- Joined
- Jan 30, 2006
- Messages
- 175
Pay attention, this man knows his stuff.
-
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Hunting knives?
- Thread starter Shotgun
- Start date
Pay attention, this man knows his stuff.
For field dressing deer I prefer a fixed blade of 4" with a drop point. I also like a knife with finger gaurd to prevent your fingers from slipping onto the cutting edge if the handle becomes slippery from blood.
However field dressing deer can be easliy accomplished with a pocket knife but for safety I would advise a lock blade
However field dressing deer can be easliy accomplished with a pocket knife but for safety I would advise a lock blade
Here is something I posted on Paleoplanet about skinning a pig. It may be of use to somebody:
Pigs aren't the easiest animals in the world to skin.
You could say that there are two types of skinning. One is to get the skin off, and one is to get the meat out. When I'm in 'meat out' mode it means I am not trying to save a perfect skin.... I just want the meat and maybe bits of the skin. I'd say that it is best to attack the job of skinning a pig in 'meat out' mode. But of course it is possible, if you are careful, to get a good skin and have the meat looking presentable.
Whenever possible, I like to hang game animals up for the skinning operation. This keeps the operation at a comfortable height, and it minimises the contamination of the meat. If you have to, a pig can be skinned on the ground but it is hard to keep the carcase clean. And skinning on the ground on a steep slope is frustrating.
There are probably internet sites around that show diagrams of how to tackle the job of skinning.
It is best if the pig has not been gutted before skinning commences. Of course this won't always be the case, but it does help to keep things cleaner.
Here's how I do it. For a start I try to brush or scrape off all the mud or loose dirt etc off the outside of the animal. I then might push a couple of fingers into the lower belly at the crotch back up into the pelvic cavity. This might force out any faeces that are in the end of the colon - or 'chutney tube' as I've heard it called Naturally it is best to have the animal lying in such a way that if anything does come out, it doesn't stick to the skin.
I then roll the pig on to its back and cut around the two back legs just above (or below seeing the pig is upside down) the hoof. The cut is maybe two inches above the hoof and is just deep enough to go through the skin...I try to avoid cutting any deeper. I then cut through the skin down the back of each leg with each cut finishing somewhere near the anus. Once again, only the skin should be cut. If you cut the meat it doesn't really matter, but it keeps things neater (and possibly easier later) if just the skin is cut. I generally hold my knife with the cutting edge facing away from the meat and force it under the skin to make these cuts.
The next job is to cut around the front hocks. If I were wanting to save the skin I would probably then cut the skin down the front of each leg with the cuts joining under the throat somewhere. Just lately I've been in 'meat out' mode, and I have cut down the back of the front legs of some small pigs because it seems that the skin may be easier to get at to pull off this way.
The preceeding cuts can be done while the animal is hanging, but I find it easier to manouver everything with the pig on the ground.
I then hang the pig by the back legs. If you don't have a gimbrel (or gambel or whatever you might call it), you can use two bits of strong cord. I like to tie a slipped groundline hitch on to the hoof. It holds well and is easy to undo. Actually tying the hooves may be better than using a gimbrel hook because it is easy for the carcase to fall off a gimbrel sometimes.
The next cut to make goes down the belly joining the two sets of cuts between the back and front legs. If you go too deep you could easily penetrate the guts and this is undesirable (but not the end of the world). Just cut the skin.
You now have to pull the skin off. I start at the hind legs. You grab a cut edge of skin and pull at it whatever way you can, and only use your knife to cut the connective tissue between the skin and the meat if it is too hard to pull off, or if the meat starts to tear off with the skin. Once you start you will see what needs to be done. If your hog is a big one and it tied to a sturdy tree, you can pull hard. With some smaller pigs you might find that the lower leg joints pull apart. Be careful cutting around the anus to keep things clean. You may choose to skin the tail on some animals, but I generally cut the tail right off with the skin on a pig.
