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Help! Muntjac


Beardo
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Anyone around today in the home counties area who could show me how to skin and butcher a muntjac?

long story - but it's been hung and i took it out of Stealth Stalkers fridge this morning to take to a butcher - he can't butcher it in the skin apparently (found out when i got there).

i've now locked SS's shed up (he's working).

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Nick, I skinned my recent first muntjac just in the same way I'd skin a rabbiit although its a bit harder. Butchered it following a video on Youtube. My wife hasn't forgiven me yet for the blood on her laptop (nor for the tick she got from the skin).

 

There isn't that much other than the main cuts worth keeping on a muntjac, the two haunches are taken off just by slipping a knife along the spine, the saddles and fillets are obvious as are the front legs. I gave everything else to my dog - unless you want burgers made from sinew there isn't much else. I panfried the fillets and ate them as soon as I cut them off the underside side of the spine. There are ways of butchering the haunches into three seperate steaks which I saw on the video but I boned mine and kept them for roasting.

 

If you need a hand I'm local and around this evening.

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thanks for the very kind offer, but going to head up to see the chap in lemsford this evening - he's a very experienced deer processor and was ever so helpful on the phone, he was telling me about

his own extra easy way of skinning them, so will be good to learn!

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Sorry but I think this is proof positive for a need to have qualifications BEFORE you go shooting live game. If you don't know how to deal with it you shouldn't be shooting it. In Germany, Denmark and othetr sporting nations hunters are required to prove competence and pass some pretty stringent tests before being granted a hunting licence and a FAC.

 

If you go to the bds site there's some very useful downloads all about gralloching, skinning and butchering your kill that might get you out of trouble this time.

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i wouldn't dream of shooting a deer without having an experienced stalker show me the ropes, if you read the post - i had already arranged for the carcass (which has already been gralloched, plucked, de-hoofed and headed, and hung by myself under tuition for SS) to be butchered this morning. however things didn't got to plan and i can no longer return the carcass to the store.

Edited by nickbeardo
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well everything worked out even better than i could have hoped.

went to see the chap this evening and he was amazing.

he was such a nice guy, so generous with his time and knowledge, and he didn't know me from adam!

wasn't too difficult - he showed me how to do a full gralloch (instead of the standard one i had done), and then we cut down the spine and skinned it

working away from it, followed by the cuts and butchering it.

he even got out his finest whisky and insisted we had a toast on my first deer.

there really are some very nice people in the shooting fraternity.

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Excellent; sounds like you've had a great intro.

 

I attended a course at River Cottage - it was fantastic and I couldn't wait to tackle a deer once I got back. Our garage now has all of the appropriate loops and rope screwed into a rafter such that it's now an easy job! Also purchased a butchers mincer and a sausage stuffer - once you get started it's great!

 

Good luck

 

Steve

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Sorry but I think this is proof positive for a need to have qualifications BEFORE you go shooting live game. If you don't know how to deal with it you shouldn't be shooting it. In Germany, Denmark and othetr sporting nations hunters are required to prove competence and pass some pretty stringent tests before being granted a hunting licence and a FAC.

 

If you go to the bds site there's some very useful downloads all about gralloching, skinning and butchering your kill that might get you out of trouble this time.

 

Sorry Highlander, but isn't that a little harsh?

Do you drive? Can you strip and re-build an engine?

You use a computer. Can you fix it, or upgrade it if required?

I assume you watch TV,,,,

 

The guy just asked for some help.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Sorry Highlander, but isn't that a little harsh?

Do you drive? Can you strip and re-build an engine?

You use a computer. Can you fix it, or upgrade it if required?

I assume you watch TV,,,,

 

The guy just asked for some help.

 

 

<_< I was going to say the same thing. Nick's new to this game and is doing his best. It sounds like things didn't go to plan (so far he's always had a competant helper, but today something went wrong). **** happens, and he's doing his best to sort it! You can't be good at everything from day one, we all have to learn somewhere and shooting a Deer and having to deal with it is a pretty good way IMO! Don't be so negative!

 

I butchered a Whitetail in Canada. First time I'd ever done a Deer and they're not exactly small. What a job! We got some good cuts off of it and all went well in the end, but it is a really tough job if you're unsure of what to do. Luckily the Canadians are a little more laid back about these things. I made a right mess of the job compared to what a pro would do, but we didn't waste a lot and it tased nice!

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Sorry but I think this is proof positive for a need to have qualifications BEFORE you go shooting live game. If you don't know how to deal with it you shouldn't be shooting it. In Germany, Denmark and othetr sporting nations hunters are required to prove competence and pass some pretty stringent tests before being granted a hunting licence and a FAC

 

Sorry Highlander, I can't agree on that. I've got a German Jagdschein, and a piece of paper does not make you a better hunter or safer shot. The Germans have hunting licenses, we don't. The Germans also seem to accidentally shoot a lot more of their fellow hunters than we do, same in France, but I'm not sure of their licensing requirements.

When I was based in Germany I went to a huntin', shootin' and fishin' type show called either Jagd und Hund or Pferd und Jagd in Hannover, one of those any way, one of the hunting associations had a stand there showing a graph of all the European countries showing how many "hunters" there were per 10,000 head of population. Guess which country came out tops in Europe on that graph? UK. Licensing only leads to a decrease in take up, and the only people that benefit are the people that charge a couple of hundred quid a pop for qualification courses. It costs a German a lot more than that to get a Jagdschein though, and it involves a lengthy, detailed and expensive course of study and testing.

I would possibly be in favour of compulsory 3rd party liability cover, but licensing and testing would probably be the death knell for British field sports.

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