Process a deer without gutting it?

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They certainly do things different out here in Texas. I have asked quite a few people what they do with their game and all have said the same thing, quarter it straight away, stick it in a cooler on ice. The then leave it for 3 -5 days, draining and changing the ice once or twice per day, before finally processing.
 
Maybe I'm getting soft but that seems an appalling way to deal with your venison. But seeing where he shot it might not have been to pretty opening it up
 
Wasn't it Clemenceau, the French President in the early 20th Century that declared America to be the First Nation on Earth " To go from barbarism and savagery, into decline and decadence, but without the usual detour via civilisation and culture"?

God love 'em!
 
I'm no butcher by a long shot but that was a total hack job on a gut shot deer that looked to me like it had be lying around for a day or two before the camera turnt up
 
I seen the gutless message done before. Once on a tv show. Think Alaska the last frontier and once by a NZ guy. They made it look slick and really good. This wasn't a good showing IMO. Either way you need to be really confident with a knife.
 
If you are packing the meat out no need to gralloch. Simple lie beast on its back. Count down in the grown and take off both haunches, then do the same with the shoulders. Then for the backstraps, cut down the centre of the spine, peel the skin off the bacstraps, then cut out as usual. The skin left on the haunches and shoulders protects the meat during transport. All that's left behind are the cuts, spine, ribs and head. Doesn't take very long, done it a few times when have shot large reds in amongst wind blown timber as a long walk out and very remote. Remains left to feed the eagles and badgers. Not a lot left after a couple of days.
 
I didnt bother to look at the video but assuming that there was NO gutting at all I have to ask "what about the fkn eye fillets" the most tender and choice piece on any animal.
They certainly count for a good feed from the larger deer.
 
John you should watch the video all explained. Im not as experianced as some of you but try to not waste any of the venison ive shot, i can sort of see the logic in this method if your carrying out a butchered deer but would any one else leave all the rib meat and belly if your packing it out a few more pounds wont kill you. His style seems to waste lots of meat off the joints he is keeping
 
Plenty of people can get the eye fillets out of a sambar without gutting it. I didn't know so I asked an expert and then watched them do it :cool:
 
The handling of meat in the Southern US does tend to be somewhat less elegant than up North - but there are reasons for it. Our Southern deer seasons open in Late Aug or Early Sept - when Temperatures are routinely 30 degrees C or higher every day, with minimal cooling at night. With weather like this the primary concern is get the meat off the carcass and cooled ASAP. My northern friends love to hang a whole carcass for a week or 10 days with the hide on before processing. That does not work in the heat, unless you have a proper chiller (which most people don't - unless they belong to a hunt club, your version of syndicate).

I did not like this particular video, but I have utilized a different gutless skinning before and been quite pleased with it. Several years back we shot several large elk (600 pounds each) when it was 95 degrees F each day. The first one (mine) was done the traditional way, and at the end of day we were all less blood covered and less than pleased (even though the meat was safely in coolers with ice). The next 2 elk were done by flipping them onto their stomach, making a cut down the spine and peeling the hide down to serve as a mat. Quarters were boned out easily, then backstops and neck meat came off next. Up to this point it was surgically clean with no hair on meat. The last step was getting the tenderloin and this was accomplished sawing spine and ribs then lifting up. No contact with guts because gravity had all of that pulled to the ground. All in all, a great and clean way to dress a large animal.
 
Cootmeurer said:
The handling of meat in the Southern US does tend to be somewhat less elegant than up North - but there are reasons for it. Our Southern deer seasons open in Late Aug or Early Sept - when Temperatures are routinely 30 degrees C or higher every day, with minimal cooling at night. With weather like this the primary concern is get the meat off the carcass and cooled ASAP. My northern friends love to hang a whole carcass for a week or 10 days with the hide on before processing. That does not work in the heat, unless you have a proper chiller (which most people don't - unless they belong to a hunt club, your version of syndicate).

I did not like this particular video, but I have utilized a different gutless skinning before and been quite pleased with it. Several years back we shot several large elk (600 pounds each) when it was 95 degrees F each day. The first one (mine) was done the traditional way, and at the end of day we were all less blood covered and less than pleased (even though the meat was safely in coolers with ice). The next 2 elk were done by flipping them onto their stomach, making a cut down the spine and peeling the hide down to serve as a mat. Quarters were boned out easily, then backstops and neck meat came off next. Up to this point it was surgically clean with no hair on meat. The last step was getting the tenderloin and this was accomplished sawing spine and ribs then lifting up. No contact with guts because gravity had all of that pulled to the ground. All in all, a great and clean way to dress a large animal.
Click to expand...
I spent the earlier parts of my youth in that "north" and my father engaged in the practice of hanging a deer with the hide on it for 10 days or so. Accordingly, I hated venison for most of my youth. I left home at 19 and moved to the Dakotas where the practice was to get the hide off quick, hang it overnight or until the meat thoroughly cooled, and butcher the next morning. The difference was night and day. I suddenly loved venison and have ever since. Where I live now, the only people who butcher without gutting are poachers.~Muir
 
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