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FOREST ANt> STREAM. 



[May 26, 1882; 



THE ART OF GAME BUTCHERING. 



The Blackfoot Indians have a tradition that when they 

 were first created, their Maker taught them how to build 

 piskuns and how to drive the buffalo over the cliff. After 

 • the first herd had been run into the pound, the Creator 

 took them down and they stood there beside the dead 

 animals. They tried to tear their limbs apart, and they 

 tried to bite pieces out of the buffalo, but they could do 

 neither. They did not know how they were going to get 

 at the meat. Then the Maker went and broke off some 

 sharp pieces of rock, and made stone knives, with which 

 he taught them how to cut up the dead animals. 



The first time that I ever killed a buffalo and stood by 

 it, wishing to take out its tongue and carry it back to 

 camp as an evidence of my prowess, my feelings were a 

 good deal like those of these newly created Indians. 

 There was the buffalo lying dead before me, but though 

 I had a knife in my belt, I had no idea of how to go to 

 work to remove the tongue. After considerable thought 

 I could devise no better plan than to pry open the beast's 

 huge jaws, pull the tongue out as far as possible and then 

 cut it off. I did this, and with about Gin. of its tip rode 

 proudly to camp. It is hardly necessary to say that I 

 was unmercifully laughed at when I got there. 



Like many other operations, the process of removing 

 from a freshly killed animal the unnecessary parts and 

 preparing the carcass for transportation to camp, is a 

 very simple one — when one knows how to do it — but 

 until he has received some instructions and has had some 

 practice the novice is likely to find some difficulty in 

 neatly butchering his large game. Many men have with 

 them on their hunting excursions guides who are famil- 

 iar with these operations, and do for their employers 

 whatever is necessary, but many hunters like to know 

 how to perform these operations for themselves. Most 

 men prefer to know how to do what is necessary about 

 camp and in the field, and those who do not care for 

 this knowledge ought to have it, for in the wilderness 

 circumstances may arise which will throw a man on his 

 own resources, and a little instruction and practice will 

 enable any one to become a good butcher, and to perform 

 these tasks, which are really a necessary part of the big- 

 game hunter's work. 



We will suppose a man to be just dismounting from his 

 horse by the side of a dead antelope, deer or elk, which 

 has just fallen before his rifle. The first thing to do is to 

 bleed the animal, but before doing this he should secure 

 his horse, which, if young or unused to hunting, may be 

 frightened at the dead deer or at the smell of its blood, 

 and may run away. Let him drop the bridle rein over 

 its head, and throwing down his trail rope take a turn of 

 this around a bunch of sage brush, or if it is in the tim- 

 ber, tie the horse up to a small tree. 



His knife, which according to my notion should have 

 a short and rather wide blade and round point, may be 

 supposed to be in good condition and with 

 keen edge. If it is not, a good deal is added 

 to the labor of the work before him. The 

 proper place at which to insert the knife to 

 bleed the game is at the point of the breast, on 

 one side or other of the projecting end of the 

 breast bone or sternum, which extends a little 

 in front of the ribs. A push will send the 

 knife in to the hilt. Its back should be toward 

 and pretty close to the sternum, and after it 

 is inserted its whole length its edge should be 

 moved two or three inches toward the back- 

 bone, though the hole at which the knife en- 

 ters need not be enlarged. This motion will 

 cut the aorta, or great blood vessel, two or 

 three inches long, which leads from the heart, 

 and the blood will flow from it and will be 

 collected in the thoracic cavity which contains 

 the heart and lungs. But little of it will flow Fig, L 

 from the wound. The reason for cutting an 

 animal's throat in this place, rather than near the head, 

 is that it does not injure the skin of the head and neck, 

 which the hunter may wish to preserve for mounting. 

