I always gut then skin and quarter. I would never even think about leaving the tenders.

Like MELackey said. Those tenderloins are easy to get to without completely gutting.

x2

Not kidding, and in our opinion it was taking it too far, but he had to pay the fine. That GW was known for writing all the tickets he could. He actually wrote tickets for waste of game meat because the hunter breasted the dove and did not keep the rest. We were all happy when he retired.

No gut and always get the tenders!! at least the biggest part of it

What several others have said about getting the tenderloins without gutting. If the deer is hanging upside down it is pretty easy to cut around the hind quarters under the belly and access the tenderloins. The stomach and intestines kind of roll out of the way and you just reach in there and cut the tenderloins. Very easy.

Not taking the tenderloins is just down right being lazy! If you are in that big of a hurry or your times to valuable, then let the deer walk. If you are going to kill it...harvest the animal and don't half arse it!

i just always gut when i shoot we keep everything but don't use the ribs just keep them for dog food we do all our own processing though so we keep it all to decide what to cut for what when we start boning it out

The tenderloins are great. I was taught that it was disrespectful to the animal not to take every piece of meat. Hog, deer, elk, etc... I've seen guys not get them and I open them up and get them. If the heart is still in one piece, it is quite tasty as well.

Someone help me visualize where you have to cut to get the hide off without gutting. You would still have to break the pelvic bone. I was going to try it last year but I couldn't picture it. Thanks

My Mom is a half american indian and if she knew I wasn't harvesting every edible part of the deer she'd bust my a$$. Kind of a spiritual thing with mother nature. Within reason I think you should do what it takes to get the most meat off your kill. Plus the tenderloins are freakin delicious.

Each to their own, but as cold as it is getting I like to gut and hang overnight. If it is cold enough, letting the deer hang for a couple of days is great. I guess I'm just old school!

I was taught, if you hunt it and you kill it and you gonna eat it, you gonna gut it.

I usually gut them on the rack, but really it's a waste of time. you can get every part of the deer without gutting them, tenderloins included. The ribcage makes a handy carrying device for hauling the guts off anyway... a lot less messy than a barrel.

I need to learn how to do that.

I think it comes down to whether you are processing the meat yourself or having it done, or, alternatively, whether you have a camp or are headed right to the processor. For me, gutting and hauling to the processor is a lot less trouble than hanging and skinning and quartering and taking that to the processor. I suppose I could do neither and take the whole dang thing to the processor since it is only about a 30 minute drive.

There are getting to be fewer and fewer processors in East Texas that will take a deer in anything but in a cooler already quartered and cleaned.

Even when I hunt in West Texas, I always take mine home to Longview in the cooler and turn it in to one the processors I use around Longview. I have heard that there are still alot of precessors in other parts of Texas that still take gutted, but not skinned and quartered deer.

I would still never let anyone but myself cape a buck that I wanted a shoulder mount though. I am surprised at how many guys will let a processor cape their bucks.

I like the tenderloins.

Cut the qtr around the pelvic bone, slip your knife into the ball socket and pop it off for each rear qtr. No breaking the pelvic bone reuired. I can skin and quarter a deer w/ tenders in about 25 minutes

You can get the loins without gutting them. Just go through the abdominal lining right there at the back after you take off the straps, run your fingers in there and work them loose. No mess no fuss.

On my own game I gut and take to processor. I used to process my own but with three daughters and a wife not into such things it was always a long, lonely job. My processor does good work and it's money well spent. I also always keep the tenders. That's the best part of the deer, better than backstrap even.

As far as when I'm guiding, I dress, skin and quarter as part of my service. I gut on the tailgate (or incline of my tilt-bed trailer for larger game like Elk and Bison) and dump the guts in less than two minutes. Then I quarter into the ice chest and the hunter gets every ounce of meat.... tenders, ribs, neck... the whole works. For some hunters I've even harvested the heart, liver and kidneys from the gut pile. They claim they're delicious.

i dont gut anything,, dont even have to hang them up,, throw them on a tailgate or the ground. etc,, skin down the back bone cut down the front leg and the back leg and just skin it to where u can get to the shoulder & ham & backstrap,, cut them off, flip and repeat,, usually takes less than 10min

When I was growing up, we always gutted in the field then skinned and quartered back at camp.

Now, I skin and quarter in the field, and, ironically, get the exact same amount of meat.

I guess it has something to do with the lack of meat inside the ribcage (other than the tenderloins, which I get) where the organs are.

Only reason I can see for gutting is if you're going to eat the guts or use them for some other purpose. I can see gutting for those who take to a processor who will then skin and quarter the deer like I do in the field but no more meat will be collected.

We old school gut and clean every single one....

Pigs, not so much

we gut every deer, the tenderloins are worth it!!