Skinning large animals in the field - gutting incision or back incision.

[TauPhi111]

When you have a large animal like an elk down in the field where you cant drag it out, what is the easiest way to skin the up side so that you can get the meat off of that side: work from the gutting incision and skin up the animal, or make an incision down the spine and skin down the animal (never done this, but have seen it in shows). I don't intend on using the gutless method.

 

[PathFinder]

I start in from the back with everything. Every bit of meat can be taken from a critter without gutting it, so I never make a cut up the bottom unless it's a predator I want rug mounted. Starting from the back, everything just works out as far as getting down past the legs goes. It's also necessary for the cape, so may as well use the cut up the back to get into the meat too.

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[twall13]

If you don't intend on using the gutless method I'd skin from the gutting incision. In my experience, the more incisions you make on the hide, the more hair you tend to get on the meat. It helps if you can cut from the underside of the hide for most of the incision but the fewer cuts into the hide the less hair I get on the meat. No sense it making an additional cut into the hide if you don't have to. At least that's my take on it, and I rarely save the hides for mounts as I'm mostly a meat hunter so I don't really worry about how hacked up the cape gets so much as I worry about keeping the meat clean.

 

[Bubblehide]

This old saying comes to mind: there are 100 ways to skin a cat. I don't necessarily do the job the same way every time. But, if the animal is gut shot, I want to gut it ASAP so it doesn't spoil any meat, or limit it as much as possible. The issue is that you may not be able to roll the animal, if it happens to be to large. If you have the man power or tools to move an animal around, you have choices. Otherwise, you have to work within the situation you are given. Bottom line is that there is no one right way to go about quartering an animal. The order that it happens doesn't matter. The quality of the job, does matter to me.

I carry a small 2 man tent ground cloth to use skinning, quartering, and deboning. it helps to keep dirt and brush off the meat. But I will also use the underside of the hide, as long as I have kept it clean. The ground cloth can be staked down, or moved around the animal where you need it. On big animals, it helps to have a tarp of some type that you can move around and position if your unable to move the animal around. However, as you remove quarters, at some point you will be able to manipulate the carcass, and position it to ease the work involved.

 

[muddydogs]

If your gutting it then start at the gut incision but why waist the time gutting? I prefer to start my skinning from the belly as the quarters just seem to come off easier then when working from the back but if its a big elk that drops straight down I don't expend the energy trying to turn it over and just work from the back down.

I for the life of me can't figure out why anyone would gut an animal first if there doing to quarter it, get the skin and quarters off as soon as possible then if you want any of the guts open them up and get what you want. Way less mess and hassle getting the meat off first.

I also can't figure out why anyone would drag a deer or elk much over 100 yards, in the time it takes to drag something out and fight with logs and rocks I can have the animal skinned, quartered and packed out plus you have to cut it up somewhere so why not in the field were the mess can be left right there.

 

[twall13]

For me there are a couple of reasons why you might gut an animal. I've done it both ways and I prefer gutless if I have someone with me and can get it done quickly. If I'm solo sometimes it's nice to gut it and get all that heat away from the meat so I can take more time and care in getting the meat off and hung in bags. I won't claim to be an expert at taking an animal apart, in fact I'm far from it. I just know when I'm by myself it takes me two to three hours of work to take an elk apart and get it hung up under decent conditions and they don't always die in convenient spots for cutting them up. In that time the gut starts to swell and my likelihood of nicking it increases. If it's a deer or smaller animal gutless works great.

The other reason for gutting is if you want the heart and liver you have to go in there anyway so you might as well gut it and get all that heat out of the way. Gutting also makes it easier to cut rib meat away, though not everyone takes that either so I guess it depends on your situation and what you are trying to get out of it.

 

[Yellowknife]

I also can't figure out why anyone would drag a deer or elk much over 100 yards, in the time it takes to drag something out and fight with logs and rocks I can have the animal skinned, quartered and packed out plus you have to cut it up somewhere so why not in the field were the mess can be left right there.

If you can get the animal out whole (gutted) and skin hanging it makes for a much cleaner process, with less meat exposed by the knife that eventually trimmed. The preferred method for me if it's possible.

