Properly field-dressing game is the most important function of a successful hunting trip. The flavor of the meat depends on how chop-chop and carefully the meat is field dressed. Far besides many animals are wasted or provide poor-quality eating because some fail to follow simple, mutual-sense rules of good meat handling.

FIELD DRESSING AND THE CARE OF GAME

Upstanding and responsible hunter's:

  • Know the laws and utilise legal and upstanding methods of hunting.
  • Never waste game and properly intendance for game meat.
  • Tag and cheque in game if required.

THE HUNT: ONE SHOT HARVESTS

The hunter is responsible for proper care and apply of a harvested game animal. Proper care starts with the commencement shot. Responsible hunters strive for clean, one-shot harvests. While this is not ever possible, responsible hunters always follows their game and if needed, dispatches it quickly.

How yous hunt an animal and how yous immediately care for it affects the gustation of the meat. An animal that is shot while resting volition not take a gamey taste while an animal that is chased for a distance will secrete waste products into the muscles that affect the taste of the meat.

AFTER THE HARVEST

One time a deer, elk, antelope, carry or turkey has been harvested, you must tag information technology immediately with proper noun, license number, date and time of harvest. You should also make certain that prove of sex and species of creature is clearly attached and evident. Game wardens will want to know the species and sex of both birds and animals that you shoot.

Once yous've tagged the fauna, you lot need to do ii things quickly to foreclose the meat from spoiling – field dress information technology and cool the meat.

Field dressing is simply removing the entrails. It prevents the meat from absorbing waste product products from the body cavity organs. Iii ecology factors affect the taste of your meat: temperature, dirt and moisture. Meat that has been kept absurd, dry and clean tastes better than meat that has been immune to get warm, wet and tainted with dirt.

CARE OF THE CARCASS

Meat should be kept cool by:

  • Keeping information technology in the shade.
  • Keeping it in moving air or a cakewalk.
  • Hanging it from a tree or post.

Never ship carcasses of large animals on the hood of a vehicle. The heat will spoil the meat. Hunters demand support from the public. An fauna's carcass in plain view tin can offend non-hunters. Comprehend it with canvass or place it in a airtight area inside the vehicle. Always be responsible and thoughtful of the opinions of others.

Meat should be kept dry past:

  • Immediate field dressing.
  • Wiping off backlog blood or fluids.

Meat should exist kept clean by:

  • Not allowing meat to be drug through clay.
  • Covering with a cheesecloth.
  • Field Dressing

Field clothes wild animals immediately. The extra time spent taking intendance of the meat will pay off when it comes time to brand a meal from that meat. Field dressing can be messy then remove whatever heavy coats and whorl up your sleeves.

Disposable vinyl or latex gloves lessen the chances of catching infectious diseases and brand hand cleaning easier.

Blood and digestive juices from organs possibly penetrated by the shot must exist removed from the torso crenel chop-chop. Organs deteriorate apace so remove them rapidly. The faster they are removed, the faster the meat volition cool and the better it will be preserved. Field dressing will eliminate quite a bit of weight and so information technology is better to field dress the animal before you transport it.

Remember that it is important to go on dirt and foreign objects abroad from the exposed body crenel. Removing the odour glands is not considered necessary but if you wish to exercise and then, be careful as they can taint the meat if broken or smeared on the carcass.

BASIC FIELD DRESSING TOOLS

Perhaps the virtually important tools you lot can carry for field dressing are a sharp knife and a good sharpener. These will exist the primary implements you use for skinning and cleaning carcasses. Other tools you might include in your field dressing bag are:

  • A minor axe or saw for cut through os.
  • Rope for tying the carcass together or dragging it.
  • Latex or condom gloves.

STEPS IN FIELD DRESSING

Curlicue the deer carcass over on its back with the rump lower than the shoulders and spread the hind legs. Make a cut along the center line of belly from breastbone to base of tail. First cutting through the hibernate, then through belly muscle. Avoid cutting into the paunch and intestines by holding them away from the knife with the complimentary hand, while guiding the knife with the other.

Unless the deer caput will be mounted, the cut should pass through the sternum and extend up the cervix to the chin to permit removal of as much of the windpipe as possible.

With a small sharp pocketknife, cutting around the anus and depict it into the body crenel, so it comes free with the complete intestines. In doing this, avoid cutting or breaking the float. Loosen and roll out the stomach and intestines. Carve up the pelvic bone to hasten cooling.

Cut around the edge of the diaphragm, which separates the chest and tum cavities, and carve up the breastbone. So, reach forward to cut the windpipe and gullet ahead of the lungs. This should let y'all to pull the lungs and heart from the breast cavity. Drain excess claret from the body cavity past turning the torso belly down or hanging animal caput down. Prop the body cavity open with a stick to let ameliorate air circulation and faster cooling.

A clean cloth may be useful to clean your hands. If y'all puncture the entrails with a bullet or your knife, wipe the torso cavity every bit clean equally possible or flush with water and dry with a fabric. Don't use h2o to launder out the trunk cavity unless the paunch or intestines are badly damaged.

Part of the satisfaction of the chase comes with making a make clean impale and in doing a neat chore of field dressing your deer. Veteran hunters may have variations in the steps of field dressing. The important points are to remove the internal organs immediately without contaminating the body cavity with dirt, hair, or contents of the digestive tract and to bleed all excess blood from the torso cavity.

All parts damaged by gunshot should be trimmed abroad. If the weather is warm or if the deer is to be left in the field for a day or more than, it may exist skinned, except for the head, and washed clean of dirt and hair. It should be placed in a shroud sack or wrapped with porous cloth to cool (cheesecloth is platonic). The cloth covering should exist porous enough to permit air apportionment only firmly woven enough to give good protection from insects and dirt. Adequate cooling may accept vi hours or more than, depending on weather atmospheric condition.

AGING THE MEAT

Historic period the deer carcass in a absurd, dry out place. Aging of a well cared for carcass at correct temperatures yields better flavored, more tender meat. Best results are obtained in a near-constant temperature, preferably from 34 to 36 degrees Fahrenheit. Since it is rarely that cold in Oklahoma, hunters should not age their carcasses outside.

Crumbling for one to two weeks is about right for the best quality venison, depending on the age and condition of the beast.

DISPOSAL OF ENTRAILS AND CARCASSES

The Oklahoma carcass disposal regulations are: No person may dump the carcass of any dead fauna in whatever well, spring, pond or stream of water or leave information technology within 1/4 mile of whatsoever occupied home or public highway without burying the carcass in an appropriate style where it is not liable to become exposed through erosion of the soil or where such land is subject to overflow.

Other states may have different laws about how you lot should dispose of the unused parts of a game animal. Never leave the waste remains out where other people may see them. Remember that the state you hunt is often used for other purposes. Many people will be offended if they discover the unused parts of a game animal.

Careless behaviors such as this tin can result in poor public opinion of hunting and stop upwardly damaging the sport and hurting your opportunities to participate in the future. Be aware of your actions; how they affect others and how they touch the sport.

APPRECIATE THE GIFT!

Never forget to capeesh the gift! Hunting an fauna is a great privilege that can exist immensely rewarding.

A responsible hunter never forgets to give back when opportunities rise.

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Information provided courtesy of the Outdoor Nebraska and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation's Hunter Education Manual.