Where to learn 'field dressing" and other hunting skills?

[Pokinfun]

A couple things, first is the way venison taste has a lot to do with gutting it in time and getting all of the blood out of the meat. I would say that if you don't care for venison taste, then wild pig may not taste very good either.
Next, As far as getting it into the back of the truck, get a hoist that fits in your receiver hitch, get one that has a foot on it and turns in the middle. The cheaper hoists don't have a foot on them and only lift #300, the ones with a foot lift #600.

Lastly, when you kill and an animal, gut it quickly getting the everything including the bladder out of it. Also, get it on ice quickly. I use long gutting gloves, to keep the blood off my skin. Tick-borne diseases scare me, https://www.avma.org/public/Health/Pages/Disease-Precautions-for-Hunters.aspx .

 

[tRidiot]

TRidiot - Did I understand that your son will be 12 in August? You and your son are a perfect candidate for the OYH program, it appears. I teach hunter education to some of the children before they go on our hunts. Please send me a pm with your cell# and we can chat about this.

Sorry... I meant August of 2017.

 

[swampratt]

I have been way way back in the woods.. too much hilly terrain to consider dragging a big animal out.
When I was contemplating getting one back to camp I figured I would debone it and use the hide to wrap all the meat in and like a hobo with a stick and bag.

The female pigs are tastier.

The gaminess you are tasting is blood in the meat,, I cube my meat sometimes and soak in water in an ice chest drain and rinse swish it around in water and rinse again and again until the water is clear.. usually 5-6 water changes ,, done in just a few minutes.

Then drain off all water and cover with ice and let it stay over night .. then more blood will escape and pour it off do the rinse and swish and drain until water is clear.
This will eliminate gaminess.
Or just slice off a piece and rinse it in water a few times and cook it.

To remove the big animal from the woods in flat walking area's places that can be driven with a 4 wheeler.
I have used an ice chest with wheels on it. I deboned the animal and stuck it into the ice chest and walked out of the woods while pulling the ice chest.

Many ways to dress an animal.
But things with wheels you can pull make it easier.

A Honda ATC70 weighs about 90 lbs and will go anywhere.. a luggage carrier on the vehicle will tote it.. Or toss it on the trunk of the car and strap it down.

It will carry 3 adults and pull the deer out of the woods in low gear.
Wish i had a good one.. I have no use for the big heavy ATV's

 

[DRC458]

Nothing to be ashamed of. We all have different backgrounds. My Dad NEVER, ever, hunted or fished. I learned from friends my own age who did hunt and fish, and learned from their Dads. I think I had watched two or three deer being field dressed before I killed my first one. When the time came to field dress it, there was nobody there but ME! That first one, honestly, took me over three hours! I was so paranoid and just knew I was gonna' screw it up. (There's a lot of snickering going on out there right now.) I probably spend maybe fifteen minutes at it nowadays, and that's interspersed with all the BS'ing with the other hunters who are usually around. Sounds to me like a great opportunity for you and your son to learn together. And, you being a Doc, you can give some anatomy lessons along the way. Seriously. There are 'implements' out there with bicycle-size wheels to 'roll' your kill out of the woods on. They fold up so they are not all THAT hard to haul in. I've never used one, but have seen some fellows who did. Pack them in on their backs then, hopefully, unfold them and roll their deer out (or hog). As to 4-wheeler or beater P/U ... any possibility of having a place to store it on the lease? Oh, BTW, my son's former BIL was a salesman of medical supplies and I once helped him drag a deer out on a body bag ... literally.

 

[DRC458]

Oh, as to the gaminess. First of all, make a well-placed shot for a quick, clean kill. A wounded animal taking off with the adrenaline pumping will start to taint the meat right away. Field dress it as soon as you possibly can. That can be done in the field if the land owner will allow it, you can do so safely and cleanly, etc. Keep that meat clean. Avoid cutting into the stomach, intestines, bladder, etc. and don't let the bladder leak onto the carcass. Try to keep any hair off the meat. Cool it as soon as possible. If the weather is cool/cold enough, you can just hang it to cool it. Opinions differ on the soaking. If you really don't want any gamy taste at all, I would do as swampratt suggested and rinse it repeatedly. Some use ice water, others use salt water. Some people 'age' their venison in the ice chest, letting it set for two, three, or even seven days. Personally, I take it easy on that aging. Some claim venison doesn't need, or doesn't benefit from, the aging. There are a number of good videos out there about field dressing and even cutting up your own. You just need to experiment to determine what you like best. You know how it goes ... ask a dozen different people, and you'll get at least a dozen different answers. But, hey, you can shoot several every year so your only real limitations are time and freezer space!

