# deer gutting station



## thickett99 (Dec 21, 2009)

Im thinking of building a deer gutting station in my back yard. I was thinking of putting two 16' 6x6 posts in the ground and a brace at the top with a winch. I was also thinking of mounting lights on it. The reason for the 16' height is so i could leave the deer hang and not worry about animals getting to it. Did any of you build a spot to hang/gut your deer? If so, how did you do it and do you have any pics? Thanks.


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## Archeroni (Oct 3, 2008)

I can see having a spot to hang your deer buy why bring it back to the house to gut it?

Gut it in the woods on the ground. The deer will cool faster, be easier to drag (a little lighter) and the gut pile mess will stay in the woods. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me to bring it back to the house to gut then have to do something with the guts.

Anyhow, I hang mine from the rafters in the barn if it is cold enough, otherwise I hang in my homebrew walk-in cooler I posted pics of on here last year.


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## thickett99 (Dec 21, 2009)

Well I have always brought the deer home to gut. It alot nicer gutting, washing out, caping, and skinning a deer while its hanging. Also you dont have to worry about a bunch of dirt in your meat. I usually gut the deer while its hanging and empty the guts into a wheel barrow and dump it in a field for the buzzards to eat. I dont have any large trees or a barn at my new house so i need to make somthing.


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## treeslinger2 (Feb 23, 2010)

Use the kids swingset!


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## Nalgi (Oct 19, 2009)

*I'd have to agree with Black Belt*

Drag it near your vehicle, gut it, then throw it in the back of the truck. It wont get dirty. 

As for skinning, hanging it does help.


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## Archeroni (Oct 3, 2008)

treeslinger2 said:


> Use the kids swingset!


I've been known to do that a time or two.....


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## b0w_bender (Apr 30, 2006)

I've never had an issue with spoilage or a problem with dirt from gutting in the woods. Also the gut pile provides a smorgasbord for all the creatures in the woods. So gut it where it drops. Dragging the whole thing home is way more effort than it's worth. Even if you can drive your 4 wheeler right to it, I would still leave the mess in the woods. 

However the the 16 pole for hanging is a good idea. But why stop there? If you are putting lights on it put an electrical winch on it too. Ya and put the winch on a track so you can lift the first deer up tie it off and move the winch down the track for the next deer. Pretty soon you have a full meat pole and you didn't have to lift a thing.

:wink:


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## Scoutll (Dec 18, 2008)

thickett99 said:


> Im thinking of building a deer gutting station in my back yard. I was thinking of putting two 16' 6x6 posts in the ground and a brace at the top with a winch. I was also thinking of mounting lights on it. The reason for the 16' height is so i could leave the deer hang and not worry about animals getting to it. Did any of you build a spot to hang/gut your deer? If so, how did you do it and do you have any pics? Thanks.


Our deer camp has something similar. It is basicly the size you are talking about, but is made of heavy metal and looks like a giant swing set frame. We can skin up to three deer at the same time, and can leave up to five deer hanging over night if needed. Any deer that is killed is no more than 15-25 minutes away from the skinning rack so we do all our gutting while they are hanging. For gut buckets we took two 30 gallon plastic barrels and cut them in half so that it makes 2 fifteen gallon buckets, we then drill holes in the sides and add rope handles. Just place one of the buckets under the hanging deer when you are gutting.


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## Ches (Aug 3, 2009)

It always amazes me how two part or the country handle deer differently. Down South it seems like they take them out of the wood whole, while up North be just gut them where they land then drag em out. We even had a guy join our camp that talked it up about all the deer he killed in Georgia only to stand over a deer and not know how to gut the thing. LOL that night.


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## hutchies (Jun 8, 2005)

I guaruntee most southern boys don't have any prob gutting. If I can get a quad to it I will bring it out whole. If I have to drag I'm gutting it in the woods.


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## Joe'Bronco (Mar 12, 2010)

We ALWAYS gut it in the woods. No chances for spoiled meat, it cools faster and is easier to skin when the meat is cooled. 

Why would you want a gut pile in camp or at home? Let the bears eat it out in the woods so you can come back the next day and fill your bear tag. :wink:


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## Kstigall (Feb 24, 2004)

Ches said:


> It always amazes me how two part or the country handle deer differently. Down South it seems like they take them out of the wood whole, while up North be just gut them where they land then drag em out. We even had a guy join our camp that talked it up about all the deer he killed in Georgia only to stand over a deer and not know how to gut the thing. LOL that night.


A couple reasons that I know of.....
- Down South dogs are used for deer hunting. A gut pile in the woods may keep a dog in the woods instead of heading back to where they were released. I believe this was or is the primary reason.
- Flatter ground in the south makes dragging easier and the distance to vehicle access is usually short.
- In the south deer hunters frequently gun hunt in good size groups or clubs and there are plenty of folks to help bring one out of the woods. The meat from a deer is always shared with all the others that participated and the land owner.

