Sawzall and hogs.....

B

bswiv

New member
I should have taken some pictures of this, will on the next one.

Learned a new thing, to me at least, the other day. Now I clean fish for a living, have for over 30 years. And I've cleaned a lot of stuff besides fish; everything from armidillos, gators ( We are a state licensed processor. ), snakes, turtles a couple of emus, more than a few hogs and deer and even a ostritch once. Usually have some idea what to do with it once it dead.

WIth that though I'm always open to new ideas. If it's easier or faster or results in more meat yield that the way I'm doing it now I want to know about it. I mean cleaning game is not exactly the fun part......

So the other day Rich, the brother in law, and I are getting ready to clean a hog and my buddy Don sends his wife over with a battery powered sawzall. He says that it is the cats meow, will make things "quicker" and "easier".

Now I figured it'd be more trouble than it was worth but as it was Don's sawzall that we were going to trash figured what the heck and went at it.

Well turns out it was a good idea. In about the same amount of time as it takes to carefully remove the backstrap and the tenderloin we had the ribs off, the backbone and pelvis split all the way to the neck and the neck roast cleanly removed.

Then we went at the split backbone and in no time we had about 30 chops that looked about as good as any you ever saw in Publix, even though a little smaller.

And we did not even break the saw..............

Worth a try the next animal you've got to work on.
 
I've cleaned and cut up pleanty of hogs. I never had the equip to do it right (bone on chops and all). I was wondering about the process. The Chops you are refering to, is that the backstraps connected to the backbone, or part of the hind quarter or what? I never learned too much about what the parts were called cept for Backstraps, tenderloins and that's bout it as far as technical terms.
 
+1; I have used it on deer and it works really well. A little messy to clean up, but the ease over a handsaw is more than worth it...
 
The "chops" as we made them were accomplished by cutting the ribs free on both sides starting about 3 or 4 inches from the backbone. You have to adjust this based on how big the hog is. Just make sure you are a inch or so outside the backstrap when you do it.

Then split the hog right down the center of the backbone from the but to the neck. We removed the neck portion but I guess you could also do the same with it.

Then with the backbone halfs, which have the backstrap on each, we just went along and hit the bone every inch or so and finished it up clean with a knife.

Actually got more usable meat this way...........

We'll be using one a lot from now on.

Wish someone had turned my old self onto this idea sooner.
 
I did a couple deer with a buddy's sawzall. Worked like a charm. It throws a bunch of tiny bits of bone, meat and sinew but the end result was two deer processed in a shorter time frame than it usually takes to do one. I'd guess it's a good idea to clean the sawzall before the bloody crud dries.
 
Yup.. Cleaned lots hogs using a sawzall. Split right down the backbone. When you are done cutting, rinse the spine area off really well to get the bone ships off. My family has a few sawzalls set aside just for this purpose. A big 250 pounder ( about as big as you would want to eat) can be split butt to neck in about 1 minute.
 
What kind of blade do you use for that?

Seems like a fine tooth would be what you'd want. Maybe a metal cutting one?

I think I want to try this.
 
Dad used to do something similar.

He'd also wrap the sawzall in old plastic grocery bags to reduce the cleanup. Honestly I don't know how he kept the cooling vents clear.
 
I would be concerned about cleaning the saw well enough to use the saw a second time.
The machines I use in a professional kitchen to cut and process meat are designed to be easily taken apart and cleaned and even then they still have a very high incidence of bacterial growth.

A regular old sawzall would have a bunch of spaces for germ food to get stuck.
 
My brothers-in-law tried it this past moose season, a cordless with extra batteries. One of them took it out hunting, in a boat, and after shooting and gutting sawed that sucker up. It is a good idea!

Another brother used it to cut up freezer sized pieces after hanging the quarters, too easy. By-by bone saw/hacksaw, hatchet, bow saw, westling with a hundred pound+ leg, trying to find the cartillage between joints, splitting the pelvis (with a rock and knife)(:rolleyes: not sarcastic, justa yeah we did that) etc.
 
Go back 30 > or < years and the owner of a Wright Reciprocating saw would have bragging rights on getting the job done with the most sanitary power saw available.
The pneumatic wright reciprocating saw was the most coveted.

Then there were those that used their chain saw without oil and thought it good enough to split the moose down the backbone.:barf:

I will stick to boning out my game. I do miss the venison bone-in-chops :rolleyes:
 

Attachments

  • gse_multipart28942.jpg
    gse_multipart28942.jpg
    19.7 KB · Views: 68
Yup! Sawzall is the way to go for cutting up hogs into Cooler sized pieces...Like the man said- split the spine then cross cut into the desired pieces... Just make sure you have extra batteries if you have more than a couple to butcher...

Oh yeah, hopefully you have field dressed the hog. Then hang it up by the back legs, wash out the body cavity, skin it, then use the Sawzall...
 
Sawzall on game..

Not sure how well this applies to hogs but..
FWIW, the State of Wyoming, which is one of many states now with Chronic Wasting Disease, heavily suggest that no one disturb nor haul any portion of the spinal system away from the kill site. That being said, it can be, if hauled to a certified landfill. With this wealth of information, i still routinely see carcasses littered about in the Wyo countryside. Pretty sad really.

So, your nifty new method of chopping them up, could lead to other issues. Worth it? I guess you will decide. For informational puposes only.......
elkman06
 
I was introduced to the saws-all this last fall when I went on a buffalo hunt and the place I hunted use one to quarter and a few days latter to cut up two buf, we shot, worked great. Yea go with the coarse long blades.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top