Field Dressing a Deer?

[bruce63628]

I've watched about a hundred video's on youtube about field dressing a deer, trying to prepare myself for my first time. When it comes to shot placement, the majority of hunter's say to take the high shoulder shot. My friend has hunted for many years, and he says anything I don't entend to put on the wall, I should take a neck or head shot, that way my field dressing experience will be much more plesent without the mess. What do you guy's think?

neck shot is much hard to make. smaller target. heart lung via the shoulder is the bigger more sure of taking the animal shot. gutting is just part of the program and isn't that bad. a friend as said the butt out tool works great so i'm going to try it next time. have paper towels and a small wire tie (to tie of the bung hole) with you. hope you get the chance.

[BruceBruce1959]

There's reasons why everyone boasts about taking Good clean vital shots and why it's best to avoid other area shots.
If you hit an Animal in the Vitals that animal is going to expire. Other hits (Neck, head Gut, etc etc) may kill the animal
but then again there's also a good chance the animal could survive some of those shots only to die a slow painful death because of infections.
A neck shot isn't an easy shot at all.
Don't let field dressing a Deer scare you, it's not 1/2 as bad as you're imagining it to be....
If you take your time and think about what you're doing you'll see it's no big deal at all. Good Luck to you.

[hunt NH]

i would also soot for the vitals, not the head or neck. cleaning it is pritty easy if you have some idea of what to do. my only recomindation is if you havw a week stomic, bring some of them one time use ear plugs to stick in your nose before you open it up.

[BruceBruce1959]

Originally Posted by hunt NH

my only recomindation is if you havw a week stomic, bring some of them one time use ear plugs to stick in your nose before you open it up.

EXCELLENT Tip right there...

[hunt NH]

you should have seen me with my first buck. it took me 2 hours to clean it cause i spent 1/2 the time gaging. iv cleaned 2 more sence, and can get it done in 1/2 the time with ear plugs in my nose.

[BruceBruce1959]

doing it is always a little Rocky at first but after you've done it a few times the surprise is gone so it gets a lot easier..
I think I can cleanly Field dress a deer in like 2 minutes now, and that's not rushing.
One trick I've learned is, I always carry a folding fillet knife with me for the anal canal.
Using a Fillet knife to cut out the anal passage makes it so much easier.

[timberghost]

I'm with the others here on sticking with the vitals. It's a larger area and is the engine of the deer. Blow the engine and the wheels stop turning. There's alot of meat for a good neck roast as well. The butt out tool works well too and I take about 5 minutes for a field dressed deer.

[Slickhead Stalker RN]

I don't take head or neck shots and I have never had to track a deer for more that 20-30 yards with 150 grain 30.06 rounds. I agree with Bruce on that one.

Call me weird but I never have had a weak stomach or been bothered by the smell of a busted gut bag. I smell much worse than that at the hospital everyday. LOL

I can clean a deer in 30 minutes and I also got my education from youtube.

[East Texas Droptine]

I don't really have any tips for you while cleaning your deer...but I would deff. go for a lung/heart shot...not the head or neck...when aiming for the lungs you have about the size of a basketball to hit, where as if you aim for the head or neck you only have about the size of a football...I cleaned my first deer about a month ago when i went to south texas...I've seen it done about a million times but it's still a little different when your actually doing it yourself. I didn't gag thank goodness...it was still interesting tho