Cleaning a Kill

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Some may think meat is always acquired by hunting and trapping animals. But in survival, that is not always the case. In survival, you use whatever is abundant and what is at your advantage. For example, if you are by rivers, lakes, or streams there are possibly an abundance of fish. Fish is a great source of protein and replenishes calories after a well worked day. Cleaning a small fish is very simple and only takes a few easy steps. But with cleaning any animal, some people have trouble cutting into what was once living flesh. If this is the case, please try to bear through it because the meat will definitely be worth it. First start by cutting off the head just behind the gills of the fish. Then hold the fish by the tail and cut along the spine to where the head used to be. Once the fillets are separate from the fish, start removing the skins by firmly holding a fillet by the tail with the skin side down. Start at the tail and insert the knife between the skin and flesh while holding the skin cut in the direction where the head used to be. Then once you have your piece of meat rinse in cool water and store or cook.

 

If you are going to cook and eat your fresh fish immediately you can just cook it whole leaving scales on and guts in!
After cooking you just peel the topside skin and scales off whole then eat to spine, remove spine and eat the rest!
Eating the now schrivelled guts is optional!
Filleting is wasteful but good for storage!

 

For cleaning a kill like fish, that's more of the simpler choices if available. But to clean a mammal to eat, it can be harder. For hunters that I know, killing is the easy part (not my opinion, but it tends to be true for those who do it for sport). But no matter what, they always take it to a butcher to do the dirty work. I don't know if it's the fact it has fur and cuter face than a fishnet or that it's tougher. I'd go with a combination of both.

 

In one picnic in an island resort which is actually just an island with no amenities, the boatman gave us some fish to add to our lunch. While making fire to heat our food which are already cooked, my husband's cousin got some banana leaves and wrapped the fish. No more cleaning, no cutting, just the whole fish is wrapped in banana leaves that would be broiled over the firewood. At first, I was thinking that it would taste bad because the fish was not cleaned. Besides, it has no seasoning, not even salt. But after broiling the 3 fish, we had a grand time with our lunch. The fish surely tasted so good. I wonder if we can cook the same way when we are at home.

 

I think in the way that hot water can cleanse bacteria off dishes, perhaps boiling or broiling fish can do the same to it. The degree of how clean it can get is certainly in question.

Interesting to hear that the leaves around the broiled fish was enough to make or taste delicious. I may give that a try with salmon.

 

Many people I think will be able to kill an animal if it meant they could eat and survive but killing something is one thing, while preparing it is going to be something totally different though. From fish to animals such as rabbits or deer, less and less people these days know what to do with the carcass of an animal in order to be able to eat it safely, and while I think when it comes to fish they might have an idea, anything else they'd be lost, as I also would be.

 

I find it strange that many here have never had to clean, scale and gut anything!
It is something I have always taken as a "given"! but apparantly not.

What have you been not doing growing up? your childhood was lacking!

 

Depending where you live though, I'd imagine that there's quite a lot of people that wouldn't know where to start regarding hunting and then preparing a kill. I live in the UK in one of the biggest cities and growing up all I did was go fishing with my father as he wasn't into hunting as such so I never wen't myself till i was in my early twenties and that was only because a friend of mine had an uncle that owned a farm and he took me for the first time. Without knowing him I probably still wouldn't have been to this day as I wouldn't have had the opportunity to, and that can be said by a lot of people I would imagine.

 

I too started growing up in England (Worthing) yet I had scalled and gutted fish by 6yo (neighbours giant goldfish) and skinned a rabbit at 8yo (Friends sisters pet )
Then at 9yo I spent five weeks on a flimsy boat and was born again in paradise! ( Australia for those who know not )
Fishing, surfing, spearfishing, hunting, bikini babes, endless summer, no snow.