First deer soo many questions plz help
Connecticut
Hi my name is Shawn and I have some questions hopefully someone can answer. I have been a hunter my whole life but this year is my first being the shooter. I got my first deer a couple days after opening day this year. She was a beautiful 120lb doe.. I shot her a little back and did get her lung but unfortunately got the gut to.. Being my first deer to gut I did not know the importance of having a really nice knife. I had a Winchester with a gut hook and what a nightmare. When I started to gut her the knife was so dull I accidentally punctured the bladder. And from the gut shot it was a shitty mess.. Literally. I strongly believe in if your a hunter and want to take an animals life you had better eat it.. I paid 90 to have her butchered. Tonight I had the tenderloin and when I cut into them I swear I could smell the contamination. I dont eat much meat at all but I would love to figure out a way to eat the meat. I think the gutting smelling soo bad affected me into thinking the meat wad bad. Plz help with your opinion and venison recipes..
I here Hillary carries hot sauce in her purse. Lol But seriously, even if the paunch was spilled how could that effect the tenderloins. If its mind over matter just use it all for chilli with plenty cayenne pepper.
Anytime I've gut shot a deer I would always rinse it out with water from the hose while it was hanging.
I do a lot on the grill..throw in a crap load of black pepper and some wortshire let it sit most of the day...i think its in your head now.i drank almost a 1/5 of scotch and passed out when i was a kid..cant touch the stuff now,cant evev take the smell
"a hunter my whole life"
And how long has that been?
"a really nice knife"
I think what you mean is sharp.
"this year is my first being the shooter"
And what did you learn from the other person who was the shooter?
"When I started to gut her the knife was so dull I accidentally punctured the bladder."
In other words, you didn't know what you were doing, right? We've all been there,so, my advice is find a mentor to walk you through the process, you should have been learning previously.
Your starting cut probably sliced open the teat. The bladder is tucked up in the pelvis, and puncturing it would require you to be using at least a six inch blade, to free the anus, got it?
General rule of thumb I use is if a deer is gut shot or has spilled guts I don't eat the inside tenderloins.....other than that everything else should be fine. Buy a Havalon knife
Shawn
did you puncture the bladder and have urine spilling onto the meat, or the bowels and have the "shitty mess" you're referring to? Two very different things.
Either way, you should have washed the entire abdominal cavity with water ASAP after it happened. I'm sure other hunters will tell you that even if you didn't hit the bladder, it sometimes ruptures when trying to remove it spilling urine onto the meat.
I would suggest you go to youtube and watch a video on field dressing a deer, it's great help to inexperienced shooters.
And sharpen your knife. I use 2 different whetstones with oil, but if you're not sure how to do that there are plenty of carbide sharpeners out there that just require you to drag your blade across the "V" opening. I prefer the stones myself, get a sharper edge and you have more control.
Congrats on the deer, now educate yourself on how to take care of the next one.
Ditto everyone.
Not sure if this works without pics, so as others said, hit up youtube.
If you are dressing a deer, dont "stab" into the abdoment - at any point. pinch the skin with one hand, and cautiously push the blade through parallel to the body cavity to cut the skin. Now you can see the underlying fat. gently slice at that a few times - going deeper each time. You will get through, and see intestine want to pop out. Now stick a few fingers in there, to run BETWEEN your knife and the organs. Work up the body cavity. Once you have a good "hole" put the knife down and reach in with your hands to pull out what you can. with those organs outyou can start to gently work in there to cut out the parts that are stubborn (liver some times, lungs, rectum etc.
Dont think of it as "dressing" think of it as a necropsy - animal autopsy - to figure out what killed the deer.
ASAP when you get home hose out the cavity well. This reduces the temp of the animal and cleans the blood and anything else out - win-win.
Bear in mind that deer is not cow. It wont taste the same. It tastes a little more like sheep. if you are unsure of the flavor on a specific deer (they do taste different - at least a little), then marinate steaks or grind for chilli and meat sauce. In those scenario's you can make it taste pretty much like whatever you want.
In your situation, the only meat that could have been impacted is the "tenderloins" on the inside of the cavity - the psoas and illiopsoas muscles. I guess if you are unsure, dont eat those... The rest of the deer should be good to go.
Congrats on your first deer... I agree with bbb watch a you tube video ASAP... And take ur time while field dressing a deer... having a nice sharp knife is very important...
Keep your chin up...
Get the Outdoor Edge Swing Blade (attached link). Best deer dressing knife I've owned. I suggest getting the one with the blaze orange handle so its easy to locate if you put down during evening or you leave behind.
You didn't do anything wrong. Deer taste exactly like they smell. That's why so many people make them into hamburger chops chili stews etc.
Some great advice on here about washing out the cavity. Just make sure you also dry the cavity after you get water in there.
All good advice. Learn from it . Move on for the next one with what you have learned. Teach others that may be new or inexperienced from your mistakes that you made, so they are prepared.
THIS LINK MIGHT BE HELPFUL
https://youtu.be/_k9WBwHr5rM
Will, great description. If anyone finds, or makes, a good field dressing video let me know. I'll use it in Hunter Ed classes.
May have to try to make one myself.
One point: what was the shot angle? To hit all those organs, would be unusual.
I use one of those butt out things,stick it in ,1/2 turn,slide out intestine a foot,tie it off..then the rest like Will said..easier for me to de rectumize when i go home...hehe
FWIW- I know a guy from the UK who was a professional deer hunter for a good number of years - shot thousands and thousands of deer for the market over there.
And he would sooner throw out a carcass than wash it, because it would save him the trouble of the washing.... and once washed, he'd have no choice BUT to send it to the landfill.
