Chest splitting follow on

[VSS]

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

Assuming this was being done at the larder rather than in the field, would there be any benefit to cutting down both sides and lifting the whole sternum out at this stage?

 

[Game Larder]

@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.

Thanks for the mention @Grand Slam! There’s also the Skinning and gralloching knife with saw which is a very handy multi tasking tool in the gralloching/skinning/chest splitting arena.

 

[Jagged77]

I just split the chest in the field as part of a suspended gralloch (Roe), makes a cleaner job to get it all out in the field and into a clean roe sack. I just go straight down with my knife. Once back at the larder I split the pelvis with a saw and remove the anus and bladder. Clean and easy with minimal larder clean up too.

 

[Grand Slam]

I just split the chest in the field as part of a suspended gralloch (Roe), makes a cleaner job to get it all out in the field and into a clean roe sack. I just go straight down with my knife. Once back at the larder I split the pelvis with a saw and remove the anus and bladder. Clean and easy with minimal larder clean up too.

Very much like yourself, I am fortunate enough to be able to carry out a suspended gralloch on all the deer I shoot and always split the chest before lowering into the truck. The pelvis remains intact until butchering. Anus is removed as part of the gralloch along with the bladder, although pretty sure I read somewhere on here that some Game dealers want the bladder leaving in so it dries up a bit and reduces the risk of contamination on the carcass.

 

[wytonpjs]

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).

So don’t cut the chest before you unzip the guts. That way you have a free hand to steady the carcass when sawing

Having had the error of my ways pointed out to me many years by a esteemed colleague, I now always feel up the sternum to the top V-shape cartilage, cut the fur with a small nick downwards, switch blade to unzipped, run that down to chin, reverse the blade to cut the meat covering the sternum to create a saw line, and the saw that downwards. Only then do I open up the abdomen and lower the guts. It done rightly, on does/hinds I end up with a head still connected to the oesophagus and windpipe with all the red and green organs attached.

 

[VSS]

So don’t cut the chest before you unzip the guts. That way you have a free hand to steady the carcass when sawing

Having had the error of my ways pointed out to me many years by a esteemed colleague, I now always feel up the sternum to the top V-shape cartilage, cut the fur with a small nick downwards, switch blade to unzipped, run that down to chin, reverse the blade to cut the meat covering the sternum to create a saw line, and the saw that downwards. Only then do I open up the abdomen and lower the guts. It done rightly, on does/hinds I end up with a head still connected to the oesophagus and windpipe with all the red and green organs attached.

For a suspended gralloch I would cut through the sternum while the animal was still on the ground, and then do the rest once it was hanging.

 

[Tim.243]

For a suspended gralloch I would cut through the sternum while the animal was still on the ground, and then do the rest once it was hanging.

That is double handling, (putting dirt in piles with a shovel then shovelling it in the barrow )
Up in the air and get it done

 

[Ruby Tuesday 2]

I wouldn’t say it’s double handling. They tend to be on the ground after I’ve shot them.

 

[Rural Management Services]

Thanks for the mention @Grand Slam! There’s also the Skinning and gralloching knife with saw which is a very handy multi tasking tool in the gralloching/skinning/chest splitting arena.

Just bought one of these as it looks very useful for the upcoming for season.

 

[wytonpjs]

Just bought one of these as it looks very useful for the upcoming for season.

The saw section looks to be in the wrong place to me - too far down the blade. When sawing a chest open I invariably use the el cheapo Bushwear saw and try to maker the minimum depth stroke possible. otherwise you puncture the heart et al.

 

[Tim.243]

I wouldn’t say it’s double handling. They tend to be on the ground after I’ve shot them.

Given VSS suffers from chronic pain then the less work the better scrabbling around on the ground.
I'm using CBD oil. In vape form. For severe chronic pain.

 

[Rural Management Services]

The saw section looks to be in the wrong place to me - too far down the blade. When sawing a chest open I invariably use the el cheapo Bushwear saw and try to maker the minimum depth stroke possible. otherwise you puncture the heart et al.

The blade looks like more of a rescue knife style cutting edge than a saw. For years I used a folding seatbelt cutter with a similar blade style to unzip and split the chests on muntjac, roe and small/medium fallow. All done in basically one motion from pelvis to chin in one long cut. Lost the thing though and it was a touch small for fallow. This is about 2” longer and won’t have the folding cleaning issues.

 

[Tim.243]

The saw section looks to be in the wrong place to me - too far down the blade. When sawing a chest open I invariably use the el cheapo Bushwear saw and try to maker the minimum depth stroke possible. otherwise you puncture the heart et al.

They work just fine Peter been using my F.Dick one on Big fallow and reds at the tail end of last season and since the start of this one.
(if you shoot it in the right place then the heart will be toast )

 

[JockStalk]

Reds done in the larder but I find this handy for roe

Hultafors Rescue Knife OKR GH

The Hultafors Rescue Knife with friction grip and serrated blade is optimised for cutting through hard or tough surfaces as well as ropes and strapping band especially where tension to the material is applied. Hultafors Rescue Knife OKR GH

heinnie.com

 

[shotguntom]

I just split the chest with a tripe knife whilst doing a suspended grollach and keep going all the way down the neck in one movement. As you then cut the diaphragm, gravity does its job and everything comes out very easily.