- Southern deer are smaller and most weigh less full than northern deer weight empty!

I know when I was a kid my father and one or 2 other guys would clean all the deer killed by our group. I expect it was because they were quicker and most of the others didn't know how to clean deer. Your "new" guy probably hunted with a group in Georgia that let him avoid gutting and cleaning his own deer so they could get finished sooner. I started field dressing deer when I was 13..........

I can't remember the last time I brought one home that hadn't been gutted. I may move it to where I have a place to clean up like near a pond, river or creek but dealing with disposing of guts at home is a pain.


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## jdamet (Jul 25, 2009)

I built one, in my garage. Probably wouldnt help you out any. 
I also bring my deer home to gut. I hunt less then a mile away from my house and by the time I gut it in the woods, I am already home and gutting it.
I just use a wide ratchet strap to get them in the air. I might switch to a hand crank this year though. 

There have been a few threads with gutting poles built by members on here. Might try doing a search and look at how they built theirs.


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## BackwoodsBandit (Mar 27, 2010)

I dont want to be in the woods any longer than I need to. Thats why I shoot the deer, and get it out as quick as possible. No need for me to be making all kinds of noise when I can just gut it at the shop which is only a few hundred yards from all my stands. 

But... If I am hunting somewhere else and it might be a while before I get the deer back to the lodge, I will gut it right there.


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## Bowdiddly (Jan 19, 2004)

Scoutll said:


> Our deer camp has something similar. It is basicly the size you are talking about, but is made of heavy metal and looks like a giant swing set frame. We can skin up to three deer at the same time, and can leave up to five deer hanging over night if needed. Any deer that is killed is no more than 15-25 minutes away from the skinning rack so we do all our gutting while they are hanging. For gut buckets we took two 30 gallon plastic barrels and cut them in half so that it makes 2 fifteen gallon buckets, we then drill holes in the sides and add rope handles. Just place one of the buckets under the hanging deer when you are gutting.


X2 We don't hunt at the same place do we?


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## Scoutll (Dec 18, 2008)

Bowdiddly said:


> X2 We don't hunt at the same place do we?


Yeah I believe we do, its called the SOUTH!:darkbeer:


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## MOvenatic (May 20, 2006)

I just went and got me one of these.


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## Sportsman's (Mar 13, 2010)

*keeping it clean*

I hunt with a meat processor. He taught when you gut the Deer in the woods make as small of a cut as you can to get must of the guts out. Do not try to get it all. All you do in the woods is to lighten the load. When you get to the truck. Then open it all the way to get the rest. This will help to keep the dirt off the meat


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## lampoil (May 19, 2009)

Always field dress before moving. DNR states that in our regulations.


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## daltongang (Jul 29, 2009)

*?????*

Naligi what is up with your avatar?


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## dxtbowhuntersj (May 8, 2008)

dont do the winch. get a gambrel system, bass pro or cabelas. they have a lock system. can pull a deer up one handed. pretty sweet.


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## Roc (Jun 29, 2003)

*gutting station*

Here's mine about halfway finished. Added a light and roof later


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## BigErn (Jan 31, 2010)

Roc said:


> Here's mine about halfway finished. Added a light and roof later


 Hey Roc,
Going to be a great set-up!
Ernie


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## mtalbert (Oct 19, 2009)

We have a pretty nice set up. I will take some pictures of it tomorrow and send them to you. Basically its a 16ft pole. We have a winch set up with a battery in place to raise and lower the deer. On the bottom we have a cable that we use to pull the hide off while raising the deer. Use a golf ball with the cable and it comes off with no effort. We have some 55 gallon drums halved we use for the spoil. 
Its much easier to do it there because we have hanging coolers, all the knives, anything you need right there. Also its not that far from where we hunt so its not so bad.
I left out alot of the little details but if you would like more shoot me an email.


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## thickett99 (Dec 21, 2009)

mtalbert said:


> We have a pretty nice set up. I will take some pictures of it tomorrow and send them to you. Basically its a 16ft pole. We have a winch set up with a battery in place to raise and lower the deer. On the bottom we have a cable that we use to pull the hide off while raising the deer. Use a golf ball with the cable and it comes off with no effort. We have some 55 gallon drums halved we use for the spoil.
> Its much easier to do it there because we have hanging coolers, all the knives, anything you need right there. Also its not that far from where we hunt so its not so bad.
> I left out alot of the little details but if you would like more shoot me an email.


Yea I would love to see pictures of this set up. I dont have your e-mail, but mine is [email protected]. Thanks alot. Anyone else have any suggestions?


