Now, I already have my opinion on this one, but want to know why people hang their deer by the head/antlers? Why did someone invent the gambrel if some don't bother to use it.

In camp, we hang 'em by the head. The body cavity drains out and the hair sheds precipitation. When skinning, I used to hang 'em by the back legs using a gambrel. At that time, I would saw the carcass down the spine to cut it in half. I now hang the deer by the head. I found it easier to skin them head-to tail than tail-to-head. I don't saw them any more. I just lop off a quarter at a time to work on it. I don't know why we used to saw them.

When I skin for the local butcher, we hang head up unless its getting caped. After skinning, when we hang them to cool, its head down to let the heat rise out of the cavity. At least that's what I've been told. I've seen it done either way on camp meat poles.

I've tried it both ways. Head down does it for me. Just a lot easier IMO.
Most all the time the deer that I work up are brought to the pole in the round.
I think the best time we ever had from hanging the deer until it was sectioned and in the cooler was twelve minutes. Of course my bud and I have had a lot of experience. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />


BCR

In our camp, it's hang 'em by the head. Skin, quarter, take out the backstrap. Unless the ribs are wanted, the body cavity is never opened. Get the neck meat if wanted, cut the head off the body, and it's done. No fancy equipment- a tree limb lopper for the legs, a bone saw if needed, usually a 3" or so blade pocketknife. Got a couple of folks so good at taking out the backstrap, the buzzards aren't interested in what's left! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Pedestal, do you know what tenderloins are, and, if so, how do you get them without opening the body cavity?



I hang mine by the head, and I have a logical reason for it, at least as far as my way of doing it goes. I kill or help clean quite a few deer and when I field dress a deer or a hog, I usually leave the last couple of inches of the large intestine in the pelvis. Hanging them by the head prevents fecal contamination of the tenders. I don't split the pelvis unless someone wants to take the whole carcass. If we want whole ribs, I cut the last few inches on the spine and pelvis are off, after stripping any meat scraps left from removing the hind quarters. I haven't ever timed just the hanging process, but I've several times, killed a deer and had him in quarters, backstraps, tenders, and stripped the meat in less than an hour from the time of the shot.



I don't have an argument with hanging them upside down, I am just used to doing it the other way.

Hang em from the head, you never see a decent buck pole were the ars is looking you in the face <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Flies/Dies. Don't know if it works on deer, , but I get the tenderloin out of elk without gutting them. After I have stripped the loins and quarters off, I can push the paunch in far enough to run a knife up along the underside of the vertebrae. Then grab the tenderloins and they pop out kinda. JUst ahev ot be careful not to knick the paunch.

The only time I hang 'em head up is if the animal is killed at last light and weather allows me to skin them in the morning. This is for draining purposes. Most of the time, I take the back legs off, start the skinning around the hocks to get that out of the way and hang 'em head down. As soon as they're skinned, you take the windpipe out and they drain through that opening. For me, they skin easier head down. Go figure!

For whatever reason, hanging them from the head reminds me of those old photos of outlaws getting hung in the old west and that correlation doesn't sit well with me. Sentimental fool that I am <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />.

Besides, I can't remember EVER seeing an animal hanging head up at a butcher shop and I figure they must know what they're doing.

Muley Stalker:

Now that you mention it, that's another good reason to hang them by the head, reminds me of the 2 or 3 people that I'd like to see in that position. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Hmmmmm, perspective is everything! Now that I think about it THAT way ......... (grin).

Simple question here, why would you leave them out in the rain? We have always covered ours, but have seen a couple nasty instances where someone has let the rain get to them. I definitely would not want to eat those!

IIFID,

I tried to convince a guy last year that those tenderloins were scrap meat, and graciously offered to take them off his hands. Unfortunately it didn;t come together for me.

You surely can get to the tenders without gutting them. If you make and incision right at the last rib, you can get your hands up in there and get them out. They really come out pretty easily and it doesn't make much of a mess.

cas --

being that he is from wisconsin, he might be referring to snow.

for the record, i live in north-central montana, and have always hung head down, but a friend i grew up with always hung his head up, so i guess when you boil it down, a lot of us do it one way or the other because that's how we were taught, i guess.

