[dale lockwood]

We use the gutless method out here in WY almost exclusively. No dragging... just pack them out. Less work, less mess back at the house, meat cools faster.

Explain,,pack them out whole out west? Do you drive up to your harvest>Must be short hauls and home pretty fast. To each his own,,but that really surprises me out west?

 

[wyo21]

Explain,,pack them out whole out west? Do you drive up to your harvest>Must be short hauls and home pretty fast. To each his own,,but that really surprises me out west?

No Sir.
To save me a whole lot of typing, just google: "Gutless Method".
Before I moved to WY, I hunted out here and when on foot, the Gutless Method is the only (best) way to go.
You are basically breaking down the animal and putting the quarters, neck meat/grind, loins, and tenderloins in game bags on a pack to carry it out. Way easier than dragging. Not a cake walk, but much easier than dragging. It can be done very quickly. Usually takes me 20-30 minutes to break one down (deer and antelope... of course elk wll take longer) and I don't have all the scrap and hide to dispose of at home. On a good cool morning, I will go ahead and bone out all the meat before packing it out... then once home all I have to do is portion it up and package it. I carry a small, lightweight tarp in my pack to lay the meat out on during this process. I did my Eastern whitetails the same way as I hunted a lot of public... a long ways from the truck.

 

[sits in trees]

Ive gone gutless years ago and love it. Dismantle the beast right in the woods. Legal and takes me a few more mins than gutting. Get home and hang the limbs in the barn and throw the straps in the fridge

 

[wyo21]

Ive gone gutless years ago and love it. Dismantle the beast right in the woods. Legal and takes me a few more mins than gutting. Get home and hang the limbs in the barn and throw the straps in the fridge

Yeah, once you go this route, there is no turning back!😁 For those of us that don't have the luxury of pulling the truck/tractor up beside the carcass and loading it up. I believe I would still do the G.M. due to the convenience once back home.

 

[Neverstopchasin]

I've done both. Gutting one while it's hanging is really easy and if I'm hunting at the house or I'm very close I do it at times. But if it's going to be a few mins I drop it in the woods. Some people say it will ruin your hunting spot but I killed 2 good 8 pts on back to back days and the second buck walked right past where the gut pile was (yote or something had already cleaned it up mostly) and didn't pay it no mind.

 

[dale lockwood]

No Sir.
To save me a whole lot of typing, just google: "Gutless Method".
Before I moved to WY, I hunted out here and when on foot, the Gutless Method is the only (best) way to go.
You are basically breaking down the animal and putting the quarters, neck meat/grind, loins, and tenderloins in game bags on a pack to carry it out. Way easier than dragging. Not a cake walk, but much easier than dragging. It can be done very quickly. Usually takes me 20-30 minutes to break one down (deer and antelope... of course elk wll take longer) and I don't have all the scrap and hide to dispose of at home. On a good cool morning, I will go ahead and bone out all the meat before packing it out... then once home all I have to do is portion it up and package it. I carry a small, lightweight tarp in my pack to lay the meat out on during this process. I did my Eastern whitetails the same way as I hunted a lot of public... a long ways from the truck.

That is what I thought you might be doing to back pack it. Yes easiest way,,your actually butchering on spot and leaving the vitals at site of kill..

 

[dale lockwood]

Thanks for the info-it varies by parts of the country-if you gut it on site or not.
Like I said in Minnesota I never heard of anyone not gutting it on site. Also no problem here leaving gut pile on public land. It seemed on some posts down south that may have been a concern?

 

[bowmanmt]

i have a couple of landowners that dont want the guts around.. their dogs get into it. so i am lucky that i have a lot of acreage . I gut those asap at my place and the rest where they lay.

 

[ramrod]

Gut em where they lay.

