Field Dressing question

[Eli346]

 Go to www.Elk101.com and you can find the gutless method there.

[Larry S.]

For getting through bones such as the pelvis and rib cage, take a look at Sagen Saws (www.sageninc.com). Orange-handled saw for deer size animals. Yellow-handled saw for large game. Never puncture a bladder again. I've had mine for 10+ years and will never again use anything else. Use one and you'll understand.

For the rest of the process, Havalon! That knife made easy work of cleaning and skinning.

Larry S.

[gilroym]

It helps to use a small, and extremely sharp knife, like a Havalon, and also it makes it much easier if you can find a large rock, log, etc. to set the rear end of the animal on.
This gets it up off the ground so you can access it easier and see what you're doing.

+1 for the Havalon. After my nephew got his deer we struggled with the knives we had. I went to the store last week and bought the Havalon camo because it was on sale and it made field dressing and processing my deer this weekend a lot easier.

[ribka]

[ftp]I have a havalon- the  blades I think are too thin and a pain to change without tools. Maybe just me though


I carry these with a sharpener


Great little knives


http://www.consumersearch.com/kitchen-knives/victorinox-paring-knife-4-inch/buy

[hoytem]

[ftp]I have a havalon- the  blades I think are too thin and a pain to change without tools. Maybe just me though


I carry these with a sharpener


Great little knives


http://www.consumersearch.com/kitchen-knives/victorinox-paring-knife-4-inch/buy

how many do you carry? do you have a scabbard or how do you carry them?

[andersonjk4]

I have field dressed about 15 deer and half a dozen elk in my life, but I have always used a small bone saw to cut the pelvis in order to pull everything out the back. Last year my saw bit the dust and I field dressed 2 elk and a deer by just fleshing out the anus to a depth where I could pull it through the front and roll all the guts out. This worked well, but each time I punctured the bladder. Luckily I was in a position to tip and then immediately flush the area out thoroughly. I didn't notice any issues with any of the meat.

My question is, for you guys that field dress this way, how to manage to not puncture the bladder, but flesh out enough of the anal canal to pull it all through? I want to look up videos but I'm at work and videos of field dressing animals are frowned upon. 

Find the high point where the two halves of the pelvis come together. drive your knife right into that seam (may need to do it a couple times, especially on elk) then push the legs further apart and the pelvis will break along that seam. 

 

Where I hunt whitetails I am fortunate enough to be able to get my deer out whole, so I don't use the gutless method for deer... elk is a different story.  But anyway, I agree with Woodchuck, about breaking the pelvis if you do not have a saw.  I carry a heavy bladed knive just for splitting the pelvis.  I find the ridge that runs right down the middle of the pelvic bone and get my knife started right at the top of the ridge.  Then I take a small rock (about baseball sized) and use it to tap on the back of my knife to drive it right down the center of the ridge.  This technique does take a little bit to get the hang of, but it works great and as long as you can find a rock and you have a knife then you are in business.  I have been in situations where I couldn't find a rock (way out in the middle of a wheat field) and I had to clear out the anal canal and pull everything back up through it as 7mm described. And as Bobcat said propping up the back end to give you a better angle to get up in there helps a bunch.  If you have someone else with you, having them grab both back legs and pull them up toward the head of the animal also helps you get up in there good. 

[Curly]

No need to split the pelvis.  As has been said, use a havalon and carefully cut the connective tissue and you can push the anus in through the pelvic cavity. (I think it's cleaner to not split the pelvis).

I do prefer the gutless method though. I carry my havalon and a leatherman.  If a blade is getting dull I just pull out the leatherman and take off the dull blade and put on a new blade......works great.

[7mmfan]

No need to split the pelvis.  As has been said, use a havalon and carefully cut the connective tissue and you can push the anus in through the pelvic cavity. (I think it's cleaner to not split the pelvis).

I do prefer the gutless method though. I carry my havalon and a leatherman.  If a blade is getting dull I just pull out the leatherman and take off the dull blade and put on a new blade......works great.

I'm really trying to get away from carrying a whole processing kit with me, that why I don't want to bother with splitting the pelvis anymore. I had a friend basically breakdown a whole elk with me a couple years ago with his Havalon, changed my whole outlook on the process.

[Brute]

I still laugh every time I see this. 

[7mmfan]

LOL yes that is the wrong way to do it!

[throttlejocky20]

It's easy, and relatively quick to do it this way. 

First, do not cut the throat of the animal.  Cut the wind pipe from the inside after opening up the body cavity, reaching up as far as you can.
Then, use a very small knife to cut around the anus on the outside, just to remove connecting tissue.  Then, using your finger, remove as much of the remaining connecting tissue as you can.
You can now reach up inside, grabbing the intestine connected to the now-free anus, and grab the wind pipe with the other hand.  It will take some tugging, but the entire pile of guts will come out in one fell swoop !!

I've done this on both deer and elk.  It helps to use a very small knife for all of this, not some big Bowie knife which many hunters seem to think is necessary !!

This is exactly the way i do it. Cut everything free on the outside and use my fingers to free it up on the inside.