Thread: Hanging deer/pigs for preparation?

I always fully bone out in the field. Cant see the point in carrying out bone and skin I can't eat. Your meat yield will be approx. 50% of the gutted animal weight. A red hind will yield between 20kg and 30kg of boned out meat depending on her size, which to my buggered back and knees is plenty heavy enough when you have to pack it out.
I don't gut animals any more, unless it is to leave the animal out over night and return the next day for processing. The risk of meat contamination is much less if you leave the gut where god put it.

I bone out on the ground. I start by opening the front and back legs up in the traditional manner on one side only, skinning them all round and back to the main body. Then lay the animal on its side and open the skin up down the back bone, working your way back to the legs. This keeps all the meat up off the ground and clean. Dissect the main muscle groups one by one and bag them. Once the first side is fully boned out from tail to just below the ears, roll the animal onto its back and start skinning out the last two legs, then roll it all the way over and repeat on the second side.

I do carry a gimble and hoist in the quad bike, and have on occasion dressed out full goat bodies is I was looking for a full body to do in the pizza oven. I did try once the golf ball skinning method using the winch on the quad bike but didn't work too well with a neck shot goat - just pulled the head off