The work after the kill

[awapiti]

+1 on the gutless method. I use this even if I shoot an animal within dragging distance of a road. If it is hot, the quarters go into a cooler a lot easier than a whole animal.

 

[bowhuntmontana]

I did the gutless method on three animals this year for the first time, 1 antelope and 2 deer. I boned everything out, put it in game bags and slipped it into my Kelty pack with about 6500 cubic inches. Didn't come close to filling it up. The deer was probably 70 lbs of just meat and was a 4 mile hike out, which was much better than dragging or a game cart. I will be doing this with almost all of my game. Also makes the butchering at home much less of a mess. Good luck!

 

[Dinkshooter]

our fathers, grandfathers and many generations preceding carried them out whole, hung them on game poles and meat houses because that was the way it was done. There's a lot to be said for tradition, and many of us honor our ancestors by doing it the way they did. That may seem funny to some, but I'll stick with it.

I absolutely 200% think my grandfather had to be one of the coolest people to have ever walked this earth. However, their method of back breaking, meat wrecking dragging chit though the dirt for a day, not only held me back from really going to where the critters lived, it also nearly gave me a bad attitude towards game meat in the beginning.

I'll stick to carrying it out, out of the dirt. The generation gap is a beautiful thing sometimes.

 

[Ultrahunter]

so i guess my next question for the western guys would be... do you know of any good videos online that could show an eastern boy likemyself how to quarter a deer in the field? is the process any different than doing it when its hanging in the garage?

Its really pretty easy. Just take your knife and cut him into four equal pieces. If you have much trouble you could try counting the legs for a reference.

 

[nickdooley987]

thanks guys i will let ya know how this works out i found game bags for around 20 bucks here, i would be able to hunt close enough just to drag it but for some reason the parking lots are all full of licence plates from west of the river???hmmm

 

[Corax]

I use garage sale pillowcases for game bags, since they are cheap, tightly woven and light. I have a couple of garage sale frame backpacks and a wheelbarrow with the pan replaced with a piece of plywood. You do not need an enormous pack, since meat is so dense.

Good luck.

 

[nickdooley987]

got confirmed what i thought was correct originally. It is perfectly legal to quarter a deer to remove it but you must remove everything.. hide, bones etc. so there isnt really a point in quartering it.

 

[greatbasin]

got confirmed what i thought was correct originally. It is perfectly legal to quarter a deer to remove it but you must remove everything.. hide, bones etc. so there isnt really a point in quartering it.

That's lame...So you have to pack out the rib cage, back bone, and the entrails, too? You can't even leave the non-edibles for nature to use? Birds, rodents, predators, the whole ecosystem benefits from those spare parts. However, I guess if the parcels of land are small and hunters are killing multiple deer a year...the carcasses might add up.

My 13 year old kid just did a gutless job on her deer this week. She did fine and I even showed her how to reach in and get the tenderloins for her last cuts.

 

[TLC]

well, you are either hunting the west side of the state, mississippi river bottoms, or the southern part, ohio river bottoms. get yourself one of those big wheeled carts. have used mine a few times bringing deer up the "hills" we have down south here where I hunt. south eastern part. gut it where it lands, but bring an extra orange vest to put on the deer if you are hunting during the gun season(s). too many chicago hunters down here that shoot at anything that moves.

 

[wgiles]

Here is the IDNR deer check in information.

http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Documents/DeerHuntingInfoAndCheckInSystem.pdf

The tricky part is that evidence of sex must remain attached, not so hard in the case of a doe, but harder in the case of a buck where the head, penis and scrotum are normally detached during field dressing or quartering. If the terrain is favorable, a game cart might be the best way to go. Since it is now possible to check in by cell phone, it's curious why evidence of sex would need to be maintained after checking in. If you butcher your own deer, there is really no need to do this. Other than to facilitate an inspection by conservation police on your way home, I don't see the point. I suppose it goes back to the days of check in stations.

 

[nickdooley987]

Also i hunt on a federal wildlife area so the regs are a little more intense u can leave entrails only, no bone or hide.
TLC i couldnt agree more about the chicago hunters i live in adams county so they see on tv that we have a 170 tied to every tree down here and they come and walk around all day looking for them..

 

[Brandenbowhunter]

I agree -- eastern tenderfoots are funny. Get some game bags, a decent pack & bone that sucker out. note: Check yer regs to ensure proof of sex.

Ditto...to the whole thing...
Proof of sex for sure if you need it:hump:

 

[Brandenbowhunter]

You can leave the hide on one hind quarter and leave the man jewels attatched to this for the evidence of sex...you can even mostly skin it to save weight...

 

[TLC]

even doing that, you still have to carry the hide out of the woods here in the land of welfare and democrats. and our conservation cops have no sense of humor. actually, they have more power than our state police.

watched a guy get arrested and his vehicle impounded for dragging a recently killed buck off the road. the state cop called conservation and they decided that he was "picking up road kill", which in illinois is against the law due to our new governor. if he would have called the state police, he could have gotten a salvage tag to move it.