Must haves for cleaning animals

OK gentleman fresh newbie here so be gentle !!!!!!
What is in your bag???? What are your must haves for cleaning animals DEER HOGS.... ect thanks

Gloves, a sharp knife and wipes. I will usually have a water bottle or two as well. I did recently purchase an outdoor edge razor pro and flip and zip. Made the pelvis cut really easy and the knife is just like a havalon with the razor blades.

If you plan to debone it get a Schrade 150T. It’s called a Sharpfinger.

Sharp knife, latex/rubber gloves, water, and I use a small tree lopper to cut through the rib cage and pelvis. Easy breezy!

I also carry a stone to touch up the knife.

For just field dressing I just carry a knife, rubber gloves, a couple clean rags, and maybe a bottle of water or two. I prefer the blue Nytryl (spelling?) gloves to the White/clear plain exam gloves. The Nytryl gloves don't blow out putting them on near as often as the others.

the first 40+ years, merely a good sharp knife for gutting. Usually had another knife or two for skinning and then hit those on a whet rock a few times before deboning.

now I typically have a pair of Nitrile gloves, couple of knifes, one with a sharp gut hook and some water for washing hands ... and usually don't even bother with the gloves. My go to knifes are Buck 102. 105 and 119 that I have had for probably 30+ years. Hard to get sharp but once you do, stays sharp for many deer, just have to hit a stone a few times to knock the tallow off.

A sharp knife

I skin the animal first, then drop the guts in a bucket to be hauled off. Besides the sharp knife, gloves, water and wipes, I have an "A" frame rig with gambrel and chain hoist. Also, a Home Depot orange bucket for the guts.

One with knife with gut hook. Fixed blade Buck 191.

I agree with DH3, I gutted deer on the ground for many years but my back won’t allow that now. It’s much easier to hang them up and do it all at once. I have a tree limb at camp with a pulley, rope, and grambel set up through the entire season so it’s easy when I do shoot something.

A good knife, have several that one animal I do not need to sharpen for just one deer. On hogs I do prefer to have blue nitride gloves

An assortment of knives, loppers, half 55 gallon plastic drum, running water with bench top and sink, concrete slab, covered skinning rack with bright lights, weight scale, and double crank winches

A good bone saw comes in handy..

Luxuries include an electric hoist mounted to something high and solid, good lighting, and an overhead cover to keep you dry while working in the rain.

We use empty liquid livestock feed buckets as gut buckets. Plenty deep and wide to catch and hold the guts from several deer. Well worth asking ranchers if they have one to sell or offer for free.

My son or one of my nephews does all of that for me.

I no longer will gut a hog. Just cut out blackstrap, shoulder and ham.

I don't gut anything. One good sharp knife, well 2, just in case one goes dull on me and some loppers to whack off legs/head.

After being on a lease with multiple groups of hunters, and having things you try to "donate" to the cause at the skinning rack disappear, a garden hose sprayer to rinse the carcass.

At least 2 knives one with a gut hook, lopper and saw, gambrel attached to small cable which is attached to a hand winch. Need a good tree to accomodate the winch/cable. Large tub for waste etc., water and gloves which I rarely use. Nice to have a table near by.

Butt Out 2

There is always water available, at the cleaning station or in the Gator or Ranger.
Gloves are nice, but not always handy.
A good knife, sometimes sharp is debatable.

I don’t gut them these days. I hang em head down and skin em. Then take the backstrap and debone the hind quarters and sometimes the shoulders (if I haven’t blown them up). I use gloves nowadays, and generally use two knives - one for skinning and one for deboning.

The carcass then goes to the back pasture for coyote bait.

Then, it’s a tradition in our family to have a ‘kill drink’. Usually bourbon.

So by not gutting your deer, some of you don't consider getting to the tenderloins as being worth the effort? Some would consider that a deer hunting felony.

Box cutters with both straight and hooked blades.

After years of doing it the hard way, and being much younger you have to adapt with age.
We have a tree with the winch set up that we can pull right up under and, hook the rear legs a few cranks on the boat winch and just pull forward.
Skin, quarter, remove the guts, tenders, and backstraps, and debone the carcass. Ice chest is handy in the pickup bed, and hide, guts, and legs go into the wash tub on the ground to be hauled away......Takes two old men about 30 minutes.

I understand the gutless method, but dont do it. But why would you not always take both shoulders? Even blowing the exit shoulder out with a big rifle, there is always meat left on both to be ground into sausage. Sounds like a waste

A good razor knife with carpet hook blades is an excellent gut hook.

A buddy who gets mad at you for taking so long that he does it himself and you open a beer......

Well they are either lazy, don't know or just topwaters.

I NEVER gut a deer and I ALWAYS take the tenders. Just hang upside down and carefully trim the gut bag down and away to access.

