How to get gralloching experience?

Splinter14

Well-Known Member
Evening all,

As others have previously mentioned I am personally finding that the hardest part of stalking to become moderately good at is the gralloch. Like most people I would imagine, there is a fair bit of time between one outing and another for me and consequently being able to try grallochs. I feel frequent repetition is key to get the hold of it. I have thought about contacting local butchers or even asking the BDFPA to see if there are any local farms that may be able to help. Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks
 
Book yourself onto a park cull with someone I done one with Jelen deer services it was a good way to gralloch lots of animals we done a total of 40+ head mix of reds and fallow. Not everyone cup of tea but great for experience
good luck
regard steve
 
Yup are right, the best way is repetition. Through this forum I had a number of people take me out. We didn't always have success but it was nice to get out with others.
Getting out on a cull will definitely help because you will have to do a load.
Getting to meet local shooters is good. There are plenty of SD meets usually in the summer where you can get to know people who may be happy to take you out on a cull.
 
I volunteered to assist with the gralloching on a local deer park, you need someone experienced alongside to point you in the right direction and expect to be covered in blood afterwards.
atb Tim.
 
Youtube and also I did one with BDS which was only £40 but well worth it. Tbh I think its fairly common sense if your used to butchering other things and have basic knowledge of anatomy. Just think of them as big rabbits haha : D
 
Big rabbits...... not a bad idea..... it's simply a case of of what's inside has to come out!.... without making a mess and leaving a clean carcass at the end of it.
Just take your time and have a sharp knife that you're comfortable using... everyone does it different so find your own way.. as long as the carcass is left clean.

The jelen culls are a good idea, as is finding your local deer park and offering a hand and I'm sure there will be someone on here from your part of the world who'll sort you out
 
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get yourself a load of rabbits,same difference( only more of it,;)for the basics,that is),,,,,john robbo did one, big scott on here ,roe stalker ,and a full butchered one is scott rae,s all on utube,,,,there are a few courses available around jelen bds etc but before you pay x amount of money out ,as above practise ,if you can ,thats only assuming that you have never touched a carcase of course whatever the size is, atb doug,
 
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I'm not sure that gutting a rabbit quite is quite comparable to removing the head & feet from a deer and of course there is more than a little difference in weight!
 
gralloching a dear is like gralloching any other animal... lambs for example would be a good place to practice.
 
Evening all,

As others have previously mentioned I am personally finding that the hardest part of stalking to become moderately good at is the gralloch. Like most people I would imagine, there is a fair bit of time between one outing and another for me and consequently being able to try grallochs. I feel frequent repetition is key to get the hold of it. I have thought about contacting local butchers or even asking the BDFPA to see if there are any local farms that may be able to help. Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks


I went on a one day course at Sparsholt Agricultural College: https://www.sparsholt.ac.uk/courses/deer-carcass-handling/

They do their annual cull of their Sika herd and you get the chance to learn to gralloch under supervision. I found it very useful. After you have gralloched five or six Sika in succession, you start to get the hang of it! I felt pretty comfortable about doing the gralloch now. (They did a bit on butchery at the end, but not enough for me to feel that comfortable with it.)


Other agricultural colleges may do something similar.
 
Youtube and also I did one with BDS which was only £40 but well worth it. Tbh I think its fairly common sense if your used to butchering other things and have basic knowledge of anatomy. Just think of them as big rabbits haha : D

Depends how experienced you are though... if not used to butchering, no reference point
 
I went on a one day course at Sparsholt Agricultural College: https://www.sparsholt.ac.uk/courses/deer-carcass-handling/

They do their annual cull of their Sika herd and you get the chance to learn to gralloch under supervision. I found it very useful. After you have gralloched five or six Sika in succession, you start to get the hang of it! I felt pretty comfortable about doing the gralloch now. (They did a bit on butchery at the end, but not enough for me to feel that comfortable with it.)


Other agricultural colleges may do something similar.

Thanks for that link NF, I'll be having a look into that
 
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