Here's how I was taught to do it. Isnt often that we have any trees handy. Besides they are too danged heavy to lift. Work smart, not hard.
If you are for sure goin hunting. Take two sharp knives, and a sharp hatchet for splitting the pelvis and the breastbone. Also take about 6 pairs of good surgical gloves. The green or purple ones are best. The cheapies like I'm wearing in these pics are......cheapies. They tear. No use taking chances on what might live around the butcher site. Change your gloves after taking the glands off. Change them again after cutting out the bunghole. Change them anytime they look dirty or if they get a hole in them. Gloves are cheap insurance.
First, shoot a deer. Pull the deer out to where you can get around it. Then, taking the less favorite of your knives, remove the glands from inside the rear legs. These things STINK. If you get them on your hands or clothes, you will smell just like them. This is the first thing to come off. Throw them far then put that knife away. if you cut anything else with that knife before it is washed good, the meat will have that pi$$y flavor.
Take your clean knife and split the hide from the throat to the bunghole. DO NOT CUT THROUGH THE ABDOMEN AND INTO THE INTESTINES. Cut through the skin only. A zipper knife is good for this.
Being very careful here, cut around the outside of the pelvic opening as deep as you can leaving the gut and vagina (if it is a doe like this one) together but loose. Tie it off so that it cannot leak. Leave it alone for the time being.
Being very careful, make a small opening through the abdomal wall just under the sternum. Insert two fingers as in the picture, with the blade between them and carefully open the abdomen to the pelvis. Do not poke the end of your knife deeper than the ends of your fingers. This prevents snagging the intestines and bladder. When you get to the pelvis, you can reach inside carefully and grasp the intestine and bladder/UG tract and pull it inside through the pelvis, as it is already cut free and tied off.
Using your knife or hatchet, split the breast bone.
Reach inside and pull the esophagus and Trachea down as far as you can and cut them off. Then cut around the diaphragm. All the way around, separating it from the ribs and backbone. Save heart and liver now if you want them.
Everything inside is now loose. Roll the animal to the side and dump the internal contents on the ground.
Your field dressing is done. After you have done a few, this process will take you about 10 minutes. The wild animals are fed. Now you can drag it out, but drag it out head first. The hair grows from the head towards the tail. If you drag it hind end first the hair catches on everything and it is like pulling a car with the brakes on. When you hang your animal, put your gambrel through the hocks on the hind legs, where you cut those glands off, so that the blood will drain out of the choice cuts of the rear end.
I always skin them as they hang head down, but they will skin much easier if you skin them from the head to the hind end. If you hang them first by the head, loosen the hide around the head/neck and the hide will pull off. Then let it down and hang by the rear legs to cool out. I just dont take that much time. I try to have them hanging and cooling within 30 minutes of shooting them.
That's all there is too it. Time to go get a cup of coffee and then go get the next one.
Bill
