How To Clean A Deer In 9 Steps

You just hunted down your first game, and I’m sure you’re proud of yourself at this moment. You have made use of the best scopes for predator hunting that you know, and now you have to clean it out so you can get the meat ready just in time for the next family barbecue. Below are some steps to help you clean or field dress your deer easily without any damage.

Elk vs deer: Are they different?

Both the Elk and deer are a type of hoofed animals that are part of the deer family originating from North America and Asia. Deers can be found mostly in drylands, deserts, and forests, while the Elks can be found in the mountains. When compared according to their body sizes, the Elk is bigger and heavier than the deer. 

Steps To Cleaning Your Deer

Gather your tools and materials

The first step is to get your gears ready for the cleaning. For this process, you’ll be needing a sharp knife and a strong will. Also, don’t forget some latex gloves. If you happen to have a gut hook tool In possession, then that is good too. Take off all forms of accessories before beginning the process.

Finding the broadhead

If you haven’t gotten back the arrow and broadhead used, then it’s probably still in the deer. Search for it carefully as you dress the deer.

Cut a coring ring around the anus.

With the deer being on its back or side, get behind it on your knees and slice a coring ring some inches deep in the skin around the anus. Go deeper into the pelvic canal with your knife to cut off the membranes attached and let lose the remaining colon inches. Try not to pierce the colon, for its substances can defile the meat giving it a bitter taste.

Positioning the deer

The next thing to do is to search for a slope and place the belly of the deer up with its head facing up. Next, you separate the back legs and have someone keep them separated to keep the body in position. But, if you’re doing this by yourself, you can make use of rocks or woods under its ribcage to keep it steady or tie it to a tree to make it easy.

Make the initial cut

What you need to do now is to hold the area of the skin where a “V” is formed between the front legs. You can locate this under the milk sac of the doe or the testicles of a buck. Next, you slice a 1-inch cut through its skin, and if you’re dealing with a male, slice it and take out its genitalia.

Slice up the midline

Making the first opening as your starting point, take the gut hook to slice the belly, starting at the pelvic bone down to its breastbone. If there is no gut hook available, use your middle and index finger to put aside the skin from its organs. Hold your knife facing up to prevent you from cutting through the organs and cut down to the ribcage. 

If a taxidermist is handling the deer, do not proceed to cut any farther but if not, cut through the ribcage till you reach the neck. Note, do not cut the neck.

It may sound difficult to do, but it isn’t as bad as it sounds. 

Cut the diaphragm

Next is the diaphragm, which is a thin membrane that holds apart the chest from the stomach. You have to cut it off to get access to the chest cavity organs. Through the cavity walls, slice the diaphragm and go all the way to the spine to pull it apart.

Cut the windpipe

This is a very simple step that requires you to use your hand to grab the windpipe on top of the lungs and heart. Once you get a hold of it, hold it tightly and pull it to you. Then use your other hand, grab the knife and cut the windpipe to free the entrails.

Blood draining

Finally, you can turn over the body with its legs apart, so the cavity is opened to the ground. By doing this, the blood can be easily drained. Try as much as possible not to allow any form of dirt or leaves and sticks to touch the meat.

Conclusion

Steps to help you clean your deer have been provided above. As long as you go through those steps properly and carefully, then you should not have a problem. Also, you can always do your researches on the best spotting scope under 500 for hunts.