No Gambrel Suspended Gralloch

[BP75]

Just a tip for doing a suspended gralloch without the need of any other kit than a knife.

After bleeding as usual and tying off both the food pipe and back passage.


Hock each real leg and cut at flat joint but leave tendon fully attached.


Put the now mobile leg through


simply hang from a nearby tree.


Appreciate everyone has their own way of doing things but this is what I tend to do now after seeing someone else do it on YouTube and it is really straightforward and produces a lovely clean carcass.

 

[Paul 600]

Just a tip for doing a suspended gralloch without the need of any other kit than a knife.

After bleeding as usual and tying off both the food pipe and back passage.

View attachment 216059
Hock each real leg and cut at flat joint but leave tendon fully attached.

View attachment 216063
Put the now mobile leg through

View attachment 216060
simply hang from a nearby tree.

View attachment 216061
Appreciate everyone has their own way of doing things but this is what I tend to do now after seeing someone else do it on YouTube and it is really straightforward and produces a lovely clean carcass.

You are sticking a dirty foot through the rear tendon. This contaminates the shank.

You would be better of using a stick through the tendons of the toes (same place pigs are hung) as this contamination is removed when you remove the feet. That or just hang from one foot with a small butchers S hook.

I use a small loop of Dynema.

 

[BP75]

Have to disagree, there’s no contamination there that worries me.

 

[Tim.243]

Just a tip for doing a suspended gralloch without the need of any other kit than a knife.

After bleeding as usual and tying off both the food pipe and back passage.

View attachment 216059
Hock each real leg and cut at flat joint but leave tendon fully attached.

View attachment 216063
Put the now mobile leg through

View attachment 216060
simply hang from a nearby tree.

View attachment 216061
Appreciate everyone has their own way of doing things but this is what I tend to do now after seeing someone else do it on YouTube and it is really straightforward and produces a lovely clean carcass.

I have just picked up some 6mm stainless and will be making a S hook shape to a pattern I have in my brain,
The object is to have the hook and piece of cord in a loop so it will fit in my back/coat pocket and just hang the muntjac off one leg. The cord is a back if the limb is to big, then I can use the cord around the limb.

Seen your way done also the NZ lads do a version to carry out pigs/deer

 

[bogtrotter]

You don't need any kit otner than a knife, you forgot the tree, I'll get my coat.

 

[lochty]

What do you do if there are no trees?

 

[BP75]

What do you do if there are no trees?

Same as you do…..do it on the deck.
Suspended gralloch isn’t the be all end all, it’s just another option and I was just showing that it can be an option without having to take any other kit than a knife.

 

[VSS]

What do you do if there are no trees?

You get your gun bearer to hold the animal up by its hind legs while one of your native porters does the gralloch. Meanwhile, you sit on a rock, smoke a pipe, and admire the view.

 

[VSS]

You get your gun bearer to hold the animal up by its hind legs while one of your native porters does the gralloch. Meanwhile, you sit on a rock, smoke a pipe, and admire the view.

"But what if there are no rocks?"
.
.
.
(I just thought I'd get that quip in before anyone else does).

 

[tozzybum]

A beaters belt through through the joints wrapped across 2 porters necks should do the job .
And another on all 4,s for u to sit on whilst you finish your pipe.

 

[Tim.243]

Same as you do…..do it on the deck.
Suspended gralloch isn’t the be all end all, it’s just another option and I was just showing that it can be an option without having to take any other kit than a knife.

Unless you went by magic carpet....then hooked on the side of the the truck...

 

[Freeforester]

View attachment 216075
Have to disagree, there’s no contamination there that worries me.

Look carefully at the size of the incision at the shank, and compare with diameter of the hanging hooks: any cut larger than necessary simply results in an access point for flies to crawl into, lay their eggs, and do their thing. Seen it dozens of times, and usually the hapless practitioner, when asked as to why they cut such a large hole, are a bit confused in the first instance, as it does not generally register. Try leaving an in skin deer with such an incision in the open for an hour at this time of the year, and you’ll soon find out where the flies lay their eggs.

Heres one he prepped earlier, and skinned later, after a week in the skin:


The lower end 3” of the shank is cut off and discarded, the meat having been saved. The knife should be inserted with the point and blade toward the foot, and not the haunch, so the resulting incision only goes away from the meat, to avoid any dirt or hair being inadvertently introduced.

An alternative is as Paul 600 suggests which satisfies all is to lengthen the incision on one of the lower legs to permit the passing of one foot through the other, thereafter the hock incision can be made back at the larder, just immediately prior to chilling the carcass. In either event, the hock hanging incision need only be fractionally larger than the diameter of the hook or gambrel used to hanging the carcass.

 

[JockStalk]

And ‘from a friends experience’ don’t suspend by S hooks from a handy branch. The branch might break, embedding the S hooks in your face like a particularly passionate snake bite.
Just sayin, could happen.

 

[Klenchblaize]

Did you find yourself having to turn the beast around on the hanging branch when commencing the tunneling work as it was too close to the tree to get behind it? Looks rather cramped to me:

K

 

[BP75]

Look carefully at the size of the incision at the shank, and compare with diameter of the hanging hooks: any cut larger than necessary simply results in an access point for flies to crawl into, lay their eggs, and do their thing. Seen it dozens of times, and usually the hapless practitioner, when asked as to why they cut such a large hole, are a bit confused in the first instance, as it does not generally register. Try leaving an in skin deer with such an incision in the open for an hour at this time of the year, and you’ll soon find out where the flies lay their eggs.

Heres one he prepped earlier, and skinned later, after a week in the skin:

View attachment 216107
The lower end 3” of the shank is cut off and discarded, the meat having been saved. The knife should be inserted with the point and blade toward the foot, and not the haunch, so the resulting incision only goes away from the meat, to avoid any dirt or hair being inadvertently introduced.

An alternative is as Paul 600 suggests which satisfies all is to lengthen the incision on one of the lower legs to permit the passing of one foot through the other, thereafter the hock incision can be made back at the larder, just immediately prior to chilling the carcass. In either event, the hock hanging incision need only be fractionally larger than the diameter of the hook or gambrel used to hanging the carcass.

Appreciate your point but it’s a solution to a problem I don’t tend to have.
Last nights buck was skinned and hanging in my chiller within an hour of being shot.
The larger cuts are to make it easier for my spade hands.
I’ll give the options suggested a whirl though and see how it goes.

 

[BP75]

Did you find yourself having to turn the beast around on the hanging branch when commencing the tunneling work as it was too close to the tree to get behind it? Looks rather cramped to me:
View attachment 216108
K

Both the food pipe and back passage are done and tied off on the ground first, I am too used to doing it like that to change.

 

[Paul 600]

View attachment 216075
Have to disagree, there’s no contamination there that worries me.

The feet walk through mud etc. Threading the feet through any incision will cross contaminate that area. No different to handling a carcass with muddy hands.

 

[NullMac]

Same as you do…..do it on the deck.
Suspended gralloch isn’t the be all end all, it’s just another option and I was just showing that it can be an option without having to take any other kit than a knife.

And nobody has died yet. Despite dragging the damn thing without a girly cart, or winching it up onto scaffolding attached to the tow hitch.

Small cuts

 

[NullMac]

Threading the feet through any incision will cross contaminate that area.

Bollocks.

 

[willowbank]

You get your gun bearer to hold the animal up by its hind legs while one of your native porters does the gralloch. Meanwhile, you sit on a rock, smoke a pipe, and admire the view.

Sounds like stalking in Guy Wallace’s day