 A slash across the throat just below the head will bleed 

 it just as well; but no taxidermist can ever sew up a 

 great gash at this point in such a way that it will be un- 



;Fig. 2. 



noticed. The accompanying diagram shows the point 

 After the operation of bleeding has been performed the 

 animal should be turned on its back, and either held in 

 position by a companion or propped up by a stone, or 

 what is quite as easy, supported by twisting the head 

 around and wedging it under one side. For slitting the 

 skin a knife with a sharp point is handier than the round- 

 pointed skinning knife. I often use either the large 

 or small blade of my pocket knife. The removing of 

 the entrails follows. The point of the knife, back down, 

 should be inserted in the middle line over the paunch, 

 and the Bkin slit from here up to the point of the breast, 



care being taken not to perforate the walls of the paunch. 



This having been done, go back to the point of starting 

 and continue the slit backward, still in the median line, the 

 knife this time running back until it reaches the tail. Thus 

 the skin is split on the middle line of the belly and breast 

 from the tail to the point of the breast. While this is 

 being done the paunch will have swollen and will pro- 

 trude from the opened belly. Pay no attention to this, 

 but beginning at one side of the breast bone, run your 

 knife forward from its posterior to its anterior extremity. 

 In a young animal there will be no difficulty about this, 

 and with an ordinarily sharp knife you will find it easy 

 to cut through the cartilaginous ribs, which unite the 

 sternum to the true ribs. If, however, the creature is an 

 adult, these false ribs may be so completely ossified and 

 hard that the knife will not go through them easily. In 

 this case it is necessary to cut them through one at a 

 time, searching with the point of your knife for the soft 

 point of union between these ribs and the sternum, or 

 between them and the true ribs. The place is there and 

 the bone is soft enough to be cut through by a sharp 

 knife, provided you find just the point at which to cut it. 

 Having run your knife up to the point of the breast, the 

 whole visceral cavity of the animal is open. Try to 

 spread the ribs apart by pulling them away from each 

 other, so that the opening will be two or three inches 

 wide. This gives you more room to work in. Now reach 

 in and on either side cut away the diaphragm, the fleshy 

 partition which separates the heart, lungs and liver from 

 the stomach and intestines. It runs across the animal's 

 body from the dorsal to the ventral side just about where 

 the long ribs end. This being cut away on both sides 

 and at the back, the contents of the visceral cavity are 

 free except at two points in front and behind. Reach in 

 your left hand and grasp the vessels which run up into 

 the neck, that is to say, the windpipe, gullet, veins and 

 arteries. Cut them across from above downward, look- 

 ing out carefully that you do not slice off your fingers, 

 and by pulling on the part in your left hand you will 

 bring away the heart and lungs. Throwing these to one 

 side you keep on pulling. All these parts are slightly at- 

 tached along the backbone, but they will easily come 

 away when strongly pulled. It is well when practicable 

 to have the animal on ground that is slightly sloping, its 

 head up hill, so that the fluids set free by the work will 

 run down toward the tail. Continue pulling, using the 

 knife if it should prove necessary, as it seldom will except 

 perhaps where the diaphragm joins the backbone, where 

 very likely you have not cut that partition entirely free, 

 but always taking care not to cut any vessels lest the con- 

 tents of the stomach or of the intestines should run out. 

 Now remove in the same way the paunch and the intes- 

 tines, and everything is taken out except the small intes- 

 tine which is still fast at the rectum. This can either 

 be cut off a foot or two in front of the pelvis and tied 

 up, to prevent its contents from running out, or what 

 is much better can be removed at once. In a young 

 animal it is easy to split the pelvis by cutting through the 

 suture in the middle line. This having been found — it is 

 the highest part of the bone — place the edge of the knife 

 upon it, lengthwise, bear down on the back with your 

 left hand, and rock the knife up 

 and down a little and its edge will 

 cut through the soft, gristle-like 

 substance uniting the edges of the 

 two bones. In an old animal it is 

 useless to attempt this. The bones 

 are so firmly united that no knife 

 can cut through them. An old 

 hunting partner of mine used to 

 carry in his belt a tiny hatchet 

 (Fig. 3) with which he split the pel- 

 vis to save himself the trouble of 

 cutting. However, with a sharp 

 knife, after a little practice, it is 

 a simple matter to cut around the 

 rectum and urinary organs within 

 the pelvis, following the bone 

 as closely as possible, and in this 

 way to free the end of the small 

 intestine, the whole pulling out 

 on the belly side. This having 

 been accomplished, everything is 

 taken from the animal which 

 need be removed. There is pro- 

 bably a lot of blood still within 

 the carcass, which should be turned over, belly down- 

 ward, its legs spread apart to drain. 