On big hogs you might find that they have a really thick bit of skin around the front shoulders. We call this the 'shield'. It makes the skin hard to bend while skinning. You just have to persist. You may find that it helps to make a cut through the skin down the backbone so that the skin comes off in two halves.
When I have the skin off down to the head, I cut into the flesh around the neck. Quite often this cut seems to happily meet with a major joint in the neck. So when I reach the vertebra, it is sometimes a simple matter to twist the head and it falls from the body. With bigger pigs further surgery is often required to make this happen.
You can throw the head away, or you might like to rescue the tongue and small bits of meat on it to eat....perhaps the brain too if you feel so inclined. If you want to remove the lower jaw to save the tusks, remember that the tusks go a long way back inside the jaw and it would be a pity to cut through the tusks if you saw or chop the jaw too far forward. You can use a knife to remove the whole bottom jaw at the joints, but I have never found this to be easy.
Anyway...I've digressed. You now have a pig carcase without a skin. If the guts are still inside, now is the time to make a careful cut down the belly skin from the crotch to the diaphragm without cutting the intestines. I generally make a small cut at the crotch, then insert two fingers of my left hand between the belly skin and the guts. I carefully place the knife blade between the two fingers and make the cut with my fingers creating a gap between the guts and what needs to be cut.... so my fingers move down with the knife. You can use a knife with a fancy gut-hook for this job, but it isn't necessary. As you cut lower, the guts may start to fall out...but this won't be a problem generally unless you've nicked the guts or gut-shot the animal. Then things can get messy.
Before you pull the guts out, you should carefully stick your knife into the animal alonside the anus and cut around it. This means that the chutney tube , and maybe the bladder, should pull out fairly neatly from below. Actually I'd probably make this cut before I cut the belly open.
Get your hand behind the guts and look to see what is holding them in. There will be strips of connective tissue which might pull free, or you may have to use your knife for the job. You will eventually see the diaphragm - the membrane separating the guts from the lung cavity. I cut right around the diaphragm against the ribs. The guts should drop to the ground at around this stage. Pull out the heart and lungs (but maybe keep the heart because it is good to eat).
You can now butcher the carcase. You can follow the text book, or you can simply get the meat off the bones. It doesn't really matter unless you want to impress somebody knowledgable or pass a butchery examination. In the end you just chew it up anyhow. I will sometimes cut all the meat off the bones in the field and carry it home in plastic bags in my backpack. This saves me having to dump the bones and unwanted bits at home, and it means I am carrying a whole lot less.
Pigs aren't the easiest animals in the world to skin.
You could say that there are two types of skinning. One is to get the skin off, and one is to get the meat out. When I'm in 'meat out' mode it means I am not trying to save a perfect skin.... I just want the meat and maybe bits of the skin. I'd say that it is best to attack the job of skinning a pig in 'meat out' mode. But of course it is possible, if you are careful, to get a good skin and have the meat looking presentable.
Whenever possible, I like to hang game animals up for the skinning operation. This keeps the operation at a comfortable height, and it minimises the contamination of the meat. If you have to, a pig can be skinned on the ground but it is hard to keep the carcase clean. And skinning on the ground on a steep slope is frustrating.
There are probably internet sites around that show diagrams of how to tackle the job of skinning.
It is best if the pig has not been gutted before skinning commences. Of course this won't always be the case, but it does help to keep things cleaner.
Here's how I do it. For a start I try to brush or scrape off all the mud or loose dirt etc off the outside of the animal. I then might push a couple of fingers into the lower belly at the crotch back up into the pelvic cavity. This might force out any faeces that are in the end of the colon - or 'chutney tube' as I've heard it called Naturally it is best to have the animal lying in such a way that if anything does come out, it doesn't stick to the skin.
I then roll the pig on to its back and cut around the two back legs just above (or below seeing the pig is upside down) the hoof. The cut is maybe two inches above the hoof and is just deep enough to go through the skin...I try to avoid cutting any deeper. I then cut through the skin down the back of each leg with each cut finishing somewhere near the anus. Once again, only the skin should be cut. If you cut the meat it doesn't really matter, but it keeps things neater (and possibly easier later) if just the skin is cut. I generally hold my knife with the cutting edge facing away from the meat and force it under the skin to make these cuts.
