Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting How do you hang your deer?

I hang mine from the back legs mainly because my Dad made a gambrel for me and it works well with a come-along to hang from our back yard swing set. Club I hunt also has gambrels on winches so they are what I use.

Why do you gut them? I hang from back legs, skin him, remove back straps, remove front shoulders, cut head off, get as much neck meat as I can, cut gut liner enough to reach in to get tender loins, remove one ham, then the other, ribs and guts fall in gut bucket. I did read on a post here not long ago to split skin down belly and back. I tried that. It’s much easier to pull skin off.

I don’t use anything but my Buck knife. Why would you need a saw??

No right or wrong way. Just get it done !

Not everyone can drive up to the corn spinner for wheeled retrieval.

I gut only at our small family spot where I have a walk in reefer to hange the body to age. All my other kills get the gutless method.

Head down always.

I use a Sagan Saw to cut a section out of the pelvic bone and then break the pelvis so that I can pull all of the entrails out as one unit, no need to cut around the anus and tie it off.

If I can drive a vehicle to the deer, I usually bring along a pair of limb clippers and use that tool to cut the pelvis bone, they are just a little bulky to carry far from a vehicle, unless you have a son or nephew along to do the carrying.

At home, gut & rinse on the garages apron.

Hang, then clean & rinse with water/vinegar solution.



Skin & process, not before the next weekend.

Away, @ camp.





Use what you got !

It depends on the circumstances. MOST of the time I use the 'gut less' method too. IF, IF it'll be a while before I can process, then I'll gut them for cooling.

Also normally I give 2-3 deer to friends, so I gut and rinse THEN they come and take whole deer for themselves.

Jerry

I use this methodology too, however, you don't need a saw or pruning shears. I simply place the tip of my knife, at the centre of the pelvis juncture & 2-3 taps of the back of the blade with a hatchet splits the pelvis, slight push on each inner ham & done. I find it also leaves less jagged bone to rip up the back of my hands. All the guts exit through the split pelvis.

Never needed a saw for the sternum either. If you can't split with a knife, straight down the centre, move approximately an inch either side & split the cartilage between the rib bone & the harder sternum.

I hang all deer head down, gut them at the barn, or nearby tree. I use a 18vt dewalt cordless sawzall for all bone cuts, and the golf ball method with a boat winch for hide removal. (Boat winch cable is routed through a snatch block and earth anchor). Wheel barrow beneath the deer for guts. Gambrels I make myself from aluminum or steel tubing and 1/8" cable that cinches at the deer's knees. You can not drop the meat, even if the tendons are cut. So far, I've made and shipped off more than a dozen to friends who want one. We have room to hang at least 5 deer at a time, each on block and tackle. Butchering kit, hangs on the wall, and I have.a string of 150wt bulbs on a construction lighting string wrapping the cutting area with 1500wts of light.
Personally, I do not gut on the ground, or in the field. I'll keep all chance of dirt away from the meat, and I just don't like gutting on the ground. A rubber surgical glove over the action of the sawzall, keeps the saw parts clean. I take the blade trhrough one of the fingers and tape at the cut, and the wrist, and no gore in my saw.

Interesting as my guide and I in NE BC did not gut my elk and moose which resulted in a lot less on the horses to get back to camp. Seems the same would apply for a human pack out?

I've tried both and I find it easier for me hanging head down

Usually head down .

Riiiiiight, but that's a packout - ie, the thing(s) were quartered on the spot.
hanco is talking about getting them out whole, and, with guts. If you have to get them out whole (and can't get a quad, truck or horse to them), it's a lot easier to gut them (less weight) and drag them to where they can be loaded.

I rarely get critters out in one piece anymore but when I do I always hang head down. It is a pain to bag it but I always worry about brain goopage migrating down through the body into the meat via gravity.

I hang mine with the head down. I don't ever gut them anymore and never use a saw.

I was in a camp once that had a homemade walk in freezer. Worked well til freezer part quit.

Now I debone hanging. No need to gut. Cut the stomach far enough down to reach in and get sweet meat.

Head down.

Never gutted a deer anyplace other than where it died. Bringing one home to gut seems like way more trouble than it would be worth.

I hear ya BUT I may be the exception because I hunt either AT home or on family property 3 mi. away. I like bringing it home especially if I gut it. A water hose is handy so the deer & I keep clean. I also have enuff property to dispose of head, hide, entrails. > buzzards are on it in less than 1 hour.

Jerry