 

[lkothe]

TRidiot - Did I understand that your son will be 12 in August? You and your son are a perfect candidate for the OYH program, it appears. I teach hunter education to some of the children before they go on our hunts. Please send me a pm with your cell# and we can chat about this.

^^^^^THIS^^^^^
Even tho I taught my kids (if they wanted to learn) my oldest did this program and had a blast.

I'll help any way I can Big D, give a holler any time.

DNO

 

[swampratt]

So true on getting a dozen answers on how to care for the meat after killing it.
I have tried many ways. I have hung them skin on for over 7 days in in temps of 20's in the evening and the days got to 55.
Yes they got more tender. No they did not spoil.

If you ice chest them you need to rotate the meat ,, as the stuff on the bottom will go rancid if you just drain and refill with ice.. and the rancid will spread to all the meat.

I have soaked them in very thick salt water and then dried the meat on a rack and then covered completely in salt to preserve the meat.
It preserved it.. 4 months after deer season it was still in my shed in an ice chest.. the meat did not change state in all that time.

But was not tasty when cooked.. as the salt had permeated the entire thing..When you would cook it salt would rise to the surface from inside the meat and make stalagmites on the surface..It tasted like salt.
That was a fail.

Now get this.. First deer I brought home for the wife to eat. I shot it gutted and checked it in and packed the chest cavity with ice and drove 2.5 hours back home with the deer under my sleeping bag resting on a bed of pine needles.

I slice off the back strap when i got home and the wife said she has tried deer and does not like it at all.

I slice an 1/8" thick piece of meat off the strap. and salt and pepper it .. toss into the skillet and fry for 1.5-2 minutes on both sides.
I have her take a bite.

She did and immediately spit it out!! Said: Yep that's the taste I don't like.

I cut another thin slice off.. this time i held it under running water and worked it over to remove the blood about 45 seconds,, it turned a tan color..No longer blood red.

Salt and pepper and into the skillet.
Wife is a good sport...She took a bite of this rinsed meat.. she ate it.. She stated it tasted like the meat we get from the grocery store.
Winner Winner.

I have had other peoples deer meat that was shot dead right there but it has tasted rancid.
I have had deer run 100 yards after being heart shot.. they tasted the same as the ones that fell over on the spot.
Only deer that I shot that was off in flavor a little was the largest buck I ever killed.. he dropped in his tracks.

Young ones are tastier and more tender.

 

[h4everything]

Not trying to be "Smart" but there are a lot of really good videos on youtube that will pretty well line you out.

you don't need a pickup, 4wheeler, or $10K worth of gear to go kill a pig, deer or even a turkey.

you need some sort of rifle to kill em (shotgun for a turkey) and a knife. Assuming the place isn't just huge I'm assuming its a quarter section or something you can gut, skin, and quarter the critter (youtube again) and put it in the cooler in the truck of your car. And you could go drop the meat off at the processor but I would suggest processing it yourself. (youtube once again, it isn't rocket science I promise). It is way cheaper and all you really need is a knife cutting board and some ziplocks or butcher paper to put your meat in. YOu can start off doing steaks and roast to get started and get a grinder later on. It doesn't take much.

I'm generally against leaving meat in a cooler for days at a time. If its hot when you shoot a critter quarter it up and get it cold then to the freezer ASAP. It will be better that way I promise.

Good luck with the pigs

 

[tRidiot]

Yeah the land we were looking into didn't pan out. It was a very small lot. Meh.


We're going to keep looking.

 

[Raoul Duke]

Why not start off with some small game hunting like squirrels and rabbits?