Anyone use the gutless method on their Whitetails?

[Shrek]

I hang all my deer whole and still don't gut them. In fact , nobody in my club guts any deer. I skin and debone on the rack and never touch the guts. On the ground miles away from anything or on a rack in a southern deer club , there is no reason to gut an animal. When I am done all the meat is gone and the bones guts are all still connected. I will shoot a deer this next weekend and take a pic if I can remember.

 

[thru-hunter]

Did ya do it on your goat too??

Yes, both goats I worked on that trip were done gutless. Last animal I was involved with gutting was a caribou shot at last light and it was because we were leaving it till morning to butcher. Moose is the most miserable animal to quarter after gutting. Now days when I get a call from a buddy to go help cut one up the first thing I tell them is DON'T gut it! I rather enjoy chopping up moose with a couple buddies and wading through guts to do it takes a lot of the fun out of it!

I will say that the leftovers from gutless butchering a rabbit is pretty creepy looking. They look like some sort of nasty alien egg sack. I make it a point to dispose of them far from the parking area as I can't imagine what some poor tourist would think it was if they stumbled across it while walking their shitzu.

 

[LuJon]

Yes, both goats I worked on that trip were done gutless. Last animal I was involved with gutting was a caribou shot at last light and it was because we were leaving it till morning to butcher. Moose is the most miserable animal to quarter after gutting. Now days when I get a call from a buddy to go help cut one up the first thing I tell them is DON'T gut it! I rather enjoy chopping up moose with a couple buddies and wading through guts to do it takes a lot of the fun out of it!

I will say that the leftovers from gutless butchering a rabbit is pretty creepy looking. They look like some sort of nasty alien egg sack. I make it a point to dispose of them far from the parking area as I can't imagine what some poor tourist would think it was if they stumbled across it while walking their shitzu.

I have to disagree with moose being miserable to quarter after gutting. That makes no sense at all. Yes you already put forth extra effort to gut the animal but that doesn't make the quartering harder, how could it??? The moose is now lighter and easier to move around, so in what way could that make it harder to quarter. Wading in guts??? Move the freaking gut pile!

 

[thru-hunter]

I have to disagree with moose being miserable to quarter after gutting. That makes no sense at all. Yes you already put forth extra effort to gut the animal but that doesn't make the quartering harder, how could it??? The moose is now lighter and easier to move around, so in what way could that make it harder to quarter. Wading in guts??? Move the freaking gut pile!

No doubt trolls enjoy dragging gut piles around...

 

[Yellowknife]

I've done gutless on a variety of critters, but generally find myself gutting 90% of the time now days. I strongly prefer to skin hanging, and that is easier if the guts are gone on the animals I shoot, because:

A.) it gives me more time to do the recovery of a whole animal.

B.) makes them lighter and easier to handle.

A deer of course can be hung guts and all if you don't mind the little extra weight. But still, gutting a deer takes what? 10 minutes? A caribou is maybe 15 min if I drop my knife in the snow a couple of times. Gutless works fine, but gutting hardly qualifies as a difficult chore. Well, except on moose, but I prefer to gut them for different reasons.

Not to feed the troll here, but it IS easier to quarter a moose on the ground that has been gutted. Just did one like that this fall. In the case of a moose though I will strongly agree that it is a serious effort to gut them, and the gutpile is pretty tough to work around, so I have gone gutless a couple times when the situation seemed favorable. Usually though, I'm going for help on a moose, so will drop the guts just to eliminate the possibility of spoilage during the time required for recovery.

Yk

 

[luke moffat]

I've done gutless on a variety of critters, but generally find myself gutting 90% of the time now days. I strongly prefer to skin hanging, and that is easier if the guts are gone on the animals I shoot, because:

A.) it gives me more time to do the recovery of a whole animal.

B.) makes them lighter and easier to handle.

A deer of course can be hung guts and all if you don't mind the little extra weight. But still, gutting a deer takes what? 10 minutes? A caribou is maybe 15 min if I drop my knife in the snow a couple of times. Gutless works fine, but gutting hardly qualifies as a difficult chore. Well, except on moose, but I prefer to gut them for different reasons.

Not to feed the troll here, but it IS easier to quarter a moose on the ground that has been gutted. Just did one like that this fall. In the case of a moose though I will strongly agree that it is a serious effort to gut them, and the gutpile is pretty tough to work around, so I have gone gutless a couple times when the situation seemed favorable. Usually though, I'm going for help on a moose, so will drop the guts just to eliminate the possibility of spoilage during the time required for recovery.

Yk

I agree 100%, like I said I've tried it on all the animals I listed above, but on caribou and moose espeically I still prefer to roll the guts out. A 150-175 pound deer is a lot easier to move than a 400-500 pound caribou or a WAY heavy bull moose.

Its handy at times, but really its not that bad to rolls the guts out either. Just depends a lot on how and where the animal is positioned as well as the size. If I am skinning out an animal for a rug (bear or goat) it makes no sense to do the gutless method IMO at that point due to how the hide has to come off the animal from the belly out rather than caping like the back down.

