Sawing hogs?

[Briankinley2004]

I always cut the tenderloins out from the topside while hanging. I don't usually split a deer other than breastbone

[Magicman]

Yup, you take them out just behind the last rib.  Slide your open hand between the guts and tenderloin.  Press the guts inward and carefully use your knife to release the tenderloin from the backbone and cut it loose from each end.  It comes out as slick as a whistle. 

I have quartered antelope, deer, and elk without removing the guts while they lay on the ground.  Skin and remove the quarters and loins from one side, roll it over and complete the other side. 

[WDH]

slick as a whistle. 

Old saying.

[Jeff]

Maybe you should ask @Jeff.  He watched me last week.   ;D

Anyway does the @ notifier still work or not?

The notifier was disabled due to an issue of it causing errors in the database.

[Jeff]

Maybe you should ask @Jeff.  He watched me last week.   ;D

Don't ask me, I'd not try it but Magicman did it flawlessly. I'm still of the gut em then hang em by the neck school.

[Magicman]

Getting the tenders out is easier with the animal on the ground because gravity pulls the guts away, but it is tough on the old back.      

[WV Sawmiller]

   I'm with MM on butchering a deer. I never gut one since I hunt on my place and within 30 minutes of killing it I generally drive it under my skinning rack and lift it by the heels. I find it a lot easier to just peel the hide down especially while it is still warm. If the temps are 40 or lower I leave them hanging overnight then bone him out the next morning while still hanging. If it will be below freezing I hang them in the barn with a light on to keep them from completely freezing. If warmer than 40 I quarter and cool in the spare reefer downstairs.

   I find it much easier to pull the loins and such while hanging and chilled. Next I cut the neck off then the shoulders and bone them out. Then I cut the body off and bone it out. Finally I cut the hams off and bone them. I cut these into steaks and cube them if we want steaks or grind them if we have enough steaks.

   Except for the neck with bone intact I don't bring any bones in the house off a deer.

   The only time I use a saw is to split the sternum to clean out the insides and speed up cooling (I now use a rib spreader from a game cleaning kid my daughter gave me a few years ago), when I saw the neck off and separate the body from the hips and saw the hams apart. I either use the saw in the kit or a meat saw. I found years ago the 16"-18" meat saw works much easier than the 24" one which wants to twist when sawing through bone.

   As to the heat I'd think fresh water in the lube tank on full flow and sawing in short bursts would keep the blade cool and clean if you did saw a carcass. From what I've read here it looks like the clean up is more trouble than manual sawing.

[Briankinley2004]

Only problem with not gutting them is you lose the preacher meat. On the chainsaw deal I once went on a guided hunt in Montana. Shot an elk in middle of nowhere. The guides went in on horses and quartered him up,with an electric chain saw hooked to a generator.

[Magicman]

Only problem with not gutting them is you lose the preacher meat.

If you are referring to the inside tenderloins, no sir, I detailed above removing them with the guts in.

Also, I do not remove any quarters, neck, or anything.  All of the meat is removed from the bones as it hangs.  Only the skeleton holding the guts is left hanging.

[WV Sawmiller]

Only problem with not gutting them is you lose the preacher meat.

If you are referring to the inside tenderloins, no sir, I detailed above removing them with the guts in.

Also, I do not remove any quarters, neck, or anything.  All of the meat is removed from the bones as it hangs.  Only the skeleton holding the guts is left hanging.

  I do remove the guts first but i sure recover the tenderloins while boning out the deer. I even cut the brisket and side meat off and even the thin strips between the ribs. The carcass is awful bare when I'm finished.

   The reason I saw off the neck is I find it is easier to cook bone in and remove the cooked meat than to debone it. Everything else I debone off the carcass.

   I have a tall skinning rack attached to me boathouse. I drive my 4 wheeler between the uprights, pull the deer up out of the ATV bed then start skinning. On the other side of the rack I have an old cast iron sink and use the cutting board on it to cut up meat and fish. I have a pump and outside faucet about 25' away and run a hose from it to keep things clean. I've thought about running a line to the sink but more trouble than it is worth. The hose works fine. Drain from the sink goes underground to the creek on the other side so blood, small pieces of meat and fish scale go feed the crawfish and creek chubs.

