Suspended Gralloch….

[scotch_egg]

So I don’t do a suspended gralloch in the field. I’m mainly shooting fallow and I don’t carry a gambrel or block and tackle. I’m not lifting fallow into a tree on my own. I have done a couple of roe suspended many years ago. It’s dead easy to perform a gralloch in the ground and keep it clean. I’m not here to discuss best practice, just the practicalities!

So here comes my observation. Why do folk hang deer by the back legs for a suspended gralloch when the rib cage acts as a bucket and gravity does it’s thing with the pluck and green falling into the chest cavity, well it did in my case.

Surely hanging by the front legs like the Americans would be the sensible thing to do.

 

[VSS]

So I don’t do a suspended gralloch in the field. I’m mainly shooting fallow and I don’t carry a gambrel or block and tackle. I’m not lifting fallow into a tree on my own. I have done a couple of roe suspended many years ago. It’s dead easy to perform a gralloch in the ground and keep it clean. I’m not here to discuss best practice, just the practicalities!

So here comes my observation. Why do folk hang deer by the back legs for a suspended gralloch when the rib cage acts as a bucket and gravity does it’s thing with the pluck and green falling into the chest cavity, well it did in my case.

Surely hanging by the front legs like the Americans would be the sensible thing to do.

If you cut through the ribs and free the trachea and oesophagus before you hoist the animal up then everything falls out nice and cleanly as soon as you unzip the belly.
I should think hoisting it by the front legs risks contaminating the more valuable parts of the carcass in the event of a puncture.
But for a simple field gralloch (green only) I would recommend doing it on the ground for precisely the reason you state.

 

[scotch_egg]

I hadn’t considered going through the ribs in the field.

Just goes to show what techniques you pick up from mentors and how it varies. That’s spot on.

I’ve also had some advice privately also recommending going through the ribs.

 

[rem284]

So I don’t do a suspended gralloch in the field. I’m mainly shooting fallow and I don’t carry a gambrel or block and tackle. I’m not lifting fallow into a tree on my own. I have done a couple of roe suspended many years ago. It’s dead easy to perform a gralloch in the ground and keep it clean. I’m not here to discuss best practice, just the practicalities!

So here comes my observation. Why do folk hang deer by the back legs for a suspended gralloch when the rib cage acts as a bucket and gravity does it’s thing with the pluck and green falling into the chest cavity, well it did in my case.

Surely hanging by the front legs like the Americans would be the sensible thing to do.

Because the most valuable area is the saddle and haunches so it makes sense to keep these the cleanest. I dont do any suspended gralloch, it just adds a task to the process, there's no gain, possibly some pain

 

[Selous]

If I can get the vehicle to the deer readily I do a suspended gralloch. I find it gives the cleanest of carcasses. I sometimes split the chest but otherwise just reach down and grab the trachea and oesophagus and pull. There is a good YouTube video by Chris Dalton that shows is well (link below). I don’t split the pelvis but tunnel it before or after the gralloch.

 

[Siggy]

Started doing suspended grallochs in the field on a regular basis this year. I use a single pulley from Monarch attached to a convenient tree by a bit of rope. My process is to put the gamble through the hocks while it's still on the ground - this keeps it chest up and fairly stable while I saw. I then do the throat and clear the sternum with the knife and open the abdomen and then saw back.
Then comes the fun bit - given that an ungralloched (fallow) deer weighs the same as I do, I tie a timber hitch around one raised foot with the tail of the pulley rope and then by a combination of standing on the rope and pulling up the gambrel I can get most fallow off the ground...you need to be sure that the pulley is firmly secured and I have stopped anchoring it with S hooks after an unexpected ping.
I can now do the back end standing up with no guts pressing the bladder back at me. If I still need to open the the abdomen the guts are all down around the diaphragm. Once the back end is out, I have a clear view of both sides of the diaphragm, and a little knife work releases everything down to the larynx, and gravity takes it clear of the carcase.
I can then leave it there cooling while I get the carcass tray for extraction.
Nothing wrong with a gralloch on the ground but it's just a little easier suspended - if you have a tree or a truck. As all the kit goes on my belt, why not.

 

[Overlay]

Get yourself a folding stainless cradle and use that from muntie to fallow in the field, external inspection, anal end done unzip to the head, change gloves , clean blade-detach internals through split rib cage right through to the base of the head, everything comes out, detach the head and you got the whole lot on a string that you can hang up away from the cooling carcase to inspect the whole lot and take off the heart, liver etc without it ever touching the ground, if it’s a bit bloody in the carcase turn it over to drain and cool, dispose or bag up the gralloch clean down your kit. All done No drama, easy peasy sort the legs in the larder

 

[RM100]

If I can get the vehicle to the deer readily I do a suspended gralloch. I find it gives the cleanest of carcasses. I sometimes split the chest but otherwise just reach down and grab the trachea and oesophagus and pull. There is a good YouTube video by Chris Dalton that shows is well (link below). I don’t split the pelvis but tunnel it before or after the gralloch.

