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Hunting Tips | Meat Preparation

Always bring a sharp knife

When deer hunting, you should always carry a good sharp knife. When it is time to clean your deer you can put this knife to good use. If you are also skinning your deer, one sharp knife might not be enough. I usually bring a utility knife with extra blades so you don't need to sharpen your knife in the middle of your project. It just takes a minute to put a new blade in the utility knife.

Field dressing gloves

For field dressing game carry a pair of field dressing gloves. You can purchase these at a hunting supply store. Better yet go to a farm supply store and get shoulder length vinyl inspection gloves, these are stronger. The gloves also make a good storage place for the heart and liver. When you are through field dressing, hold the heart or liver in your hand and roll the glove off your arm and around it. Your arms and hands will remain clean and dry.

Field dressing your deer

Once you locate your down deer, turn the deer so its head and front shoulders are lower than its hindquarters. This will allow for opening the deer's abdomen with gravity keeping most of the pressure off of the abdomen wall. Make sure that you don't cut any of the internal organs or intestines. This would be a good time to split the pelvic bone. Now you can turn the deer so that its head and front shoulders are higher than its hindquarters. You can now proceed to cut through the diaphragm. At this point you will probably encounter a lot of blood, this is normal. Now you can cut loose the heart and lungs and start pulling everything toward the rear-end of the deer. Cut loose everything that is still connected to the inner abdomen and pull to the rear end of the deer. This will allow all of the blood to drain out as you remove the internal organs.

For great tasting game

Meat preparation begins BEFORE THE SHOT! Older deer (bucks in particular) will have a stronger taste (gamy), and will usually be harder to tenderize. So if meat is what you are after, first and foremost, learn to identify and choose an animal between 1&3 years old. Does are usually the best choice. Try to shoot a calm animal. Animals that have been spooked or are running when shot tend to have a "gamy" taste when cooked. The shot... careful shot placement is ALWAYS important! Proper shot placement is not only an ETHICAL MUST... a quick kill also insures the best tasting venison! Broadside shots, through both lungs are best. This insures a quick, humane kill and destroys a minimal amount of meat. Once your deer is down...gut it, clean the inside of the body cavity, and COOL it down ASAP! In the unfortunate event of a gut shot CLEANING of the body cavity becomes TOP PRIORTY!