If you gut-shoot a deer, then the gut-less dressing technique is the way to go. Worst case scenario, you lose a pound and a half of tenderloin, and everything else stays clean.
I don't believe any meat even gets touch by the gut matter anyway. The hindquarters are covered in skin and fur. It's possible the inner loins get some but not the outer loins. Eat away.
Not true!! A gut shot deer tastes the same as any other shot deer, as long as you recover it in a reasonable amount of time and clean thoroughly it right away. Don't over think this...
a gut shot deer left over night might have a twang to it if it isn't really cold .Steve
Thank you very much everyone for your responses and opinions. I shot her about 15 yards away just a little back.. My bow is a Jennings firestar and is set at 46lbs. I'll upload my pics of her. I have been hunting with my father since I was a kid. I have spent countless hrs and days in the woods. Unfortunately with all that time I was only able to see one doe taken by bow.. My father unfortunately fell to the disease of alcoholism and will not step foot in the woods with me.. I am totally alone on this one. She we gutted his deer of course it didn't smell great but nothing like mine.. Thanks soo much everyone on the congrats and pov's.. Plz keep them coming
This is a pic of her. Still trying to figure everything out
This is the first pic I took of her.. Not gutted but clearly bloated. I shot her at 730 and this was at 930
I've also heard soo much about rinsing out a deer. Many people say do it but many people say dont. They say the water carries bacteria and the water could actually affect the meat.. Any thoughts??
Most of your meat isn't showing inside the cavity so it should be fine provided it's cool or cold out. Bacteria starts to grow in a warm environment so if you do wash out use cold water. I highly suggest you learn to cut your deer up its easy. I have cut up deer without even gutting them before. Besides your tenderloins and rib meat the rest of the meat is located on the front Shoulders and hind end and on the deers back. A lot of people believe in hanging deer for a day or two but I cut up asap and the meat is great.
I would love to learn to butcher my own deer. Not only for knowledge but to save $90 each deer.. The day I shot her was Sept 17th and it was about 65degrees out. From she I shot her at 730 it took till 11:00 to get her in the freezer at the butcher(Salem prime cuts). So it was about 3.5 hrs from shooting her until the butcher.
There is plenty of How To's on YouTube, for both field dressing and butchering. Everyone has their own way so look at a few and figure out what would work best for you.. Also there should be field dressing guidance in your bowhunter education materials. Hopefully you still have them. Read up on the procedures. I actually punctured the stomach of the buck I got last year by accident. It happens. However, I recognized it immediately and I was able to limit any contamination to a two inch section of the hide. The important thing is to not panic and make a bad situation worse. As far as butchering goes, you won't know until you try, so try. You didn't just start riding a bike when you were a kid, you fell a lot at first. Yes you will mess up some cuts, so you'll end up with some prime stew or ground meat. But you will learn and get better. My wife does not like seeing the animal so I get it butchered, but I did a few on my own in my younger days. You'll figure it out. If it's too daunting then shell out the $90.
shawnm
a simple way to butcher a deer is to bone it out. I say simple because you don't need a bone saw. Find a video and you'll see what I mean.
Sawzall with a bi metal blade works great
notme - of course you mean a CLEAN blade and not the one you just got done using to cut the exhaust off your car, right?
Thanks guys for the great info.. I have watched many videos on gutting and butchering in the past week. Also I went to dicks and bought a Buck folding 110 hunter knife. I'm now looking for a nice bone saw. It's hard to butcher a deer seeing how I live in an apartment complex but I'm going to see if my friend will let me hang it there and give it a shot. Thanks once again for all the great information. I realm appreciate it
Was i suppose to clean those ? Ooooh ok,a freshly washed demo blade would be better if germs is your concern
A standard hack saw will go through bone nicely.. Just make sure you don't get the painted saw blades. Give the blades a coat of corn oil after you clean then and wipe off the excess to prevent rusting.
I like to use the "Butt Out" for field dressing. You don't need to cut the pelvis in half.
A sharp knife is a must. I like the gut hooks.
You can age in a cooler with a drain hole after you quarter it, just make sure to keep ice in it and leave the drain open
You don't need a bone saw you can just debone, But I would spring for a meat grinder. You can get a used one off craigslist or Ebay.
What part of the state do you live in? I would be more than happy to have you come over and help me butcher my deer.
If you wash the deer out with water just dry it with paper towel never had a problem
I live in Groton. That would be great. I would greatly appreciate that and any advice and help I can get ill gladly take
travis
very generous of you to help a new hunter. It's worth so much more than an a youtube video.
Shawnm
I sent you a PM (not sure if it work?) I live in Uncasville and work in Groton so I'm only right down the road.
I'll be going hunting quite a bit in the next month and I have a really nice spot. If I do get another deer would anyone be willing to show me how to butcher it. I'll give some meat to whoever helps me and it would be greatly appreciated. Travistroop I would like the opportunity to gave you teach me how to do it but I haven't got a response from you.
Shawn - Congrats on your first deer! Also, I think its admirable that you respect the animal enough that you don't want to waste any of the meat. Like others have said, there are lots of good videos online. A book that gave me a lot of useful info is "making the most of your deer" by Dennis Walrod. ISBN 978-0-8117-3162-1.
Heat and time are the enemies of meat. The less heat, the more time you have. Moisture isn't so good either...although rinsing the body cavity with bottled water and then drying it with paper towels should be ok though.
Anytime I butcher a deer myself I end up with a lot more meat vs bringing it to a processor, but it takes a lot of time. With the money I've saved I got a good set of knives at Cabelas to start with and I get a new toy each year; grinder, food saver vacuum sealer, smoker, etc.
If I was closer to Groton I would be happy to give you a hand.
