How do u guys hang your critters, by the hind legs or around the neck?
Head up, 100%. Doesn't do much good for all that to drain and stay in the head/neck area. Makes me cringe every time I see them hanged back legs up. That's where stink comes from!
If I am cleaning right away and boning out if not field dressed, hind legs, if I am letting it hang, head.
Head down.
I always field dress in the woods, so nothing left to drain or stink up. Besides, Larry Benoit (probably greatest deer hunter of all time) said,
"we don't hang a buck by his neck,that's degrading to the buck,he's too majestic of an animal even in death,to humiliate that way".
Hang em up by the quarter or bag. I cant remember the last animal we brought out whole.
Head down. I learned to field dress in Germany, where the throat is slit, windpipe cut and the esophagus tied off. Both are then removed through the chest opening, leaving the neck free to drain through the mouth and nose. The femoral artery is also slit so the hind legs drain out. Really very little blood left in them.
Head down on a buck to be caped. Everything else is head up.
Head down, somewhere in my mind I never cared for the look of head up but never till now said it out loud. Either way they look dead. be respectful and process the deer to the freezer and any way is good with me.
I did both ways this year, side by side....similar size deer, hung in the same amount of time after kill.
Both pools were the same size on the cardboard I laid under them.
Head down. They don't hang long enough to matter much. Also, upon my arrival home, no matter the time, I take the garden hose out and thoroughly wash and trim the inner cavity while the critter is on a fairly steep slope. Most drains thru the rear before I even hang it up. It is clean as it is gonna get once I am done and can dry quickly.
ChuckC
Head down..
Head down and I agree with Sockrsblur, I never liked the way it looked either
To be honest head down is the only way ive ever hung one. I guess thats because that the way I was taught.
Head down. I still get a lot of draining out mouth and nose when I cut esophagus off high. My buddy hangs opposite, but I never liked it. I feel I am a lynching
Head down. I get the hide off immediately, debone the hind quarters, pull the tenderloins, remove the front shoulders and get everything in the fridge for 10 days.
Mostly head down. Occasionally head up if I still gotta gut it but I usually do that in the field.
Hang it from the head and let it drain and cool. When I butcher it I turn it head down.
Both ways work. Usually head up unless I am caping one out. I am not sure hanging by the legs upside down is any less "degrading" than by the head...but each of us have to decide that for ourselves I guess.
Head down. Easier to fillet the cuts off the deer for me.
Mine are dressed in the field and hung in camp head down and the skin comes off straight away. Often it's too warm to leave the skin on. If fly's are a problem it has to be quartered or debone and put in a cooler. Or sometimes taken straight to town to the processor.
I never gave much thought to the aesthetics of hanging head up, but upon thinking about it, it does seem a bit ignoble.
QuoteOriginally posted by Blackhawk:
Head down.
I always field dress in the woods, so nothing left to drain or stink up. Besides, Larry Benoit (probably greatest deer hunter of all time) said,
"we don't hang a buck by his neck,that's degrading to the buck,he's too majestic of an animal even in death,to humiliate that way".
LOL, now that is some funny stuff there. Greatest deer hunter, perhaps, but off his rocker with that comment. I do it however the mood strikes, but frequently I just tie a rope or chain around the neck and lift it up with the bucket of the tractor. I can get it high enough that the yotes can only chew on the bottom of the legs a little if sitting overnight before I butcher it. Pretty funny, the arbitrary rules of what is respectful to a dead animal. I bet that majestic animal would find it more respectful to let it live.
Head down.
Hind legs!
Bisch
I hang by the hind legs head down. Just never liked the lynched look. And seems to skin easier that way.
head down
Head down,only way I have ever done it.I never field dress or gut one either.We just hang them up pull the hide off and quarter them and in the cooler with ice they go for 5-6 days.
Hind legs. Or I use my skinning trough.. Like they use for hogs. Easy to make n work well...
Neither if I can get a signal to call it in, if so I bone out or quarter up on the ground where it fell. I always have 2 gallon freezer bags in my pack for boned out meat. Otherwise head down.
Must be a location thing, I have seen HUNDREDS hung up and all head down. I don't eat the head so I'd rather the blood drain in the head versus the tasty hind quarters. Only in magazines and on the web have I seen deer hung by the head and it seems most of the time it is a northern state. Guess It is whatever you get use to.
(http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u301/kirkll/Hunting%20pics/muzzleloaderhunt08020.jpg) (http://s171.photobucket.com/user/kirkll/media/Hunting%20pics/muzzleloaderhunt08020.jpg.html)
(http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u301/kirkll/Hunting%20pics/muzzleloaderhunt08027.jpg) (http://s171.photobucket.com/user/kirkll/media/Hunting%20pics/muzzleloaderhunt08027.jpg.html)
I was taught to hang them up by the hind legs.
Head down I open them up from rear to under the chin when I field dress them.
Keith,
My head is down cuz I have not gotten a deer this year! So hang yours any way you want....
