How to keep the hair contamination down on gutless method?

[Gatorgrizz27]

I do try to cut away from the meat when skinning the quarters, but I’m not sure what the obsession with keeping a few pieces of hair off the meat is. Maybe guys do stuff differently than me, but I wouldn’t ever say mine ends up looking dirty, or like the floor of a barbershop. When you pull the meberanes off to break down quarters, it removes everything stuck to it anyways.

I do get stuff skinned out and cooled down quickly, but if I end up with 3-4 hairs on the meat after I’ve processed it, it just makes me smile and remember the hunt when I find it while cooking later on.

 

[Jimss]

Obviously the fewer cuts you make through hair the less hair that is cut loose. As mentioned several times above...cut with the grain of the hair. Taxidermists will tell you the same thing for caping skins to be mounted. Obviously if you are caping a head to be mounted you want as much hair on the skin as possible so little to no hair should end up on meat.

Make sure to pull and tuck the hair side away from the meat as you go. That way literally no hair comes in contact with meat. If you think about it, the thin outer layer of meat dries out and is cut off. Any hair that sticks to the dried outer meat is discarded anyways.

 

[N2TRKYS]

I haven't found hair on game to be a big deal. It washes off easily with water.
No need to stress over it.

 

[wapitibob]

If you are doing the gutless method as shown in Fred Eichler's videos you will just have to get used to hair in your food.

I never thought someone would hack at an animal like it was an attacking zombie until I saw his video.

 

[Newtosavage]

I haven't found hair on game to be a big deal. It washes off easily with water.
No need to stress over it.

This.

And I learned a tip from Steven Rinella - to cut the hide from the inside out - to reduce the amount of hair that falls on the meat. Works pretty well.

 

[dmm08300]

Carry a battery powered beard trimmer and shave areas before you cut hahaha jk

 

[mtnbiker208]

when you get hair on the meat, during the process, just use the back of the knife to scrape it off.

 

[WCB]

most has been said already. Bring a piece of plastic or something to lay meat on first and foremost. If you go down the spine for your main cut start at the back of the head and go with the hair. I don't understand starting at the tail and fighting hair all the way up.

If there are two of you (and I've actually done it by my self) I don't even cut up/down the legs. I skin from the spine down until I can separate the shoulder or rear ball socket from the carcass and basically case skin the leg to the first joint and disconnect there. less cutting and cleaner.

wipe the meat with a damp rag and clean a bunch of hair off and also just a propane torch works great also.

Also, when pulling on the hide grab skin and not hair. If you want to get really good do a bunch of pronghorn in the field. If you can keep them clean and hair free you got it made.

 

[JoeDirt]

Hair won't hurt you, I don't worry about it too much. Might try some masking tape and pat the meat before the butchering process.....

 

[jspradley]

The only cuts I do from the hair side in are around the ankle joints and the initial poke to cut down the spine.

Everything else I make sure to cut from the inside out, helps tremendously in keeping hair off meat.

 

[Wilderlife]

I find that the more you build knowledge and confidence, the better you can make cuts. Particularly when skinning inside the legs of rutty bucks, I tend to make my initial cut down the front of the shin and over the top of the knee, and then grab a flap of skin and keep it in my hand until I've skinned it back far enough to where I can lay it off to the side without having it roll back onto the meat. This keeps the hair off, as well as any scent that may be on the oustide of the skin.

Be aware of your hands as well. If you make a careless cut and get hair all over your fingers, wipe as much as you can off quickly before going in to grab some more meat or skin.

I'm far from an expert but I plan on making some videos of this within the next 6 months as I'll be (hopefully) dressing out some fairly rutty bucks this April.

 

[Billy Goat]

Wonder if @hflier ever figured it out.

Had a few years to practice now.

 

[hflier]

Yes, the help I had here definitely improved my methods. Only one that still got me recently is Antelope. That hair was a challenge. The biggest help was blade away from the meat when cutting.

Ron


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JoeDirt]

I just butchered a deer that had a bunch of hair on it. I rinsed the backstraps in the sink. (all the big chunks) laid them on some dry paper towels and then peeled the paper towels off like a layer of skin. That method removed 95% of the hair.