Bush Butchery From NZ. New and Very Interesting Field Butchery.
- Thread starter lillico
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paul dillon
Well-Known Member
Interesting thanks for sharing 
Many might write this off by saying "its a different world" (in NZ) and there's little if anything compatible with DMQ Best Practice to be taken from the video.
This may have some truth for those intending to get their deer into the UK food chain but if you only have the option of home consumption and with zero facilities for breaking down a beast, then with a few 'adjustments' to his approach including greater care in the skinning process the video is worth watching.
Just keep in mind you're not wedded to his process and you need a hygienic means of transporting each cut from woods to vehicle. Safe and meaningful disposal of the bits you don't want including guts & pluck needs no less consideration. Chucking the ribcage and spine into a hedge for your dog to have a chew won't cut it!
K
This may have some truth for those intending to get their deer into the UK food chain but if you only have the option of home consumption and with zero facilities for breaking down a beast, then with a few 'adjustments' to his approach including greater care in the skinning process the video is worth watching.
Just keep in mind you're not wedded to his process and you need a hygienic means of transporting each cut from woods to vehicle. Safe and meaningful disposal of the bits you don't want including guts & pluck needs no less consideration. Chucking the ribcage and spine into a hedge for your dog to have a chew won't cut it!
K
Scarpa
Well-Known Member
I watched a good documentary here in Austria of a woman who hiked up a pretty large Alpine mountain and shot a red. She had to joint up the carcass on the hill then her and her husband who was waiting for the phonecall and came up had some massively heavy packs plus all the kit to cart off the mountain. Not for the faint hearted, there was a lot of steep ground to cover.
Rafter
Well-Known Member
There are some very relevant geographical difference between here and Europe/UK that make how we do it the sensible option for NZ - and of course your mileage will differ.
Unless you are shooting on the back of a farm, vehicles are almost never an option for carcase recovery. A million years ago when I was shooting commercially I carried huge weights over very rough ground - and now I've got the knees and back to remind me of it. For commercial purposes the carcase had to have the head off but ears attached, all of the digestive system out and the rest of the offal retained for TB testing. Nowadays the average guy can't commercial shoot due to tighter regs around time to a chiller, food handling courses etc. etc, so nearly all deer shot by Joe Public end up in their own fridge.
With that in mind, and given the nature of the country there is no point in carrying out skin or bones - so it gets left there. It will melt into the ground in short order, and in large parts of the country pigs will do the cleanup within a couple of days. I carry a couple of pillow cases in my pack, and once the meat is boned out it goes into them for the carry out. Typically I don't bother with hanging the deer up - and when Spring hunting above the tree line there isn't anything to hang it in anyway. With the deer laying on it's side, I'll make the first cut along the length of the spine and skin a flap down to expose the backsteak, and peel it off then lay it on a pillow case to cool. next I skin the back leg, cut the hock off and separate the leg from the carcass before it goes on the pillow case. The shoulder depends on bullet damage, and the state of my mince and sausage supplies at home. If it isn't too damaged, AND I need to stock up on mince or sausages I'll take it and the neck meat by the same process of flap skinning and boning, otherwise I'll just roll the carcase over and repeat the process on the other side. No gutting/gralloching required, and the process takes very little time. While the meat is cooling I'll have a drink, eat whatever food I've carried in then put the meat inside the pillowcases, put them into my pack, harden up and walk back to the car.
The sika in the below photo was 7km from my car (including 1.5km walking in a creek), and I was home in bed that night with all of the useable meat in the fridge. My vehicle is at the base of the ranges to the left of the branch of the bushes behind the deer - and there is no track, just a route I've figured out during 35 years hunting there.
NewForester
Well-Known Member
Are there any one here from the UK who skin and pack the meat out in a similar way to this and leave the carcass behind (rather than taking the whole deer with skin on the the larder)?
I did it once, a few years ago, with a Sika stag in a particularly "difficult" spot in dense commercial forestry. I've never had cause to do the same again but wouldn't shy away from it if circumstances dictated.
Nothing like as neatly as that I may add!
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Lot of folk pull a trigger and no intention of using carcass ...all worry about is a game dealer to offload it to and what price they get for it
Most of my stalking is roe so can carry it out in one piece minus gralloch
If reds id be using it myself not passing on to a dealer
So of i was doing more bigger deer species i wouldn't hesitate to field butcher
Paul.
Most of my stalking is roe so can carry it out in one piece minus gralloch
If reds id be using it myself not passing on to a dealer
So of i was doing more bigger deer species i wouldn't hesitate to field butcher
Paul.
Sheamus
Well-Known Member
When your turning over a number of Reds every week all you think about is off loading them.
The last thing i think about is cutting the back straps out and bagging up the haunches .
Just from a financial point it wouldn't make sense?
As from an environmental point of view. Several half butchered deer carcasses left on the ground wouldn't go down too well with the local Facebook crowd and that's a fact...
Rafter
Well-Known Member
mike308
Well-Known Member
I've done similar on one piece of ground I had. The ground was too rough for quad a bike. Most of the reds I shot were over a very steep bank with one part nearly vertical, so I jointed the deer and carried it out in a rucksack. A week later virtualy all the carcass had been eaten.
Very nice pulley setup.
I have a twin single pulley version with a jamming cleat from a yacht trapeze for the larger Roe that I shoot.
I've had successful surgery but the residual nerve damage from Carpal tunnel prevents me lifting big Roe above chest height.
Where did you get your waterproof and washable gralloch box from. It looks ideal. Is it used in another sport/activity?
I use a mini builders bucket for dropping the guts into for a hanging gralloch and charity bags for offal.
The game dealer doesn't like picking all those pine needles off the organs.
Interesting link - thanks for sharing
Will admit to being initially taken aback by the whole “I thought it was a stag but was probably just twigs” comment (& the apparent difference in attitudes towards positive ID) but I hadn’t realised that NZ doesn’t have any official closed seasons!
Will admit to being initially taken aback by the whole “I thought it was a stag but was probably just twigs” comment (& the apparent difference in attitudes towards positive ID) but I hadn’t realised that NZ doesn’t have any official closed seasons!Similar threads