The next job is to cut around the front hocks. If I were wanting to save the skin I would probably then cut the skin down the front of each leg with the cuts joining under the throat somewhere. Just lately I've been in 'meat out' mode, and I have cut down the back of the front legs of some small pigs because it seems that the skin may be easier to get at to pull off this way.
The preceeding cuts can be done while the animal is hanging, but I find it easier to manouver everything with the pig on the ground.
I then hang the pig by the back legs. If you don't have a gimbrel (or gambel or whatever you might call it), you can use two bits of strong cord. I like to tie a slipped groundline hitch on to the hoof. It holds well and is easy to undo. Actually tying the hooves may be better than using a gimbrel hook because it is easy for the carcase to fall off a gimbrel sometimes.
The next cut to make goes down the belly joining the two sets of cuts between the back and front legs. If you go too deep you could easily penetrate the guts and this is undesirable (but not the end of the world). Just cut the skin.
You now have to pull the skin off. I start at the hind legs. You grab a cut edge of skin and pull at it whatever way you can, and only use your knife to cut the connective tissue between the skin and the meat if it is too hard to pull off, or if the meat starts to tear off with the skin. Once you start you will see what needs to be done. If your hog is a big one and it tied to a sturdy tree, you can pull hard. With some smaller pigs you might find that the lower leg joints pull apart. Be careful cutting around the anus to keep things clean. You may choose to skin the tail on some animals, but I generally cut the tail right off with the skin on a pig.
On big hogs you might find that they have a really thick bit of skin around the front shoulders. We call this the 'shield'. It makes the skin hard to bend while skinning. You just have to persist. You may find that it helps to make a cut through the skin down the backbone so that the skin comes off in two halves.
When I have the skin off down to the head, I cut into the flesh around the neck. Quite often this cut seems to happily meet with a major joint in the neck. So when I reach the vertebra, it is sometimes a simple matter to twist the head and it falls from the body. With bigger pigs further surgery is often required to make this happen.
You can throw the head away, or you might like to rescue the tongue and small bits of meat on it to eat....perhaps the brain too if you feel so inclined. If you want to remove the lower jaw to save the tusks, remember that the tusks go a long way back inside the jaw and it would be a pity to cut through the tusks if you saw or chop the jaw too far forward. You can use a knife to remove the whole bottom jaw at the joints, but I have never found this to be easy.
Anyway...I've digressed. You now have a pig carcase without a skin. If the guts are still inside, now is the time to make a careful cut down the belly skin from the crotch to the diaphragm without cutting the intestines. I generally make a small cut at the crotch, then insert two fingers of my left hand between the belly skin and the guts. I carefully place the knife blade between the two fingers and make the cut with my fingers creating a gap between the guts and what needs to be cut.... so my fingers move down with the knife. You can use a knife with a fancy gut-hook for this job, but it isn't necessary. As you cut lower, the guts may start to fall out...but this won't be a problem generally unless you've nicked the guts or gut-shot the animal. Then things can get messy.
Before you pull the guts out, you should carefully stick your knife into the animal alonside the anus and cut around it. This means that the chutney tube , and maybe the bladder, should pull out fairly neatly from below. Actually I'd probably make this cut before I cut the belly open.
Get your hand behind the guts and look to see what is holding them in. There will be strips of connective tissue which might pull free, or you may have to use your knife for the job. You will eventually see the diaphragm - the membrane separating the guts from the lung cavity. I cut right around the diaphragm against the ribs. The guts should drop to the ground at around this stage. Pull out the heart and lungs (but maybe keep the heart because it is good to eat).
You can now butcher the carcase. You can follow the text book, or you can simply get the meat off the bones. It doesn't really matter unless you want to impress somebody knowledgable or pass a butchery examination. In the end you just chew it up anyhow. I will sometimes cut all the meat off the bones in the field and carry it home in plastic bags in my backpack. This saves me having to dump the bones and unwanted bits at home, and it means I am carrying a whole lot less.
