10/11/99
Great
Tasting Big Game Begins in the Field
By Brad Bakken
There
will be back slaps, high fives, long necks, and eye watering chili
back at camp following a bountiful day of deer hunting.
A few whitetails hang outside the hunting shack waiting to
be transported home and eventually delivered to a professional big
game processor. A
short time later the meat market or independent processor calls
and says your venison is ready for pick up.
Your mouth waters at the thought of sampling fresh venison
chops and perfectly seasoned beer sticks.
Would you believe that you, the hunter are as responsible
for how palatable the meat turns out as is the meat processor?
It’s true. Big
game processors work wonders with the wild taste of venison, but a
hunter can ensure better results by properly handling quarry in
the field.
The
moment a deer is hit by a sailing broadhead, plodding slug, or
racing bullet the body’s chemistry undergoes changes.
Adrenaline kicks in and muscles, which of course are meat,
become a reservoir of chemicals that can adversely affect the end
product. In fact, one
of the chief reasons for killing big game quickly and efficiently
is to reduce the amount of adrenaline produced.
Soon after a deer is downed the entrails, particularly
stomach parts, begin deteriorating (bloating), further
jeopardizing how “table friendly” venison will be at mealtime.
Knowing how to properly field dress big game won’t
improve your shooting performance, but it will guarantee that more
and better tasting venison appears in your freezer.
There’s
approximately one hour from the moment your whitetail or mule deer
hits the deck before decomposition initiates.
So for those hunters who customarily drop wild game dead in
its tracks, and then loiter in a deerstand all day, it’s time to
change status quo. Instead,
immediately grab your knife and prepare for a surgical procedure.
Speaking
of knives, using the right blade for the right situation is
oftentimes the difference between effective and ineffective field
dressing. The most
common mistake hunters make in choosing a field-dressing knife is
buying too long a model. Bigger is not necessarily better. Forget about bringing that nasty 8-inch Bowie knife!
What you really need is a sharp, flexible, 4 to 6-inch
blade. Sharpness is
incredibly important for penetrating a deer’s thick coat and
later making meticulous internal cuts.
A knife’s flexibility comes into play when working around
vitals and eventually removing the anus.
And a last word regarding blade selection, 4 to 6-inches of
sharpened steel is plenty long enough to field dress even the
largest deer, and at the same time shorter is better when
considering hand control.
On
to the business at hand, the first official step is rolling the
animal onto its back and getting ready to make an incision.
But before piercing the hide it’s crucial to transport
the deer to the cleanest surface available.
Unwanted foreign objects, such as plant life and mud, can
affect meat quality.
The
first cut is critical. Locate
the deer’s anus and insert your knife approximately 1 to 2
inches above it. Cut
just deep enough to slit the outer skin while not disturbing the
“silver seal” (layer of membrane between skin and muscle).
Carefully cut upward to the bottom of the rib cage
(sternum), typically a foot and a half channel.
The
second incision, along the same opening, cuts through muscle while
not puncturing entrails. Poke
a hole through the muscle at the base of the original incision
just wide enough to pass your index and middle finger through.
With your non-cutting hand, slide the index and middle
fingers into the opening and push entrails away, creating a space
between muscle and intestines/stomach.
Next, carefully slip the knife blade between those fingers
and slowly work from the bottom up as you push entrails aside and
simultaneously cut through stomach muscles along the incision.
Let your fingers guide the blade.
Nothing destroys venison faster than intestinal bile and
partially digested forage spilling throughout the cavity.
Do not puncture any organs!
At
this point it’s possible to solely remove digestive organs, but
without question a better choice is to remove everything at once,
including the heart and lungs.
Knowing this, you’ll next want to make cuts along both
sides of the diaphragm (muscles separating the heart and lung
cavity from the stomach and intestines) to provide access to the
chest cavity. Shift
the deer carcass over to its left side.
Gravity causes its entrails to drop and offer passage for
cutting along the diaphragm’s right side.
Likewise, rolling the beast over on its right side gives
you the opportunity to make a similar cut along the left
diaphragm. This pair
of cuts is necessary to enter the chest cavity.
Next,
reach into the chest and feel around for the lungs (gelatin-like
mass) and heart (fist-sized object).
Keep probing upward until encountering the trachea and
esophagus (wind and food pipes).
Follow the cord upward until you’ve reached its origin at
the base of the deer’s neck.
Now that you have an understanding of the general layout,
retreat, grip your knife, and reenter.
Sever the trachea/esophagus completely, firmly grasp the
cord, and slowly pull back toward the incision.
At this point everything above the anus should be free and
clear. The heart, lungs, and intestinal organs will pile out of the
opening if cutting was successful.
If everything does not effortlessly spill out you may need
to make additional cuts along the diaphragm.
What
you’re left with is a heap of guts now only attached to its host
in one location, the anus. Instead
of removing organs from the inside, like you just did, it’s
smarter to “bore” the anus from the outside.
Again, grasp you knife and penetrate the outer skin, but
not deeper, approximately 1-inch from the anus.
Simultaneously carve a circle and pull skin away while
maintaining a 1-inch radius from the anus.
The second step in removing the anus is reinserting the
blade 3 to 4-inches and retracing the initial pattern.
This cut is designed to disconnect the lower intestine from
its attaching membrane. You
should feel the blade’s outer edge run along the pelvic bone and
tailbone. On
completion of the anus cut, reach back into the cavity, grab the
base of the lower intestine and slowly pull.
If the anus does not pop back through the inside, extra
trimming may be required from inside the carcass.
At
this point all that remains inside the deer are kidneys, some fat,
and residual blood and tissue.
Leave the fat and kidneys in place because they protect the
highly coveted tenderloin meat.
Remove as much blood and waste from the cavity as possible
while still in the field. Experience
reveals that the best tasting venison comes from deer that were
handled cleanly and properly in the woods.
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