . . I'm just trying to think of ways to get from point A to point B, dead animal in the woods to a cooler of meat on my deck in the least amount of time and with the least amount of effort. I'm getting old and weak and lazy. So at this point in I'm just trying to rethink the steps.

Opening the belly on a deer I just don't see as a necessary step any longer if I'm not going to move it, cart it off or hang it at home or in the field. When I fillet a crappy or perch I don't gut them first. I start at the top (backbone) and work down toward the belly following bones, avoiding the guts. Same thing with squirrels. When I skin and clean them after a nice head shot, second thing I do is clip the skin by the spine and skin down to the belly. Guts in this case come out last only because I'm not filleting anything further. I'm just thinking a similar approach to processing a deer might work better for me now.

[cas]

Didn't the meat scientist explain why this wasn't the best idea? 

[crappyice]

I began using the gutless method last year and will never bring a whole deer home again. We have a gambrel hung from a tree near our parking area on our lease where we cut them up. After the shot we recover with the atv and hoist it up. 20 minutes later all of the meat is in coolers and we take the carcass in an atv cart to another spot on the lease. We stop for ice on the way home and cool the meat. We usually leave it in the cooler for a day or so then butcher and freeze. No mess at home, no ticks, no blood in the truck and best of all, all the hard work is done in the field.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Interesting twist- the hanging gutless. I like it.

I like all the thoughts of doing it differently- maybe even with less energy expelled. From the videos I just don’t know if it is easier especially when I think back to my deer last year that were all evening harvests except 1. It’s hard enough simply gutting a deer at night, let alone trying to butcher it all the way through.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Enigma]

10 hours ago, catskillkid said:

We also de-boned the quarters at the kill sites. This lessens the load for the pack out. 

Exactly. Why carry anything out if you're not going to consume it or utilize it? 

10 hours ago, catskillkid said:

Not sure why someone would need to do this in NY, unless you are hunting remote areas inn the Daks.

I'm trying to adapt, hunting wise, to some life changes and it's just not practical for me now to do field to fork the way I've done it in the past. Trying to work smarter as I get older lol. 

[Enigma]

55 minutes ago, Don_C said:

I began using the gutless method last year and will never bring a whole deer home again. We have a gambrel hung from a tree near our parking area on our lease where we cut them up. After the shot we recover with the atv and hoist it up. 20 minutes later all of the meat is in coolers and we take the carcass in an atv cart to another spot on the lease. We stop for ice on the way home and cool the meat. We usually leave it in the cooler for a day or so then butcher and freeze. No mess at home, no ticks, no blood in the truck and best of all, all the hard work is done in the field.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just so I'm clear, the deer are brought out intact (no field dressing), hung and then skinned, quartered and deboned correct?