How I Process Wild Game

[dvw86]

If someone is just learning how to field dress or butcher game, I like this DVD. It is a bit long at about 3 hours. It gets kind of boring as the guy repeats himself a lot and they try to sell you stuff. It does however do a good job of showing you how to field dress a deer. It also goes into how to butcher without the use of saws and shows you the individual muscle groups. It's a bit old but you can still find it at Cabela's.

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[TheWhiteMexican]

I use everything usually other than the bones, which go to the dogs. Don't use the fat either.

I don't have a grinder for sausage but would like to look into it. Most of my legs/necks go into tamales and stews, backstraps/loins are cooked as steaks or stirfried.

[dvw86]

Boning knives see a lot more use than hunting knives. I don't think that I will ever wear out a hunting knife in my lifetime, but I could sure see myself wearing out a number of boning knives. When using a hunting knife it's pretty easy to keep the edge off of bones, but boning knives are always running into bones (that's kind of the point). By far the most time spent with a knife is during the butchering process. The field dressing and skinning hardly take any time at all. It is amazing to me how much emphasis is placed on the size and shape of a hunting knife when it is really used for such a short period of time. On the same thought is how little you hear about butcher or boning knives. I'm sure that a lot of this is due to the fact that many people have someone else do the meat processing for them.

What I've found is that I like to have three knives for boning, butchering and trimming. All are 1/16" thick. Also, they share the same canvas micarta handle material that is water/blood proof and still provides a grip when wet.

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The middle one is made from ATS-34 and has a 5 inch long blade. I use it for the actual de-boning. It is a bit stiff which I find nice for that task. The only real thing that I would change is the handle/bolster area. I actually made a replacement for it out of D2 but gave it away before I ever had a chance to use it. So now I am making another one like the one that I gave away. If I could only have one knife to gut, skin and butcher a deer, this would be it. It does all of those tasks fairly well. It isn't a great skinning knife, but it skins better than a skinning knife de-bones. I've actually done a complete deer (start to finish, gutting, boning and processing) with just this one knife. Below is the replacement I made for it and am making again.

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The bottom one is also made from ATS-34. Its blade is 4 inches long. That one inch makes for a big difference though. I have also done a complete deer with this knife. It's strong point is really in the trimming of the meat, removing all the bits of fat and sinew. I could live without it, but it's handy to have near by when processing.

The top one is actually a "kit" knife. I really like it though. They are only about $15 without the handle. It is really flexible and is great for processing the meat, cutting steaks and removing silverskin from the back straps. You can pick them up at Texas Knifemakers Supply and usaknifemaker.com. They are also an easy way to start getting into the knifemaking hobby. I've put together a bunch of them for friends and family.

USA Knifemaker Link
Texas Knifemakers Link

[Moon Tree]

dvw, this is the igloo cooler I've used for 3+ years. It holds ice better than my friends smaller Yeti
http://auctions.samsclub.com/igloor-ice ... oler-60-qt

[Bibletotingunslinger]

rabbit,,,,,,,,,
Gut em as ya go?

Or wait till all done hunting, gut em all at once,

I spoze squirrel same but they too small out here...


My thing is I got this plastic orange bag that snaps to the back of the cammo hunting vest.
I go along putting nice warm bunnies in the pack,,,,takes em for ever to cool off.
I thinkin about a gut as I go thing?????

Any comments?

[akuser47]

I like to get them gutted and skinned fast as possible. I started using ice packs in the back of my vest pocket everyone thought I was crazy as I'd shoot a couple n skin and gut them on the spot, and put them into my game pocket. That helped keep them from getting to warm considering most my hunting in my life has always been cooler weather. Heat isn't to big a problem for my game.

[dvw86]

I don't hunt much rabbit, but rule of thumb fo me has always been to gut and cool down as soon as possible.

[Bibletotingunslinger]

Where I hunt the temperature seldom reaches 40 deg, but still the sun is out. so I think you all have good point.