Carrying and field dressing small game?

[Dogsoldier]

LMAO..ROFL...youve got to be kidding...squeeze the guts out?...I think I'll just stick to my method...you guys dont bear hug deer to get the guts out do you?          

[MSwickard]

Dogsoldier

If I could I would.....LOL.

But the rabbit deal is the cats meow.

[Hutch]

I've gotta try the gut poppin thing, just to see if my daughter pukes  

[tamure]

lol, it does sound like it could be rather messy if things go wrong...

Didn't get any bunnies today, so I'll have to wait to try that trick.

[tamure]

Ken, thanks for the offer on the vest. However, since I usually wear a small or a medium, I'm afraid it'd be way too big. I dug out some stuff from the old sewing box today. I'm going to try to make myself a hunting tunic that is warm and has lots of pockets.

I'll need to get on that quiver too... and a gamebag... and more nutters... and...

geez, this traditional archery thing really is turning into a way of life.

[trashwood]

The meat is most potable when field dressed, washed and cooled as soon as possible.  a pentatrating wound can release bacteria and gastric fuilds that can influence the taste of the meat.

rusty

[warder1268]

The easiest way, for me, to clean rabbits is to hold them by the hind legs then start peeling the hide off with your fingers.  If they are warm the hide just pulls off.  I then strip the hide down to the head and step on it and pull up.  The hide, innards, and head come right off.  This takes about two minutes at the most.  I ussually do this, not so much to cool them, but to keep the fleas off.  If I leave the hides on, the rabbits cool and the fleas move to the next warm body--mine.  Of course not all rabbits have fleas, but one per season is enoughto get me to remove the hide.  I just throw them in a plastic bag from the grocery store in my backpack.  Have fun.
Mike

[tamure]

Wow, I must be the slowest field dresser on earth!

Thanks for all the input guys. Cottontail season ends Feb. 28th, so hopefully I'll get a chance to try some of your techniques.

[Coldfingers]

Pretty easy to simply dress em out on the spot. Easier than waiting till later too since the hide just peels off when a critter is "recently demised".

I used to go through a bunch of surgical gloves but have since gotten a pair of cheap neopreme gloves that have survived two years and a dozen moose and odd small game. Rinse em in the sink or crik when day is done. A nasty infection years ago while in the bush (from a recently demised wolf)just about did ne in.

Another little trick I picked up when having to shuck the hide off a critter so it could fit in a supercub was to utilize a long choke chain (for dogs) as a gambrel. Make a loop in both ends, slip em over the feet, find a protrusion of some sort (or the wing strut of the plane) and you have an instant "extra pair of hands". Even the lightest of quality choke chains will hold a rather large critter suspended in a great skinning position. Fits in front pocket with ease.

scotty

[Jeff Strubberg]

I've always used a game vest for bunnies.  Cold-weather sport and extra clothes are usually a bonus anyway.  


Squirrels I treat just like John above.  Once around a leg and tie em off to the quiver.

[JC]

I do mine like Warder, you can peel the hide off and clean a rabbit without using a knife. He described the method zactly right.

Great idea bout the choke chain Scotty, I may have to swing by the pet store.

[leftbow]

adkmountainken-like your skinning idea for grouse. Pretty slick.

[Shawn Leonard]

I do that with both Chukar and grouse, don't work on a pheasant. Rabbits are easy, I usually wait, unless I am gonna be out a long time. I usually hide 3-4 by the road, so I do not have to carry them and go get them when done huntin. I peel the skin from shoulders back, than cut them in two behind the shoulders and save backstarps and hind quaters the rest goes to the birds or the nieghborhood cats.  Shawn

[bearhair]

Originally posted by warder1268:
I then strip the hide down to the head and step on it and pull up.  The hide, innards, and head come right off.  

Just to clarify, do you step on the hide and pull up or step on the head and then pull up?  Sounds like a quick and clean method.

[tamure]

A little more clarification would help me too... I assume you must have to step on the head to get it to come off?

I got another bunny today, and I tried the gut-squeezing thing, but I wimped out.    
Too much feeling / sounding like things inside were getting all squished up. I was afraid I'd "pop" one of the things you definitely don't want to pop, like bladder or intestine.

Forgot to try warder's method.