This is a good strand. I see many camps do it both ways. I prefer head down. I find it easier to pull the hide down and we wind up with less hair on the meat. The fellow that mentioned cleaning out the lower intestine makes a good point but I always remove that before hanging. I simply crack the pelvis with a hand axe and remove that intact. I would not leave it in irrespective of the fecal content, as the residual heat is a concern as well. If the head is to used for a mount we saw off the head and generally leave the cape intact for the Txidermist. Either way I would also make sure the wind pipe etc is completely removed from the neck as well. That is the primary reason I do not like to hang by the head. I also notice that many who hang by the head do not peel the hide.

I do mean rain. Because of the way the gun season is set up,(always the week of Thanksgiving), opening date may vary almost a week over the course of the years. During the early seasons, sometimes we get rain, like the last couple of years. During the later seasons, we get usually count on snow. We seem to get a period of stormy weather around Thanksgiving. In any case, we don't have to cover them 'cause we hang 'em by the head. The hair points backward and the hide sheds water like a roof. We've never had them go bad.

I hang them head down and I prefer to gut them on the ground.

It is so warm here we rarely get to let one hang overnight. I have to quarter it and get in on ice quickly. I have not used a saw to quarter or process venison in decades. I only need a kinfe to take off the legs, quarter and bone the meat.

I sure would like to watch one of you bone out a deer without gutting it first. That would be a time saver.

IIFID:
The method is described below-I forgot that in my note. As the weather is usually quite warm here during the early part of the season, it's important to get the meat on ice quick. This is a very fast way. Usually two guys working together can have one on ice 10-15 minutes after hanging. I must say, thou, if I had to do it by myself, it'd take me a LOT longer-I'm not that good at it....

It's not hard to do but you will lose all the flank meat and the striping between the ribs. On a good sized deer it can add up to 3 to 5 pounds of good ground meat.

I guess it is just a matter of semantics, non of the methods described can be done without "opening" the body cavity to my way of thinking. I hunt in basically the same weather you do, and there is NOT that big of a rush to get the animal on ice. Field dressed, yes, iced, no. Even hogs will keep for hours in high heat if gutted and opened up to cool. Not that there is anything wrong with icing them down, and I usually do it pretty quick myself.

As for me, I think abandoning the ribs or the meat around them is a waste of some fine eating, either as burger, sausage, chili, or just plain ribs. I kill more deer for my freezer than most people (meaning that I have less need for the "scraps") but I process the whole animal up to the head.

I love deer liver and onions, unfortunately I'm the only one in the family who does. The heart doesn't do much for me, but to each his own said the man as he kissed the cow. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

A lot of the "hanging" that people are talking about is in the "classic" deer camps farther North, where the weather permits them to be left outside for several days or more without a problem. We rarely have those conditions in NE TEXAS, thankfully.

BCR...I saw the dad/son at the place I hunt east of Goldthwaite do one in right at 10 minutes once. You could tell they had done it together for quite a while. They used the head up method with a rock under the cape of the neck with a rope tied to the truck bumper to peel the hide off.

Growing up in the Midwest, we always used a gambrel and head down. I've become partial to the head up peel them with the truck method in the evening when its dark and hot enough they are going directly in the cooler. I can do one by myself that way in about 30 minutes but I'm mostly thumbs.

A pard and I were trying to politely run off an "acquaintence" that started inviting himself along several years ago. We were getting ready to take care of the uninvited friends deer and my pard told him to grab that cotton rope there in the back of the truck and hang it in the tree. It was some old rotten 1/2" stuff. Of course when the truck pulled, the cotton broke and the gutted deer came right down on the ground with the cavity open. Tempers flared a bit....and he found some nicer folks to hunt with after that.

