How do you hang the carcass?

ofbiro

Well-Known Member
When I attended a course for chamois stalkers I was taught to hang the carcass by the head to let blood flow freely away from the thorax-abdomen cavity.
The logical consequence is to start skinng from the neck downwards.
Quite recently on a magazine I read just the opposite advice, i.e. to hang (and to start skinng) from the hind legs, claiming it is cleaner.
What is the opinion of the esteemed stalking colleagues?
 
I too hunt chamois and we have always hung them head down and skinned from the hind legs. I have seen people hang them from the horns before.
 
Slightly off topic but all my game is hung head down. I find with pheasants and other game birds it avoids the soggy mess when you come to prepare them.

Frank
 
Personally, all deer, rabbits etc are hung head down. My reasoning is that the majority of blood is in the chest cavity, and runs out through the collar bone. It avoids covering otherwise clean bits of carcass with blood which in turn avoids having to wash them out. You dont eat any bits off the inside of the rib cage, so your not wasting anything there and its only a bit on the neck where the jugular and oesophagus ran that sometimes gets a bit of blood on it, but as its a cheap cut anyways, you dont lose a lot of meat after a bit of trimming up.
 
I think a lot of it is habit. If you look at photos from the US or Germany ( adverts for game chillers in Bushwear catalogue) you often see deer hung head upwards, with hook through the lower jaw. With head off it is easier to hang by a hook through the skilled tendons, and this does strict out the haunches which are the prime cuts, and in the UK deer etc go off to the dealers head off. In the US, given the tag system, the head needs to be kept attached.
 
The habit and tradition here in Britain and Ireland is to hang by the hind legs and skin from that end, blood runs out at the neck end. Interestingly, all commercial slaughter operations behave in exactly this fashion.

However, a few years ago in Germany I saw wild boar dealt with in the opposite fashion. They were hung via a hook through the lower jaw and were gutted and skinned while hung this way.
 
My guess is that chamois were traditionally hung by the head because they have hooks for horns and it is just handy to do it that way.
 
I shot a Chamois in the Austrian Alps in 1968 on a steep mountainside..
The Jager Albrecht hooked the horns into the turf and I performed the operation from there.

At home I do a suspended gralloch when possible with the rear upwards.
On the mountain it is obviously from the horizontal ground position.

HWH.
 
if you gut in the field, it's easier to wash them out at home when hung by a hook in the chin.. Growing up, birds and animals that were skinned for the pelt were upside down. Deer were head up.....
 
Many thanks for the prompt answers. Personally I gralloch on the spot, and when home, I hang the beast by the chin. After 12-36 hours, according to the size of the beast, I skin it, starting from the neck towars the rump. I find this way to be the easiest, but I am wondering wheter it is the best from the hygiene point of view.
Any comment?
 
Gralloch wise, post bleeding, I do the rear end on the floor so that it's released and tied off then remove any bits hanging out or from the external area, to avoid bringing any fur or other bits through the carcass, change for new gloves and clean blade for internal, moving on to suspended Gralloch with a stainless steel gambrel and nylon rope,proceed to open up the belly right through to the chin, release the pipe work from the chin up and tie up to contain any internal fluids, into the cavity, split the rib cage, and remove diaphragm.

starting from the rear end again gradually work out the dropping tract and remove the pee sack, working down rolling out as you go, take out the urinal tract , kidney, livers etc with rest of the pluck, brace the rib cage and roll the pluck and contents through to the under head, remove head via atlas joint, pluck can be then hung for inspection. Tidy carcass

Nice tidy and clean carcase, no mess, clean out with clean, non lint disposable cloth, pluck is all together and importantly intact.

slightly different to some but I find it easier to do the rear end on the ground, then change gloves, and clean knives all in readiness for the internal work.
after I hang to cool on the same gambrel when out from the back legs, head down or with a drip tray under when in the larder prep / chiller.

I have two black sacks with me one I lay knives and kit on, then after inspection I separate the kidneys and liver into one bagas I love liver pate and the breakfast kidneys with bacon, the other other sack turn it inside out and place the pluck in to dispose off, no mess and all accounted for apart from kit clean up

suits me

phil
 
Head down, once in the larder, deal with the rear end carefully, take off the head, split the rib cage then hang from the rear legs then the engine room comes out with a couple of careful cuts. Simple!
 
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