I've used the gutless method on moose, caribou and deer. I really like it.
I wonder where folks make the first, main cut. I cut the center of the belly and then skin the legs. I take the top legs off and the top loin off. Then, I fold the skin back over that half and flip the animal over on the other side.
I see a lot of videos of folks making the first cut along the spine and then working down to the belly.
So I've only done it twice, both times it was cold as hell! I've done it leaving the hide on once and skinning once, don't remember where I started. But what I do remember is I thought next time I'm talking the back straps out first because I kind of messed up the tag end of the back strap taking the hind quarter off first. In my day dreams lately, I skin from bottom up and lay the boned out meat onto the skin, bag that up and then flip and do the other side.
I cut at the belly, from just above the genitals to the neck and peel up to the spine, working around the legs as I go. Once you get it skinned all the way to the spine, lay it out and it makes a nice surface to set meat on as you quarter. It especially helps keep the backstraps clean, as they have the skin between them and the ground as you remove them.
I've always done front leg, back leg, then back strap, flip and repeat. Lastly, the tender loins. However, now I'm thinking about trying from the "top down" method. Thanks for pointing this out and great photos too, cnelk.
The main advantage at starting from the spine is you reduce the chance of accidentally cutting into the guts by starting at the belly area. I've done both ways & still start at the legs & stomach, works for for me!
I have always started at the spine. No particular reason just started out that way. Things I do now after doing several. 1--Take the front shoulder off first and get out of the way. I used to try and get backstrap first, It runs up under the front shoulder farther than you think. 2-- I have cut myself several times reaching in to get tenderloins off. You try to get every little bit of it and reach in with knife to cut it and bingo your cut. Be careful. 3-- There is a small flatiron type steak in that front shoulder wad, Google it they are awesome. 4-- Im getting one of those cut proof gloves that was recommended one here. I use one of the Havalon knives now. They are dangerous.
I looked for one in Wal-Mart as was mentioned but couldn't find one. Going to keep looking. I think one slip up with that scalpel knife across the wrist, by yourself, nobody knows where your at, few miles from any roads........
Spine: as mentioned, no chance of cutting body cavity and into the guts. Always cut from base of skull toward tail: try it and you'll see that it cuts much less hair loose, so less hair gets on the meat. Cutting from tail to neck tends to cut the based of hairs that get all over everything.
If not saving cape, go from the cut along spine straight along the outside of the legs and peel from there. If saving cape you want to cut well behind the front legs to leave plenty of hide to wrap on the form, especially for a pedestal/wall pedestal mount.
IMO cutting from the belly side defeats the entire purpose of doing gutless method. You risk making a mess and you have to roll the animal around a lot more (wasted effort) than if you start from the back.
Mostly I do the spine and only once have I just cut the quarters off with the hide on.
I then hung them in a tree and skinned. It was a big 6 and I was alone. This method actually kept the meat cleaner and made it a lot easier to get the quarters in the meat bags.
I always start on the front side of a hind leg near the bottom of the shank. The skin and hair are thinner on the lower legs and I find it easier to keep the blade sharp for a longer time if I don't have to cut through a bunch of hair while skinning.
Somebody mentioned cutting yourself when getting the tenderloins. What works great for us is to save this until the end, then when you don't care open the guts up just enough to pull a little bit of it out and open it up so you can reach in to the tenderloins. It relieves the pressure and you can get your hands in there easily.
Cutting from the belly doesn't really change anything as opposed to cutting from the spine. You move it around the same amount. Skin and quarter one side, roll it over, do the other side. Unless you are careless with skinning it's not difficult to skin the belly without puncturing the guts. Initial incision, pull up on the skin and make a hole. From there, pull up on the skin as you go and it creates a small space between the skin and body cavity lining.
To slice from the belly you have to get the elk more on its back or at least lift the legs (2 person job or ropes). To start from the back it can be done exactly as the elk has fallen in almost all cases. You don't have to flip it to the other side until the meat from the upper side has been removed, so the weight is only half to flip over.
I've been doing the gutless since way before it was even called gutless and can't imagine wanting to do it from the belly side. Now if you want to save the hide for a rug or something that's a different story, which I've done several times, but it's a pain compared to splitting down the back.
Nah. We just leave the elk laying on it's side and slice up the belly. No need to roll the elk until you remove everything from the top side, agreed.
You have to lift the legs at some point regardless of where you start skinning, just to get the skin off the inside of and under their legs.
Like I said above, it doesn't really matter. Breaking down an animal isn't rocket science. Take the skin off somehow, remove the quarters and other meat, bag it and hike out.
Skin back leg to belly to front leg. Flip it all over. Then when pulling and cutting the quarters back and off you don't have to worry about the quarter sliding into the dirt as you got the skin flap to catch it.
I've done it both ways and have settled on the spine method. It seems easier to deal with the legs, etc when coming from the spine down as opposed to the belly up. As said though it's personal preference really.
I like working down from the spine to avoid the guts as much as physically possible. I hate the guts and want to avoid accidentally breaching that area at all costs. I am sure you have seen the video which chit goes wrong in this regard..........
I start at the spine and skin down towards the belly. Take back strap, shoulder, neck, then hind. Flip and repeat. Last thing I do is go in for the inside tenderloins.
I've only done one elk and several deer. I followed elk101's method and worked from the belly up. You don't have to cut up the center of the belly. You leave all that skin attached to the carcass.
Go from the spine and you only have to skin down as far as you want/need to. If you're caping you'll be making a dorsal cut anyway. If the spine is uphill it's a no brainer IMO. Makes tenders much easier with gravity taking the gut pressure off them too. Like to start with front shoulder as stated above. Backstrap is more exposed and taking it off next tends to give more room to work around the hind quarters. Some folks like to leave bone in but we normally hang the quarters and debone them too. We're set up to handle formless meat.
Going from the belly seems a throwback habit to gutting, dragging, hanging and skinning. Or "classic" quartering/splitting when using horses, etc. The way we've always done it kind of thing. But it certainly works.
Obviously more than one way to skin a.....elk?
Like to have a shot at skinning a politician or three though....