I wish the deer here had some meat on their ribs. I do like ground chili meat. I do bone out the neck and shanks but the only time I boned out the ribs I got about a teacup full of meat for my time and trouble. It ain't happening again. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I think you southern boys are missing out on something. We hang our deer by the head, and let them hang for 5-10 days ,weather permitting. That long hang tenderizes(mellows) the meat and its the best venison you can get. Mark.

I always hang them head down, it's a lot easier for me. I also don't gut them in the field, by the time I got that done I can already have them back at camp, hung up and knocked the guts out of them, and put away in the cooler. It takes maybe 10 minutes if I'm taking my time to get the guys out of one. We like to hang them in the cooler for 2 weeks at 38 degrees, makes the meat nice and tender.

I had a guy come hunt with me once who killed a doe on my place. He hung it head up and went to work. It took him about an hour and a half to do what I could have done in 15 minutes doing it my way.

NuAg the winch on an ATV works good too. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
The problem I always had with hanging one head up was spliting the brisket so I could get all the goodies out of the chest. I hate to crawl head first up in a deer trying to get that stuff out or cut the tip of my thumb off doing it blind.

PDS maybe we ought to look for some of them three and four hundred pound deer they was talking about on another thread. On the deer I shoot there ain't enough meat on the ribs to interest a buzzard.

BCR

IIFID:
Just noticed where you were from, you know about the heat. Talking about hanging, do folks in your area rent coolers to hang their deer? Some parts of the state that seems to be a popular option, but haven't seen it in my area...

I like the head down method. That is probably because of the way that I learned from helping butcher beef and hogs. I have tried it heads up, but did not feel comfortable with it. When I hunt my own place, which is most of the time, I leave the guts in until I bring it to the house. I then skin out some of the back legs and cut off the feet. I saw through the brisket, you can do it with the knife, but it is hard on your edge. I also split the hitch bone in the pelvis. I the use my four wheeler winch and pully to start lifting the deer by the back legs. You can remove the guts as you go up with the deer and save a lot of bending over. I then rinse the cavity out with cold water (not leaves or moss as used to be recomended in magazines). Depending on the weather, I leave it hang over night or start skinning. Goes very fasts. miles

I'm surprised - I always figgered you Texans just held them up in one hand and skinned with the other...

I let my venison age too. I have a fridge in the garage for that purpose. The quartered and boned out meat goes in there for a few days before I process it and put it away in the freezer.

On my last deer lease we built a walk in cooler to hang our deer. We all hung them head down. I want anything that might drain out to go away from the hindquarters, not on them.

Pedestal1:

In my area no one that I know of rents coolers, but I don't circulate around a lot, so that is not a certain answer. I've contemplated buying/building one using used components, but frankly, I've eaten a lot of deer and I'm sure that aging has to help it, if done properly, but I personally can't tell it helps and in some cases, I have sure been able to tell it hurt. I like venison, so I and my wife don't usually go out of the way to disguise it with heavy sauces, gravies, marinades, etc. On occasion for a change, but not very often.

Of course, just like you, I handle it properly and quickly, we rarely have gut shot deer, and the tenderest deer by far that we eaten this season was a younger 8 point that my son (then 9) killed for his first deer on Christmas afternoon, hunting by himself in a ground stand, one shot, TC .223 with 64 gr Powerpoint reloads, blew his heart up. He then went on to kill a pretty big doe on the second to last day of our season, Jan 24th, one shot, one dead doe, same gun and load. Guess you can't tell I am a proud Papa. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I was going to post a pic him and his deer but the process was more trouble than it was worth. A certain Alaskan must have a lot of time on his hands. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> His buck was literally "cut with a fork tender" and that is compared to maybe 5 does and a spike or two that we took beside him....go figure.

BTW, just for comparison with Praire Dog Shooter, we are required to weigh all of our deer and our largest doe this year weighed 92 pounds field dressed (dry and older), smallest that wasn't a young of the year was 59 (shot by moi she was in the wrong place at the right time), most are in the low to mid 70s. The 8 point that my son shot weighed 119 FDed.

