Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Have you ever gutted a deer for a new hunter?

I have. I have gutted skinned and cut up deer for many people. If someone kills one I am hunting with unless they want to do it themselves I help.

Always the 1st one for friends, family & Newbs, use as tutorial for moving forward.

Always, if someone asks.

Always for my wife, the deer killing machine !

Deb always helps, holding legs etc.

Once I've gutted & hung, she will help skin & then get in there & clean out the cavity.

Butchering is a social event, we all participate in & thoroughly enjoy !

I have helped many times, my fee is the inner loins the rookies don't think that is to bad it's just a few scraps from the inside I tell them.

I did a cow elk for a good buddy. He was ready to heave watching me. After our AZ hunt in the Cocinino NF, he stopped hunting.

Yes. For my wife and son when he was young. Now he owns a meat cutting business.

Never a deer but I field dressed a bear once for another hunter. He said he didn’t know how to go about field dressing the bear so I did it. I used a Carbonne Opinel No.8 and told him just remove everything you don’t want to eat. I ended up with some bear meat that I turned into sausages.

Nick

Yep. Few hundred times. As others have said, elk too. Antelope, mule deer too.

No possum tho

Yes

Many times for the older over 70 crowd that was on the last lease. Just too easy for me to do it than watch them struggle.

Yep, and it made for a good story too. My buddy’s son was along on his first deer hunt and he was eager to learn, so when we had a deer down I gave him the knife and told him that I’d instruct him how to field dress one. He turned the deer on its back and I said that the first thing we should do is cut around the as-hole He got to work and then thinking to myself that the kid is only ten years old and as-hole was probably not the clinical term that I should have used, so I said rectum. The kid squirreled up his face, dropped the knife and burst out “Wrecked ‘em, how’d I do that?”

Circumstances would have it that I've never had to dress a deer for anyone thus far.

Saying that, most newbies (by far) carry a knife that is far too long for dressing deer. I had one of those sporting bayonets as a kid as well. Never once stuck it in an animal.

These two Barkies are about perfect, with the bottom one with the lead. I don't think I've used a better field knife. Would not be the best for skinning, have others for that, but 2nd to none for hauling guts.

Yes.

I'm gutting less and less. Even for deer, if it is a tough haul to the truck, I'm practicing the gutless method.

I have big hands and like longer blades. I have cleaned many deer with Schrade and Buck folders but much prefer to use knives with 5 or 6 inch blades. Just easier for me to see what the end of the blade is doing.

B.C. Good story. It reminded me of one similar years ago.

In the early days of Pennsylvania muzzleloader hunting, our group of seven only had three muzzleloaders between us all. We were passing the rifles around and taking turns. Deer were numerous back then so everyone was getting shots and learning about the variances of each weapon, each being a different model.

I was taking a turn with a borrowed Hawkin when a herd of about six or seven came busting down the mountain right at me, splitting up, some going on each side of me at close range. I proceeded to miss one at point blank range as the big doe blew by. I was pretty disgusted with myself and the next buddy I came across I passed off the rifle to him and commenting I didn't deserve to carry it after missing one so close. i would go on moving deer for everyone else.

I must add that the night before at camp, a good friend had tipped me to the distance his muzzleloader was tuned to hit where with his open sites. I took good note of that as it was a very nice rifle and was hoping to get a turn with it on game.

So back to me wandering around pushing deer. I came across one of the new guys standing on the crest of the mountain looking down the other side. I eased my way up to him and he pointed to a big doe bedded on a rock looking down the mountain. I asked him why he hadn't taken a shot and he said it was too far. I said just sneak down through the rocks and belly slide out to where he could get a shot at half the distance. He said he would screw it up and handed me that rifle that I had received site instructions. Here, you do it.

Down through the rocks I went and slid out on that rock and shot that deer in the spine, it never moving. The new guy came down all excited at witnessing the whole affair. He was curious as to what happened next. I said this is where the work started. I told him I could talk him through the whole gutting process, as he was interested in learning. He did as instructed. Now what he says. Now we drag it back to camp.

I hooked up a length of cord and he grabbed it and started dragging it off in the direction of camp. That night, after a couple of beers, he went on to tell the whole camp the story of the day.

After his very detailed telling, one of the other guys asked if he heard it all right. So let me get this straight. You gave him the rifle, to let him shoot the deer, and you gutted it for him and then drug it back to camp for him. Is that right? Yep, he says. My bud spoke up to ask if he would hunt with him tomorrow.