Gutless method?

[shanevg]

Just wondering if anyone has ever tried the gutless method to quarter your deer.  What do you think?  Is it easier and more convenient, or are you better off just dragging your deer out if you don't have to pack it out?

[Slider]

I use it on Elk but I have never used it on Deer.

[KillBilly]

I am assuming you are referring to cutting the quarters off, back straps out and leaving the rest. If you don't open the animal, you lose the Tenderloins, the heart, and the liver.

Is this what you are calling the Gutless method?

[Red Dawg]

it is very fast. fillet it open and put the meat on your pacboard. you will lose a little meat but the tenderloin is the only thing you will miss.

[Cougeyes]

I would recommend it if you are in the high country and would otherwise have to drag the deer out whole.  We bone the deer out and never have to gut it.  We get a significant amount of meat off the animal still, although not as much as you would by dragging it out gutted and hanging it in your shop to trim every piece off.  We pack old pillow cases fashioned as game bags.  As we cut chunks of meat off we throw them into the bags.  Its a quick and successful way of getting all the main cuts of meat off and in a clean way.  Only meat we do not get is the rib meat which isn't much anyways. 

[Coasthunterjay]

I use it on Elk but I have never used it on Deer.

Same here. might switch over to doing it, but im sort of old fashion. Works great on the larger animals from what i have seen. I have helped friends and my father probably atleast 10 times. But i have been gutting up the middle since i was 8 so thats usually how i do it. That and it doesnt take me very long.

[shanevg]

Yeah, I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but it sure sounds easier than gutting it to me.  The main reason I haven't been able to try yet is because I've only shot one deer and that was a while ago.  I didn't want to ruin my bear rug in order to do it this year!  Hopefully I'll get a chance this year.  I did see a video where they showed how to get the tenderloin out even without gutting it.  They cut all the meat off the outside of the body and then just kind of reached their hand up into the chest cavity and cut out the tenderloin.  I'll have to find that video back and give it a look.

[Branden]

We always do it the gutless way. We also pull out the tenderloins like shanevg says. Just reach in and cut. We cut off the quarters and then bone them so I don't think there is any more waste then if you drag it out.

[tmike]

I love it for elk. You can get it skinned out and quartered, bagged, clean and cooling very quickly. I take the 4 quarters first, bagging them as I go. I use sheets I had my wife sew into perfect size bags. I  then fillet the flanks down to the backstraps, bag em. bone out the neck and any other meat left on the carcass. Rib meat included. I know how to get the tenderloins with out gutting but I usually open it up and get them that way. Then if I want the heart and liver I take that. When I'm done I have 6 or so bags and the head. It's worked out well for me.

For deer I do the same if I'm back in somewhere. The only difference is I bone out everthing.

[boneaddict]

Here is some discussion of it in another thread.
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,800.0.html

[robb92]

I've done it on deer before, when the temp was really hot, it was almost 100 degrees and I didn't have the time to gut and drag her out before heading tow ork, so I quartered her out and then reached in and got the tenderloins and backstrap and then put them into the cooler in plastic bags to keep the water off of them.

[KillBilly]

Okay, I got it now. I totally understand boning an animal. I had just never heard it called the gutless method. I would go inside and get the Tenders....yuuummm

[ICEMAN]

Not for me. I place too much value on the heart, liver and Tloins. We always go in and get these goodies, then quarter out the rest, even saving rib meat into a cloth bag. I am in no hurry when we get game down. This is why we are here....

[Slider]

KillBilly the Gutless method means just that!!! You DO NOT GUT the animal!!! 

[actionshooter]

I tried it on a couple of elk 2 years ago in the backcountry, Colorado, worked great for packing, but if I were closer to the truck I would do it the old fashioned way.
Steve