Thread: Field Dressing Advice

Hey All,

I was wondering if I could get some advice on field dressing/extraction please?

Ideally, I would like to field dress/butcher on site. Aside from lugging-out redundant weight, my missus is a bit squeamish about that kind of thing and I don't really have current facility at home to butcher or dispose of carcasses/hides/bones efficiently.

Most videos involving field dressing I've stumbled upon centre around removal of the innards so the entire carcass can be extracted, but I'd rather carry out meat I can bang straight into the freezer (i.e. skinned and butchered cuts - shoulders, backstraps). Seen a few videos on how to take apart a beast where you drop it (on the ground) and bag the meat for extraction without worrying about gutting it, but I'm not sure about a few aspects of the process.

So my first question is, assuming I'm butchering on site (without a lifting rig), do I need to bleed the animal before butchering it, and if so, how?

Second question is, after I get the meat cuts home, should I hang them before freezing, and if so, is it safe to hang them in a cool spot in my garage (in a fly-proof area in pillow cases), or do they need to hang in a refrigerated environment?


TIA,

Dave