Using a Cleaver (or equivalent) to Split a big Carcase.

coote said:
Ah Desmobob. This is the sort of eyewitness report I was hoping for. Dang, if you can do it on a moose, you should be able to do it on smaller animals.

I haven't done any scientific tests, but I reckon that the backbone is more spongy than leg bones and maybe a bit easier to chop.
Click to expand...

It was neat, clean, accurate and looked fairly easy. If we weren't all standing in water up to our knees, I might have remembered to have taken a few photos.

Stay sharp,
desmobob
 
I agree Adaman 04. A fine toothed saw is best. I have been using a woodsaw with maybe 8 teeth to the inch, but it tends to 'grab' and create big sawdust. Ive seen some decent butchers hand saws with removable blades.... a bit like a big hacksaw. I should invest in one for important jobs.
 
So Desmobob, was the carcase hanging while he quartered it? I'm guessing with all the water around it probably was. If it was hanging, how did you manage to hoist it up?
 
coote said:
I agree Adaman 04. A fine toothed saw is best. I have been using a woodsaw with maybe 8 teeth to the inch, but it tends to 'grab' and create big sawdust. Ive seen some decent butchers hand saws with removable blades.... a bit like a big hacksaw. I should invest in one for important jobs.
Click to expand...

I'd recommend a Wyoming Saw, if you can find them down there. Meat and wood blades, and breaks down into a packable size. As far as the deer ribs, I have an uncle that loves to slow cook them, I'll either save them for him, or trim the meat off for sausage. The best technique I have found for preparing wild hog ribs is to marinade or dry rub them. Then sear the outside over a hot coal fire, like you are cooking a beef steak. Then wrap them up real tight in aluminum foil, and either smoke or bake them at a real low heat, like 250 F, for around eight hours or so. I've found par boiling wild hog tends to remove too much fat to slow cook it properly, at least the ones we have around here. Cooking them as described doesn't require any sauce, and produces fall off the bone results.:thumbup:
 
Yep, Coote.

Hand-held, electric saw, sometimes available with a cutting head that turns for rounding corners, etc. No hurry to cut, so no real pressure on blade.

In Wisconsin, we have to deliver intact deer, after field dressing, for registration. No complete dismemberment in field for us.

If the weather is in the low 40's or below, I take my time processing for freezer. A haunch or two at a time, and let the rest hang and age in the shed.

Best step-by-step I've seen online is at Ramanon's, posted by Rancid Crabtree, a 21st Century mountain man. :) http://forum.ramanon.com/showthread.php?t=61830

VERY well done.
 
Great link kismet!!!

you tube results. You could just search youtube for "how to chop up a whole beef carcass"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHOBGoYrXVQ

From what I remember a whole carcass is cut in twain with an electric saw, old video (PBS maybe) showed line processors using big old cleavers to go through the sternum and separate the spine.

At the end of this video is a similar knife used.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3H1SGsjbjo&feature=fvw

here at 4 minutes you see some axe action, this team uses an obsidian knife and obsidian chips to gut/skin a bison.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fw1K8vn61I&feature=related
 
Last edited:
My aunt was frustrated one time she was trying to split a deer carcass. I jokingly suggested that she try using a chainsaw. She was so irritated that she went ahead and tried it.:eek: And now she uses the chainsaw every time. :D

Helpful hint- don't try this in your woodshop.
 
Thanks for all the useful comments, links, anecdotes and recipes.

I've heard of a chainsaw being used for splitting carcases. I think that vegetable oil is used for bar lubrication. But I wouldn't want any of my family's grotty chainsaws going anywhere near meat I was going to eat.

Wow ! Hunters in Wisconsin have to bring out their deer whole. I think I can see why, but boy that is different to what I'm used to. I guess that encourages hunters to hunt all the handy ground rather than head right off the beaten track.

I really appreciate being able to tap into all your wisdom and experience. The internet is a wonderful thing.
 
I've never used a cleaver on anything myself. I did buy a large cleaver and a very large knife that were used in a slaughter house. I was told the knife was called a lamb splitter.
 
coote said:
So Desmobob, was the carcase hanging while he quartered it? I'm guessing with all the water around it probably was. If it was hanging, how did you manage to hoist it up?
Click to expand...


It wasn't hanging; it was laying in a big marsh where I dropped it with a .300 WinMag. :D That's the trouble with wilderness moose... you pretty much have to quarter them where they fall. From where I shot him, it LOOKED like he was standing on fairly dry ground. :o

After he quartered it, we put the quarters on blue plastic tarps and skidded them across the marsh to the boat.

As for the chain saw, they're handy as anything for game processing! Mineral oil for chain lube and you're good to go. We used a chain saw to hasten the processing of 16 caribou on another Canada hunting trip. I keep a small/cheap electric chainsaw handy for cutting out antlers, etc.

Stay sharp,
desmobob
 
Thanks for that Desmobob. Very interesting.

16 caribou is a heap. I guess there was a group of hunters.

I'm also guessing that what you call mineral oil is what I would call medicinal parrafin.

Best wishes... Coote.
 
A saw is much easier. I use a 24" butcher's saw ,a bit large for a deer but perfect for larger animals.
I've seen videos of a cordless Sawz-all to take apart a moose .That's the ultimate way to do it !!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top