The gutless method. Why aren't you doing it if you have to pack out?

[Jethro]

There isn't a clear definition of what the gutless method is, but one reason to get into the guts is to get the heart and lungs.

I personally prefer to dismantle the animal bone-in and leave the guts inside the ribcage/stomach.

Your 2nd sentence is the exact definition of the gutless method.

 

[DustyCogs]

There isn't a clear definition of what the gutless method is, but one reason to get into the guts is to get the heart and lungs.

I personally prefer to dismantle the animal bone-in and leave the guts inside the ribcage/stomach.

Splitting hairs, but the guts are behind the diaphragm, and the good stuff is above. You can remove one side's meat, let some air out of the peritoneum to reduce pressure and allow you to get the tenderloins, then use a saw or clippers to get the ribs and/or heart, and liver.

Only point being you don't have to gut an animal to get to the heart/liver.

 

[IdahoBeav]

Your 2nd sentence is the exact definition of the gutless method.

That is the most simple definition, but some consider gutless as being a meat-only pack out.

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Splitting hairs, but the guts are behind the diaphragm, and the good stuff is above. You can remove one side's meat, let some air out of the peritoneum to reduce pressure and allow you to get the tenderloins, then use a saw or clippers to get the ribs and/or heart, and liver.

Only point being you don't have to gut an animal to get to the heart/liver.

True, but some find gutting to be easier than breaking/sawing ribs. I don't use the heart & liver, so I don't gut or saw ribs.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Apology for the long write up, but I wanted to add context
No joke; the first time I did it I hadn't even heard of the "gutless method". After processing lots of game it just made sense to me so I made it up while processing my first archery elk LOL. Later explaining it to a friend he was like "o the gutless method, I have heard of that".
I personally define the gutless method as any game breakdown process in which you leave the subcutaneous abdominal parts from the diaphragm back to the anus intact and attached to the carcass, while removing all edible meat portions from the main carcass.

We have done this on Elk, deer, bears, and pronghorn. At the end of the process we open up a rib or 2 and recover the heart.

I prefer it for how clean I can keep everything. I wear nitrile gloves and rarely get my clothes or skin dirty. There is little to no transfer of contaminants to the meat if done properly. With a little practice we have gotten very good at getting the whole tenderloins out clean. Gutless method also gets the major meat parts broken away from the body and able to cool quicker, even if your leaving on the bone. If you plan to debone in the field there is generally no reason to gut the animal.
As far as speed goes, a mobile slaughter butcher friend of mine did the cutting while us 3 others helped skin then just held onto things....15 minutes from start to all meat on packs and it was one of the cleanest wasteless jobs I have ever seen. So it is possible (I generally take my time cause I'm not a pro like him).

To be fair to traditional gutting method, I do feel it has the advantage in the following situations:
1.Your situation dictates that you need to, or wish to take the animal out as whole as possible. such as: you harvested an animal in a farmers field and he doesn't want the carcass left behind (or helps you out with a tractor) , or another location you can't leave bones (like the situation Salty Sailor has).
2. The animal is smaller than an elk, and you wish to age it hanging whole, including the BS and TL. (When we do the gutless method we are able to age the quarters, but process the loose meat, Backstraps, and Tenderloins immediately to avoid waste).
3. You wish to perform a necropsy for research purposes.

Don't forget when doing the gutless method you most likely need to leave some proof of sex attached to a quarter (depending on state). We generally keep a patch of scrotum or mammary attached but tightly bagged to keep hair off the meat.

Good stuff! I appreciate the longer write ups.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

I didn't realize it was a fad, seems kind of weird to call it that. Maybe bragging about it online as if it's some big deal is a fad but the process itself has plenty of merits. I've been doing it that way for a very long time, before the YouTube influencers started putting out instructional vids or whatever. I just like to keep things clean while I'm working, then go in for the heart/liver/tenders afterwards and don't care about a mess. I do it backwards from everyone else though, I split the skin from ankles to pits with the gut hook and connect the cuts with a long belly slit that goes all the way up the under side of the neck, again with the gut hook, then I start at the two top-side ankles and skin the top layer skin all the way back. This allows me to do all my "hair cuts" before any meat is exposed and I'm not cutting through the thick/hairy back skin. Then pull both quarters, brisket meat, neck meat, and the backstrap, then when I roll it over I pull out that section of skin as a ground cloth so none of the animal is touching the ground in case I missed some trimming. Once I finish the other side I just go ahead and quickly yank the guts out to grab the insides, no sense in doing the rib thing if I'm opening the cavity for heart and liver anyway.

 

[svivian]

Skin one testical out and you don't have to deal with hairy balls.

then what am i going to use to cover my gear shifter or put my ivories in!?

