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Post by jimiowa on Mar 31, 2009 8:03:53 GMT -5
I'm going to have to say, I think a hatchet or hawk is probably the right way to split the pelvis. Seems like every year I hear of a hunter nearly bleeding to death cause a knife slipped while cutting the pelvis.
Rember those blades are made for cutting and have no regard for what it's cutting!!
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Post by jmarriott on Mar 31, 2009 8:40:50 GMT -5
Place the knife on the pelvis right where you want the cut smack the back with a hammer or axe back side + split pelvis without the chop effect. Those who do not split firewood or have limited axe skill's could just as easily hurt themselves here as the same with an knife,
I have a deer only hacksaw. Blades are cheap (free) and it costs much less than an axe.
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Post by twomoons on Mar 31, 2009 9:07:50 GMT -5
All right, "smack the back with a hammmer?' If you need a chisle they are fairly cheap, the reasson we use a hawk is that you don't pound tempered steel on tempered steel. You either end up with a broken knife if the blade is too hard or a dented back of the blade. This is why my wife NEVER gets one of my knives, she's always beating a knife through something, usually frozen and the backs of her knive look like well used cold chisels.
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Post by jmarriott on Mar 31, 2009 12:54:16 GMT -5
YOu don't have to smack it that hard as it is not frozen. Just doing what I have always seen done. A kinder gentler smack will do fine without damage to knife or hammer. Or just use the hacksaw blade. We Use the hacksaw's to take off the skull cap with antlers also. It looks like a tree trimmers saw but uses hacksaw blades.
I do like my friend's firemans axe.
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Post by klsm54 on Mar 31, 2009 18:06:50 GMT -5
Yikes! I like good tools too, but that's too rich for my blood... I have a little Estwing that I bought probably 25 years ago. It gets the most field use. and I have an old Plumb, 3/4 axe, that was my grandfathers. I used to carry this one on canoeing trips, back in my adventurous days.
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Post by dovehunter on Mar 31, 2009 19:30:11 GMT -5
klsm54:
I have that exact same camp hatchet my Dad got for me when I was a kid. He purchased it with (believe it or not) S&H Green Stamps (for those of you old enough to remember). It is still the best camp hatchet I personally have ever used. Estwing quality was right up there with the best too.
Jmarriott:
I will have to agree with you about the hacksaw. It certainly has to be the safest tool if arguably not the best one for that job. Hacksaws are certainly as portable as camp axes and, like you said, blades are cheap.
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Post by Purebred Redneck on Mar 31, 2009 23:28:12 GMT -5
If it's a smaller deer, I'll rip the ribcage with a knife. Makes for getting the heart / lungs out easier. I use a folder so I don't want the thing to break (or slip for that matter) resulting in a trip to the nearest emergency room as jimiowa reminds us.
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Post by jabba on Apr 1, 2009 8:35:33 GMT -5
When we're talking about splitting the pelvis... we ARE talking aboutdoing that as part of FIELD dressing right?
All this talk of hammers, and axes and hack saws... etc. Do you guys carry these with you when you're actually HUNTING?
Man not me. I whittled myself down to a fanny pack. If it doesn't fit in there... I don't need it. Now admittedly, I don't hunt BIG country, so I don't carry survival stuff.
You guys ever use a zip-saw? They work GREAT and weigh about 2 oz, and disappear in my fanny pack.
Jabba
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bounce
Royal Member
Posts: 5,727
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Post by bounce on Apr 1, 2009 9:34:32 GMT -5
Guess it could depend were a deer is taken but usealy around hear is if it's in the truck it's close enuff. Some deer seem to have weak pelvisbone and some seem to have them made of Kevlar Both hatchet and saw do the job well just so you have one rather than just a plain knife blade. As they generaly are not real good on the tough ones and your likely to do some bleeding.
That said I do have a bowie knife that can do it all, though it is a little large for the reg. dressing. It's a Bounce size knife just over 17" long Blade is 11-1/2" long and 2-3/8' wide in front of the handel and just over 3" out at the end before the swope taper to the point and it's 1/8" thick on the top of the knife. The blade was made from a buzz saw blade. It's sharp, it cut's it hacks anything.
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Post by jimiowa on Apr 1, 2009 10:11:34 GMT -5
Guess it could depend were a deer is taken but usealy around hear is if it's in the truck it's close enuff. Some deer seem to have weak pelvisbone and some seem to have them made of Kevlar Both hatchet and saw do the job well just so you have one rather than just a plain knife blade. As they generaly are not real good on the tough ones and your likely to do some bleeding. That said I do have a bowie knife that can do it all, though it is a little large for the reg. dressing. It's a Bounce size knife just over 17" long Blade is 11-1/2" long and 2-3/8' wide in front of the handel and just over 3" out at the end before the swope taper to the point and it's 1/8" thick on the top of the knife. The blade was made from a buzz saw blade. It's sharp, it cut's it hacks anything. That's not a knife, That's a sword!!
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Post by jmarriott on Apr 1, 2009 11:50:23 GMT -5
The remington big game has a pelvic saw and I carry that knife in the deep woods.
Sometimes on privite land you shoot and watch it go down. Go to the truck and drive as close as you can. Brute force my little deer cart to the deer and load up whole. I have a one of the deer carts and the uncle has a atv and front loader tractor. All i have used to retrieve deer whole. The front loader is easiest to load and the deer ignore it the best. The more people the better but you can move alot of dead deer weight to get it on the cart fairly easy as you don't have to lift it up. Easy as putting in water softener salf.
We have a pole barn with pulley and six inch water drain. A garden hose available that waters the cows. I guess I am spoiled. Less dirt in the deer, less hair on the meat if you have a prefect butcher area. The swamp deer area I go to the deer cart is useless. It is briars and tangles and small downed trees you can't get it in unloaded. I sometimes use a canoe here if the swamp water is high or unfrozen.
Save the Gut pile in a super duty trash bag if it is below freezing for coyote bait after firearm season.
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Post by twomoons on Apr 1, 2009 19:36:00 GMT -5
We have been putting the gut piles out in fromt of the camp and using the camp for a blind and watching the eagles feed. A pair of eagles and the magpies can clean up a whole gut pile in 40-50 hours. Of course we eat the heart and liver so guts is about all that's left. I passed up a deer last year just because I didn't want to drag it through a swamp.
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Post by jmarriott on Apr 1, 2009 19:49:34 GMT -5
. I passed up a deer last year just because I didn't want to drag it through a swamp. I remember my first bow deer in the Hoosier national in 1984. I had a good stand by the river but a long walk from the truck. We were hunting all day long iSaterday and I shot my deer at 9 am. I gutted and tied up the back legs and put the stick in the front legs to hold up the rack. I started dragging. Up Up and Up. I got to the truck about 5 PM. The deer was bald on one side and I looked like the underside of a mudding pig. Smelled about the same also. Dehidrated, heat rashed, and by the time the rest of the guys got back to the truck very drunk as the only thing to drink was beer or cooler water. Next season I bought the deer cart.
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Post by Purebred Redneck on Apr 1, 2009 21:34:47 GMT -5
When we're talking about splitting the pelvis... we ARE talking aboutdoing that as part of FIELD dressing right? Sort of...yes I would classify it as field dressing. But it takes place later. No, I don't take it into the woods with me. I'm usually able to get all but about 6" of the poop tube out in the woods. You can keep a hatchet in the truck as Bounce would, but all of my deer hunting the past few years has taken place right at an hours drive from home. I just do it there - break the pelvis with a hatchet, cut out the butthole with the knife, get it hung, and go from there depending on the temperature.
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