I usually start by opening the belly skin from around the diaphragm back to the anus. It takes a sharp knife, but I next skin out the anus, and split the meat down to the pelvis. (Thus far, little blood.) On a small buck, I work the knife blade through the pelvis and rip upwards, separating the bone. On larger deer, I usually tap the back of the knife blade with a rock so I can split the pelvis without cutting the urethra.
Once the pelvis is open, the sex organs, urethra and colon can be pulled/trimmed out without any mess.
Then I work the front end. If neck shot, there's no blood when I cut the diaphragm. Otherwise, it's "red-handed" time. Anyhow, with the diaphragm cut away, the sternum opened up and the windpipe cut, it's easy just to roll Bambi over and dump out everything all at once.
Note: If you cut the scent glands off the hind legs, clean the knife blade before going further--else, why bother with the glands, if you're just gonna use that blade to transfer "goop" to the meat?
Art
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