If you are going to quarter to fit in a pack anyway, then agreed. Just do it right there and leave the spine in the field. I go back and forth all time. So far I've done three animals this year gutless, but there is a good chance I'll recover a caribou for somebody in one piece later this winter. Last year it was 50/50.

Basically, if quartering in the field, it's gutless every time with a dorsal incision. If I can get it out to camp in one piece, then it gets gutted and taken out that way just to keep things cleaner. We can then skin hanging with minimal meat damage and zero dirt followed by quartering with a saw cut down the spine that exposes almost no meat.

Should mention I've never dragged anything. Intact recovery means a machine of some type was involved and they came out in a bed, trailer or sled. I probably wouldn't drag anything 100 yds either.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

I do it from the belly (gutless) and start by leaving evidence of sex. However I think I'm going to give the spine route a method next time just to try it out and see which I like better.

 

[5MilesBack]

I'm normally solo and I start at the tail and make a cut all the way to the base of the antlers. Then I skin one side down and debone it all. Then I flip it over and do the same on the other side. Then I reach in and remove the tenderloins on both sides. If I want the cape, it's already half done so I can easily finish that out. Never need to cut them open. But if you wanted to get the heart and liver, it's a lot easier now anyway.

 

[TauPhi111]

Thanks for the input everyone. I asked because until next month I'll have only hunted whitetails and bears in the east, and no one I know quarters and packs animals out unless there is some serious obstacle to cross like a deep river. It's pretty common in PA and OH to drag the animal from where you gut it to the truck. Gutting is what I'm familiar with, so I'm not really sure about the gutless method. Seems if you want the heart and liver, which I will, you may as well open the animal up to get them out, and it makes getting the tenderloins easier. Great for heat dissipation too. If I kill an elk, it'll be my first, and I imagine it'll take some time for me and my buddy some time to get it quartered, so I'll probably want to gut it.

 

[wapitibob]

I skin from the belly up past the spine on the exposed side. We did one elk from the spine down to the belly this year and it's awkward with the hide laying at the hoof side. Much easier to have the hide on the ground on the spine side so the quarters can roll right into it when you rotate the animal on its back to cut the hind from around the inner pelvic bone.
I pulled hearts out of two animals this year thru the ribs.

 

[rayporter]

gut last to get the heart out-less mess to wade in!

i like to cut off the legs and leave the hide on. hang them and get off the rest of the meat. then cut off hide at your leisure. if it is cold i wait till i get to the truck to cut off the hide..

 

[Yellowknife]

Seems if you want the heart and liver, which I will, you may as well open the animal up to get them out, and it makes getting the tenderloins easier. Great for heat dissipation too. If I kill an elk, it'll be my first, and I imagine it'll take some time for me and my buddy some time to get it quartered, so I'll probably want to gut it.

Hearts are easy with gutless. I just detach a couple of the ribs at the spine joint, bend them out of the way and reach in to get it. Clean and easy while standing over an exposed side compared to fishing around in a blood filled chest cavity from the back.

This is doing a cow moose this year. Conveniently laying on good ground. Not always the case!

She was going to get packed back to the trail, so rather than the fun of fishing around in the massive chest cavity to get the guts out, I just start by pealing the hide down. Three cuts and away I go.

You can see everything is wide open to access and I pulled the heart out by using my knife to cut the rib joints near the spine (hatchet does work better). Liver is also accessible at this point if you wanted it by just cutting behind the last rib.

Tenderloins aren't really any harder from the back either. Remember you will be trying to cut them out while kneeling in the dirt in some awkward spot regardless, which is quite a bit different than a hanging whitetail.

This one is almost ready to flip over. Just trimming off any missed burger meat.

Everything goes straight into game bags and is laid out to cool. I like to minimize extra cuts (meat exposure), so the leg bones will stay in whenever possible. Personally only bone out for a long haul, which this one wasn't.

You aren't going to screw it up know matter how you play it, but if you are packing for sure I really wouldn't bother gutting. The larger the animal, the more additional work that is. Deer can be field dressed in just a few minutes, but elk+ sized animals start taking more effort. If that's what you are comfortable with though, it sure won't hurt anything.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Thanks for the input everyone. I asked because until next month I'll have only hunted whitetails and bears in the east, and no one I know quarters and packs animals out unless there is some serious obstacle to cross like a deep river. It's pretty common in PA and OH to drag the animal from where you gut it to the truck. Gutting is what I'm familiar with, so I'm not really sure about the gutless method. Seems if you want the heart and liver, which I will, you may as well open the animal up to get them out, and it makes getting the tenderloins easier. Great for heat dissipation too. If I kill an elk, it'll be my first, and I imagine it'll take some time for me and my buddy some time to get it quartered, so I'll probably want to gut it.

