Field Dressing

Once, way way back, I shot a buck and had to drive it back to town before I could gut it. Never again. It was a strange set of circumstances, that kept me from cleaning the deer. The buck had laid out for about an hour before I found him, and then he turned out to be too big to put in the truck. The farmer drove out the back hoe and we rolled it into the bucket and then into the bed of my truck. I had a two-hour ride back to town. By the time I got to the back of the processor, the buck had started to gas and the belly was distended. Blech! As I said, never again.

As to how I clean my deer, I have a rather odd way of doing it, but it works out really well. Most of our deer succumb in a spot where they can be easily reached by truck. As soon as the carcass is located, we call back to camp and the truck comes out. Often it can drive right up to the deer. We load it onto the truck and drive it back to camp, usually less than a half mile. We back up to the meat pole. A block and tackle is attached and the other end of the rope is put on the trailer hitch. As the truck pulls away, the deer is hoisted up. We clean them, and then pull the truck back in and lower the deer onto the bed and drive off to the processor. This can mean that the deer arrives at the processor within an hour or two of being shot. There is a slight delay in getting the abdomen open, but it is offset by how easy and how quickly we can get the job done once it's started. It's just really handy to be working standing up.

The big advantage is that our cleaning station has all the tools right there, as well as lights and a garden hose. Perhaps the only downside is that the guts n' all that are near the house, but everything goes into a big wash tub and we drive them out to the middle of the pasture and dump them after we're done. In an hour or so they're gone. I used to think that gutpiles and cleaning deer in the woods would scare off other deer and queer a good stand. I have since discovered that deer could largely care less. I'm sure a gut pile attracts coyotes, so there probably is a down side, but I haven't seen it.

The alternative method we have is when the deer is too far down the ravine to allow for easy retrieval with the truck. In those cases, the truck comes as close as possible and then we take the block and tackle down to the deer and hoist them up on the nearest tree. After gutting, we haul to the truck and drive out.

We hang our deer head-up. That is different from most folks. However, I found that gravity seems to work with you rather than against you. I learned this from a guy from Alabama. It's a bid odd, but it works really well.

I've done it both ways head-up, head-down as well as on the ground, on a tree, and every other which way you can think of. Last year, I shot a nice 8 pointer at sundown. He ran a little, and was part way down a ravine when I found him. I was hunting alone, and there was no calling for the truck to come. It had been years since I'd had to dress a deer on the ground. Let me tell you that there was a significant difference. I used what light I had left to get the deer cleaned, and then dragged the carcass out before getting the truck. The whole experience made me appreciate what I normally am able to do all the more.

I know there is a lot of personal preference here, and there is a lot of custom and tradition to this whole thing. However, I am a member of the head-up camp, and a member of the hang-em to gut'em camp.