How to keep the hair contamination down on gutless method?

[hflier]

I recently for the first time in my life, used the gutless method on a deer. I can't believe all these years I dragged them out! I have a questions for those of you that do this frequently. Are there some techniques/tips that you can relay that will reduce the amount of hair I get on the meat using this method? Also, I get some on the meat, what do you do to remove it? Help would be appreciated.

Ron

 

[Stid2677]

Try to make as few hair cuts as possible, make your cuts with the grain of the hair and not across it. Wipe hands often to prevent transfer and use a small propane torch to burn away the hair when processing, just light sweeps of the flame will burn the hair and not the meat.

 

[CaseyU]

The only thing that tremendously helped me was. I carry a small sheet of contractor plastic and completely skin... and finish one side before you start on the other. I noticed the back and forth stuff gets the hide going everywhere... another consideration is your hands. Just do your best to wipe them off on something. When they start looking hairy themselves. Trial and error. Best of luck.

 

[ChadS]

Well if your careful how you cut the skin it reduces the amount of hair that is cut free, but I think it would be easier to show you than explain... cutting from between the skin and the muscle, getting your knife under the skin and not cutting from the outside has a lot to do with it. I've seen guys burn excess hair off with a torch, but usually just get it off while i'm processing all the meat.

 

[Stid2677]

Making the skin cuts using a utility knife with a roofing blades greatly helps reduce the amount hair that gets cut free.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

I do one side at a time, making sure to cut with the hair grain and to keep the skin off the meat once separated. From there it is easy to quarter and or debone. Flip and repeat. If I do get some hair on the meat I burn it off with a torch.

 

[ChadS]

I do one side at a time, making sure to cut with the hair grain and to keep the skin off the meat once separated. From there it is easy to quarter and or debone. Flip and repeat. If I do get some hair on the meat I burn it off with a torch.

Yep, forgot to mention go with the hair grain when cutting. What he said ^

 

[5MilesBack]

The one thing I notice with using the gutless method is how little hair I get on the meat now. I cut down the backbone and skin one side at a time. There might be a little hair right on the backbone, but not much of any anywhere else.

 

[ScottP]

The key is to only cut from the inside of the hide to the out. I start skinning below the knee joints on each leg, with the first incision and cut going up the leg towards the body. Then open up around the leg, but keep cutting from the inside - out. Make an incision at the breast plate and go each direction to meet your cuts from the legs. Then peel the hide away and towards the spine. Skinning this way allows you to keep the hide whole if you want to keep it, and you never have to cut across the hair grain from the outside, which is what makes a mess of things. A nice drop point hunting knife makes the opening cuts pretty easy. I recall only pulling a few hairs off my last elk. I have been accused of being OCD about game butchering...

 

[Poser]

When cutting into the hide, always have your blade facing away from the meat. If you cut directly down into the hide, you will push hair down into the meat. Personally, I always gut animals. For one, I use the offal such as the heart and liver and two, I like to know what the animals has been eating (sort of an autopsy) and 3, it makes the animal easier to manipulate for butchering on the ground. But, same principle, regardless. Run your knife down the spine with the blade facing away from the meat and start working down one side at a time. Be sure to cut the hide on the ankles before you get that far with the skinning. If you wait until you get there to cut around the ankles, you'll get hair on the meat.



You'll get better with experience. Small game hunting is a big experience builder. A lot of people have a difficult time skinning squirrels without getting hair on the meat, for example. Rabbits are much easier to skin, but their hair falls out so easily that it is easy to get hair on the meat so, same thing: skin lots of small game and get good at not getting hair on the meat and it will greatly improve your big game skinning. When I go rabbit and squirrel hunting, I usually volunteer to do all of the skinning and gutting and I almost always do it in the field rather than in a "controlled" environment. This improves your skills as well, not to mention ensures the freshest meat and easier skinning since the animal is still warm.

If you do get hair on the meat, all is not lost. Far from it. If you have the ability to dry age your meat, then 2-4 days on big game should provide enough drying of the surface and skin shrinkage for the hair to come off very easily. Check it out:



4 days of dry aging. Hair will not stick to the dry surface. (You can also peel the silverskin off with you hands with 0 meat loss).

I had these two rabbits recently that got some hair on them. I left them in my dry aging chamber for about 20 hours. The skin dried out just enough that the hair didn't stick. (I wouldn't recommend dry aging rabbits for much longer than that as the meat will just flat dry out. If you want to truly "age" the meat, you will want to hang them with their hide still attached.

 

[Ray]

You can also used a tool designed for skinning such as the Outdoor Edge swing blade knife.

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.

 

[ScottP]

You can also used a tool designed for skinning such as the Outdoor Edge swing blade knife.

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.

In my opinion, using the method I describe above, you DO NOT have to have hair on the meat using gutless. I did 4 animals this way last year and had little or no hair on the meat. Care and practice will go a long way.

For the OP, I also do not gut the animal. If you want to autopsy, or retrieve organ meat, do this last as its easier to move the guts around (think elk) after all the meat is away from the carcass and safely in game bags.

