sawzall.

Yep. I carry a cordless saw in my truck just for this. I used to use loppers & hand saws/folding saws/have used a hatchet but I like power tools mo better now. I almost always gut everything. I split the sternum with a big heavy knife that I keep just for that purpose (I keep the ribs unless they are messed up), I cut the pelvis, legs, & ribs with my cordless saw. On smaller/younger animals the heavy knife is all you need to score & break the pelvis by stepping on the legs & pulling up on the tail. If I have the time and it's cool out I'll de-bone while it's hanging. If I have to field dress then I cut around the butt hole and pull it out.

Lay them on the back of the buggy cut of the "unmentionables" and split the pelvis with an ax and a hammer. Hoist them up on the A frame and finish cutting belly. Split the sternum with a knife, cut the chest membrane and the esophagus and everything falls into the gut bucket.
Elk is are a whole different bag of worms and done where they drop.

99.9% of the time, my buck knife easily separates the pelvis and thru the sternum. If there is a rock handy, I will lift the pelvis up, slide rock under and press down on the legs, usually pops and a little slice or three pelvis is done. I have gotten to where I carry an old set of lops in the truck when I am being lazy or miss the center cartilage of the pelvis though.

I have used the bunghole pull thru on a few occasions with larger Mule deer & elk though.

I don't have to do any of that for the organs. I hang mine head down with guts still in them. The guts fall out easily into a bucket or bag. Core out the butthole and pull down with the organs and into the bucket. Cape and quarter. I don't use a sawzall. Why? Because I don't keep it charged all the time and its just more of a fuss and not a necessity for me. I use Corona loppers for all the bone cutting and I'm done in less than 30 minutes for a deer size game animal. Skinned, quartered, in the ice chest and on the way to the taxidermy.

Sheet metal snips! Learned this trick years ago!

Man you guys gotta start using the loppers, that's the easiest way by far. For every bone cut you would ever make, clean cuts, no bone shaving from saws or dulling your knife or whacking away with a hatchet, try a good pair of loppers and watch yourself change your ways real quick

I use the loppers if I'm back at camp, but field dressing while bowhunting for a lot of seasons I gutted the deer in the field so I used a fanny pak and the sheet metal snips fit into the pack perfectly with just a little extra weight.

There is a little bump underside of pelvis. I put a staight down knife depress on that bump. You can feel the bump under the pelvise bone before hand. Once you put dimple in it a knee under deer on ground and snap. I can gut deer in couple minutes clean. Try it yall like it.

Ive used one but its just as easy IMO to cut anus out.

Hanging or on the ground don't matter. Cut what you don't want, and don't cut open what you don't want to smell.

I did experience a disappointment this week end at a deer camp.
The hunters were so proud of their method of not gutting a deer, that they were leaving the tenderloins in the carcass and were about to dump them. They said they didn't want to gut them just to get the tenderloins out.
A few minutes later I had a handful of tenderloins. You just gotta reach in and around the short ribs, hold the insides away and carefully pull them out. You can almost do this without a knife.
Wildlife Resource Document or not, them tenderloins are mine.

True. When I teach the gutless method I wait until the carcass drops and the question "What about my tenderloins?". Then I finish their conversion to the non gut side with a quick retrieval.

I cut off shoulders, straps, flanks, and reach in and grab the tenders then drop the ribs with the guts still inside... then cut the legs away from the pelvis while its hanging... saves soooooo much time and trouble/mess

Nothing more than an little cut and reach in to grab the tenders... no knife needed and you get the whole piece of meat since it just peels off

this is what I do.

I field dress my deer on the ground, and have a saw similar to one mentioned above in an earlier post that is a piece of heavy duty band-saw blade with a molded plastic t-handle, and a stopper on the other end to prevent puncturing intestines. It works great and is easy to use. Keeps my knives in good shape by not having to cut bone or cartilage with them too.

Used these this weekend: took seconds; worked great on pelvis, sternum,ribs and legs!
$35 at lowes. Will never use anything else again!

Wompers^ are nice to have around. If your in the field or don't have any you can hit the right cuts and remove the legs from the quarters at the knee and hock without dullin your knife... same with removing ribcage from pelvis and quarters from pelvis

Yes you will, if you butcher enough pigs with them. Been through several Fiskars.

I saved the $35 and just take my wife's favorite pair of loppers. They work great.

I use a cordless sawsall. Very easy.

My old knife and a rock through the pelvis and my good knife through the rest of the body and rib cage.

This is the way to do it if the deer needs to be quickly processed. If I am going to hang or transport a deer, I will gut it. Never split the sternum... No need. Pull the "unit" back through the anal cavity.

I work from the back forward. For keeping a cape, I stop at the back of the sternum, stick a finger through the diaphragm, dig through the vitals, cut the wind pipe and pull. For non-caped deer, a knife through the sternum (actually cheating to one side or the other) allows for easier access to the windpipe and better air circulation.

A gut job should take 5 minutes or less. A small pocket knife is all that is required.

I use a cordless reciprocating saw on bigger pigs where saving the ribs is worth it. Smaller ones just go whole into the ice chest.