Every one who has hunted much knows how difficult 

 it is to lift or handle a freshly-killed animal. A man who 

 would have no difficulty in tossing into a wagon a deer 

 which has been killed twenty-four hours, may be quite 

 unable to do the same thing when the animal is limp and 

 hanging loose. If there are two men, each can take an 

 end and readily enough swing the animal upon a horse's 

 back, but if a man is alone, as may often happen, it is not 

 so easy to get the game on the horse. I used, to manage 

 in this way with a deer or antelope when I wanted to 

 take the animal into camp whole. Taking my picket 

 rope, I would make it fast around the deer's hind legs, 

 throw the line over the saddle, and by my weight lift the 

 hindquarters of the animal until the hocks were up even 

 with the saddle. Then I would take a quick turn of the 

 rope around the saddle horn, which would hold this part 

 of the deer in place. It was then easy to take the 

 animal by its head and forelegs and to swing this up over 

 the saddle, balancing the body in the saddle seat. If a 

 man is specially anxious to spare his horse, the game 

 could be carried to camp in that way, the hunter walking 

 and leading his animal. Of course it is essential that the 

 deer should balance well; that is to say, should not sag 

 on one side or the other of the saddle. If it does, the 

 horse will probably have a sore back next day. The 

 ordinary saddle strings, one's trail rope and the latigo 

 straps, can all be used to lash the load in its proper place 

 and keep it from slipping. Of course, before such a load 

 is put on the saddle should be recinched, the blankets 

 having first been moved into their proper place. If the 

 distance is too great for a man to walk comfortably, he 

 can, after he has put the deer in the saddle seat, move it 

 back behind the saddle and tie it there by the strings, 

 bringing the legs forward on either side and tying them 

 to the rings of the flank cinch, if he is riding a double- 

 cinched saddle. 



An elk is too large to be carried in bodily, and in the 

 old days when game was plenty we seldom took any 

 game into camp whole. It always seemed simpler to 



take off the hams and shoulders and tie these pieces to 

 the saddle, leaving the frame work of the animal, the 

 rib3, backbone and pelvis lying on the prairie. To carry 

 in the meat of an elk or buffalo, turn the animal on its 

 back without removing the entrails, spread the hindlegs 

 apart, cut down between them to the pelvis in the mid- 

 dle line and then following the bone of the pelvis cut 

 down to the thigh joint. Cut through the membrane 

 which surrounds this and the leg will fall down loose. 

 The knife should then be run forward along the pelvis 

 up nearly to the middle line of the back, then backward 

 still along the pelvis toward the tail, following the bone 

 around to the point of beginning. Cut through the meat 

 along the bone and the leg is free. The same operation 

 should be performed on the other side. The hams being 

 off, are to be dragged to one side. Now the sirloins 

 must be taken out. Turning the animal over, the knife 

 is now inserted on one side of the backbone just in front 

 of the pelvis, the edge of the blade toward the animal's 

 head, and moving it forward, the meat is cut away from 

 the dorsal spines until the shoulders are reached. Then 

 make an outward cut. The long and thick piece of meat 

 is now free at one side and at both ends. By feeling 

 with your hand you can easily tell where the fle3h of the 

 loin ends on its outer side over the ribs. In an elk it 

 is not much more than four inches from the dorsal 

 spine to where the ribs can be felt. Beginning at 

 the shoulder just over the point where the rib is 

 felt, cut through the skin and flesh down to the ribs, and 

 then back toward the tail parallel with the backbone 

 Then when the skin has been divided, run your knife in 

 close to the ribs and strip this meat off. It is free next 

 to the backbone and will readily come away as you cut 

 it. The loin on the other side is taken off in the same 

 fashion. If you wish to carry in the shoulders as well, 

 they are taken off by lifting the foreleg backward and 

 outward and slashing with your knife between the leg 

 and the breast. There is no joint here, and by cutting 

 close to the ribs you will not strike any bone, but the 

 whole leg, including the shoulder blade, will come away. 