[Briankinley2004]

I reckon I will have to try that. We always gave it up with the guts and the ribs  when we cleaned hanging.  The wife's grandpa always wanted the ribs but he kept squirrel heads too. Always had to gut his and usually scraped all the meat off the bone for burger. They coyotes usually drug the carcass back to the camp with a will work for food note attached

[WLC]

Think I would just stick with using a sawzall on splitting a hog.  Way too much trouble, not to mention the mess you'd have trying them on a sawmill.  Also seems it would be a tad dangerous.  Wouldn't be a good way to hold them.

As to cleaning deer and the like,  I'm like MM when I lived in GA if I killed a deer on my place I always left the guts in them.  I did quarter though.  I hung by the hind legs, skinned them and quartered them up.  Getting the tenderloins out is no problem.  You can do it like MM said, or you can wait till right before you cut the hind quarters off.  I'd just give them a little slice on the stomach where the hind quarters come together and let the guts pull away from the tenderloins.  Run your hand in there and peel them out.  On a young deer the use of a knife isn't even really needed.  I could go from hanging deer to quartered and ready for the fridge in about half an hour, less if I really needed to and never touch a saw. 

I've done several moose over the years and can butcher one of those and never touch a saw.  They are big beasts and if you don't have help it takes a while.  They are harder to quarter as you wind up having to do it while they are on the ground.  Skin out the top side, cut off those quarters, lay the hide back on and roll them over and do the other side.  You wind up with 4 quarters and the neck, backbone and ribs still attached.  If you want the ribs separate, you need a saw, but one is not necessary if you don't.

[WDH]

I want my deer meat clean of all silver skin and fat.  I quarter out the deer like MM described, and place the quarters, back straps, and, tenderloins in a cooler with ice.  I leave the drain plug open.  I leave it on the ice for 5 - 7 days, letting all blood and fluids drain out.  Then I de-bone the sections and take off all the silver skin and fat with a sharp long, thin bladed knife.  I meticulously and carefully clean off everything that is not red meat.  It comes out as 99.5% red meat.  It never has a strong, musky, or wild taste.  The fat on old rutty bucks can give the meat a strong gamey flavor that I do not like.

I cut out steaks from the backstraps and halve the tenderloins lengthwise.  I cut steaks out of the hindquarters.  Anything that is not steak quality gets ground with no added anything or fat.  Just 100% lean ground meat.  Use it mostly in spaghetti sauce, meatballs, taco meat, etc.  If I want to grill burgers, I always use beef.  The deer steaks can be chicken fried, stir-fried, grilled, or cut into chunks for stew.  All 100% lean.  Very good.  Well worth all the extra work. 

[Magicman]

I believe that this topic is well butchered.   ;D

[Briankinley2004]

A moose would be a chore. Never done one but we did get our hands on about a 20 year old cow once. Took us 2 days to grind all the meat. The steaks were not edible and even the burgers were tough

[Joe Hillmann]

Didn't read entire thread before posting, never mind.

[Czech_Made]

I believe that this topic is well butchered.   ;D

groan  ;D ;D

[petefrom bearswamp]

I'll bet you can find a you tube vid on Magicmans method.
In fact I think I'll look for one myself.
The last Elk I shot, a cow,  was at dusk and I didnt have time to quarter it, so just gutted and went back in the early AM to finish and pack it out.
Hunted moose back in 72 in Newfoundland and the guides quartered the moose with a chainsaw.
Blood and bits of meat everywhere.
the outfitter had 24 hunters in and we came out with 23 moose, all but 4 cows and calves.

[Briankinley2004]

Wound up taking them to the processor as I have been busy. 488# of processed meat for the two. I am curing the picnic hams off both and the bacon from one. I let him do the rest. Started the lard rendering today. Although I prefer a 3 tier meat cracking I elected to make bacon from the middling meat and got these two tier cracklin.

[fishfighter]

Now that is some good eats with some cold beer. ;D