Thru-Hunter, I can't believe you talked Blake into doing the gutless method on those goats you guys skinned for rugs, seems like if you already have the animal on its back to skin up the belly for a rug then you ought to just dump the guts then. He told me he's never done it and doesn't plan to when I joked about doing the gutless on his 58" moose right before dark 30 this year (instead we rolled the guys out of him and got back to it in the morning). Guess he has a bad memory.

 

[Ryan Avery]

Boys and Girls, the OP is asking about DEER. Man you Moose hunters!

 

[luke moffat]

Boys and Girls, the OP is asking about DEER. Man you Moose hunters!

moose plural of moose
Noun:
A large deer (Alces alces) with palmate antlers, a sloping back, and a growth of skin hanging from the neck. It is native to northern...


Sorry had to.

 

[Jared Bloomgren]

Most often I am doing gutless. Easier for me and less to do when I get home.

 

[JG358]

I use gutless even if I can get a vehicle close to the animal. I don't like gutting things. Waste of time and energy to gut

Same here.

 

[thru-hunter]

Unfortunately Luke, We never seem to get BIG bull moose so perhaps when I finally knock over a monster then I will change my mind. Honestly though on the cows and forkies by the time I cut off everything I can get to on one side things usually roll right over for me. Then again If I was a foot shorter and over 100lbs lighter I may rethink things.

I will definitely concede that there are some times that it is plenty easy to just gut. I am not against it if the terrain allows for the guts and the kill site to be easily separated.

 

[luke moffat]

Unfortunately Luke, We never seem to get BIG bull moose so perhaps when I finally knock over a monster then I will change my mind. Honestly though on the cows and forkies by the time I cut off everything I can get to on one side things usually roll right over for me. Then again If I was a foot shorter and over 100lbs lighter I may rethink things.

I will definitely concede that there are some times that it is plenty easy to just gut. I am not against it if the terrain allows for the guts and the kill site to be easily separated.

HAHA true. Just funny you are right there to roll the guts out and get the tender loins but you roll it over at that point to its belly to get the tenderloins?? Seems backwards to how I do the gutless atleast. We always leave the animal on the belly and hack off quarters backstarps and tenderloins while its still on its belly, not skin, quarter on its back and then roll it over to the belly last thing. Plus how do you get the ribs off, cut up the sterum and what not without getting involved with the guts a bit?? Gutless works great on when you can bone out ribs, but never been one to bone out ribs, especially when wheelers and trucks are involved with the retrieval.

 

[Yellowknife]

Gutless works great on when you can bone out ribs, but never been one to bone out ribs, especially when wheelers and trucks are involved with the retrieval.

Since this thread is already WAY off track.... I'll throw in something else I learned this year. As you know, boning out ribs on smaller animals is a slimy pain and leaves you with a pile if tiny little pieces of meat that are only good for burger. Like you, I avoid when possible. However, I figured out this year that if I brought the ribs back to camp "bone in", the next morning they can be boned out MUCH easier. Once it has had a chance to stiffen a bit, you can carefully slice the bone away from the meat with a sharp knife (as opposed to cutting the meat from the bone), leaving all the rib meat intact.

It leaves you with a single piece meat that that is suitable for grilling, etc. AND for the Alaska guys, doesn't leave any question about salvage in the mind of the trooper.

Maybe everybody does this, but hey, I just figured it out.

Yk

 

[2rocky]

over 1/2 miles from the truck down in a canyon, I'd do gutless on a jackrabbit!

 

[thru-hunter]

Since this thread is already WAY off track.... I'll throw in something else I learned this year. As you know, boning out ribs on smaller animals is a slimy pain and leaves you with a pile if tiny little pieces of meat that are only good for burger. Like you, I avoid when possible. However, I figured out this year that if I brought the ribs back to camp "bone in", the next morning they can be boned out MUCH easier. Once it has had a chance to stiffen a bit, you can carefully slice the bone away from the meat with a sharp knife (as opposed to cutting the meat from the bone), leaving all the rib meat intact.

It leaves you with a single piece meat that that is suitable for grilling, etc. AND for the Alaska guys, doesn't leave any question about salvage in the mind of the trooper.


Maybe everybody does this, but hey, I just figured it out.

Yk

Another option is keeping the ribs bone in then rubbing some seasoning on them and prop them up on a stick over a fire. Let it sit like that for a while and you can use your teeth to get the meat off the bone. Of course looking at your pic the required firewood appears pretty scarce.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

Pretty much if I kill it I use the gutless method.....not going to put a deer (let alone a moose) in a Dodge Neon.

 

[Matt Cashell]

I have used gutless on antelope when the Eastern MT rains hit, and driving to the critters was not an option. Never had trouble getting under the short ribs for the tenders.

Those that have experienced Eastern MT gumbo know what I mean when I say "not an option."

 

[ScottR_EHJ]

I lived in Gillette Wy for a few years, I know what you are talking about with that stuff. It's pretty miserable to be driving on.

 

[hflier]

I am going to give it a go on my next deer. I just shot a doe this week. but she was small, so it wasn't bad dragging her out. Where I am hunting is in some really thick stuff and I do not want to drag a decent size buck through that crap. It will also be good practice for Elk.

 

[LuJon]

No doubt trolls enjoy dragging gut piles around...

They also enjoy killing things... You should try it