The Gutless Method removing the Backstraps
- Thread starter Ikeepitcold
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JimP
Administrator
If you want the tenderloins you are going to have to make a slit behind the last rib to get to them. Then reach in and trim them out. You just have to be extra careful not to puncher anything.
You can also pull the liver this way if you like liver.
You can also pull the liver this way if you like liver.
MtnBuck
Member
Anyone know an easy way to pull the heart going the gutless route?
Growing up I never heard of the gutless method. Only one way to get elk out of the back country in my family: field dressed and quartered...hauled out on our horses or by foot power. I started doing the gutless method 10yrs ago, however my problem is I always take the heart.
Currently I make a horizontal cut under the sternum, then go through the diaphragm, fish out the heart.....when everything is said and done though it's easier just to field dress it.
Growing up I never heard of the gutless method. Only one way to get elk out of the back country in my family: field dressed and quartered...hauled out on our horses or by foot power. I started doing the gutless method 10yrs ago, however my problem is I always take the heart.
Currently I make a horizontal cut under the sternum, then go through the diaphragm, fish out the heart.....when everything is said and done though it's easier just to field dress it.
JimP
Administrator
I have found that it is a lot easier to just field dress the animal no matter how I plan on taking the meat out. It only takes 10 or 15 minutes to do and then you can get down to working on the meat itself without worrying about punching a hole into something that you don't want to.
I also like to take the ribs out whole for the BBQ.
I also like to take the ribs out whole for the BBQ.
brianboh
Active Member
While cutting meat for 20 years I would highly recommend washing your meat as soon as possible in a creek river or as soon as you get to a place that you can do it. I recently cut up an animal from someone associated with making youtube videos or gutless methods and how to quarter animals that came out of the mountains that I would be embarrassed taking to a butcher to get processed. Once hair dirt grass and leaves dry on meat it is almost impossible to get it all off. Defiantly impossible without wasting meat. Remember we owe it to the animal to at least take care of their meat. I personally do not like eating chit.
I do the same for the same reason. Gets things cooling faster, I think, on very warm weather hunts.
B&C Blacktails
Active Member
- Mar 1, 2015
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I've never tried doing the gutless method but I agree with JimP just gut the animal. The whole carcass cools down much quicker, it's easier to get the tenderloins/liver/heart out. I also saw off the briskit and ribs whole (my favorite next to back strap). And yes I do in the back country as well.
I cook my briskit and ribs whole. First boil it for 2-3 hrs at a rolling boil. Let cool. Season with pepper and salt throw on the grill for 20 minutes last 5 minutes put your favorite BBQ sauce on and finish grilling.
Trust me do this one time and I guarantee you will be gutting your animals everytime to get to the ribs and briskit
I cook my briskit and ribs whole. First boil it for 2-3 hrs at a rolling boil. Let cool. Season with pepper and salt throw on the grill for 20 minutes last 5 minutes put your favorite BBQ sauce on and finish grilling.
Trust me do this one time and I guarantee you will be gutting your animals everytime to get to the ribs and briskit
MtnBuck
Member
Hang out a butchers and you'll be sickened at what some people bring in. I'll never forget the time I was at a butchers in Colorado Springs and this guy brought in an Elk that had been gutted but only half skinned and then dragged through mud and leaves. What a mess. It was around 65 degrees in town and he's telling us that it had "only" been in the bed of his pickup for two days. I smelled it, before I saw it.
I felt bad about my quartering job yesterday, it was getting hot real fast and was working a lot faster than I should have been. had my buddy pack in some ice to lay around the quarters as we placed them in game bags and wrapped in tarp. between the bees and skeeters I thought I was going to die. it was a fun hunt but don't think ill hunt that early in season again unless I can get it out skinned and cut in half.
the butchers must get a lot of that nasty bad crap. I generally do my own and haven't been to a butcher shop in many years but yesterday when I walked in and asked if they could process my elk the guy gave me a look like I took his daughter on a date and he wasn't happy. he rolled his eyes and snapingly asked if it was skinned, I said yes... then he said is it hole, I said no its quartered and broke down in to game bags. when did you shoot it was the next question, I said 2 hours ago can we please get it hung in the fridge. then he apologized, he said with this early august hunt he has so many young guys bringing in 2 day old elk with skin still intact and spoilage well set in. makes ya wonder if butchers and Fish and Game stay in close contact for all that wasted meat, id like to think so.
I'll do both methods, I prefer the old fashioned way of gutting and hanging just feel like I get way more meat when its quartered or whole back to camp or cooler. That being said with the arrow path on my antelope last Saturday ( full length from between shoulder blades out the back of his hind leg ) he didn't bleed much and took an hour and a half or so to find him. When we did find him using the gutless method he was caped and broke down in the cooler in about 40 mins. What saved me was that I had a cooler full of block and crushed ice to lay the meat on top of and also turned the meat over to make sure it cooled evenly. Couldn't smell or taste anything wrong with him even tho it was 95 degrees that day.
Slugz
Veteran member
I think all depends on the situation. We do both depending on weather, season, packing out method, experience of the crowd, distance from where it needs to go.
Like someone else said...you wanna see some real crap hang out at a butchers shop during hunting season.
Like someone else said...you wanna see some real crap hang out at a butchers shop during hunting season.
lol. I am sure they see lots of waste but it still irritates me when one of em assumes I don't know what I'M doing before they even see the animal
agreed, I almost left. if it wasn't so hot outside and I didn't need to get it cooled and hung soon I would've drove to Pocatello and have it done for .60 cents less per pound!
WapitiBob
Veteran member
I don't eat the dried, outer casing on a game animal; I fillet it off when I separate the muscles. Some processors will toss it in for burger or leave it on steaks and the customer wonders why their meat tastes like roadkill coyote.