Best way to field dress a hog. Any Tips/Tricks?

[BHmax]

Just like to get everyone's input on the different ways to field dress a hog. Any tips/tricks? Best to hang and then gut & skin? Or gut before hanging?

[Reaper]

when it is cool enough I prefer to hang them to do all the work from skinning > dropping meat in the cooler. can't really do that 'in the field'

[Heath]

Cut the back straps out.

[Iced Down]

If its small i like to gut it in the feild then hang and skin, if its really big i cant tell you what to do because i havnt been brave enough to skin and eat a big old pig.

[TEXAS GRINGO]

Best thing to do with a big hog is bleed it and take it to a butcher. They are very hard to butcher. We put them in boiling water to remove the hair when cleaning but as I rember it was a lot of work. Now I pay someone else to do the hard work.

[zcole04]

Cut the back straps out.

I agree.

[rladner]

Alwasy easier to hang it first, then gut, but if its hot you either need to be able to hang it right there or just gut it on the ground so you can get some ice in the body cavity to cool it down.

[hrdwrkncwby76]

I gutted my sow from a tree then skinned her with the carpet hook knife by cutting 1-2" wide strips from the top and just pulling it down till I got to the head and cut the head off.

[Instinct]

No need to gut.Lay hog on its side,cut from neck to tail along back bone.Skin back till ham and shoulder is exposed,remove them and then the backstrap.Flip hog over and do the same.Do this to a couple hogs and you will get the hang of it.You can make some cuts on the inside of the legs to speed things up.No mess no smell.

[rubydog]

On any animal that is not getting mounted I will feild dress on the ground.The first thing I do is cut around the anus going very deep all the way around it. Next I split the animal from genetalia to the throat. Now here is the trick, I cut the esophagus (windpipe) and stick my index or middle finger inside and clamp my hand around it pulling out and away from the body cavity while cutting inbehind the esophagus. You will then come to the upper diaphram. This is the tissue that connects the organs to the chest wall. Simply cut the diaphram along the chest wall (ribs) while pulling on the esophagus. Once this is done you will come to the lower diaphram and repeat the above process. If done properly the intire organ/iintestinal tract should come out in one piece all the way to the anus. I have used this method thousands of times as a guide and now have it down to where I hardly get my hands bloody.

[Bjankowski]

No need to gut.Lay hog on its side,cut from neck to tail along back bone.Skin back till ham and shoulder is exposed,remove them and then the backstrap.Flip hog over and do the same.Do this to a couple hogs and you will get the hang of it.You can make some cuts on the inside of the legs to speed things up.No mess no smell.

I do deer the same way, no fuss or mess. Unless Rloving does it for me.

[sqiggy]

No need to gut.Lay hog on its side,cut from neck to tail along back bone.Skin back till ham and shoulder is exposed,remove them and then the backstrap.Flip hog over and do the same.Do this to a couple hogs and you will get the hang of it.You can make some cuts on the inside of the legs to speed things up.No mess no smell.

Had some guys from Baton Rouge come up and hunt. They did this on the back of their 4 wheeler trailer. They did a 80 lb'er in about 15 min. No mess and easy for me to dispose the rest. I'll never hang up another hog!!!

[Bisch]

I hang mine up on the meat pole, then skin, then gut, then quarter. I like this way much better than gutting on the ground.

Bisch

[Nitro1970]

I've always field dressed then hung up but I sure like Heath's idea!!

[Tlong]

Anybody ever tried the pickup truck method? Seems like it would keep from dulling your knife as often.

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