JOG, Naaah, we put them in our hip pocket, take them home and hang them on a nail. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />


BCR

I've been out on a project with the day job and haven't had a chance to weigh in. To the answer to your question head-up or down, I say, "Yes."

In my normal SOP for deer, I hang head up for field dressing, after dragging it out ungutted. Once in a while I gut out while I'm in the woods, but I prefer the comforts of home and the lack of leaves and dirt in the body cavity. The front porch of the house is converted to a game pole starting every November. Deer are hung by the front legs on a gambrel and the head is belted to the top. I then use a block and tackle. If I tie off to the back of the truck, the deer is hoisted as the truck pulls away.

Once that's done. I can just hang a utility light at night, and I can run in for a quick wash off. I can have a quick second breakfast, or just hang loose for a while and tell big lies about the bigger one that got away.. With the head up, gravity is working with me as I gut out the carcass. If I'm taking it to the processor, I keep it like that until it's ready to go in the truck for the last ride. Usually I have my deer at the processor within a couple of hours of them taking their last breath.

If it's too late to get it to the processor, I will rehang it with the head down so it will drain blood better. I would also do that if I am going to skin it out.

If it's warm, or I'm going to haul it back to town, the body cavity will get a bag of ice. However, I have 3 processors within a half hour, and they do a carcass cheap. These guys have room in a refrigerator for the meat to age a couple of days under proper conditions. They have a clean operation, and they have a big enough freezer that the meat gets down to zero much quicker than trying to put in any of my freezers.

One handy tip to remember: the quicker you get the meat frozen, the better. I used to work in a meat factory. They put in a flash freezer to get the pre-cooked meat patties frozen quickly. If they had put the patties unfrozen in a box and then frozen them, the interior patties would have rotted before they froze. You need a large freezer to get a whole deer down to zero before the taste is affected.

you dont gut your deer? I have never heard of that and dont believe i would do it i shoot an animal i get the guts out right away. helps to cool the carcass and makes the meet better

It usually takes me an hour or less to get a deer out of my woods and up to the house. I figure a lot of times hunters have to wait 6 hours or more to find game that has gotten away from them, and in most cases the meat is still good. If I can, I drag the carcass out, throw it on the truck and drive the 1/2 mile or so to the house before processing it further. The big one this year was right at my threshold. It took me two hours to drag it up the hill. Girlfriend met me with the truck. About half way through I thought about stopping to gut the deer, but this was a prime spot. I didn't want to queer things any more than I had to.

My son's doe set the family record-- from trigger pull to processor in less than 90 minutes. I called the guy and he said he was closing at 7. I didn't want to wait until Monday morning and miss a half day of work. We made it with 5 minutes to spare. I got tired of switching knives about halfway through. I am here to tell you all, that you CAN gut a deer cleanly with nothing but a pruning saw.

My big guy is anything but spoiled. Girlfriend made him up for the Superbowl as Venison Wellington. MMMMMMMMmmmmmmMMMMM. We had him for breakfast this morning as steak and eggs, and we'll probably have him tomorrow for at least 1 or two meals.

Suffice it to say that if I shot a deer, and it took over 2 hours to find I'd probably gut it first thing. Ditto if I bagged one on a hot September afternoon. I keep the gambrel and block and tackle, garbage bags, rope, etc. along with a coon hunting light packed in a knapsack for those eventualities. In a couple of situations, I've gone all the way to quartering before hauling it out. It just depends. One thing is for sure: gutting a deer on a prepared game pole makes things SOOO much easier.

this is the best that i have used, but it doesnt work well for bigger deer. my tuck came with a hoist that slips in to a slot on the rear of my rack. it works well and is nice.

we skin the deer right in the field after gutting them out. then take them home and hang them by the back legs.

I too am baffled by not gutting your deer in the field. You have to go back out into the field to dump the guts or do you just leave them laying in the yard?