We've got what some refer to as a Barndominium at out place. We built a skinning rack in the garage with an electric hoist. Running water, bright lights, the ability to close the roll-up doors makes things nice in cold or bad weather.

Skinning station tools include an assortment of knives, nitrile gloves (buy a couple of boxes of each size every year at Harbor Freight), a couple of old cattle nutrient tubs for gut buckets, loppers, a battery operated sawzall, and several stainless meat hooks for hooking and hanging meat to rinse.

The last couple of deer we've tried using the air compressor to blow air into an incision at each ankle. Sure make the hide peel off easier.

A tail stripper! The tail from a whitetail makes a great antenna topper.

you can get the tenderloins without gutting it if you hang upside down. No deer hunting felony committed. Don't get near as bloody or risk contamination.

A Knife is all that is needed. But if I have the luxury of a gambrel, hoist, and a tree I will use that as well.

Ktexas14, note that I said I take shoulder meat if the shoulders aren’t “blown up”. Maybe I didn’t say it clearly enough. My fault. As for the tenderloins, sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. Not much to them in a small central Texas doe.

I always gutted them. Probably 40 or 50 years of deer cleaning. Hundreds of deer, since I was always the only one with a sharp knife. Then one day, in Texas, somebody asked why I gutted them, if I was deboning them while hanging. As I remember, I considered the question for a moment and then said, very clearly, “Uuuuuh, I don’t know”. That was the last time I gutted a deer. Same with hogs, if it’s a big sow.

Electric Hoist
A Buck 110 knife
Outdoor edge knife
Rubber Gloves
Electric Saws All

I try to follow the 10 minute deer cleaning video

JR

Swing by your local auto part place or paint supply. Get an entire box of heavy duty nitrile gloves for about $8. Never get messy or greasy again!!!

We call it the "poacher's quarter" as that is what the game warden that told me how to do it called it. If I am hunting alone, hunting far from the road, there are no good trees around to hang a deer from, not driving a truck, or it is a hot day and need to get it quartered and out asap, etc. I will have a plastic painters tarp, gloves, some plastic bags, and folding saw in my pack. Though you can just separate the joint and cut the feet off with a knife too. It is super fast and more efficient than one would think. Tag an ear, throw down the tarp and roll the deer onto it. On it's belly if possible, with hogs especially. Cut the skin down the back, front of the shoulders, and back of the hams. Starting immediately after the kill the skin pulls away real easy. Flap one side and remove the feet, remove the quarters and backstrap, repeat, trim as much neck, rib, etc meat as you want without cutting into the gut, throw it all in the bags. Drag the carcass off the tarp, Throw the gloves and head on the tarp, roll it up and put in one of the trash bags. Carry, cart, or pack it out. If by now you don't want to open the belly and roll the gut out of the way to cut the tenderloins, you have only lost the tenderloins. It's not lazy, it's working smart.

Did it just the other day.

A pair of blue nitrile gloves, a Havalon with spare blades, and some game bags. Sometimes I will have a small disposable plastic tarp to lay meat on.

Pretty spartan but where I hunt I usually have to pack everything out.

I’m a minority here and I know it. Gut on the ground and 1/4 on the tailgate. Rubber gloves and a few knives... water is a plus but, if somebody hits the stomach, water is a requirement.

The min is a knife but gloves, water, coolers etc

I will add...last year I was hunting alone w no cell service, and shot a buck. I always keep my knives sharp, probably too sharp. I guess the dad/husband in me thought...this knife is too dam sharp to be out here skinning alone w no cell service...

Just something to think about. I don’t let them shave hair anymore like I used too

That is the best knife ever. I have a Schrade-Walden I found in the highway in 1983, still the best knife I own.

As for the OP, today I carry gloves, the above mentioned Schrade knife, and a SOG Revolver that has a gut hook blade and a small bone saw, and a knife sharpener from RADA, best $5 ever. And water bottles. Someone mentioned wipes, and I prefer the GOJO wipes at the counter at O-Reilly's.

If we take them to camp, the Ryobi sawzall comes in handy. I honestly prefer to field dress on the ground, in the field. To me, it's easier, faster, and allows the meat to cool quicker.

I've been doing it this way for over 20 years now.

I hang it and skin it.
Cut the head off.
take off front legs and debone
take out the backstraps
Make a short slit near the pelvis to get to the tenderloins (gravity keeps the guts out of the way)
Then, I bone the pelvis away from both 1/4s. the carcass (guts included) fall into the gut tub. I never have to touch them.
Then I bone out the 1/4s.

very easy and quick. I can do it blindfolded.

All I know still get the tenders. Just a reach around...

An ice chest with frozen water bottles to put the quarters in...