Hanging gutless, an experiment

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I’ve used the gutless method a couple times this fall (for the first time in 30 years of hunting) and am pretty happy that I discovered the process.

Tonight I shot a doe by my house (harvest, not hunt) and I thought why not bring the whole deer to my barn, hang it and do the gutless method without bending over and killing my back. Reason being I can keep my dog out of the guts and won’t invite a bunch of predators around my farm ducks.

Anyway, I hung by the neck, basically case skinned the deer and removed the quarters and backstraps as you would with the gutless method. Worked great and was great to do it hanging at eye level. Hanging from the neck, the guys did kind of put a lot of pressure on the lower abdomen , but careful knife work and it all went as planned. A bit more mess in the barn from not gutting and bleeding, but not terrible. I’ll definitely do it again.

Just a FYI in case someone wants to give it a try.


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N2TRKYS

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I haven't gutted a deer in years. I've never cleaned one with it hanging by its neck. That seems like a pain in the ass to do it that way. We always hang ours by the hind legs. It's a lot easier that way.
 
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C
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I’ve done it both ways, neck and hind legs. What I don’t like about hanging it by the legs, especially if removing the rear quarters, is the unbalance once you remove the first hind quarter. Everyone had their own way that irks best for them .


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bsnedeker

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Man, I just do not get the appeal of the gutless method. I practiced it last year on a whitetail that I got on my property...WAY harder than hanging it and gutting it, but I figured I needed practice for an elk.

My buddy got an elk down this year so we did the gutless method in the field. I nicked the guts trying to get the second rear quarter off (not bad, but still) and was ALMOST cutting into them a bunch on the other side. We finally got sick of it and just pulled the guts out to get the tenderloins so it was ultimately just a wasted effort.

Gutting takes 5 minutes and gets all of that mess out of the animal. I just don't see the point in trying to work around it. I know I must be missing something based on the nearly universal love of the gutless method...I just don't understand it at all!
 

5MilesBack

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I just don't see the point in trying to work around it. I know I must be missing something based on the nearly universal love of the gutless method...I just don't understand it at all!

You don't "work around" gutting it, you completely ignore or avoid it. Even if you leave the skin on you can avoid the gutting and quickly break down an elk. Fred Eichler has a great video showing that in under 10 minutes. For an animal I'm going to break down immediately, I don't gain anything by gutting it first. And if I did, then I've got all that slop laying there while I'm trying to break it down.

If I was going to hang an animal first, I'd probably want to stake down the legs to keep the body from swinging around so much while I'm working on it.
 

rayporter

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deer I usually gut around the house but I still hang them by the neck. far easier than hanging by the hind legs.

if out in a camp I go gutless.

we used to cut up five or six a night and had a system where we laid them in a v and skinned the legs down before we hung them. the hide came off easy and the front legs were off before the hide was off. backstraps next and then hind legs. tenders last. with 2 guys boning out the legs we kept them busy as all get out.

what I cant get is hanging them with the guts in. what a mess trying to get the guts into a tub. if there is an easy way I would like to know it.
 

N2TRKYS

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I’ve done it both ways, neck and hind legs. What I don’t like about hanging it by the legs, especially if removing the rear quarters, is the unbalance once you remove the first hind quarter. Everyone had their own way that irks best for them .


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I don’t notice an unbalance. I always debone the hindquarters while it’s hanging. Maybe that’s the issue?
 

N2TRKYS

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deer I usually gut around the house but I still hang them by the neck. far easier than hanging by the hind legs.

if out in a camp I go gutless.

we used to cut up five or six a night and had a system where we laid them in a v and skinned the legs down before we hung them. the hide came off easy and the front legs were off before the hide was off. backstraps next and then hind legs. tenders last. with 2 guys boning out the legs we kept them busy as all get out.

what I cant get is hanging them with the guts in. what a mess trying to get the guts into a tub. if there is an easy way I would like to know it.

That’s why hanging by the hind legs is easier. You don’t have to fool with the guts.
 

bsnedeker

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You don't "work around" gutting it, you completely ignore or avoid it.

Easier said than done my friend! When you are pulling off the hind quarter there is an EXTREMELY thin membrane between the meat and the guts. You absolutely have to "work around" that by not cutting into it because if you do there is a high chance for nicking the guts. I'm sure if you've done it a hundred times it's no big deal, but I'm not there.

To be honest, I find the disdain most western hunters display for gutting an animal to be extremely puzzling. They're just guts and they take almost no time to pull out and roll a few feet out of your working area. You would think you are pulling nuclear waste out of an animal the way some guys talk about it!

When you do the gutless method you don't get the flank meat (granted, not much usable meat, but still) and the tenderloins take way more effort to get out. I just don't get it!
 

bsnedeker

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I don’t notice an unbalance. I always debone the hindquarters while it’s hanging. Maybe that’s the issue?