Well, I can't speak for shaman, but I do it both ways. If the deer is close to a road, then I'll usual load it in the truck or on the 4 wheeler and haul it home, which is about 5 minutes away. There, I'll hang it, gut it, etc. Like he said, it is easier to do when they are hanging. In my case, I usually catch the guts in a big container and haul them off along with the hide, legs, head (if I don't need it for processing which I usually do myself). Sometimes I load the deer in the truck and field dress it on the tail gate, letting them fall off on the ground. On the other hand, if I've got to drag it very far, I gut it immediately on the well proven fact that dragging 75 pounds is easier than dragging a 100. It all depends, there are lots of ways to skin a cat or a deer either. Judging by his posts, I suspect that he is like me and does not live on a city lot. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I don't live on a city lot either. I dumped hide and carcass out on the corner of my pasture thinking the coyotes would take car of it and can't keep the dog out of it. She goes out to go pee and comes back in all stinky and then wants you to pet her. If I can, I will usually pitch it in the river. "the river washes all away"

We've got hungrier coyotes and bigger pastures around here. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Hunt moose. Ain't no question of up or down, or gut right away or not! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Of course- my friend Parker did once kill a bull on his way to winch firewood out of the woods. That wrecker truck came in right handy! Head up, I think. Got a lot of double-takes on his way back into Achorage.

I catch the guts in a washtub then carry them about 50 yards behind the barn on my four wheeler and dump them. They're always gone the next morning. The scariest thing is that after dressing the deer I'll dump the ribcage in the same place. The ribs are picked clean the next morning also, nothing left but a pile of bones. I don't know exactly what's getting this stuff, but they work quick. I guess there's a lot of things lurking in the darkness we don't know about.

Same here, Crow hunter.

I have a tub that I collect everything in. If you hang it head up, everything all falls into the tub when it comes out. I then cart the pile out into the field and watch. Within two hours, it's gone. The pile brings all sorts of visitors. Crows, vultures, coyote and wild dogs. I haven't had a chance to nail anything yet, but I'm working on it.

Ditto on ribs, head, hooves if I've got them. I once had nothing left but a wet spot after a half hour.

I have a dedicated dump spot for the guts. It is where we might catch a coyote sneaking to or from it. We have killed a few that way. We have also seen a few deer pass right by without spooking. In fact, they acted as if they did not notice.
It seems that as long as the carcass is losing heat, it does not matter how fast that it is losing it. Once the heat loss levels off, it needs to be cold. miles

I hang 'em head up.....always leave the guts in the woods.

s/f
Jarhead Ed

I'm with Shaman.....only gut em' on my hands and knees in the woods " IF I HAVE TOO".....the big joke out at our deer grounds is " shoot 'em as they get close to the truck".....then we load em and bring em home for gutting, skinning, processing, cooking and eating.....the last deer of the season was shot at 7:15 am by my boy and the tenders were cooking in the pan by 8:30 am...the rest was washed and boned out bagged and in the freezer by then as well...we have it down to a science round here....got 6 kids who all like venison so we put up about 5 deer each year average...as for the guts...I live very rural as well but I agree..the damn dog gets em if you chuck em in the woods...so I put a 50 gal garbage can with a heavy duty bag under the deer when its hung in the tree...open him up slow and let gravity do the rest...I then donate the bag full of goodies to the local waste management hauler who stops by every monday morning..

Shoot straight!

Interesting thread. Everyone I know, including myself, hang them head down. I am certain my stubbern irish father in law would run me out of deer camp if I hung a deer by the head. MIght be a regional thing, I noticed alot of you from the NE or NC hang them by the head. Usually, the buck is field dressed on the ground, then it gets hung by the back legs, and skinned.

Yah it must be a East thing. I'd be sick if I saw a 30" mulie hung by the head/horns.

Have killed many and always gutted in the woods as does everyone I know. Have seen deer hung both ways, with more hung by the head. I also hang them head up as any final cleaning out of the is easier to drain and wash out.

Depends on if the game warden is coming as to how we hang em. Sometimes we just skin em on the floor cause hanging wastes valuable time <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Just kidding. We hang ours head down. Habit I guess. Never thought about any other way. That was how I was taught way back when. We didnt ask questions. just did like the older ones told us to.