Hallo Andrew. The following illustrates Jackson, 69-year old tracker gutting my latest kudu. The blood at the end is from chasing his supper -- the liver. Otherwise it is a clean operation and after laying the animal uphill to drain overnight, we took him out on a "sail".

Barry

Nice Kudu.

I have gutted a LOT of animals in my life and I must say that fella does a great job.

Africans are masters at the gutting process and can do so usually with very little blood, unlike most hunters in the U.S. It's amazing to watch them.

Here's a "before" SLR camera shot just scanned in from new HP product.




Jackson, PH Philip Dixie

Nice Kudu, shame the skinner took the best eating part for himself.

Did he manage to get everything upstream of the diaphragm, and everything downstream of the bladder & small intestine??? Its a clean job for sure, but it only looks like 1/2 of the job is finished. Hard to picture him getting all the way to the windpipe without getting bloodier than that, and it definitely doesn't look like the complete anus and ureter (sp?) has been removed.

Cheers,
Canuck

So THATS's what happened to Uncle Remus!!

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB:
So THATS's what happened to Uncle Remus!!

Snot came out of my nose on that one...

quote:

Originally posted by Canuck:
Did he manage to get everything upstream of the diaphragm, and everything downstream of the bladder & small intestine??? Its a clean job for sure, but it only looks like 1/2 of the job is finished. Hard to picture him getting all the way to the windpipe without getting bloodier than that, and it definitely doesn't look like the complete anus and ureter (sp?) has been removed.

Cheers,
Canuck

I agree. I like my thorough method of splitting the sternum and cutting the pelvic bone. I then grab hold of the widpipe and pull while cutting the muscles holding everything in place. EVERYTHING comes out. With a deer it can be done solo, a lot harder with elk and moose. For me it ensures a clean interior.

Replies

D.O.J. -- he can have it! (Not a liver fan.)

BaxterB -- you're a hoot! His eyes and feet work good, but I didn't hear any stories, just that great smile and a fatherly demeanor.

Canuck -- the purpose of a field gut is to open the animal and take the weight down some before carrying / sliding their kudus downhill in a sail (See my write-up w/ pix in "Hunting Reports - Africa"). In the area where I took my two kudus they don't have to worry about hyenas, jackals or bushpigs. Since it was nice and cool and too late, they just let them drain out and be in good position for a morning transport by 5 to 6-man crews. Usually the liver is chased afterward, but Jackson doesn't do the "toting thing" anymore and was beating them to the goodies. I documented the 10-minute procedure because I usually get tired, bloody and fed up doing the full field dress thing, something we have to do in Texas temperatures. Jackson has a good knife, but I saw the same thing done with 5 dollar plastic-handled one too.

At the farm they finish up the "gut" by saving heart, and even lungs (I hear) for consumption, one of the jobs perks. The animal is cool and nothing lost in transition (pun intended).

Oh, they strip the "back part" and esophagus inward first before essentially just pulling / snapping it off. Very clean!

BNagel