I must admit, I was a bit uneasy about a knife covered in green working around the neck. Surely, the neck end will be covered in deer-lunch.

I do a similar gralloch but leave the oesophagus attached at the base of the jaw. I think I first saw it on a German video.

I simply don’t like a knife blade that is green with muck, coming in contact with tissues that you may be hanging the chiller for a few days….and then putting in sausages/the dog etc.

I tuned out then.

 

[r judd]

Get yourself a folding stainless cradle and use that from muntie to fallow in the field, external inspection, anal end done unzip to the head, change gloves , clean blade-detach internals through split rib cage right through to the base of the head, everything comes out, detach the head and you got the whole lot on a string that you can hang up away from the cooling carcase to inspect the whole lot and take off the heart, liver etc without it ever touching the ground, if it’s a bit bloody in the carcase turn it over to drain and cool, dispose or bag up the gralloch clean down your kit. All done No drama, easy peasy sort the legs in the larder

Not quite sure i would fit a folding stainless cradle in my pocket or bumbag. Also alot of people dont have the ability to drive to the shot site

 

[Shootgun]

I do 95% on my gralloch suspended, there is no cleaner carcass.

I lift the beast up to a suitable height so i can do the tunneling of the rear end, remove the udder or pizzle , cut open the skin only all the way down to under the chin and saw open the chest cavity all the way down.
Open the beast fully, pull down the rear end through the pelvis bone and away from the carcass, cut around the diaphragm and everything will come down nicely to the base of the neck, exposing the wind pipe.
Cut between the windpipe and the neck all the way to the chin and cut the head off. At this point you get all the gralloch connected, from the head to the rear end, without the risk of any contamination.
It might sound complicated but it doesn't take longer than 10 minutes and is as cleaner as you can get, providing the beast was shot correctly.

Is well worth for me as almost all my carcasess are sold.

 

[finnbear270]

If no handy tree or other point to hang, I'll hang it back at the motor from the roof rack, just remember to rinse off any blood spots from the motor.

 

[Stalker62]

I'll hang it back at the motor from the roof rack, just remember to rinse off any blood spots from the motor.

I turned up at our rental cottage in the Highlands, with two Sika hanging from the Landy roof rack.

Joining us was the new girlfriend of my son. It took me a wee while to explain to her, that I had not been involved in a terrible road traffic accident.

It could have been worse...

 

[finnbear270]

Like the use of the mirror stay over the hock to give a good view.

 

[wytonpjs]

I do 95% on my gralloch suspended, there is no cleaner carcass.

I lift the beast up to a suitable height so i can do the tunneling of the rear end, remove the udder or pizzle , cut open the skin only all the way down to under the chin and saw open the chest cavity all the way down.
Open the beast fully, pull down the rear end through the pelvis bone and away from the carcass, cut around the diaphragm and everything will come down nicely to the base of the neck, exposing the wind pipe.
Cut between the windpipe and the neck all the way to the chin and cut the head off. At this point you get all the gralloch connected, from the head to the rear end, without the risk of any contamination.
It might sound complicated but it doesn't take longer than 10 minutes and is as cleaner as you can get, providing the beast was shot correctly.
.

Exactly this. I am lucky on my main ground in usually being available to drive to the strike site and this is quick and minimises contamination.

 

[Shootgun]

Exactly this. I am lucky on my main ground in usually being available to drive to the strike site and this is quick and minimises contamination.

View attachment 285360View attachment 285361

That's the way to do it

 

[finnbear270]

Where possible, suspended is preferable to on the ground, it's also how abattoirs operate, nothing done on the floor is there?. (After stunning, the animal is shackled by a hind leg and hoisted above the ground ...)

 

[Magnificent 7]

Where possible, suspended is preferable to on the ground, it's also how abattoirs operate, nothing done on the floor is there?. (After stunning, the animal is shackled by a hind leg and hoisted above the ground ...)

Unless using a cratch

 

[wytonpjs]

Unless using a cratch

Dictionary time

 

[Tim.243]

If no handy tree or other point to hang, I'll hang it back at the motor from the roof rack, just remember to rinse off any blood spots from the motor.

Or Fork lift....
Tripe knife the ribs right down to the chin tie off the poop tube and roll the lot half way take out the liver heart then
the rest is connected and cut off at chin...

 

[Magnificent 7]

Dictionary time