And if you are by yourself, you can use the skin to land the quarters on assuming its relatively clean. Once you have the animal 1/2 skinned (the hide would be loose below the spine line in the back) - stretch the hide out and use it to let heavy quarters fall on to when you detach them. Certainly better than letting it hit the ground before bagging. Some people use a tarp.

This past fall I walked past a group of guys working on a 5pt bull they had riddled with bullets. There were parts stacked in the sage and on the ground, covered in blood, dirt, hair, etc. and sitting out in direct sun. I made my loop and passed nearby again 2 hours later - the meat was still sitting out and they were waiting for two other guys to get close with a UTV. They are probably the kind that complains about game meat being 'gamey'. Take good care of the meat and it will take good care of you. That is my $0.02

 

[hflier]

Good info thanks. I did not cut from the inside out and I can see that would make a huge difference as I knocked a lot of hair loose.

 

[perry296]

I just started using this method in the field also. This was some great info.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Anozira]

Hello guys, I see that here everyone understands the hair of animals well, but can anyone help me? At first I had very oily hair and I tried different amounts of shampoos to make them drier, but something went wrong and my hair began to fall out in large quantities. I have been to the doctor many times, but he does not know what to do because not a single remedy has not helped me. I read on www.thehairlossadvisor.com what can I do with a hair transplant, but I’m very scared. Tell me what to do, because on the one hand I am afraid of surgery and bad consequences, but on the other hand I want to regain my hair and not be bald at 35 years old.

I think that since you are asking for hair advice from a hunting thread from 2014 you are beyond help. Your hair is mostly likely to fall out. You may try gluing what little hair you have left to your skin. That way it doesn't fall out and it stays permanently attached to your head. I'm not sure how you dug this one up from the grave but best of luck to you.

 

[Billy Goat]

Hello guys, I see that here everyone understands the hair of animals well, but can anyone help me? At first I had very oily hair and I tried different amounts of shampoos to make them drier, but something went wrong and my hair began to fall out in large quantities. I have been to the doctor many times, but he does not know what to do because not a single remedy has not helped me. I read on www.thehairlossadvisor.com what can I do with a hair transplant, but I’m very scared. Tell me what to do, because on the one hand I am afraid of surgery and bad consequences, but on the other hand I want to regain my hair and not be bald at 35 years old.

Contact cement, when I shave the hair off my back that has migrated to lower elevation I just glue it back to the top.

 

[Michael54]

A super quick pass with a blowtorch before final packaging removes the hair pretty slick. Amish showed us the trick here in pa and now its always nearby before the meat goes into its freezer bags and into the freezer. Use it just enough to singe the hair off it won't cook the meat. It's a super slick method of enjoying completely hair free meat.

 

[Team4LongGun]

Try to make as few hair cuts as possible, make your cuts with the grain of the hair and not across it. Wipe hands often to prevent transfer and use a small propane torch to burn away the hair when processing, just light sweeps of the flame will burn the hair and not the meat.

Great looking meat! Good amount of fat-what is it?

 

[Stid2677]

Great looking meat! Good amount of fat-what is it?

SItka Blacktail from Kodiak Island Alaska

 

[Gumbo]

When cutting into the hide, always have your blade facing away from the meat. If you cut directly down into the hide, you will push hair down into the meat. Personally, I always gut animals. For one, I use the offal such as the heart and liver and two, I like to know what the animals has been eating (sort of an autopsy) and 3, it makes the animal easier to manipulate for butchering on the ground. But, same principle, regardless. Run your knife down the spine with the blade facing away from the meat and start working down one side at a time. Be sure to cut the hide on the ankles before you get that far with the skinning. If you wait until you get there to cut around the ankles, you'll get hair on the meat.



You'll get better with experience. Small game hunting is a big experience builder. A lot of people have a difficult time skinning squirrels without getting hair on the meat, for example. Rabbits are much easier to skin, but their hair falls out so easily that it is easy to get hair on the meat so, same thing: skin lots of small game and get good at not getting hair on the meat and it will greatly improve your big game skinning. When I go rabbit and squirrel hunting, I usually volunteer to do all of the skinning and gutting and I almost always do it in the field rather than in a "controlled" environment. This improves your skills as well, not to mention ensures the freshest meat and easier skinning since the animal is still warm.

If you do get hair on the meat, all is not lost. Far from it. If you have the ability to dry age your meat, then 2-4 days on big game should provide enough drying of the surface and skin shrinkage for the hair to come off very easily. Check it out:



4 days of dry aging. Hair will not stick to the dry surface. (You can also peel the silverskin off with you hands with 0 meat loss).

I had these two rabbits recently that got some hair on them. I left them in my dry aging chamber for about 20 hours. The skin dried out just enough that the hair didn't stick. (I wouldn't recommend dry aging rabbits for much longer than that as the meat will just flat dry out. If you want to truly "age" the meat, you will want to hang them with their hide still attached.

Awesome! This is some advice I will definitely take advantage of!