What do you clean first? Game or gun?

[SgtErv]

So, I'm curious as to how you more experienced muzzleloader hunters prioritize this. I am looking to do some small game hunting is again soon. Ive not hunted with flintlock before, just modern stuff. Say one kills a couple of squirrels...Do you skin and clean the squirrels first or the gun?

My guess is the game first...

Thanks for your input

 

[Ames]

I do the game first. A couple more hours wont hurt the gun but the game may start to smell.

 

[BrownBear]

I'm in busy bear country, and you simply don't stick around the kill site any longer than you have to. I swab the bore once I get well out of the bushes into open country or back at my truck. But the deer takes high priority over a little crud in a bore.

 

[will5a1]

Game first, i.e. with deer I'll have the animal field dressed and hung, rabbits skinned, cleaned and soaking in brine. I have, when pressed for time and/or very tired just swabbed the barrel a couple times with moose milk, dry patched it, then patched with WD40, and wiped the breech a bit and then I will thoroughly clean the rifle the next day.

 

[wattlebuster]

Game asap an as long as you clean the gun that same day it will be fine.

 

[Black Hand]

I clean my gun when I get to it. Maybe within a day or two...or sooner if I have the chance. A few days isn't going to make much difference.

 

[Spikebuck]

Game always first. For small game, I clean it (gut,skin, remove head,feet,tail) on the spot as the hide always comes off much easier when "hot." For big game, gutted upon finding it (I assume that's what you mean by "cleaning.") Processed within 24 hours. As long as I clean the gun before I got to bed, that works for me.

 

[Billnpatti]

First, I do a quick preliminary cleaning on my gun using one of the commercial black powder solvents on a couple of patches. Then I clean my game and put it on ice. Once I have the game cleaned and iced down, I turn back to properly cleaning my gun. Of course, between the preliminary cleaning of my gun and the cleaning of the game, I thoroughly wash my hands. Then after cleaning the game, I again thoroughly wash my hands before attending to my gun. Never get black powder fouling and lube on your game and never get blood or other "stuff" from cleaning your game on your gun. And that's how I do it. Is it the best way? I don't know :idunno: but it works for me.

If the weather is very cold, I may skin my game before doing anything to my gun because like Spikebuck said, hides are easier to remove from a warm animal than a cold one. Skinning any large animal that has gotten good and cold, as one often does in really cold weather, is a b*&ch. The hide sticks like it is glued on with Gorilla Glue. It will really give your fingers a work out. Small game also get harder to skin when they are cold but they are not all that much more difficult because they are small.

 

[Patocazador]

Game.

 

[tenngun]

After I take a shot I stand swab the bore and reload.on deer I often wait 10 min or so before I go to find it. Small game I go to as soon as loaded. From thumper to Bambi I bleed them and gut them right in the field.
Should the nights be less then 40 degrees I hang deer over nightheaded and cavity forced open. Small game goes in the skillet that night. I don't go to bed with a dirty gun.

 

[nhmoose]

Another vote for GAME

 

[rushlake1]

Game-Gun-Me..No time like the present.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Game first. But the sun never sets on a dirty gun.

 

[pab1]

Game first. But the sun never sets on a dirty gun.

I'm close to the same. The sun often sets before I get home or back to camp but the gun gets cleaned before I go to bed.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Game first. But the sun never sets on a dirty gun.

Amen! :wink:

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Maybe it's just the USMC training, but I rinse the barrel and dry it at the car, and dry off the lock too, before taking the game home. So is that "cleaning"? When I get home I hang up the game, and then scrub the rifle or shotgun bore, dry it, and oil it. The gun or rifle's exterior gets a rub down with an oiled rag, then the gun is put aside and the game is tended.

The small game isn't going to spoil in the 30 minutes I take to scrub, dry, and oil the gun, as it's cold out, and if I'm butchering a deer, it gets dressed where I hunt, the body cavity is propped open, rinsed, and the carcass is loaded onto the vehicle. The gun is then rinsed and dried...the drive home then begins..., so is that game before gun? At home the deer is hung up to cool, and to allow rigor to set in and then subside....or it's dropped off at a the butcher to process. Depends on what I want to do.

I've hung deer overnight in temps under 40 degrees and butchered the next morning. Now if it was above 50 degrees, or it took me a while to find the deer (I've had to track a few for friends who use modern guns..., I point out the no need for tracking when folks use a sidelock and a round ball...but they don't listen)..., then I'd do the deer immediately, and get it cool and clean.

I also check the gun the following day, to be sure my rust prevention has succeeded.

LD

 

[Vaino]

The first thing I do when arriving home is to take my hunting clothes off and replace w/ comfortable "home clothes".

Then a couple of shots of bourbon and beers are in order and if game was killed, a detailed account is told to my uninterested wife or if my hunting buddies are present, the hunt is gone over in detail w/ proper accolades to the most successful hunter.

Then the guns are cleaned and lovingly caressed and put in their normal places.

Then a few more bourbon shots and beers and the finale to a successful hunt....the cleaning of our efforts and seeing this pertains to small game, a little warming in the house just makes things easier.....mainly the skinning.

The game is then butchered, washed, dried and packaged for the freezer w/ future delicious meals in mind and w/ the knowledge that this "system" has worked for many years w/o any complications...and I'll have a shot and a beer on that.

The above scenario is not what I do w/ big game....it's imperative that the meat is quickly cooled off, so a different procedure is followed.....Fred

 

[hanshi]

Game, always.

 

[George]

Game, always.

Unless I didn't get any.

Then I clean the gun first, always.

Spence

 

[coloradoclyde]

Gun first.......

Cause I clean between shots and then reload my clean rifle..
Then I can skin a squirrel.....Squirrel can wait ten minutes...