Another thread I've been following, plus 3 decades of seeing the job of field dressing a deer accomplished in a variety of ways, has led me to wonder how most folks go about it.
My dad taught me to open the lower (gastric) cavity very carefully, starting just below the sternum and ending at the...well, other end.
Then, he had me split the sternum, between the ribs, all the way up to the throat of the deer where we would put a stick inside to keep it open. He'd also have me cut down to the pelvic bone, splitting it so the legs would spread wide, allowing the meat to cool.
About 10 years later, the host at a hunting camp in Wisconsin suggested a different way of going about it that doesn't cool the meat as fast, but makes it a lot less likely to get fouled with dirt or debris. His method starts the same way, but then you don't split the pelvic bone or the sternum. He instructed me to reach up into the chest cavity with my knife (right) hand, all the way to the throat region. Then, with my left hand, reach most of the way up to where I can grab the larynx and esophagus, pulling down on them while I cut them loose with my knife. All of this is done "blind", but takes a lot longer to explain (or do the first time) than it does to get the job done. After you've done it once, you figure out how fast and easy it is. The rest of processing proceeds as normal and the whole job is done in less than half the time because you're not splitting any bones.
I'm curious if any other hunters use this method of cutting the heart/lung section loose or if everybody else is splitting the sternum open? I will say this much: This method is not great for small deer, as there just isn't a lot of room to have both hands in the chest cavity, but for mature northern deer it's a piece of cake and I have come to follow this method exclusively. I could also see it being a poor choice in areas of the country where temps are fairly warm, as it doesn't allow the carcass to cool AS quickly. The place I learned it was north-central Wisconsin where this is seldom a problem, during deer season!
My dad taught me to open the lower (gastric) cavity very carefully, starting just below the sternum and ending at the...well, other end.
Then, he had me split the sternum, between the ribs, all the way up to the throat of the deer where we would put a stick inside to keep it open. He'd also have me cut down to the pelvic bone, splitting it so the legs would spread wide, allowing the meat to cool.About 10 years later, the host at a hunting camp in Wisconsin suggested a different way of going about it that doesn't cool the meat as fast, but makes it a lot less likely to get fouled with dirt or debris. His method starts the same way, but then you don't split the pelvic bone or the sternum. He instructed me to reach up into the chest cavity with my knife (right) hand, all the way to the throat region. Then, with my left hand, reach most of the way up to where I can grab the larynx and esophagus, pulling down on them while I cut them loose with my knife. All of this is done "blind", but takes a lot longer to explain (or do the first time) than it does to get the job done. After you've done it once, you figure out how fast and easy it is. The rest of processing proceeds as normal and the whole job is done in less than half the time because you're not splitting any bones.
I'm curious if any other hunters use this method of cutting the heart/lung section loose or if everybody else is splitting the sternum open? I will say this much: This method is not great for small deer, as there just isn't a lot of room to have both hands in the chest cavity, but for mature northern deer it's a piece of cake and I have come to follow this method exclusively. I could also see it being a poor choice in areas of the country where temps are fairly warm, as it doesn't allow the carcass to cool AS quickly. The place I learned it was north-central Wisconsin where this is seldom a problem, during deer season!
