Field processing myths

[TreeDux]

Having handled/aged/packaged meat under various circumstances using different methods I have developed my own preferences. That would be dry aging primarily. But the takeaway from this thread, and others like it is it doesn’t really matter that much. Don’t let it marinate in gut juice, roll it in dirt, or plain let it rot - and it’s going to be fine.

 

[NealMustard]

If you cut the quarter off such that the pelvis is bare bone, I'm not sure how this changes anything. Nothing was trimmed from the pelvis of this dink goat after the rear quarters were removed.

It's not about meat left in the field. It's about quality of trimming when it comes time to package or consume.

Often times the meat that attaches to the pelvis directly needs to be trimmed, tossed, or added to the grind pile. The oyster steak (gluteus medius) is the cut of meat that I'm most worried about being damaged by oxidation, or poor butchery in the field.

For one hunt this year I brought a 6" boning knife into the field for the field dressing and that improved the quality of the field dressing. There were more long cuts against the muscle grain, rather than the numerous small cuts that we so often employ when hacking quarters off. Regardless of which knife was used, all of the meat came out of the field. In the scenario where better care is taken in the field we we're able to use those cuts the way we desired, rather then relegating it all to the grind pile.

 

[NealMustard]

Aside from meat care, agree on any meat split prior. Shot a deer this year while hunting at my cabin. Two buddies were also up hunting from my cabin. One guy was with me when I shot it the other was off on his own. I was the only guy who shot one. Guy who was not even with us was texting me the other day asking when he "could come get his half."

Last year we did have one that we both put bullets in that we split but I was quite surprised to see this request. Especially "his half" if we were splitting meat between all hunters it would be 1/3.

Not something I am going to loose sleep over in this case but could see how this could turn into an issue.

That's frustrating, and a good way to not get invited back next year.

I guess there are two ways to interpret what I had said in the OP. Both are important.
There's something I read in college that has stuck with me: "all conflict comes from a misunderstanding about property rights"

1. Have an idea for how the product will be consumed e.g. the whole animal is going into the grind pile.

2. What a fair division of meat looks like after a party hunt, or getting help with a packout.

 

[SloppyJ]

I witnessed this for the first time when I shot my bull in CO this year. After gutting, the outfitter insisted on leaving the skin on, cutting the bull in half just in front of the 3rd rib up from the back, and then sawing each half down the spine to truly quarter it and then getting them into game bags to transport. Hang up at camp to skin and then place back in bags to hang.

The only reason I can see that this would be beneficial is that it kept the quarters from shifting around in the panniers on the mules since the ribs were attached.

It sounded like a bad idea to me on the meat care front and I hate to say it but I lost a lot of meat because of it. It would have been a much lighter load, cleaner, and I would have retained more meat if we would have skinned it out and quartered it up like a normal packout.

Is this a common occurrence when packing out on horses/mules?

 

[elsb0048]

That's frustrating, and a good way to not get invited back next year.

I guess there are two ways to interpret what I had said in the OP. Both are important.
There's something I read in college that has stuck with me: "all conflict comes from a misunderstanding about property rights"

1. Have an idea for how the product will be consumed e.g. the whole animal is going into the grind pile.

2. What a fair division of meat looks like after a party hunt, or getting help with a packout.

Beware of the guy with a velcro patch on his huntin' pack that says: "gas, grass, or ass nobody packs for free" eh?

 

[Ross]

Biggest myth I recall is to slice the neck to them out.

 

[Dexter Grayson]

My grandfather always cut the tarsal glands off the whitetail deer immediately upon retrieving the deer, and still does. I have never done it, so I consider it hunting lore.

 

[Marbles]

Biggest myth I recall is to slice the neck to them out.

It makes a big difference in slaughter were you have destroyed the brain, but the heart is still beating.

You aren't getting to most animals killed hunting while their heart is still beating and most of them are dieing from blood loss anyway if the shot was placed correctly.

 

[highcountrymuley]

I agree w Dexter on the tarsal gland. Why get that on your knife and hands first thing and contaminate everything else? Seems to be a bigger thingwith rutting whitetails. I enjoy hunting early season muleys eating prime feed and no need to worry about it.
I have concluded that hair all on the meat can impart nasty flavors. Some animals that I have done gutless that have remained very clean aside from hair have had some weird flavors on some cuts but not others. The only culprit is hair.

 

[hibernation]

I’m curious how many of the myths that lead to intense tasting livers are from guys who don’t actually like liver in the first place.

Yep pretty much. Liver's gonna taste like liver, some people just don't like it. Soaking it overnight in milk or brine can make a little difference, but not to the point that it won't taste very much like liver.

Strong aromatics (lots of thyme) and careful cooking are the only things I've found that actually make a difference. Bread and pan fry it, but you've gotta cook it more like a steak - if it's overdone, it tastes awful. Should still be a little pink. Strong herbs like thyme can also help mask or subdue the taste.

 

[medvedyt]

That's frustrating, and a good way to not get invited back next year.

I guess there are two ways to interpret what I had said in the OP. Both are important.
There's something I read in college that has stuck with me: "all conflict comes from a misunderstanding about property rights"

1. Have an idea for how the product will be consumed e.g. the whole animal is going into the grind pile.

2. What a fair division of meat looks like after a party hunt, or getting help with a packout.

that is an interesting discussion and open a can of worms or can i will add.

in our hunting association in france we were 40 hunters and beaters and had almost 40 to 60 wild boars tags, 20 roe deer plus 5 for summer stalk and 3 red deer to share and we always filled our quota. tags are given to the association not the hunter and except the summer roe deer that were stalk it was small push driven or big driven, the trophies belonged to the shooter but the meat was shared by draw and it worked well. just a matter of organisation.