That's how I do it too...I pull all of the roasts off the hind quarters, then once all of that is off I just disconnect the shanks and let everything else fall.
 

ljalberta

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I have done both ways and continue to do both ways. Bsnedeker, I don't think it's a disdain people have with gutting, I think it more has to do with the fact it doesn't really serve a purpose for many. If you're not taking out the heart, liver, ribs meat, or kidney, and you're just as comfortable harvesting the meat doing both methods, then gutting it serves no purpose other than wasting time. If there's a reason for gutting it, such as if you feel more confident with that method, then that makes sense, but otherwise I can't see a reason to. For me, I feel comfortable with both methods. I haven't had an issue working around the guts when doing the gutless method as you have mentioned. I also haven't had any issue retrieving tenderloins. I did gut two deer this year because I wanted to hang them though, and I will continue to do so in the future.
 
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I think white tail guys get alot more practice gutting does then western guys to.
It takes me quite a bit more time and effort for ME to gut an elk. I've gutted like 3 animals in my life.
And on the Bull I did it 17 by myself at the end of it I wished I had my energy back I had spent gutting him.
So it's just all about what you have experience with. I can go gutless pretty easy comparatively.
 

bsnedeker

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I think white tail guys get alot more practice gutting does then western guys to.
It takes me quite a bit more time and effort for ME to gut an elk. I've gutted like 3 animals in my life.
And on the Bull I did it 17 by myself at the end of it I wished I had my energy back I had spent gutting him.
So it's just all about what you have experience with. I can go gutless pretty easy comparatively.

That's a really good point I hadn't considered! That makes a lot of sense!
 

5MilesBack

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Easier said than done my friend! When you are pulling off the hind quarter there is an EXTREMELY thin membrane between the meat and the guts. You absolutely have to "work around" that by not cutting into it because if you do there is a high chance for nicking the guts.

When you do the gutless method you don't get the flank meat (granted, not much usable meat, but still) and the tenderloins take way more effort to get out. I just don't get it!

I mostly debone everything, so I normally don't worry much about working around the guts. And the tenderloins are easy with gutless. I leave those for last. I'll puncture the bottom of the gut cavity with a knife to let the air out, then it's easy to push all that out of the way and reach in and grab the tenderloins. It takes like a minute total for both sides.
 

bsnedeker

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I mostly debone everything, so I normally don't worry much about working around the guts. And the tenderloins are easy with gutless. I leave those for last. I'll puncture the bottom of the gut cavity with a knife to let the air out, then it's easy to push all that out of the way and reach in and grab the tenderloins. It takes like a minute total for both sides.

Ahh...so you are pulling individual muscle groups out, rather than taking the entire rear quarter off? I can see how that would pretty much avoid the guts entirely. I might try that if I ever get an elk down...but honestly I think I'll just gut the sumbitch!
 

5MilesBack

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I might try that if I ever get an elk down...but honestly I think I'll just gut the sumbitch!

The guts alone from a decent bull are probably bigger than most whitetails I've ever seen.;)

And if you want to cape it out, it's real easy to split the hide right down the backbone and skin it down and forward......and then debone it.
 

rayporter

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N2TRKYS
your goin to have to explain it to me in detail.

2 years ago I hunted with some guys that hung one by the hind legs and then gutted it into a tub. once the guts get down into the thoracic cavity they are real hard to get out.

if doing this I would rather debone it hanging then get out the tenders and leave the guts in it. the hardest part of deboning this way it getting the neck meat and brisket off.

if gutted in the field and hung by the neck you can debone from the top down and have a bunch of bones hanging pretty quick.
 

N2TRKYS

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your goin to have to explain it to me in detail.

2 years ago I hunted with some guys that hung one by the hind legs and then gutted it into a tub. once the guts get down into the thoracic cavity they are real hard to get out.

if doing this I would rather debone it hanging then get out the tenders and leave the guts in it. the hardest part of deboning this way it getting the neck meat and brisket off.

if gutted in the field and hung by the neck you can debone from the top down and have a bunch of bones hanging pretty quick.

No problem. What I do is probably more of a hybrid system than a gut or gutless method. I cut the belly/flank enough to get to the inner loins. The guts will sit in the rib cage and out of the way. So, I don't take the guts out(or even touch them), but I do cut through the flank. I'm sure I didn't explain that clearly.

Now, skinning hogs seem to be a lot faster than a deer for me. With it hanging, I cut around the legs like you would a deer. Then I take a gut hook and make 2-4" strips out of the hide. Hook the gut hook in the rings that you cut around the legs. Make your strips go all the way to the neck. Then grab the top part of these strips with a pair of pliers or catfish skinners and pull it off. It will pill right off. I haven't tried doing a deer this way. It may shave some time off of my deer skinning time.

Good luck this season.
 
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