 

[Joseph E Exline]

I used to do both gutless and gutted at the kill site depending on the circumstances. Final clean up and packaging done at the house by myself after 4-10 days hanging, covered in temps between 38-45, jerky I marinated,rubbed and smoked rt on site. When I lived in Illinois I used a butcher for sausages and venison sticks only as his was always winning awards but now that I have moved to a CWD state,it is required to dispose of carcass,skin etc. by burial on site at least 2 ' deep or disposal at an approved landfill in a concerted effort to avoid the spread of CWD

 

[dale lockwood]

I used to do both gutless and gutted at the kill site depending on the circumstances. Final clean up and packaging done at the house by myself after 4-10 days hanging, covered in temps between 38-45, jerky I marinated,rubbed and smoked rt on site. When I lived in Illinois I used a butcher for sausages and venison sticks only as his was always winning awards but now that I have moved to a CWD state,it is required to dispose of carcass,skin etc. by burial on site at least 2 ' deep or disposal at an approved landfill in a concerted effort to avoid the spread of CWD

Do you have to bury the guts also?

 

[No1Rackmaster]

the owner pf the property would make us drive up to the road and gut the deer there.
Between the cabin and the dirt road coming in.
He felt that it keeps the coyotes out of the hunting area.
When you don't own the land you just have to follow the rules.

 

[Joseph E Exline]

Do you have to bury the guts also?

typically yes,this is what they require.few folks do it, you can see eagles,buzzards(the few left from migration),hawks, coyotes,ravens,crows,raccoons,possum,domestic dogs and though we have bobcats they tend to be a little too clever and wary to show up to a gut pile attracting so much attention from so many others.Same goes for owls......
I did however once string up a badly hemorrhaged shoulder that my 270 WSM destroyed to an old hollow tree that had long since snapped off at about 20' high,leaving the treat about 1 foot lower than the jagged top. It was not there and without a trace it disappeared in just 6-8 hours time. A trail cam i placed to catch the action failed to trigger and
I was left to assume a bobcat at minimum was responsible.
Possibly an Eagle as it would be the only bird of prey large enough to carry it off,but doubtful as I hung it 1 hour after last light and it was already gone as I was walking in to my stand around 4:20 am. the following day.

 

[The man.]

For you gutless guys, how to you get the tenderloins out if the guts in the way n why waste the liver n heart?

 

[Moon]

In our neck of the woods it’s like Joseph said. We have a multitude of critters that will do away with deer innards like overnight.

 

[dale lockwood]

In our neck of the woods it’s like Joseph said. We have a multitude of critters that will do away with deer innards like overnight.

Same here,the bear love the piles. Also I think many times you have fluids from the deer in the chest cavity from shooting the animal.. If not gutted immediately it can sour the meat. Especially tenderloins.

 

[- Roadweasel]

I have hunted NYS since 1966. We ALWAYS field dress immediately upon recovery.

Me too, since the 1960's and have never seen a deer taken out of the woods Not gutted.

 

[dale lockwood]

Me too, since the 1960's and have never seen a deer taken out of the woods Not gutted.

That is Minnesota people always did it. That amazes me many areas down south gut it when getting home or I suppose a locker plant. I guess whatever works for you is the most important thing.

 

[Iron Duke]

If they run I gut them where they drop. If they drop where I shoot them I will drag them 50 to 100 yards away and gut them. No way in hell am I going to drag an ungutted deer up the ridges where I hunt. They are hard enough to get out using a game cart even after being gutted. My club allows no ATVs on the property and the roads are all on top of the ridges so you will always have an uphill drag. It is steep....

I was killing ... deer for a town in a creek bottom surrounded by condos and houses and had to pull them out of the "ravine." It was murder...lol Kill a few deer and it took hours after dark to get them out every week. I started bringing about 150' of climbing rope, a snatch block and a 6' tether line to tie the block to a tree on top of the ridge. I tie one end to the deer on the bottom, go back up top, loop the other end around my waist and head down the hill. The deer would pass me about half way going up as fast I was going down. 😂 I had one gnarly old buck that I had to quarter and carry it out in HD plastic bags! Eventually I pruned and cut about a ¼ mile trail to my stand and started bringing my ATV and towing them out. (cut through that big blowdown with a little Stihl 14" MS193) Nobody ever complained about the ATV so I've been using it till this day.

 

[TripleCreek]

I typically dont field dress in my foodplots. I load in my UTV and carry to another area to field dress. I hang immediately finish clean out, hose down spread cavity open to air out and cool down. If its hot I skin the deer, quarter it and put it in cooler. I generally cooler age my deer for 5-7 days . I put the quarters in trash bags pack in ice in cooler. I drain off water every day and add ice as needed. Finish cutting up after aging about 5-7 days