Chest splitting follow on

[Popa ray]

Following on from my post regarding tools ect.
Its apparent that some stalkers cut the ribs one side of centre.
Is this a common practice.
Are game dealers ok with this.

I didn't consider this as an option as only dealing with roe, muntys and fallow where I split down the centre.

 

[VSS]

Following on from my post regarding tools ect.
Its apparent that some stalkers cut the ribs one side of centre.
Is this a common practice.
Are game dealers ok with this.

I didn't consider this as an option as only dealing with roe, muntys and fallow where I split down the centre.

I didn’t see any post suggesting that? Must've missed it
It wouldn't be common practice, I don’t think. Don’t know why anyone would?

 

[Popa ray]

I didn’t see any post suggesting that? Must've missed it
It wouldn't be common practice, I don’t think. Don’t know why anyone would?

Thanks for the reply.
It wasn't in a post.
If game dealers are ok then why not if it's much easier.
I may contact the dealer near me and ask his opinion as any reds will be going to him.
on reflection perhaps I should have just asked the game dealers first.

I hope this post doesn't start discussions that end in arguments as seems to happen sometimes.

 

[75]

Don’t know why anyone would?

I guess it's easier to cut a few ribs where they join sternum than go through the whole sternum end to end.

But I agree, I don't know anyone who does it and I hate it when I drift off centre even a touch!! It also makes it harder to make sure you get that last rib at the front of the rib cage (more an issue for suspended, but try cutting that once you've got the stomach / guts etc hanging over the top of it).

I hope this post doesn't start discussions that end in arguments as seems to happen sometimes.

I've rarely seen otherwise

 

[bogtrotter]

I always split down the centre , I have seen it done with a knife off centre it just doesn't look right usually done by those that don't have a saw to hand.
Splitting the chest can be done back in the larder or if you feel you need to do it at time of gralloch you can get a small hand saw that you can carry on your belt no more trouble than carrying a knife they do the job quite easily even on big stags.
Bushwear do one for around a tenner so no reason why anyone needs to cut them off centre.

 

[Mike1979]

Off centre is when you cock up and as 75 says, im royally annoyed if I go off centre at all and the last rib at the front of the chest needs to be cut centrally to make it easy to get everything out (I always aim for an arse to head suspended gralloch)

 

[homer]

If you cut the ribs off centre, you may struggle to use a chest expander, as there won't be any bone down one side to support the expander.

 

[VSS]

If you cut the ribs off centre, you may struggle to use a chest expander, as there won't be any bone down one side to support the expander.

And, if you were opening the chest as part of a suspended gralloch, there would be a very high chance of the rumen catching on jagged bone ends and spilling gut contents everywhere.

 

[Tim.243]

If you cut the ribs off centre, you may struggle to use a chest expander, as there won't be any bone down one side to support the expander.

Never found that to be the case from muntjac to reds

 

[homer]

Never found that to be the case from muntjac to reds

Wwll i know youd struggle with reds. If you have no rigid bone down one side of the rib cage, your chest expander has nothing solid to rest on. Possibly depends on how wide the expander is.

 

[Tim.243]

Wwll i know youd struggle with reds. If you have no rigid bone down one side of the rib cage, your chest expander has nothing solid to rest on. Possibly depends on how wide the expander is.

With respect how can you possibly comment on what I can or or cannot do ?

 

[homer]

With respect how can you possibly comment on what I can or or cannot do ?
Sorry to have offended you

 

[Buchan]

I didn’t see any post suggesting that? Must've missed it
It wouldn't be common practice, I don’t think. Don’t know why anyone would?

The costo-chondral junction is just cartilage, so easier to cut through

 

[Leec6.5]

And, if you were opening the chest as part of a suspended gralloch, there would be a very high chance of the rumen catching on jagged bone ends and spilling gut contents everywhere.

Not if you split it he chest first, then your not struggling to hold the green in and risking a split!

I’ve done it that way for donkeys years that way.

Split the chest, unzip the belly and roll the whole lot out in one go!

 

[Tim.243]

Not if you split it he chest first, then your not struggling to hold the green in and risking a split!

I’ve done it that way for donkeys years that way.

Split the chest, unzip the belly and roll the whole lot out in one go!

Quite, find the soft joint at the sternum cut down it then as you say release the diaphragm after tying the poop tube and out it comes in one hit.
Limp wristed faggots Lee

 

[VSS]

Not if you split it he chest first, then your not struggling to hold the green in and risking a split!

I’ve done it that way for donkeys years that way.

Split the chest, unzip the belly and roll the whole lot out in one go!

Even if you split the chest first, if there's jagged bone ends then there's a high risk of puncturing something.

But I agree with you, in so far as trying to hold green in while splitting the chest is a dumb way to go about it.

 

[Freeforester]

Although it of course looks better presentation-wise to have an equidistant central cut down through the sternum, if the carcass is cut leaving the sternum in one piece and the cut along the base of each rib, once the butchery begins you’ll find it is easier and quicker to recover more meat from the sternum. Just saying, no offence intended to anyone doing it either way, and whether butchering or merely selling on.

On a red deer that recoverable meat is sufficiently significant to make the effort to do so worthwhile, from both inside and outside of the sternum, and once the whole sternum is removed by snipping the ribs at the soft cartilage join, you have something to work on in one piece. It may only be for mince, but ‘the red bit is the gold’.

An ‘Aiberdeenshire’ observation, borne of experience!

 

[VSS]

Although it of course looks better presentation-wise to have an equidistant central cut down through the sternum, if the carcass is cut leaving the sternum in one piece and the cut along the base of each rib, once the butchery begins you’ll find it is easier and quicker to recover more meat from the sternum. Just saying, no offence intended to anyone doing it either way, and whether butchering or merely selling on.

On a red deer that recoverable meat is sufficiently significant to make the effort to do so worthwhile, from both inside and outside of the sternum, and once the whole sternum is removed by snipping the ribs at the soft cartilage join, you have something to work on in one piece. It may only be for mince, but ‘the red bit is the gold’.

An ‘Aiberdeenshire’ observation, borne of experience!

What would be the best tool for that job, to be sure of keeping to the line of cartilage joints, and not drift off to one side and create a jagged bone ends? Perhaps a pair of those chest shear things?

 

[Freeforester]

Just so. Löwe, or other anvil-type shears.

 

[Grand Slam]

Just so. Löwe, or other anvil-type shears.

@Game Larder stock those very items, Cutting Shears - Game Larder
They also do a larger version. Yet to try them but may give them a go.