I've done both and I think head up they are easier to skin...
I hang them head up, after a couple days, I flip them over and process them heads down. Not sure if it really matters though, just the way I was taught and they way Ive always done it.
by the back legs.
I want to add, I asked a buddy about this once and he said he does not care how his butcher hangs them :dunno: just as long as he doesn't have to deal with it himself.
I hang head down. I usually remove the head shortly after hanging.
Head down the strangled look bothers me plus it screws up your cape if he's a dandy.LOL
Hind legs, head down.
QuoteOriginally posted by Kirkll:
(http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u301/kirkll/Hunting%20pics/muzzleloaderhunt08020.jpg) (http://s171.photobucket.com/user/kirkll/media/Hunting%20pics/muzzleloaderhunt08020.jpg.html)
(http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u301/kirkll/Hunting%20pics/muzzleloaderhunt08027.jpg) (http://s171.photobucket.com/user/kirkll/media/Hunting%20pics/muzzleloaderhunt08027.jpg.html)
Just like this!
Yep just like that head down.
Head Down. Those "gambrels" they make specifically for hanging animals for skinning and butchering do not work well head up. :)
QuoteOriginally posted by Ryman Cat:
Head down the strangled look bothers me plus it screws up your cape if he's a dandy.LOL
If he is a dandy, you hang him by the horns. No way to trash the cape, and won't really have that lynched look, for those that actually believe they hold lynchings for dead animals. Win-win.
I hang does by the neck and bucks by the legs...were it not for antlers and cape I'd hang them all by the head.
Used to be legs up but head up most of the time now head up. They don't hang long - my hanging sycamore gets too much afternoon sun.
In fact, there are so many good processors in my area I rarely butcher them myself anymore.
head down
Head down , only one person said it - to cool down heat will rise out of carcass .
Head down, works for me but he doesn't hang long, less then an hour due to heat.
Head down legs up :saywhat:
Head down for me same as others that was the way I was taught. Not sure if there is a right or wrong way.
Wild Bill
Do we have any actual butchers weighing in here...it might be revealing to see what they say....
I haven't gutted a deer in 20 years...use the gutless method and pack the meat out in a bag, straight into an ice chest for several days...
ive always did head down my dad my older brothers and just about everyone I know that hunts hangs deer head down
Head down
QuoteOriginally posted by Michael Arnette:
I hang does by the neck and bucks by the legs...were it not for antlers and cape I'd hang them all by the head.
Same here
I hang them by all four legs. It takes a little more time but it really makes it easy to get at the neck meat :smileystooges:
QuoteOriginally posted by Russ Clagett:
Do we have any actual butchers weighing in here...it might be revealing to see what they say....
I haven't gutted a deer in 20 years...use the gutless method and pack the meat out in a bag, straight into an ice chest for several days...
I'm not a butcher persay. My dad has been a professional butcher since he was around 22-24. He is 65. He and I used to process hundreds of deer every year, it grew old after a decade. I've handled a few and seen a few over the years.
head down, that way all blood and waste (if a mistatke is made) flows out the front end, less valuable meat meat that is there is protected by ribs etc.
Head down.
I started deer hunting late at 25 with no mentor and my first book was by Larry Benoit.
Oh, to have a meat pole like those boys!
QuoteOriginally posted by Russ Clagett:
Do we have any actual butchers weighing in here...it might be revealing to see what they say....
here is a professional mobile butcher. After the hide is off, and they cut the head off and then cut it down the spine with a bone saw.
look at the bottom photo here. They run meat hooks though the front quarters and cut them off & roll them into the refrigerated truck on a rail.
(http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u301/kirkll/Mics%20Ranch%20pics/SANY0006.jpg) (http://s171.photobucket.com/user/kirkll/media/Mics%20Ranch%20pics/SANY0006.jpg.html)
(http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u301/kirkll/Mics%20Ranch%20pics/SANY0013.jpg) (http://s171.photobucket.com/user/kirkll/media/Mics%20Ranch%20pics/SANY0013.jpg.html)
(http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u301/kirkll/Mics%20Ranch%20pics/SANY0014.jpg) (http://s171.photobucket.com/user/kirkll/media/Mics%20Ranch%20pics/SANY0014.jpg.html)
Head up for me.
Cut the lower legs off and one slice around the neck and they will peel like a banana with minimal knife use no hair getting on the meat.
That's the way a local deer processor showed me and I'll never go back to the traditional gambrel.
John,
I thought I was die hard head down, but do hate scraping hair off... can't imagine that around the neck makes that much difference... those hock tendons do make for a nice job...
I peel the bark off soon as I can... including legs below elbow all around, head too! I skin up to the ears cause I love neck meat roasts...make my Mince meat with neck meat!
Always cut out the windpipe, any blood shot meat and then let hang in a cool environment for 3 days rubbed down with Crisco to keep meat from drying out... doesn't turn rancid in freezer like animal fat!