Yellowknife showed some great pictures. A consideration since you haven't dealt with an elk yet is the guts are also larger and its not as easy to manhandle the guts to cut the diaphragm free as it is with a deer, also to reach up and into the chest to cut the windpipe you're in pretty far up your arms. Rather than taking the time messing around with all that you could go right into quartering it (with or without skinning by preference). You don't ever have to gut it as you can reach in through the ribs for the heart and you can get the tenderloins reaching in under the spine. But if you want to get those via more traditional routes then open the gut sack at the end and pull the guts to the side to get what you want but you still don't have to cut the windpipe or anus out since you are just making room rather than removing them.

In the end I might have some blood up on my wrists but that's it, I stay a lot cleaner versus wrestling elk guts.

One other method for tenderloins if you happen to have a saw along is at the end cut through the spine where the last full ribs connect to it and peel the spine upwards, you'll be looking at your tenderloins on a silver platter to remove. I don't always have a good saw around (4" folding saw sucks on an elk) but when I do that method is slick.

 

[Beendare]

I'm normally solo and I start at the tail and make a cut all the way to the base of the antlers. Then I skin one side down and debone it all. Then I flip it over and do the same on the other side. ......

I do the same. I like keeping the meat as clean as possible and can take one side apart going right into game bags....then move to the other side. Easier to flip that way when solo too.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

I did a buck from the back on Sat, I think I like the belly route more unless I'm missing some obvious tricks. When I skin from the belly around past the spine and debone the first side when I flip it the back is rolling against the hide still and once the other side is skinned I have a hide "tarp" under the carcass. When I did the spine to belly skinning (and flipped the hide back over when time to flip) the edge of the spine was pivoting on the ground. Did I miss a trick to doing it this way?

 

[5MilesBack]

Here's a pic from last year after skinning one side. You can see that I already tubed out the front leg, so it's real easy at this point to remove the entire leg and shoulder and pull the hoof through the tubed out hide. Then you have full access to the backstrap that was under the shoulder blade as well. So then I take the straps and as much neck meat as I can on this side, then debone the rear leg and then all the meat covering and between the ribs. Fold the hide back over and then roll him over and do the same on the other side.

 

[TauPhi111]

Thanks for the pics Yellowknife. I guess it is true that if I'm not dragging this out and hanging it in my garage then there really is no need to gut it. Cutting out the butthole is such a pain anyway, and fiddling around with the wind pipe is a great way to get cut. I think if I just skin from the belly up but not open up the animal, that would be pretty easy. I'll have an 11" Wyoming saw with my, so I'll try going after the tenderloins as described by pods8 and just pop a few ribs off to get at the heart and liver. Thanks guys.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Here's a pic from last year after skinning one side. You can see that I already tubed out the front leg, so it's real easy at this point to remove the entire leg and shoulder and pull the hoof through the tubed out hide. Then you have full access to the backstrap that was under the shoulder blade as well. So then I take the straps and as much neck meat as I can on this side, then debone the rear leg and then all the meat covering and between the ribs. Fold the hide back over and then roll him over and do the same on the other side.

When you flip it is the back or belly the down side? I flip it with the back being the part that rolls across the ground, unless the skinned hide is overlapped it seems like the skinned section of the spine is getting some ground contact. I found I needed to watch out for that when I tried it out this way where as when I skin from the belly as I normally do (and then remove all the meat exactly as you do) that isn't a concern at all since its rolling over with an intact hide under the spine area. Just trying to feel out this method more.

 

[5MilesBack]

Actually, I normally take both back straps while it's on the first side, so when I flip it over (backside down) that meat is already gone. One time I had a bull die straddling a blowdown. So I was able to do each side while he was upright.

What also happens is that the hide seems to shrink along the back bone after slicing it all open as you can see in this pic. The cut was actually made directly over the back bone, so it shrunk or pulled to the left side quite a bit while I was skinning the other side down.