Caring for game in the field

[Matt Meyer]

I was wondering how you guys care for your rabbits and quail in the field especially during the early season. My main area for hunting is unit 42. Do you guys clean/gut it right away and put it in a small cooler or do you wait till you get back to the truck or camp. I have not been small game hunting in alot of years and would like to start again, but, hunting in the desert early in the year makes me a little nervous that the meat is going to spoil.

Any and all advice would be appreciated

[stanley]

In the old days as a kid we used to keep the quail in our game bags all day long, then clean them all at once at the end of the day. (We used to drag a dead muley a mile over rocks and cholla too.... lol) As I grew older though I started paying much closer attention to the care of my game meat, and I notice that quail get pretty funky smelling fairly quickly. That said, these days I'll clean the birds and get them in ziplocks & on ice along the way. Not necessarily upon killing them, but usually within an hour or so (when we rendevous back at the trucks or something....). Seems like the meat stays in MUCH better shape that way. With doves we clean them right away too, but that kind of tends to happen naturally anyway since the hunt usually only lasts an hour or two.

 

Never hunted rabbits.

 

Good luck!

 

S.

 

[azslim]

I throw a couple frozen water bottles in the game pouch on my vest, seems to cool things down pretty good. Depending on how far I am from the truck I will clean the quail, leave a wing attached, stick them in a ziplock and put them on the ice bottles. The few rabbits I've taken I just stop the truck, get out and shoot it, clean it and stick it in the cooler, then get back in the truck.

 

A 1 gal weed sprayer filled with water is great for giving things a wash down in the field.

[murfys69law]

Rabbits are the easiest to clean and I do them right away. If you grab the rabbit around the neck and squeeze as you work your way down the body the intestines will pop right out the rear end and you can just swing them off. It takes a little practice but no knife is needed and you can keep them for a while before getting them on ice. Not too long tho. When you want to skin them just grab the back fur in the middle with both hands and pull. the hair and skin come apart pretty easy and you just remove the head and legs. Done deal. Quail I clean them as soon as possible too. The longer you wait the stinkier they get and one thing is for sure,

QUAIL GUTS STINK. Hope this helps.

[Matt Meyer]

Thank you guys

[khmer6]

Rabbits are the easiest to clean and I do them right away. If you grab the rabbit around the neck and squeeze as you work your way down the body the intestines will pop right out the rear end and you can just swing them off. It takes a little practice but no knife is needed and you can keep them for a while before getting them on ice. Not too long tho. When you want to skin them just grab the back fur in the middle with both hands and pull. the hair and skin come apart pretty easy and you just remove the head and legs. Done deal. Quail I clean them as soon as possible too. The longer you wait the stinkier they get and one thing is for sure,

QUAIL GUTS STINK. Hope this helps.

I've tried making a rabbit poop it's guts a few times. Still can't get it done right lol. Birds snip their crop it's a bit foul in their necks and alcoholish?

[Kaffer62]

That is how we handled our rabbits growing up

[muledeerarea33?]

Showed a friend that way of guttin rabbits. He almost puked, cried a little, and swore off rabbit huntin. Good guy but for the life of me I just don't get it? Watch horror movies and shoot people in war games on the Nintendo but real life is, well,? REAL!!

[TonyC]

Aw man, that's funny! I don't care for that kind of stuff but it doesn't bother me none. As long as I don't have the same fate of some giant squishing my guts out... I'm good.

 

I was freaked out the first time I filleted a fish and cut through the spine.. found out that the dang fish can still flop even if its dead! Scared the crap out of me! haha..

[elkaholic]

Hate the smell of dead quail guts after it fermented in a vest for several hrs .

 

it doesn't do the meat any favors either

 

I usually take a minute or 2 between chasing coves to use a pronged fish hook twig to poke up and twist to remove the guts/ intestines then- i'll expose the breast meat and carefully wrap the wings closed around the meat -

this will prevent the awful smell later and helps cooling down the meat / bird

 

I've since made a few hooks to use instead of a twig - I made them out of and old plumbers fishing tape

 

I did break down and bought a pocket knife with a bird hook - wlll have to see how it works in the coming season

[Matt Meyer]

Elkaholic,

That sounds very interesting although I have never heard of a "pronged fish hook twig" Possibly a picture??? Do you open the bird up at all or just pull through the backside. Sorry, I must be having a brain fart. I just can't picture what you are doing