Perhaps the most intricate operation in the whole act 

 of cutting up an animal is the taking off of the shanks. 

 These are cut off just below the hock or ankle joint be- 

 hind and the wrist, which is commonly called "knee,*' in 

 front. There is a square joint here, and if a man knows 

 how to hit it the shanks come off in a moment, if he does 

 not know where to cut, he may work for a week with a 

 knife and never succeed in freeing the feet from the other 

 bones. The accompanying diagrams give an idea of how 



Fig. 5. 



the bones lie in this joint. To cut them off it is necessary 

 to cut square across through the skin and muscles in 

 front of and lUn. (in a deer) below the hock (Fig. 4), 

 and then to make another cut behind the hock and just 

 opposite the first one. Then resting the hock against 

 your knee, give a sharp pull backward or push down- 

 ward, and if you have hit the joint the shank will break 

 back square off, and will be necessary only to cut through 

 a few little strings of skin and tendon which hold the 

 pieces together. On the foreleg (Fig. 5) make similar cuts 

 about lin. below the "knee" and behind and break forward. 

 A small square joint will be seen if you have hit the right 

 place, and the foot will readily come away. Then make 

 incisions between the great tendon lying up behind the 

 hock and the bone, large enough for the ropes to go 

 through, and cut small incisions in the forelegs just above 

 the "knee." Through these holes you may run your 

 saddle strings — or if the animal is a buffalo or elk, can 

 put your trail rope — and tie the hams either behind your 

 saddle, or, in the case of a large animal, across the saddle 

 seat. The sirloins of the buffalo or elk can be tied behind 

 the saddle, while the hams ride as stated. 



It sometimes happens that the man may wish to cut the 

 head off an animal, desiring, for whatever reason, to 

 save only this part The natural place to take off the 

 head is between the skull and the first cervical verte- 

 bra, but one may want to save the skin of the neck as 

 well and may not have time to skin it at the moment. In 

 such a case he can easily cut the head off at any point and 

 still save the whole skin of the neck. Insert the point of 

 the knife between the ears and run it back on top of the 

 neck along the median fine as far as the shoulders. Here 

 make a cut at right angles to the previous one, running 

 from the withers down over the front of the shoulder 

 blade to the point of the breast on each side. Flay back 

 the skin along the neck toward the head until you have 

 room to work, then make a downward cut through the 

 flesh muscles, windpipe, gullet, veins and arteries. Cut 

 through all the flesh until you reach the back bone. Search 

 along this for an inch up or down, until you find where 

 the bodies of two vertebras meet — the flat joint between 

 the faces on their ends. A knife can easily be run be- 

 tween these bodies, but it will be stopped by the inter- 

 locking processes of the vertebra? about the spinal cord. 

 Having separated these vertebra? as far as possible and 

 cut through most of the flesh about them, lift the ani- 

 mal's head from the ground, holding it by the nose with 

 one hand and the horns with the other, and twist it 

 around and around until you hear the bones crack, and 

 so know that the connection between the two vertebra? 

 is broken. Throwing it down on the ground again, you 

 can readily cut away the flesh and muscles which still 

 hold the fore part of the neck to the back part, and the 

 head is free and can be carried away. 



To complete the preparation of the head, after reach- 

 ing camp the skin must be removed from the neck and 

 head and the skull cleaned and dried. It has been 

 etated that the skin is divided along the back of 



