Gralloch question?

wildfowler.250

Well-Known Member
A slightly dopey question but how do you fully remove the parts of the colon/rectum from the pelvic canal whilst doing a gralloch in the field? I usually cable tie the end of the intestine off and then cut,(removing the last section in the pelvic canal once I'm home and can get at it with a saw).

I hope the above makes sense? Basically.. how do you remove the last section of the gut when you are gutting a deer in the field?


Thanks in advance!
 
Tie off the colon with string in the field and remove later in the larder using a narrow bladed knife cutting around 360 degrees of the anus and remaining rectal / colon tissue also removing bladder and uterus.(if female)
 
Carefully cut around the rectum, work your finger around in the incision to detach as much as possible as deep as possible with your finger but you will probably find you need to use a knife to sever completely, so try to pull the colon/rectum out and away from where you need to cut. When its free pull it out as far as possible to tie it off. Pull the whole thing out when you perform the gralloch, you may well need to grasp the colon up towards the pelvis area and pull hard or use a knife for any remaining connections.

I have seen a number of people that just don't bother in the field and only clean up the back passage when they get back to the the larder.
 
When I started I was always surprised at how much room there was around the poop chute to cut fully around and remove the last bit of colon. Carefully tie the tube off (its quite delicate) then cut around the hoop and, as described above, push your fingers into the cut and detach as much connective tissue as you can before giving a steady pull to remove.
The bigger the deer, the easier it is.
 
To minimise contamination, from inside the carcass, squeeze any pellets in the rectum back toward the stomach then pinch close to the anus and pull, so that it breaks free. Keep the rectum pinched closed until it is removed from the stomach cavity.
 
To minimise contamination, from inside the carcass, squeeze any pellets in the rectum back toward the stomach then pinch close to the anus and pull, so that it breaks free. Keep the rectum pinched closed until it is removed from the stomach cavity.

Tamus .best reply I've seen and no doubt we will see gold star .
 
I don't know if you are interested in what we do here, so if not just say so.
With our sambar deer and the places that we hunt it is impossible in many cases to get a vehicle anywhere near a downed animal, I'm talking kilometres.
In these cases the gutting (gralloching) just doesn't happen. The animal is simply butchered where it drops and the gut is worked around to take all of the meat parts, rear and forelegs, backstraps and even the tenderloins can be accessed then without removing the gut. These are big animals and there is also meat on the neck which can be used, and the meat from between the ribs.
One man doing a carry out would be hard pressed to complete the job in four trips to a truck, and even then maybe not on the same day if the deer was shot late afternoon and the truck is a couple of kms away. A rear leg can weigh up to 20kg sometimes. This pic is the result of one of those on site cut up and carry out jobs. The other meat was also retrieved and hung as well. The temperature was from minus 2C at night to about 12C in the daytime but the meat was covered and in the shade. The loose meat was packed away after a day and the legs left hanging with skin on.
Grant
View attachment 13535
 
Thanks for all the replies guys! Great info and interesting to see some people wait until back at the larder to do the last bit.


Samhuntvic, thanks for the post and pics! Always good to find out how people do it in other areas!
 
You guys all have some good ideas, obviously learnt on your dsc level 1 course and still fresh in your minds, however you are all just concerntrating on the rectum, anus

Does not the bladder, vulva and reproductive tract in females, penis in males need to be removed with more care than the rectum? Especially when the bladder is full and or there is a developing foetus in the uterus.
Trevor
 
You guys all have some good ideas, obviously learnt on your dsc level 1 course and still fresh in your minds, however you are all just concerntrating on the rectum, anus

Does not the bladder, vulva and reproductive tract in females, penis in males need to be removed with more care than the rectum? Especially when the bladder is full and or there is a developing foetus in the uterus.
Trevor

The original question is about a field gralloch and Tamus has answered that. The bladder etc can be removed in the larder. Regards JCS
 
I would also be interested to hear how you do the bladder? I tend to add a couple of cable tie to the urethra and then cut it out but that is probably unnecessary?
 
after seeing a few different methods i like johns the best ,yds. after bleeding start at the neck and slit alongside the windpipe find the food tube and clean off.give a good tug on both to free them up . using the small tie wraps put two each side of the tubes so you can cut in the middle without mess.
going to the other end whilst wearing gloves stick your finger up the but hole and clean out any pellets whilst leaving your finger inside the tube grab hold of the anal tract and you can now use a knife to slit down and around the anus and using your other hand you can poke your finger around the outside of the tube and free it off once free give a tug like tamus said and it pulls out quite a way and you then can tiewrap around the tube to stop anything further down from coming out then carry on as normal ,atb wayne.
wildfowler that again is what i was shown to use tie wraps for bladder as well i like this method.
 
To minimise contamination, from inside the carcass, squeeze any pellets in the rectum back toward the stomach then pinch close to the anus and pull, so that it breaks free. Keep the rectum pinched closed until it is removed from the stomach cavity.

This is the method I'm familliar with.
 
If there is going to be a long drag involved, i only make a midline incision and remove everything through that. This means leaving the last bit of rectum in the animal. If it's a fairly quick carry out then you can remove the penis and anus in the field (or udder in females) as there is less chance of contamination when dragging through. Removing the last bits of the digestive tract in the field means exposing more of the meat which can be a place for contamination on a dragged animal.
 
All this talk of cable ties and string, I assume that they are sterilised to prevent cross contamination and butcher's string is used???

+1 on Tamus's method for me.
 
There are loads of different ways and it doesn't matter as long as it's hygienic, personally I just milk the fewmets down to leave a good clear space and cut, the tube contracts so no more drop down into the carcass and no need to tie/cable tie etc, then sort the rest out when it's back at the larder and hanging at a convenient height with good light, I'm not a fan of messing around at the back end before you start the gralloch as it means cleaning your knife and changing gloves after you've only made 2 cuts on the animal, better in my view to work inside first and then do any work at the back end later so you're not risking contaminating inside the carcass, it's the same with inspecting the feet, I do it at the end so you're not getting soil inside the carcass.
 
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