Learning to process and clean animals

It might sound funny, but YouTube and Pinterest have been very helpful when it comes to learning how to slaughter and process chickens. Seeing it done in videos was a lot more informative than just reading about it, although I wish I'd been able to learn firsthand from someone local. I learned to clean fish firsthand and it stuck with me better than if I'd just been told how to do it without seeing it.

I'd like to learn to butcher rabbits, but again I don't have a local teacher and I'm replying on the internet. I get the basics, but are there any must-know tips or tricks beyond the basics that make it easier or more efficient? If I can process rabbits, other small animals should be pretty straightforward, right?

 

I am right along with you when it comes to processing animals. I would like to know how this is done and what the process is. I have never had to kill an animal for food let alone prepare it's dead body for cooking or preserving. I wonder if you need to use a lot of salt to disinfect the body after skinning and draining the blood? This makes me want to go out and buy a book on this because you never know when you might need to use these survival skills in the future.

 

A few simple tips
Always hang by the rear legs if you can, it is so much cleaner and easier on the back!
Complete skinning before you gut it
Cut around the bum and release the anal passage before you tackle the guts!
The gut has its own membrane sack, try not to cut it when slitting the carcass open!
If done right you open the torso from the groin to sternum, release the anal tube then gently pull the intestinal sack forward
while cutting the membrane holding it to the spine as you go!
The whole sack should come out as one and hang!
Keep cutting down the inside spine, kidneys, heart and lung will loosen as you cut!
After that a gently pull will get the rest to fall out!
A quick inspection while giving it a quick wash and it is done!
A large animal you want to bone out needs to be hung and left to set for a day or two in a cool shaded spot covered with a cotton sheet or bag
to keep the bugs off.
Trying to bone out a fresh kill is a real pain, it needs time to set!

If it is a large animal I hang high enough to get a large wheelbarrow underneath to catch the skin-head and then guts in one and
once the gut is free and clear I wheel the barrow to my current disposal pit, tip it in then rinse the barrow! very easy clean and efficient!
I don't usually use the hides!
I keep a bucket of water handy to rinse hands as they get a bit slippery
And if it is a large animal have a few very sharp knives not just one!

 

There's some very good practical advice above. I'd say look for and be careful to remove the gall bladder without breaking it. Breaking it or leaving it in is a mistake you only make once!! I also agree about skinning before gutting if you can - the cleaner you can keep everything the better, especially if you want to preserve the skin, but sometimes there's no choice. It's no problem, just do the best you can.

 

Awesome pointers, thank you all so much!

 

The biggest point on this one is not cutting the guts or stomach by accident; this pretty much ruins the entire meat and wastes precious energy as well as time.

 

Busting the guts is not the end of the meat if you are quick but it is very hard to clean and rinse it out without plumbing etc!
so not worth salvaging unless you are desperate!
A gut shot animal is still useable but it needs good cleaning!

 

I've personally butchered only chickens and quail. I really must study more about the chickens, it was terrible, twice!! The quail are very easy and I learned how just as you suggested, through YouTube. I found a great video from a real butcher. It was really, really helpful. I saved it and everytime I butcher, I go back and watch it a few times before I start. I should find one like that for the chickens too.

 

I got nervous reading these posts just now. I watched the butchering of various animals growing up in the country side but for some strange reason I can't stand the sight now. Anyway, youtube have how to videos on basically everything. Look for the ones with the highest ratings/likes, most of the times they are the better ones. If you were in my country I would've recommended a farmer who would've been ever too willing to teach you.

 

You did right by learning on youtube, I did not want to consider youtube a source for realistic information, but you can't say that the things people are teaching in their videos is not worth the watch. I learned how to skin all types of animals, and I don't know one person personally that does it. If I needed to do it in real like, I would have no problem with making a trap to catch, skin, and cook a rabbit for meat, or skinning and gutting a dear, snake, etc. All thanks to youtube users.

 

When I use to gut a deer we would hang it from its front legs off the ground. It was done in this manner so that the organs would drop downwards. The risk of contamination of a small accidental cut into the large intestines would be minimal as it is headed downwards, and would most likely miss the bulk of the meat.

We would skin the animal from top to bottom, make a cut from its throat, downwards, and open up the cavity. Pulling out the internal organs is easy. You just need to pull on his throat and it will come out with some force and it will fell like a tube. Once you have that in hand, everything come out easily. From there you cut out the anus area and you are done.

Most videos I see on Youtube, they have the deer hanging from tail to head, which I was told and taught not to do because of the contamination mishap. It makes sense to me.