Hairy Meat !

[badkneesbro]

Ive been huntin California mulies for a couple a years now with good success, thanx to the backpack gear,mentallity & people like u who are more experienced than me. I post this on this forum because this question doesnt have to apply to mulies only. I will b leavin in 4 days for a solo wilderness hunt, & I always have a problem keepin the hair off the meat when Im successful. Seems I would have to climb 80 ft. up a giant sequoia to hang it, these are meat bucks, so theres no capeing or precission work to b done. I spend alot of time scrubbin the meat when I get home to get the hair off & I was wonderin if anyone else ever had this problem & if so ,how did u solve it ? Maybe I should slow down ? Its like wrestling with my 23 year old son. Eventually Im gonna win but it wears me out! Any suggestions?

 

[thru-hunter]

Take care while butchering to minimize the hair in the first place. A sharp knife (I like Havelon) cut from underneath to avoid cutting the hair itself.

Once back home skip the scrubbing and bust out the blow torch! Don't cook the meat but a quick pass of the torch and the hair will go right up in a little puff of smoke.

 

[badkneesbro]

Got a Havalon last year, havnt used it yet. That advice makes sence. You have no idea how much I appreciate people like u & the rest of Rockslide. God bless.

 

[Shrek]

Slow down! Cut from under the hide. Sharp knife ! A knife is supposed to be worked back and forth to cut , not mostly pushed.Think of a electric knife cutting. I'm moving my wrist back and forth constantly to cut. I wear latex surgical gloves for a better grip and change them if they pickup hair or other yuk. A stick and a short peice of rope to brace and hold the animal also helps. I wrestled animals for years until I hurt my back and had to learn a better way. I try to keep a pot of hot water around to melt fat off the blade for fatty animals. I hardly break a sweat cleaning these days and never get the meat dirty. It helps that I have cleaned hundreds of deer over the years. I debone a whitetail in about 10 min and have a friend who makes me look slow !

 

[Matt Cashell]

Good advice in this thread.

I don't usually remove entrails, so I like to have the animal on its side skin the hide from belly to back, and lay the hide hair-side-down, so you have a clean surface to debone meat on. Then I flip and repeat.

Of course, some hair still finds its way onto the meat, and as mentioned, the blow torch is your best friend then. Forget picking it off.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

I do it about like bitterroot does, but I work from the back to the belly. Don't forget to make your cuts with the hair as that will cut down on a lot of loose hair too.

 

[shanevg]

All the above advice is great - especially the blow torch. The real challenge in my experience is a black bear! No matter how careful I am with a black bear there just seems to be hair everywhere! Luckily, black bears have a good layer of fat so you can just cut the fat off when you get home and the hair will all go with it.

 

[Travis Bertrand]

I have seen a pressure washer work well on an antelope carcass as well.

 

[Bambi Slayer]

I have heard the blow torch in the past. Recently when dropping off meat to the processors thats exactly what they do too. They had a weed burner torch on a propane tank and just passed it right over the meat as they hung it. Works like a dream.

 

[Yukondog]

I too saw a processor using a power washer this year. He looked at me and said that is how the remove all debris from the meat brought in.

 

[les welch]

Can't imagine how much scrubbing you would have to do to get hair off your meat....

 

[Shrek]

Can't imagine how much scrubbing you would have to do to get hair off your meat....

And all this talk of torches ! Tuff bunch !

 

[MJ from Oregon]

I personally take a 10'x10' chunk of Tyvek and debone on that. I do my best when quartering the animal to be careful of dirt and hair. Once the meat is on the Tyvek it is simple to debone quarters cleanly.

 

[Colbyqueso]

It's a little time consuming. But I pinch grab with a paper towel. Cheap and very affective.