Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game gut hooks?

Had several butchers tell me not to split the chest or the pelvis. Said that the pelvis split especially wastes meat.
I've never had any problem splitting either with a proper knife anyway.

I've never found a need to split the chest or pelvis. What does it accomplish?

A perk of hunting elk on private and loading with tractors is you don't have to bone out in the field.

Makes it easier to cut your hands on sharp bones?

Cools the carcass down faster.

Sternum, anyway. Prop it open with a stick.




P

I hunt out of a camp, on private land that is an operating cattle ranch. Dying/Dead cows attract buzzards.

We are required to bring the whole critter we kill back to camp to skin and gut then take the offal to the "boneyard".

Local custom is to bring the animal back to camp, hang from a gambrel by the hind legs for hide removal, gutting and quartering/boning out.

I like gut hooks. These two are my staples these days






Don't like the Wyoming knife as it is too easy to nick yourself on the back blade. Design error IMHO.

Both the WK and the Gerber EZ-zip are to flimsy to stand up to pressure.

I do like the Browning gut hook, but it too will snap if you put your full weight on pulling down on the hook.

The little axe was $15 at Wal-mart,, is carbon steel and one can put an edge that will shave on it in just a few. It works great.


With the kit below, and the inclusion of a custom blade or two, depending on extremes in temperature, the time of day/night, sobriety, social intervention or the need for an adult beverage/stogie break, I can usually have a critter hung, skint, gutted, quartered and in the cooler with-in 30 minutes of the time I start.




ya!

GWB

rock chuck I grind the sharp point off of that carpet blade .and cut with the hair

I have seen people use the carpet blades for hog skinning.
Just slice it into strips and pull them off.
Works great on domestic hogs.
Might need to pressure wash a feral first.
But that's not a bad thing to do.

Ha! Good one GW. Given the quantity you process, very valuable feedback. And I like your style!

Who makes the little axe?

I had a Wyoming knife for about a decade and finally switched back to a small sharp blade. I agree with those that said the gut hook gathers up far too much hair and forces it through the blade.

UST Parahatchet

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Parahatc...z8MTf4AIV07rACh1jLgaPEAQYBCABEgKU1PD_BwE


ya!


GWB

That depends on the gut hook.

This is GWs pic.




I'd bet the T handle gut hood does NOT gather too much hide and hair.

This is MINE and it does NOT. Like others have said, it's like a zipper.



Jerry

We do not have running water at our camp. I'll bring a couple gallon jugs with me to wash down a critter if necessary after skinning and gutting.



Here is an Aoudad Ewe that I had on the gambrel within an hour or so after I killed it in late December. I make a light incision just at the side of the tendon where the gambrel hooks under the tendon. Then I take the gut hook and make a line down just in front of the tits/pecker on both hinds. Then I take the gut hook and go all the way to as cloase to the point where the neck begins. After that its the knife.






I do not recall having a problem specifically created by employing a gut hook.



white-tail buck from December



I'm not good enough to skin a critter and not get any hair on the dang thing!



but ASAP they go on ice in the cooler. I wet age 5 to 6 days then wrap for the freezer.


ya!

GWB

Thanks for the reply.

Ya!

I don't like the gut hooks, as others have said they don't work well and clog up with hair. I have a swing blade/blaze that does work well at least for myself. A good 3" of sharp blade and a very dull rounded point so far never hit the gut even in some interesting positions. The other blade is a nice clip point for the rest of the field dressing. Of course we could talk about the Butt Plug....

TFF....😄

Just yesterday I shot a very large Roosevelt cow elk - with my Creed.
I was alone and she was in a crappy place to work on, nor could I get a 4 wheeler to her.
I have one of the switch blade knives with a gut hook and it’s a great tool for very quickly
making the long dorsal cut (head to tail) and down the legs to facilitate gutless dressing.
Clogging is way less an issue when you follow the grain of the hair.
I’m interested in one of the replaceable razor blade hooks now.

I've watched a few videos where someone opens up a deer starting at the rear, especially when it's hanging. I can see them getting hair all over everything. Then they do the hind legs against the hair, too.
I always cut with the grain.

Can't believe nobody has used either of these! I have them in folder and non folding versions and they work great!!

https://www.outdooredge.com/collections/hunting/products/zip-blade-zp-10?variant=16399742403

OR

https://www.outdooredge.com/collections/hunting/products/zip-blade-zp-10?variant=16399742403

Make a small incision at the end of said animal, insert and unzip all the way to the jaw like a jacket zipper!

Elk Country