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2008
- Messages
- 1,484
G'day Dartanyon
Others on the Fallkniven forum have suggested a thinner blade (approximately 4 mm instead of the current 5 mm).
Kind regards
Mick
Personally, I'm very happy with the knife as is :thumbup:
Others on the Fallkniven forum have suggested a thinner blade (approximately 4 mm instead of the current 5 mm).
Kind regards
Mick
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2004
- Messages
- 579
When I was growing up and learning to hunt the knife of choice in our Pa deer camp was a 5'' almost straight bladed sheath knife I still have my Dads old Western. But I've found that a short blade 2 1/2 to 3'' works better for me. I use a Fred Frey 3 Finger with a 2 1/2 '' blade or an Ed Fowler Long Yearling with a 3'' blade. Sorry I can't post pictures.
Idon't quarter my deer, just field dress and skin. I take them to a local butcher.
Idon't quarter my deer, just field dress and skin. I take them to a local butcher.
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2008
- Messages
- 1,810
You are so right about joints. You don't need to chop through them. I cut the ligaments arount the joint like you said, Bend the joint to a L shape then twist it around till the joint pops then cut the rest of the tissue out. I don't know why, but I like doing that. If someone hasn't seen it before it makes quite an impression. I don't cut thru the pelvis as well and debone my meat. I like the trailguide by blackjack. A 3 to 4 inch knife will do all you need. Something like a drop point hunter would be adequate.
Dipbait.
You can readily find original USA made Schrade 152OT Sharpfingers on ebay. I have both carbon and stainless version orginals.
B
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2008
- Messages
- 195
This old guy still uses his Buck 110 to field dress and skin. A boning knife and butcher knife
gets the meat ready for the white paper. Like another poster said you don't need much cutting to remove the skin. The sooner you remove the skin the easier it is. Out here the deer need to be cooled out fast to prevent souring.
gets the meat ready for the white paper. Like another poster said you don't need much cutting to remove the skin. The sooner you remove the skin the easier it is. Out here the deer need to be cooled out fast to prevent souring.
- Joined
- Apr 27, 1999
- Messages
- 6,117
So one of the things you can use a hunting knife for is gutting aka field dressing a deer. This link shows much of what this entails. http://www.gutpilestyle.com/ForumSM...leaning/field-dressing-a-deer-gutting-a-deer/
Note that in some cases you might want to crack open the ribs for easier access, but that might make it harder to keep dirt out during transit. This shows why a big knife might really get in your way.
Note that in some cases you might want to crack open the ribs for easier access, but that might make it harder to keep dirt out during transit. This shows why a big knife might really get in your way.
- Joined
- May 5, 2003
- Messages
- 2,493
I always figured a drop point was better for opening up a deer's abdominal cavity without accidentally poking a hole in the guts :barf:.
I have a dislike for upswept points for pretty much any use. But the fact that so many hunters love the Sharpfinger would lead me to believe it's a matter of personal preference.
Stay sharp,
desmobob
In Sweden, where lots of people hunt, the average knife is a Mora. Cheap, sharp and easy to get clean again. A Mora 2000 is a great knife and has a decent price.
People who show up with knives worth more than 200 SEK (30 USD) are usually considered knife nuts
I myself should take my Fallkniven H1 since it is developed for hunting.
The Fallkniven F1 is a survival/hunting knife and the H1 is a hunting/survival knife.
Maybe the WM1 will tag along since it is useful when cutting inside animals.
I however do not know how to cut up a moose in the right order, but I have the knife for it.
People who show up with knives worth more than 200 SEK (30 USD) are usually considered knife nuts
I myself should take my Fallkniven H1 since it is developed for hunting.
The Fallkniven F1 is a survival/hunting knife and the H1 is a hunting/survival knife.
Maybe the WM1 will tag along since it is useful when cutting inside animals.
I however do not know how to cut up a moose in the right order, but I have the knife for it.