Ask me about Hunting!

[They'reWatchingUs]

Question on Hunting

After my character has killed a lamb(you can't kill deer, gods scared animal), what would he do with it to get it ready to be cooked? I just can't really think of what he'd do, or how you'd describe it. If you know anything that might help me, please tell me

Thanks for your time,
T-W-U

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

Do you want me to go into field dressing or butchering?

Field dressing I can tell you about in detail. As far as butchering is concerned, I've done it a few times but there's probably more qualified people here to discuss that process.

Or is it neither of the two? Is the animal already gutted and butchered but the meat needs processing?

I'm not sure what you're asking.

 

[Twilight Goblin]

I would say he skins it first, then guts it and slices the meat into tongue-shaped pieces, if he wants to smoke it and save it for later. Depending on the size of the lamb, the two hind legs could fill him up. Unless he's a big eater, like most warriors.

 

[Ankari]

I've seen sheep and lamb slaughtered, butchered, then cook. Here is what I can recall:

1. You cut the throat but not the spine. This allows the brain to tell the heart to continue to pump, which spills out through the cut throat. It drains the body of blood.
2. You hang the carcass upside down to allow the remaining blood to drain.
3. Cut the animal down the center of it's belly. Be careful not to rupture the stomach or the gull bladder.
4. Clear the guts and organs from the animal. Don't rupture the gull bladder!
5. Skin the animal. With sheep or lamb you can use air throug a straw to separate the skin from the flesh. Create a small incision in the skin, stick the straw in, and blow.
6. Once you seperate the skin from the flesh, you get to butchering.
7. Cook the meat and enjoy!

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I would say he skins it first, then guts it and slices the meat into tongue-shaped pieces, if he wants to smoke it and save it for later. Depending on the size of the lamb, the two hind legs could fill him up. Unless he's a big eater, like most warriors.

Not exactly. Gut---> Skin ---> Butcher

Here's how you field dress (gut) an animal: WARNING GRAPHIC!

1) Take a sharp knife (preferably drop point blade, I'll explain why later) and ring the anus. Ringing the anus means to make a puncture about 1/8" to the side of the anus and cut fully around the anal pore connecting to form a circle.

2) If the animal is male, cut the skin that holds the penis shaft in place on the underbelly all the way back to the base of the penis. If the animal is female proceed to step 3.

3) make an incision that runs from between the legs (connecting to the ring cut around the anus) up to the chest/sternum. When making the cut run the incision along the belly close & to both sides of the penis.
*** Making the incision here is where a drop point blade becomes valuable. A drop point is a blade where the (non-edged) Spine of the knife curves slightly downward at the tip. Placing your finger over this curve helps to prevent the tip puncturing an internal organ (like the stomach) which not only increases the smell but can, in some cases, ruin meat. Upswept blades have a tendency to puncture internal organs and are better for skinning.

4) Prepare yourself for one of the worst smells imaginable.

5) Reach up into the chest cavity. You should feel a membrane there. That's the diaphragm. Puncture the diaphragm on the outside edge and cut it around the chest cavity.

6) Now get your arms in deeper. Reach up into the throat. You'll be elbows deep at this point. Feel around until you feel the wind pipe. It will feel like a vacuum hose. Grab it with one hand while cutting clean through the wind pipe (above your grasping hand).

7) Once you have made a clean cut, while still holding onto the windpipe, you should be able to pull all of the internal organs out through the underbelly incision. (throat, heart, lungs, liver, intestines, sex bits, the whole kit & caboodle connecting in a neat package).

8 )Depending on your taste you may want the liver, kidneys, heart, tongue, etc.

9) Hang the animal overnight to allow blood to drain towards the head.

Butcher following day.....

I'm sure there are other methods but that's how we always did it. It's a quick & clean method. Lightens the load for a drag plus other carnivores love what you leave in the woods for them.

 

[Lawfire]

Very good explanation, T.Allen.

4) Prepare yourself for one of the worst smells imaginable.

This is no exaggeration. It is BAD.

9) Hang the animal overnight to allow blood to drain towards the head.

I usually hang them head up, but it should not really matter.

Butcher following day.....

I would say this would be situational. If there is no way to cool the carcass, one may want to butcher quickly and preserve the meat. Certainly, one may want to remove the back-straps and fry them up with butter and onion as soon as possible...

I'm sure there are other methods but that's how we always did it. It's a quick & clean method. Lightens the load for a drag plus other carnivores love what you leave in the woods for them.

It certainly does lighten the load, and that can make a big difference if you have to drag it any distance.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

Very good explanation, T.Allen.

This is no exaggeration. It is BAD.

I usually hang them head up, but it should not really matter.

I would say this would be situational. If there is no way to cool the carcass, one may want to butcher quickly and preserve the meat. Certainly, one may want to remove the back-straps and fry them up with butter and onion as soon as possible...

It certainly does lighten the load, and that can make a big difference if you have to drag it any distance.

Lawfire, you're right. We hung them by the head also. That was an error on my part.

I agree on situational butchering. Also agree on the back straps....