 

[Hnthrdr]

Gutless by a long shot and no looking back. Avoid messing/spilling guts on the meat, I can still take organs if I want, grab a rock break a rib. To me it’s the speed and relative cleanliness that I can complete an animal with the gutless method

 

[Drenalin]

then what am i going to use to cover my gear shifter or put my ivories in!?

Next buck I shoot, his ball sack is going in a buddy's truck - thanks for the tip!

 

[Bcleck90]

First Antelope I killed a buddy of mine tagged along and apparently thought the skinned testical would be hilarious in my spit cup. Almost choked to death on Copenhagen once I realized what he had done

 

[Fire_9]

Or just leave a section of the penis attached to the hind.

Yep. Blows my mind how many people don't know how to do this. Whether proof of sex is required or not, it's too easy to not do it anyways

 

[Taudisio]

I also don’t see any reason why you couldn’t just roll the guts out after you have taken all the meat off to get into the diaphragm for organs/necropsy even the tendies if you want easy access. Takes all the concern of getting the meat messy out of the equation.

I like the idea of starting on the legs to keep the hair on the meat to a minimum. I’m going to try it this fall to see if it makes a difference. It’s just been a habit to start on the spine.

 

[Timberline001]

Two reasons for me. 1: The unit I hunt requires meat to come out on the bone, even the ribs. 2: I process all my own meat and I like it to hang for at least 5 days before I start to cut it up. A jelly bag full of meat is not nearly as clean a process to complete that task as if it were on the bone. The longest pack for moose was just under two miles, pretty brutal. Goats we did the gutless method, carrying it out was nice, but again, when I went to process it myself it was a big mess with more surface area exposed to dirt/moisture/hair/etc.

Smaller goat sized and down animals I can get the guts out in 15 minutes, not a big deal.

Gut less doesn’t mean boned out. Just means you didn’t gut it before beginning to quarter.

 

[Timberline001]

I also don’t see any reason why you couldn’t just roll the guts out after you have taken all the meat off to get into the diaphragm for organs/necropsy even the tendies if you want easy access. Takes all the concern of getting the meat messy out of the equation.

I like the idea of starting on the legs to keep the hair on the meat to a minimum. I’m going to try it this fall to see if it makes a difference. It’s just been a habit to start on the spine.

That’s what I do. Once the quarters are off the guts dump out and make it super easy to grab the tendys.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

I like to leave bone in if it's not too hot on an elk sized critter. But gutless is just cleaner if I can't hang the critter for processing. The fewer hair cuts I make, the better.

 

[finner]

It's fairly easy to make a vertical incision just behind the last rib after quartering to relieve pressure and get the tenderloins out. Just enough to let the stomach spill out and create a void to work in. I cringe whenever someone rips out the primary tenderloin muscle doing gutless.

 

[IDVortex]

Welp, I'm a ni body with no experience, but the only 2 animals I've killed was done by gutless. I'll have to look into gutless. Even if I had shot my bear this spring I would've gutted it. But anyway, carry on. Just over here reading and learning

 

[farmermail]

Next buck I shoot, his ball sack is going in a buddy's truck - thanks for the tip!

My father in law used to hang the ball sack from my wife's rear view mirror when she was in high school. Her mistake was telling myself and our kids about that. The tradition continues...

 

[Jethro]

That is the most simple definition, but some consider gutless as being a meat-only pack out.

I noticed that in this thread. The confusion on the subject is little baffling from this crowd.

 

[HighUintas]

You can get the heart very easy with the gutless method, ive been doing it for years. You just have to break one rib.

You just break the rib in the proper spot then reach in to get the heart?

 

[Bubblehide]

I've done both, and still do depending on the size-weight of the animal and slope... The vast majority of the time I take a heart shot. As such, the guts are rarely hit. On deer sized animals and down, I generally gut, quarter and debone for the pack out. However, I simply cut around the poop shoot, cut the esophagus, tie it off and push the entire gut sack out of the animal. All the bad stuff that taints the meat remains inside the guts, so it is as clean as the gutless method. I also debone the ribs, turning them into 2 boneless slabs of meat; as I don't pack out bone, like many others here.

If I or someone I'm hunting with have hit the guts in our shot, I want to gut the animal ASAP, limiting the exposure and extent of the meat exposed to the gut material, i.e., spoilage. If I were to use the gutless method in such cases, doing so would increase the exposure time and extent of meat exposed to gut material, i.e., increase the amount of wasted meat.

Personally, I think it is much better to be more than a one trick pony and learn options. However, if I had to chose only one method to use, I go with gutting the animal for the reason stated above. But as the saying goes, there are 100 ways to skin a cat.