Yes.

I don't gut them anymore. I just skin and quarter them up.

I quit gutting deer about 10 years ago after I found out how easy it was to skin them with my truck then quarter them out. This past weekend I field dressed one though. Personal best and it will be a mounted so I got him to the processor.

I never field dress deer. Since I always quarter in camp right after shooting there is no need. I hang them by the hind legs skin and drop the guts in a bucket. I would not even do that but brother (lease manager) likes to record dressed weight. Now we have axis deer and a large one can be a real struggle to load in a truck by yourself so I might have to field dress one. I shot the queen of the herd 2 years ago and had to back the truck in to a low spot to get her loaded.

I didn't even gut my elk this year

we process ours ourselves and usually hunt fairly close to my dad's where the skinning and cleaning takes place so we don't gut them in the woods. I'm 40 and I have never gutted a deer in the woods.

I take mine to Kuby's and Fischers. Both will not accept a non-gutted deer. They have signs saying it as well.

Now years ago Fischers used to based on their website pricing. I was in a very big hurry once to swap kid duties with the wife so I threw the deer in the truck and called Fischers to pre-place my order and I asked about gutting when they told me stopped taking them. I went ahead and did it in my backyard in Dallas and then took to Kubys. I told my boy not to tell mom.

Here is my take - there is nothing wrong with NOT gutting a deer if all you are going to do is make sausage out of the whole thing.

Myself, I like the taste of well prepared venison, so when I or my boys kill a deer, we get the backstrap whole, both front shoulder roasts, both rear quarter roasts, and the tenderloins. Those are grilled, smoked, or crock potted depending on the cut.

The rib meat and neck is what we use for sausage. I just don't care to turn a whole deer into sausage. I like sausage, but not hundreds of pounds a year of it.

Now, if you eat the deer like my family does, bleeding and gutting QUICKLY is very important. My boys and I bow hunt, and if we are lucky and get a deer to go down quickly (without having to wait an hour+ to go track it) we will gut and bleed it (jugglar vein) as quick as we possibly can. If it is a buck to be shoulder mounted, we do not cut the juggler vein, but still gut it asap IN THE FIELD.

Think about this - when a cow is butchered, it is stunned, immediately hung upside down and it's throat cut so that the still beating heart can help bleed it as quickly as possible. Then the cow is cut open and gutted asap.

You just do not want blood to coagulate in meat (any meat) for any longer than you have to. Again, if you are going to "sausage" the whole darn deer I guess it does not matter - you can't tell what you are eating anyway. For any of you that have not tried grilling or slow cooking your venison, you ought to try it. It really is a delicious type of red meat.

I'm a relatively new hunter and have so far killed only one deer, a doe with a crossbow last month, and 4 hogs. I've gotten tips from hunter buddies and watched tons of YouTube videos, and at this point there I two things I just don't get:

- Gutting a deer or hog
- Taking a deer to a processor

I just don't see the point in gutting a deer or hog since it's so quick to skin and quarter them while hanging at the camp. With hogs I'm able to reach around the gut bag and pull out the tenderloins. Once you've quartered the deer or hog, it's not that much more work to finish processing the meat at home. Grinding is easy, smoking hog hams is easy, shoulders in the crock pot is easy. I can't see paying 75-100 for processing. I haven't really mastered smoking sausage yet, but working on it.

Hang, skin,remove head, neck meat, front quarters, backstraps, tenderloins,sever spine in front of hindquarters, seperate hindquarters from pelvic bone. Never need to gut. Check out "Gutless Method" on Youtube.

I slow cook and grill ALL of my venison.. and still don't gut or bleed out the deer

I was talking to my Maj at work about this. He said the place down by him gets $50 for gutting. He offered to come in and gut every deer they had for half and then the company could keep the other half for doing nothing, but they weren't having it..lol

Most of the time I Skin and quarter the deer without gutting. There have been a few times when I gutted in the field to reduce weight so I could load the animal. If I took a deer or hog to a processor it would be gutted early after the kill.
For those who say they debone while the deer is hanging, how do you explain that to the GW assuming you are not at the final destination?

Not saying you HAVE to gut your deer if you eat the venison, but all I am saying is that I know of no other domesticated animal (hogs or steers for example) that are NOT bled and gutted immediately after they are killed. It is just a known fact that you should drain and remove as much blood as possible from an animal as soon as possible after it is harvested.

I used to do the "gutless" method too but I went back to field dressing - I could definitely tell the difference in taste in the meat. I can even tell the difference on an animal that we took a little longer to recover.

But if your family likes the taste the way you do it then keep on. No big deal - I was just pointing out why I do gut and do it quickly.

How do you explain what to the GW?

Not sure why you would debone if your not at the final destination.. now for the hams I do take it off the pelvis but its still in a quarter... dosnt have to have the pelvis to be quartered...

but if you do want to do the whole thing fill out a WRD

90% of the time I take the shoulders, neck meat, backstrap, and hind quarters. I never bother with the tenderloins or ribs

There are pros and cons to not gutting your deer. I have shot, killed, gutted, and processed many deer throughout my lifetime. However, I now shoot a deer and/or hog and just load it in my truck and take it to my "very trusted" processor who I have used for many years. I gladly pay them $35 extra for a gut charge. I am fortunate that the time from trigger pulled to deer or hog to processor is under 1 hour from both of my properties that I own and hunt. The animals are always processed per my requirements.

Deer or hog is killed clean with one shot, hogs shot behind the ear and deer either shoulder shot or neck shot. Most all just drop where they stand. I won't take a shot unless I feel it will be a clean kill. I can always come back another time.

I have been with people who gut shoot animals, track them half a day, shoot them some more, then gut them and process them. Surprisingly, their deer tastes "gamey". Mine never has tasted bad.

While I may not be "macho" anymore because I don't gut my animals, I can still do it if I have to. I also don't wash my own truck or polish my own boots and shoes anymore, I pay people to do that. Thank goodness I can afford to do it. The people who do these services always seam glad to get the cash and have never complained about having to perform their service.

I cant leave the sweet meats behind they to tastey and easy to get... ribs are worthless

You are not supposed to go any further than quartering, unless you are at the final destination of the deer. If at the lease one should not debone.
Page 62 of the Outdoor Annual.

I misread his question.

Why would guts that aren't touching the meat have anything to do with taste?

That's not a mess, it's a beautiful picture

Let me know how it goes.