 

[They'reWatchingUs]

Thanks, everyone! Probably shouldn't have been eating breakfast when I read that Thank you all for the help! I didn't realise that you all loved hunting so much Thanks again

 

[Godzilax99]

I was from the military before, and I was trained to survive in the field for days without proper food and water.. Survival course they called it, with some elements of enemy pursuing, so we had to sneak a bit to look for food and water, build a sustainable living area in order to survive.

For animal hunting, sharing from what I had learned. Firstly, once you kill an animal, say a rabbit. Usually you need to skin it. The reason is because the membrane between the fur or skin is still 'separated' from the meat, thus skinning it will be much easier. If you wait for the body to cool down, the fur or skin will stick to the meat, making skinning both messy and difficult.

After skinning, the hunter usually will first look for the liver.. The liver can determine whether the animal is stricken with diseases. If it is a clean, or rather, look like a proper liver, then it's ok. If there are white spots, or some weird spots or even weird smell other than blood, then it is disease.. Then, don't waste your time doing more.. You can't eat it. However, you can keep the whole animal, because you can use it for luring other animals.

Also, doing this requires a pair of deft hands, and experiences. Breaking the gall bladder will make the meat stink of urine. Removing the intestines are also a common thing to do... And intestines are fantastic for luring monitor lizards as they love dead, rotting meat..

It is pretty much for most animals.. Other than that, some hunters will smoke the meat, some use salt to preserve the meat.

I did that for rabbits, monitor lizards and chickens.. Did all those and it works for me.

 

[chinookpilot77]

OP, I'm new here, so I dont want anyone to think I'm self promoting or anything. but I'll send you a link to my youtube channel. I have 10-15 videos on there giving tutorials on how to field dress and butcher game.

I'm a part time hunting guide on the weekends, and I worked at a slaughterhouse for a couple of years after high school. Hopefully it'll help ya!

I'm not here to promote my channel, just happened to stumble upon this post and thought I could help!

 

[chinookpilot77]

All, I have deep love for all things outdoors. I am brand new here, but I have noticed a few threads already asking about hunting and/or game processing.

Hopefully this is enough street cred for ya, I'd genuinely like to help!


I've been an avid hunter (rifle and bow) for 25 years.
Helped my father when we was a professional trapper (racoon and coyote mostly)
I worked for two years at a slaughter house in IL. (my first "real" job)
I currently work part time as a hunting guide for a wild boar outfitter in Alabama where I'm currently stationed. (also field dress and butcher all the wild pigs that are harvested)
Three of my uncles have been or still are butchers.
Graduate of the US Army SERE course.

I have nearly 80 videos on youtube, 10-15 of which take you through the whole process of butchering game. Deer, hogs, fish, turtles, you name it. Also some decent info there for hunting, fishing, trapping, wilderness survival, and bushcraft.

Also, if you need, I've been a helicopter pilot for 11 years in the Army. Aerodynamics are really boring, but if you need any specifics for a project, I'd be happy to help!

Great to be here! Really happy to have found this place!

Chinook

 

[Jabrosky]

As someone who loves hunter-type characters, this thread will be a useful resource for me!

When tracking an animal, is there a way to tell how old or recent the tracks you find are?

 

[chinookpilot77]

absolutely! mostly it has to do with conditions of the soil prior to the track being imprinted, and the weather conditions acting upon the track afterward.

extremely wet mud doesn't leave much of a readable track, hard packed dirt leaves very little as well. rock, even less (then you start tracking by vegetation disturbance)

There are other things to tell by tracks as well, like size of the animal, sex, speed at which it was traveling, condition, (ie, limp)

Tracking is one of those "art not science" things that can take a lifetime to master. I'm decent at tracking the land I hunt in, mostly because I know where the animals like to hide out, or where they like to go after being injured.

I can tell you one thing, every animal that I've ever had to track for any length after being injured by any hunter I've ever guided for, I've always found near a water hole. (I've never had to track my own kills that far, btw!)

For additional resources, the website I most often refer to when I'm in the tracking learning mood is Beartracker's Animal Tracks Den. check it out...hours of info there!

Basically though, depending on the severity of weather conditions, you can tell pretty readily between a less than day old track and a three day old track. sometimes its even easier and you can see it at a glance, other times and locations, it can get more difficult.

 

[chinookpilot77]

Added my hunting and wild game processing information in my Signature.

 

[SeverinR]

I can tell you one thing, every animal that I've ever had to track for any length after being injured by any hunter I've ever guided for, I've always found near a water hole. (I've never had to track my own kills that far, btw!)
.

Reason:
Hypovolemia(low fluid volume in the body) causes tremendous thirst if they survive long enough. The body is trying to replace the fluids lost. The animal naturally seeks out water.

 

[chinookpilot77]

I knew as much, if not the term used to describe it. A rose by any other name

That condition comes in quite handy when tracking wounded game, its clockwork.

Thank you!

 

[Reaver]

This thread will be moved to "Ask me about hunting".

 

[Lawfire]

This thread will be moved to "Ask me about hunting".

I was wondering what happened. I knew I never replied to this topic, but it showed I did. I had replied to the original topic.

This combination may seem a bit confusing to people, due to the fact that the offer made by chinookpilot77 does not happen until page 2.