Field Dressing: Split the pelvis or not?

[Trapper L]

I'm not sure I understand why anybody thinks splitting the pelvis bone is hard. Just put two fingers inside the hole and you will feel a ridge. Put the ridge between your fingers, put your knife between your two fingers on the ridge, which is cartilage, and pull up. You can do it with a dull pocket knife. No saw, no axe, and it cuts easy. Try it sometime.

 

[Charles S]

I'm not sure I understand why anybody thinks splitting the pelvis bone is hard.

I agree it is not hard..,but it is also not necessary.

For that matter, if you know what you are doing it is not necessary to field dress the animal.

 

[rantingredneck]

I don't not do it because it's hard to do. I don't do it because it is unnecessary.

As a side note, when I get to my processor he's very happy that the pelvis isn't broken. Gives us something to hang onto as we're hefting the deer up onto the meathooks in his cooler.

 

[Kreyzhorse]

It is totally unnecessary to split the pelvis. You don't have to cut the throat to let it bleed or even cut off the tarsil glands.

You don't even have to eat the heart from the first deer your kill, although it's highly recommended.

 

[ConcealCarryNY]

Non splitter here. Cut around the anus area and grab hold of that thing then tie it off with the always present piece of bailing twine and Voila no poo in the meat. Hang it in the old man's barn for a few days then pull the skin off using the golf ball/4 wheeler method and butcher away.

 

[nosualc]

I've always split the pelvis (I use a very small, very sharp hatchet) but that's the only way I've ever seen it done.

I've learned something new! I take it you open the abdominal cavity just like normal (from just forward of the pelvic bone to the throat), but make a separate (more or less circular) cut around the anus. This makes it so that when the guts are pulled, it pulls what normally runs inside the pelvic cavity in and then out with the rest of the guts. Right?

I'll have to get myself a "special" knife and try it next time.

Up here in MN, it's often cold enough that cooling the body, isn't hard to do. Some years we can just pack the body cavity with snow and hang them for the night. Often, the whole thing will be frozen by morning.

-nosualc

 

[stinger]

Gutting the deer without breaking out a hacksaw shows a certain degree of skill, IMO. I don't have many other skills, so that is one I like to show off. And when nobody is watching, you can put it in your pocket

Was that out loud?

 

[Yithian]

http://www.hunterspec.com/indexVideoFlash.cfm?vidFile=BUTT_OUTNEW.flv&vidWidth=320&vidHeight=240

LOL
Watch at your own risk of sanity and anal-retentiveness.

We sell this in my Dept at Walmart.
Great fun indexing the vid to this clip on our TV display.
Everyone who watches it walks away a tad taller.

 

[Fremmer]

Cut around the anus area and grab hold of that thing then tie it off with the always present piece of bailing twine and Voila no poo in the meat.

O.k., that's the answer I was looking for. Thanks!

 

[ZeroJunk]

This is worse than 30/06 vs 308.It's all personal preference.

 

[rantingredneck]

Indeed it is all preference. It seems to be influenced by the way each of us was taught to do it the first time. Either way gets the job done and I've tried it once the other way (splitting). I didn't have good results .

I showed that "butt out" tool to my father in law in Walmart a couple weeks ago. We both got a good laugh out of it. I like gadgets as much as the next hunter/shooter and have tried many of them. My conclusion is that most of them are more ideas on how to separate us from our money than anything else.

I mostly started the poll to see how many pelvis splitters there were vs. how many hemmorhoid surgeons. Looks pretty even so far.

 

[Art Eatman]

For me, splitting the pelvis is just another one of those things my father taught me.

So, I just set the blade of my pocket knife on the pelvis and carefully go tap, tap, tap with a handy rock until it splits. Spread Ol' Bucky open and out comes all that rear-end stuff.

No big deal...

Art

 

[dbgun]

I split the bone then cut the skin around the opening to cleanly remove all the guts without making a huge mess.

+1

I tap on small sharp hatchet at the top of the pelvis. You don't need to swing at it, at all. like most things, "there's more than one way to skin a cat" or deer in this case. Just my $.02

 

[Jseime]

Im a splitter because it's fast and easy. I use a hammer and a hatchet put the hatchet up to the bone and use the hammer to knock it through it gives you a nice clean cut and you can just grab hold of the esophagus and yank it all out in one fell swoop.

 

[Shoestring]

I am also a splitter. I have noticed that most of the south Texas fellas do the same. Maybe all our Dad's were taught by the same guy?

Just put two fingers inside the hole and you will feel a ridge. Put the ridge between your fingers, put your knife between your two fingers on the ridge, which is cartilage, and pull up. You can do it with a dull pocket knife. No saw, no axe, and it cuts easy.

I showed this trick to a guy last year and he had never seen it before. He was from the North though, poor fella. Just kidding Northern guys

This is worse than 30/06 vs 308.It's all personal preference.

My vote is for the .30-06

 

[Gbro]

No i don't split, but i do have a story.
And a 220 + dressed deer isn't easy to split!

One of the guys in camp shot nice buck, and then discovered he forgot his knife. Back at camp was Arnie's new custom made hunting knife, that Arnie didn't dare take with him that morning, as it was just to pretty.
Well Skip grabbed it and a hatchet and commenced to beat the hell out of the knife trying to split it from the top down, you get the picture, just the way it would be easiest to clobber it.
Arnie didn't sleep well that night, kept thinking how satisfying it would be to gut Skip with his beat up knife.
Arnie passed on 2 months ago, but dose that knife bring back memories.
His Grandson has it now.

 

[castnblast]

I do both...the decision to split the pelvis largely depends on how full the bladder is. If it is full, I ALWAYS TRY to split...provided I have the right tools...(90% of the time). Last year I used a set of tree loppers (sp???) for the first time...If you have never used them before, they make the split EASY EASY EASY!...I keep a set in my tool box, and I'll never go hunting w/out them. There's nothing worse than piss in your meat...Might as well throw it out if it gets on it.

 

[WhitSpurzon]

For those that tie off the anus and then pull through, try a zip tie next time. Quick and easy even with freezing cold hands.

 

[Gbro]

make absolute sure your zip ties are small, as a good friend almost lost a child when he had one put around his neck by a sibling. They were 3 & 4 years old, he was able to cut it with his leatherman just in time!

 

[fisherman66]

That's a terrifying thought. And to think I'm still worried about the dolphins and six pack rings.