Gutless field dressing for the back country hunter

Are you planning your back country hunting trip? If you are back packing in or packing in by horse back you have to be prepared to take care of your animal after the kill. This can be the most physically tasking part of the hunt. I would like to share with you a method of field dressing that can save you time and energy.

I have been hunting since I was very young and for the last ten years worked as a guide for an outfitting business in northwest Colorado. We pack in and out on horses and mules. One of the most common questions is, how do you prepare your animal to be packed out?

This method of preparing your animal can save you a substantial amount of time. It varies a bit if your animal is a trophy animal or a meat animal, but is still highly efficient either way.

If your animal is a trophy animal or you choose to keep the cape, you will need to skin the animal and take the head as you would with any field dressing process. With a meat animal I personally choose not to skin the animal as the hide serves to protect your meat while you transport it. It also saves a lot of time to leave the hide intact, with this process it is not necessary to skin the animal. It is best to always have your animal turned so that the legs are pointed downhill. Gravity is always your friend when dealing with a large animal. In this process you will be removing the front and back legs, along with the back straps and tenderloins. The neck meat and rib meat can also be removed if you skin the animal.

Front legs

     Starting with the front legs you will begin with cutting the connective tissue beneath the leg, as you are cutting begin pulling the leg back and away from the spine.  Cut wide around the arc of cartilage and with a few cuts the leg with come free.

Back legs

     Notice where the leg pivots, this is a ball and socket joint.  Starting from the pelvis cut towards the joint until you reach the joint.  You will need to cut the muscle and cartilage away from the joint.  With the tissues cut free you will be able to rotate the leg so that the joint will seperat.  This will free the back leg.

Back straps

     The back straps are located along the animals back  on both sides of the spine.  To retrieve these cut along the top of the spine and then along both sides of the spine to free the long stripes of meat.

Tenderloins

     This is where you are probably thinking, how do you get the tenderloins without gutting the animal.  It is easier than you might think.  Between the last rib and the pelvis make a cut below the spine without cutting into the entrails.  With this cut made reach up under the spine to find the tenderloins.  They are located on each side of the spine usually covered in a waxy fat they are easily pulled out.

     Turning your animal over and repeating the process of removing the legs and your animal is done.   With this you have finished a job that could have taken hours longer than needed.  It is a simple process that works remarkably well in a back country situation.