HELP, My nephew nicked the stomach!

[hc18flyer]

When field dressing he nicked the stomach of a whitetail. We did since it out. Is there something else we can wipe it out with? We will likely butcher tonight. Thanks, Flyer

[TXGunNut]

Just rinse it out and quarter it ASAP.

[JWT]

My father-in-law advocated cleaning with vinegar. Said he learned it when he worked as a butcher in high school.

[44man]

Not a large concern. flush with water or add vinegar. Does not hurt meat. Enjoy the deer.

[Lonegun1894]

Just do as the gents above said and enjoy the meat. Not nearly as big a deal as most make it out to be since you're taking care of it quickly.

[quilbilly]

Not a large concern. flush with water or add vinegar. Does not hurt meat. Enjoy the deer.
What he said but first wipe the area of contact with a dry paper towel first. That is why I have a couple paper towels in a plastic bag in my fanny pack. They put erasers on pencils for the same reason.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

If just a small area is affected, I just trim it off. If I need to wash it off, I try to freeze the meat right away vs aging it for a week like I normally do. Never had any problems.

[Blammer]

uh oh, my son when he shot his deer, well lets say the insides from the front to the rear, were ALL jumbled up, including stomach, liver, guts etc....

dress per usual, wash off with garden hose till clean, let dry, proceed. :)

[Mica_Hiebert]

Hose it out, meat will ne fine as long as you process it quickly.

[MBTcustom]

Just me, but I don't care to gut the deer anymore. There's nothing in there worth the trouble of going after. I take the neck roast, the front legs, the tenderloins, and the rear legs. Everything else is varmint food.

[DougGuy]

I do how goodsteel does, and don't even gut them anymore. I don't hang them either. I lay them on the side, split the hide from the neck to the tail get the backstrap out, skin it down the shoulder to where I saw off the lower leg and take the shoulder off. Skin it down the side of the neck if you want to take any neck meat. Skin the ham down to where it will be sawed off and instead of removing the hindquarter, I start at the white lines on the side of the meat and split that with the knife, then work my fingers in between the separate muscles and get down to the bone. I take the meat right off the leg bones and leave them. Turn the carcass over and take the meat off the other side. I don't even get into the abdominal cavity unless I want the two super tender pieces on the inside near the kidneys. These are the tenderloins and you can take them out with your fingers don't even need a knife for this.

[runfiverun]

if I left the heart and Liver inside a deer I'd never hear the last of it.
the tenderloins are usually eaten for dinner that night.
the liver is sliced, separated and frozen [to be breaded and pan fried later]
the heart is cubed to mix with potato squares and splashed with some apple juice and pepper for hash.

in this case I'd just get out what I wanted and wash the cavity out with some cold water and a little vinegar.
even if a little mold develops in the cavity later it usually isn't on the parts you want to eat, and you can wipe it down again.

[white eagle]

As long as you wash it out there are no worries
inside tenderloins are some of the best cuts on deer
varmints are eating well

[Eamonn]

varmints are eating well
Right.

Heart also makes great goulash and if you you for some reason dont eat liver your dog will never have enough of it.

[44man]

Deer liver and a lot of caramelized onions are great, I ate half a liver myself in two days.
Carol was teed off since she didn't want any the first day so I ate the rest too. I said tough, don't blame me. The heart is good but liver is better.
I have set off atom bombs in deer but it works out.

[Duckdog]

In my of the woods, if you don't gut 'em, you'd have a real problem dragging them out due to the large tracts of timber. I agree, the inside loins are the best piece of meat on the deer.

I personally wouldn't get to bent over a nick in the stomach and bit of gut juice inside the chest cavity. I wipe them down, rinse them out if needed, and let 'em hang a bit to cool off, unless they're gonna freeze, then I quarter them right away.

If most guys could see how a lot of meat processors treat someone else's deer, they'd always cut up their own! I've seen them laying on the damp cement until it is that particular deer's turn to be cut up, which could be quite a few days. All things considered, a bit of gut juice isn't all that bad....

[44man]

A friend cuts his without gutting too. Throws meat in a pack basket but remember body heat must be removed, worst of all. Meat against each other will turn black, even in a fridge. If you cut like that, hang meat to rid it of body heat. That is more important then some juice. Put it in a cooler but not touching or on racks in the fridge.
A butcher with a cooler has COLD floors and is OK.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

For the folks that don't gut, I got close to 10 lbs of ground from the belly and rib meat of the last buck I shot in addition to the tenders, heart and liver. Certainly worth the effort.

[TXGunNut]

For the folks that don't gut, I got close to 10 lbs of ground from the belly and rib meat of the last buck I shot in addition to the tenders, heart and liver. Certainly worth the effort.

Yes sir! Lots of good sausage meat on a fat deer's ribs and belly, especially on a fat doe like I shot recently. I didn't keep any liver from my last trip because I still have some in the freezer and don't get in the mood for it very often. Heart in going into a pot of stew this weekend.

[44man]

Been a bad year for me and most friends, even out of state guys. Must be weather. "T" shirt today outside and darn near Christmas. I only have 2 and gave 1 away. I have seen a few but no more shots. Deer movement has been poor and they are not where they normally are.
I see signs where they moved well after dark.

[Motor]

Just me, but I don't care to gut the deer anymore. There's nothing in there worth the trouble of going after. I take the neck roast, the front legs, the tenderloins, and the rear legs. Everything else is varmint food.

Not surprised at all to see where you are from. My brother lived there a few years and when he gut his deer all of his friends (locals) were like "what the heck did you do that for ?"

Then he cut out the inner loins and cooked them for em. Most agreed the best cut of meat on the entire deer but said it still wasn't worth the effort.

In hunting camp we'll usually make inner loins and liver&onion after a kill. We cook the heart if in decent shape for the dog.

Motor

[44man]

I never got into eating all the innards on animals, intestines, stomachs, caul fat but liver is good and can't toss tenderloins.
Main reason I gut other then that is I need to drag some and then get the deer loaded, I don't need another 50# to fool with nor do I want to carry all the meat out. Can't ever drive close enough! Deer bloat fast too. Things are like a woodchuck. A pack full of hot meat doesn't sit well with me.

[Jpholla]

I just hunt at home, so I can use the tractor/jeep/atv to easily get it to the house quickly and I quit field dressing many years ago. It's how I was taught as a kid, as well as hanging it up by a gambrel hook to butcher it, because "that's just how it's done." As I grew older, I started thinking about how much trouble it was and how I could simplify the process. Now, I dress one on the ground or a table. I skin one shoulder, remove it, and cut the meat off the bone in mostly one hunk. Then I do the same to the ham. Then peel back the skin to remove the back-strap, neck meat. Flip over deer and repeat. Then, spill the guts just enough to access the tenderloins and kidney fat. The thin muscle on the abdominal wall and flank(?) meat can also be removed. Then scoop it up in the tractor bucket and haul it away. Spilling the guts last keeps things much neater and avoids the risk of the OP's problem. The idea that meat will be instantly ruined by contact with urine, feces, stomach contents is a wives tale, just like slitting the throat of a dead deer is somehow going to let out the "gamey" taste. It washes off just fine and the meat is going to be trimmed later anyway. It takes an hour to retrieve the animal and two hours to get all the meat off the animal for me and probably much less for someone who does it more than once or twice a year like I do. I've never had the slightest hint of a problem with spoilage due to not field dressing, and the one I dressed two weekends ago was in 72 degree weather. At get-togethers, people always ask how I am able to get deer meat to taste so good, so I must not be doing too much wrong. I'm all for making things like this as easy as possible.