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## Iron_head (Mar 18, 2010)

My set-up is similar in concept, but I set up a winch in my carport and put in a couple of extra security lights facing it. But I must be one of those wierd southern boys, because I almost always bring mine out whole (on a game cart), then skin them hanging up before I even gut them into a big plastic tub. Lots less hair on the meat, no dirt, a hose to clean off any blood, ect. But then I break them down (split the body, take off the hams, shoulders and neck) and put them on ice in a cooler for about a week.  to each their own, cheers :beer:


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## mtalbert (Oct 19, 2009)

Notice the table we have on the left to set stuff. The box holds necessary tools of the trade. The hand winch is just a back up in case there is something wrong with the electric winch. Like I said before the golf ball works great. Split the hide, make a pocket around the neck to put the ball in, use the cable to hold the ball. While winching up it pulls the hide right off. Literally seconds to hide one out.


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## Flyboy718 (May 20, 2008)

Now that is pretty sweet, I gotta see that in action:darkbeer:


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## treeslinger2 (Feb 23, 2010)

Now that pole/golf ball idea with the winch is slicker than snot!!


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## jlh42581 (Oct 21, 2009)

in regards to getting the meat dirty, whens the last time you ate the belly skin?


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## jasonlee (Mar 11, 2010)

we use a tn75 4x4 with front loader and hay speer works the best


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## thickett99 (Dec 21, 2009)

Mtalbert, Thanks for posting those pics! I like your set up better than what I had planned on doing! I may have to copy your set up.


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## archerm3 (Jan 4, 2007)

jlh42581 said:


> in regards to getting the meat dirty, whens the last time you ate the belly skin?


I was thinking the same thing...except for the tenderloins, there isn't any meat on the inside that most people will eat...


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## mtalbert (Oct 19, 2009)

Just a note of caution. Winch the deer up slow. If you notice any irregular pulling you may need to use a knife to keep it pulling clean. If you have cut the hide good you shouldnt have anymore cutting to do. We had a guy using the set up this year that did not make good cuts through the hide and just pulled and popped the head off. After using this set up a couple times you will quickly learn when you need to make a cut. It will be rarely.


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## ndemiter (Jun 12, 2007)

with BIG game (moose, elk, bison, etc.) i don't gut, i cape the head off the body and remove the head and cape, then i cut the quarters off with the skin ON! to keep the meat clean. now you wedge a pole inside the body cavity to flip it over, then repeat.

for deer, i guess you could do it the same, minus the pole.

thatway, your meat stays clean, cools well, and you leave all the junk in the woods. you can reach from the outside to get the loins as well, leaving the guts in the ribcage.

i have a hanging pole in all my camps. it really keeps the mess down.


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## jlh42581 (Oct 21, 2009)

i contacted the pa game commission about quartering/deboneing one. you can ONLY do it on private land with permission and you can quarter but not debone. you must be able to account for the whole deer and prove sex. you miles well take it out whole. you even have to bring ELK WHOLE to the check station. backwards ass state.


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## buckbuster31 (Dec 3, 2009)

I always use a John deere tractor with a front ender loader and the forks attached. I hook the deers back legs to the forks and raise it up. works great!


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## archerm3 (Jan 4, 2007)

jlh42581 said:


> *i* contacted the pa game commission about quartering/deboneing one. *y*ou can *ONLY* do it on private land with permission and you can quarter but not debone. *y*ou must be able to account for the whole deer and prove sex. *y*ou *miles well *take it out whole. *y*ou even have to bring *ELK WHOLE *to the check station. backwards ass state.


I guess so..:zip:


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## hartofthethumb (Aug 5, 2008)

Not mine, but my cousin has one he built. Works great, only pic I have of it...


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## InaStand (Apr 17, 2010)

Here's a new idea my brother and I started using last year. Don't gut the deer at all. We drag the deer out whole with a 4 wheeler and hang on the meat pole at the cabin. Skin it, take off front quarters and backstrap. Make small cut in belly just enough so guts hang forward a little. This lets you get the inner loin out. Then back trailer under deer and get rear quarters letting the carcass fall in the trailer. Deer and guts in one neat pile in trailer. You're done other than getting your meat ready for the freezer.
After doing a few deer like this, I wondered why I had always gutted mine in the field. I only gut them now if I'm taking it to a meat processor.


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## jjambow (Jan 13, 2005)

*gutting deer*

when the temp doesn't get above 32 degree's, i never gut my deer. take the deer home, cut around back legs and start pulling pelt off, take out back straps, roasts, front and back hips, around neck and leave internals inside cavity and disgard the whole thing. not very messy.


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## oldschoolcj5 (Jun 8, 2009)

the lighting in this video is not the best - actually it is close to terrible - but check out the process and the gutting station. The manger idea I like a lot, because since I hunt in the back yard, I can drag the deer to the shop, gut it and then put it on a gambrel/hoist inside the shop to do the real cutting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwCDB7g43_8


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