Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game gut hooks?

In over 50 years of hunting, I've never found a need for a gut hook...until this year. I got an elk on a steep hill, belly down. I couldn't move it myself and had to gut it where it was. With the innards pushing down on the belly and being in a terrible position, a gut hook would have been invaluable.
I have several really good knives and have no intention of buying another just to get a hook that I might never need again, but I saw some of these disposable hooks in a store, a 3-pack for $10. Has anyone tried them? They weigh nothing and if they work, I'll buy a pack just to put in my day pack.

Dorsal cut the hide. Skin down just below the knees. Take the meat off that side. Flip, repeat, leave the guts, hide, and bones on the hill.

Gut-hooks mostly have far too narrow a throat, plug with hide, and stop cutting.

I've never had any use for one either, but could see where one might come in handy in the situation you describe. I've never seen the disposable job you show, but for that kind of money, you can't go wrong.

Have find them invaluable in dressing an early morning kill of an animal that has been stuffing himself all night. Just a tidy way to open them up without puncturing gut or bladder. I used a knife for a couple of years with a gut hook on the back. Gut hook part worked ok, but it was in the way for much of the rest of the dressing out job. Don't use that one anymore.
Not seen the disposable tool you show, but looks like an excellent idea. I'll buy a pack if I see them.
I am an advocate of complete and tidy field dressing.

Friend showed me the outdoor edge zip blade (fixed blade version ) and I have a handful now . It’s legit

Blade profile lends itself to more than just unzipping the hide

Amazon has them for cheaper than what I saw in the store.


I've done it gutless on 4 or 5 elk and 2 moose. I'll never do another one. Yes, it's easy, but boning meat before it cools allows the muscle fibers to shrink and that makes it TOUGH. The toughest animals I've ever eaten were all done gutless. Since I quit doing it about 5 years ago, I've never had a tough one. I let them go into rigor before boning them. Read up on cold shortening.

I have a gerber gut hook that uses the same blades as you do in a box knife. I've used it for 15 years, just replace the blade after use. Much less worry about puncturing stomach, gut, etc... Better to have and not need, then to need it and not have it.

That looks like it would have worked in my situation. I needed to get a 2d hand in there to push the gut away from the hide and I couldn't do it. It took me forever to open it up without cutting the gut.

I have one of these. It uses a utility knife blade and works well.

Gerber Vital Zip

I’ve never hunted elk but I love the gut hook for cleaning deer. They really speed the process.

The Wyoming knife is similar and Gerber put another out years ago. RC is correct on tough meat. I do the gutless method,but leave the leg bones in. I have been in a situation a few times where I had to gut the animal in order to move it around. Still have to debone the back strap though.

The gutless method is directed more to not having to splitting the spine saving possible contamination of CWD. Years ago CPW advised not going very far up the neck also in order to stay away from lymph glands

Gut hooks are like 6.5 Creedmoors, I won’t say they don’t work, I just haven’t ever needed one...

Will ditto several posts.

1. In that situation bone out the critter from whatever is up and work down. Been there...

2. Gut hook is a lousy name for the tool in this topic. Hide zipper might be better. If big enough across the gap, they are good for making straight cuts in the hide when needed for tanning or taxidermy. They have not been as good IME for opening the gut cavity. One of the best "gut hooks" I have ever seen was the first one I ever saw, some 50 years ago that a taxidermist had made for his own use. I watched him make straight cuts with it to begin skinning a bear.

3. All but one gut hook I've tried, including some homemade ones, have an opening way too small to do the job. The only good commercially made gut hook I have is one of the blades in my Alaska Blade Trader set. It is likely an inch or more across the curve of the sharp hook, and it is the only I've seen that has a big enough one big enough across the gap that deer hide does not ball up and stop the cutting.

Just takes a bit of practice. I use a gut hook every time I open them up. It's one sure slice, with a slight pull outward. The rounded nub rides inside as a guide, and the blade opens them up like a zipper. They work very well. Doing it with straight blade is much more tedious, and a lot slower. And yes you are right about letting rigor leave the meat first, much better meat as an end result.

This is better to me. I try to avoid anything disposable if I can. I thought gut hooks were for people that didn't know how to use a knife but have become a convert as they are faster and neater. They also save the edge on my knives as cutting hair and hide dulls blades faster especially on an old muddy hog. I still don't like the looks of knives with gut hooks but on a hatchet they look practical to me. I have round diamond hones for wood working chisels and these touch a gut hook edge fast.

They're handy for guttin and doin legs, just like a zipper...

I make knives and find them unsightly to the classic lines of a blade. I have never done an Elk in the position of the OP, in that case, a gut hook would seem invaluable.
On deer I mostly use the 2 finger method, pressing up on the inner part of the hide while keeping it clear of the gut, and letting the knife slide between the 2 fingers. Word of caution move slow and pay attention, I have opened more then a deer belly more than once with this method.

A sharp knife and index finger are all I've ever used, and I've worked up elk I had tied to the hill to keep them from going down another half mile of so. Really "sharp" makes an easy job of near every task. KISS

An elk hunter who supports gun control, interesting.

YES, and as those who’ve ‘used’ them said, gut hooks are faster, easier, & cleaner to use.

I used my first gut hook in 1995. I won’t be without one.

Jerry

ps I’ll try to post a pic of my fav gut hook on a straight knife tomorrow.