 

[CO_MTN_GUY]

Going down the rabbit hole of pros/cons of deboning in the field probably isn’t a good use of this thread. There’s a million threads and opinions about it already. I included it in the main post because it’s one of those things would be frustrating to try to learn about as a new hunter.

Most of my hunting that I care about is sheep, goat, and bear hunting where the packout is a significant part of the trip. That informs my opinions on deboning.

If anyone has experience with meat spoilage from not deboning I’d be interested to hear about it, or if someone has weighed the loss of meat due to oxidation from deboning id like to see the numbers.

I've killed several bull elk during warm Colorado muzzleloader seasons with day time highs at or above 75 and lows down around 35 and have never had any problems with meat spoilage near the bone. I have always skinned, quartered and put in game bags right after the kill and left on the mountain to hang over night. All but one was killed in the morning so they cooled down slowly in the shade over the entire day and didn't get a good chill until the night. Also once they got the initial cool down and the rind formed, I had no problem letting the quarters hang bone-in a shed or garage for up to 2 weeks with the same temperature swings and the meat next to all the bones was bright red just like you'd want.

 

[medvedyt]

something that is not a myth ... try to avoid the most you can to have the knife you used for skinning to cut meat or part directly in contact with the meat: meaning two different blades to use.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

something that is not a myth ... try to avoid the most you can to have the knife you used for skinning to cut meat or part directly in contact with the meat: meaning two different blades to use.

On what animal? This makes zero difference on a whitetail.

 

[roadrunner]

something that is not a myth ... try to avoid the most you can to have the knife you used for skinning to cut meat or part directly in contact with the meat: meaning two different blades to use.

What's on your hands/gloves has more to do with it, rinsing off steel cleans it up nicely before deboning and /or breaking it down.

 

[NealMustard]

something that is not a myth ... try to avoid the most you can to have the knife you used for skinning to cut meat or part directly in contact with the meat: meaning two different blades to use.

No one I've hunted with has observed this rule explicitly. Sometimes we've had a separate "skinning knife" while doing moose, but that was for blade profile rather than cleanliness.

Do you keep a separate blade for all animals? The sheep, goat, and caribou I've processed this year haven't been dirty enough for me to worry about the cleanliness of the hide. I can imagine some elk or moose during the rut being dirty enough that I'd be worried about the cleanliness of the hide, but at that point the meat already would have a noticeable taste.

Do you keep separate gloves or a wiping cloth to clean your hands when going from outside, to inside the animal?

 

[Slickhill]

I’ve yet to find a good reason to split the pelvis or core the asshole out of a deer and tie it off.

 

[medvedyt]

On what animal? This makes zero difference on a whitetail.

No one I've hunted with has observed this rule explicitly. Sometimes we've had a separate "skinning knife" while doing moose, but that was for blade profile rather than cleanliness.

Do you keep a separate blade for all animals? The sheep, goat, and caribou I've processed this year haven't been dirty enough for me to worry about the cleanliness of the hide. I can imagine some elk or moose during the rut being dirty enough that I'd be worried about the cleanliness of the hide, but at that point the meat already would have a noticeable taste.

Do you keep separate gloves or a wiping cloth to clean your hands when going from outside, to inside the animal?

No one I've hunted with has observed this rule explicitly. Sometimes we've had a separate "skinning knife" while doing moose, but that was for blade profile rather than cleanliness.

Do you keep a separate blade for all animals? The sheep, goat, and caribou I've processed this year haven't been dirty enough for me to worry about the cleanliness of the hide. I can imagine some elk or moose during the rut being dirty enough that I'd be worried about the cleanliness of the hide, but at that point the meat already would have a noticeable taste.

Do you keep separate gloves or a wiping cloth to clean your hands when going from outside, to inside the animal?

i ve guided many years for caribou, moose and bears and now for ourself for bears,sheep, moose, caribou and bison i will use one knife or one blade for the skinning and another for the meat and im using at least 3 pairs of glove during the process ... and i might even using blue cloth (the one used by the mechanics to clean some blood). cant tell for whitetail sorry. but i have done it as well in europe on chamois, sheep, red and roe deer and of course wild boar.

 

[hunthikecamp]

No one I've hunted with has observed this rule explicitly. Sometimes we've had a separate "skinning knife" while doing moose, but that was for blade profile rather than cleanliness.

Do you keep a separate blade for all animals? The sheep, goat, and caribou I've processed this year haven't been dirty enough for me to worry about the cleanliness of the hide. I can imagine some elk or moose during the rut being dirty enough that I'd be worried about the cleanliness of the hide, but at that point the meat already would have a noticeable taste.

Do you keep separate gloves or a wiping cloth to clean your hands when going from outside, to inside the animal?

I carry a wyoming knife for the big hide unzipping cuts where dirt and hair are most likely and because its just way quicker at those types of cuts. then I usually transition to my fixed blade for peeling hide back and meat cuts. This year I also used a baby wipe to do a knife wipe down if it got dirty and that worked fine.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

I have a method I have used for a long time....more than 60 years of killing deer, antelope & elk. I gut the animal as quick as I can. I save only the heart for eating, the rest of the insides are guts! As soon as I can (after taking the animal to camp or home depending on where I am hunting) hang, skin and quarter and bag the meat in game bags. I butcher the meat myself. I have a commercial grinder so I make my own burger, breakfast sausage and brats. I use bacon ends & pieces to add some fat and a little flavor. I never use game fat. I don't make roasts. I cut steaks, taco meat, stew meat and make jerky.