Wow, just had a great write up on this, but the crazy program timed me out and logged me off before I was able to post. Auuuggh!
I grew up getting taught with deer mainly. Gut on the spot, drag out, or load on the quad and skin out back at camp. Worked great for deer.
Well on the first moose, that was all I had really known, so off to the races. Me and my mid teen son were able to harvest a younger bull right on the road, and process him in the ditch in the grass. Like always, gut first, then skin, as there was no way we were going to load him into the SUV any other way. We thought we had broken him down to manageable pcs, but still struggled to load him up into the vehicle. What a mess it was to be constantly stepping into and around the spilled blood/guts, even though you try and move that stuff out of the way. In the end it was messy and we both got messy.
I then started looking into how you could process such a large animal in the field and came across the gutless method. Watched a bunch of videos and was ready for the next time that would present itself.
Well, 2 weeks later my daughter and I were able to fill her moose tag in a differnt area with a nice large bull. We were able to drive up to him after breaking trail through the grown in clearing were he lay. With her help holding up the 1/4's I was able to start the gutless from the belly side. We had a tart to drop the meat and 1/4's onto as we worked. With her help and getting right in there we were able to have everything deboned, and bagged and load up on the sxs ready to go in about 3 hours after we started on him.
After that, I vowed to only go gutless on the big critter, and it worked well on several moose since that first one.
Well, last week I was able to drop a large elk just before dark. By the time I was able to get my sxs to him it was close to 9pm. 1st pictures at kill site were just before 8 pm.
For what ever reason I was having a hard time to lift, or maneuver the 1/4's by myself to start on the belly side, so figured why not, and started from the back side. In no time I had the top side skinned and was just starting to remove the 1/4's when help started to arrive. With the help of several other guys we had that thing 1/4 ed, bagged and load up in no time. I was back at camp around 11:30 pm. With guys, there is always that BS session to tell the story as a new helper shows up, so in the end it takes a bit longer.
Now that I have tried both, starting from the belly and the back I can add that either way, they are both way cleaner than gutting first. The only real benefit of belly first, is you can stretch out the hide and roll the critter onto it when you start the other side. This in the end is a mute point, as you have already deboned everything there, so in the end it really don't matter.
If you want to keep the ribs for a camp fire rib fest, don't cut them out until both sides are finished, then cut out the ribs, and finally flip over the remaining carcass to get the other side. Did this with a buddies moose and we all got to enjoy a rib feast on the camp fire the next day as well.
If you have the ability to drive a tractor to your kill site and pick up the animal and skin then gut, all the more power to you, and I almost envy you to be able to do that. But we all can't be there.
Me, I will continue to do the gutless method as its worked for me. Plus if you take your meat to a butcher to cut and wrap, they charge by the pound drop off weight, and will charge you more to only cut out the backbone anyways. If you enjoy your soup bones, well there is generally enough from the 4 1/4's to take care of that as well and satisfy your needs. There really is not that much more meat that a butcher can cut off the bones in his shop than you can out in the field when you debone there.
Enjoy your hunts, shoot straight, and reap the benefits while we still can!
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