Considering deer hunting this season - but I'm a wuss

[Richwon4]

smaller and sharper is what you need when dressing a deer. Leave the pig sticker and bowie knife at home even if it looks cool.

 

[Hookeye]

I don't know that anyone who has been hunting and dressing their own deer for any matter of time can say they have never accidentally hit the paunch or intestines at one time or another. It happens. If you are careful it doesn't have to ruin the meat. You might have to trim the infected areas away before you butcher it though.

Broke 1 bladder pulling too hard (long time ago), but have never cut the guts on any deer I have dressed.

I take a jug of water with me to wash up afterward. I just let the blood wash out the bladder busted area (wasn't full just got a little on it) and then washed it out again with the water. No big deal.

 

[Willie]

I've had a few smelly ones, but that was from an extreme angle bow shot that HAD to go through the guts and paunch to get to the boiler room.. ...never burst one field dressing..

 

[hammer24]

Never cut paunch while dressing either. I've always been accutely aware not to, scared to even! I've been with friends who have, and that's enough for me to take a few extra minutes to get it right. I had a muzzleloader doe a few years back that I shot her quartering away pretty sharply through timber, knicked paunch on the way into pump station. It doesn't take many times smelling paunch to make you be careful.

 

[.356luger]

One thing I always do for the field dressing portion of a kill Is pack 3 or 4 pairs of rubber exam gloves. It's really nice when you have blood all over your hands to peel off the gloves toss them in a baggy and have clean hands again. Especially if its really cold because first thin you want to do is put your hands in your pockets and warm them up.

And I use no more than a 4 inch blade to clean them with nice size to keeP your index finger on the back I for the precise stuff.

Infact this is the knife I use now a days

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Hunting/Knives-Tools/Fixed-Blade-Knives|/pc/104791680/c/104740380/sc/104330880/Knives-of-Alaska-Trekker-Knives/746586.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fhunting-knives-tools-fixed-blade-knives%2F_%2FN-1100158%2FNo-48%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_104330880%3FWTz_l%3DSBC%253Bcat104791680%253Bcat104740380%26WTz_st%3DGuidedNav%26WTz_stype%3DGNP%26recordsPerPage%3D48&WTz_l=SBC%3Bcat104791680%3Bcat104740380%3Bcat104330880

 

[flatoutt]

The best advice I could give is to keep your knife sharp, and the meat clean. The first deer I field dressed was on the side of a mountain in Blanding, Utah. Luckily a friend was there to guide me thru the process. Now we time each other to who gets it done the quickest. Youtube videos are the best training you can get with out actually touching the deer. The smell is bad, but the meat you get is delicious.

 

[Cpl. Klinger]

I plan on having my wife help me do our first one in the field. She was a bio major in college who could skin a squirrel or cat so that the skin looked like clothing (she's shown me pictures, very creepy). She does the fish we catch now and is almost surgical in the cutting of them, and likes to check out the organs once she's done. Her and the daughter were discussing the stomach contents of the catfish she got at Brookville last week after she cleaned it.

 

[jmiller676]

I plan on having my wife help me do our first one in the field. She was a bio major in college who could skin a squirrel or cat so that the skin looked like clothing (she's shown me pictures, very creepy). She does the fish we catch now and is almost surgical in the cutting of them, and likes to check out the organs once she's done. Her and the daughter were discussing the stomach contents of the catfish she got at Brookville last week after she cleaned it.

Is she for rent?

 

[.45 Dave]

Funny isn't it that gutting a deer is nothing to a lot of grown men--but changing a baby's diaper will make you puke every time!

 

[hnts4fun]

To the OP I would say this;

Many of us "skipped" this step because we were lucky enough to begin hunting at an early age with our fathers or friends. Any squeamish thoughts we might have harbored were quickly dispelled as we watched our confident mentors handle the game cleaning chores. Heck if we were really lucky, our dads would even let us help.

You are far from being a wuss! Quite the contrary; you are a thoughtful adult, who is challenging himself to step outside his comfort zone. Not all that easy when you compare it to the feelings we have doing things in which we excel. Prepare yourself for the tasks at hand, take a friend, and have a good time. You are setting yourself up for success by airing your feelings now.

Good luck!