to cut or not to cut?

[Grizzly Adam]

... a bullet kills by bludgeoning or by shock (like a baseball bat).

That's what we do when we put a .22 bullet in a hog's head ... we bludgeon it into senselessness ... and then stick it so it can hemorrhage!

[sumner4991]

An arrow kills by cutting or hemorrhage (excessive bleeding) while a bullet kills by bludgeoning or by shock (like a baseball bat).

One method causes a lot of bleeding, the other doesn't.

Correct . . .it still depends on the site of the wound and the type of bullet used. My Grandfather would shoot the pig or beef in the head with a .22. On the steer, he would make aim at the cross point of two lines drawn between the eyes and the horns(lines not actually drawn). The animal would fall immediately as if someone pulled their legs out from under them. Then one of my uncles would cut the throat. There was blood everywhere. Not much blood at the site of the bullet wound.

I was very young at the time. They stopped doing their own slaughter once the slaughter house opened in a nearby town.

This thread took a left turn, eh?

For deer . . .only benefit to cutting the throat is to make the field dressing a little easier/safer. The blood is usually a done deal by time you recover the deer.

[Grizzly Adam]

Yes, and I can see where bleeding out a critter that has been bludgeoned to death would not be redundant.

People who do this everyday certainly know how to do it safely.

There's also a number of folks who want to do this in front of their "friends" in an effort to impress them.

Good night! I can't imagine thinking a hog-sticking would impress anyone ... unless they were impressed with how gory and messy a business it really is!

I've been in on butchering many a hog (and the occasional slaughter of other critters), and it's usually carried out with a certain grim efficiency that's necessary to the process. I always keep the crowd away until the hang-up.

It might be stated that even with experience, the best of efforts can go wrong, too. I once shot a hog just like I've shot others, but he wasn't "poleaxed" ... he went wild ... like some short-circuit activated all his motors at once.

That was an unfortunate scene. Sticking such an animal is very, very dangerous.

In any case, it's never an act to be taken lightly.

Good to know where your meat comes from, though.

Bloody or not, knowing is better than the abysmal ignorance that typifies many people's ideas about their burgers and hot dogs!

[Moxie]

I choose not to cut.

[Grizzly Adam]

Good night! I can't imagine thinking a hog-sticking would impress anyone ...

Grizz...buddy ole pal...I was referring to "macho" deer hunters out in the woods showing off to their newbie hunter friends, this is how it's done.

That's just before they get gored by a buck they thought was dead.

They don't look so freaking cool/macho then!

Yeah ... I didn't think you meant me, but I wasn't thinking of the old "slash their throat" routine in the woods, either ... having never done that!

[maple]

No need to cut if it's already dead. Double-lung and it will bleed-out inside the thoracic cavity real quick.

The only time I did was one spring when I came upon a car-deer collision. The poor doe was lying on the shoulder of the road, bleeding from the ears and she had a busted leg and ribs. As the woman (driver) was calling for a vet, I went over to my car for a knife.

What do you do??? Stab the heart? Puncture both lungs? Nope, you slit the throat, which I did. I told her of the condition and she seemed OK with that since I took responsibility. I did it as respectfully as I could, under the circumstances. Didn't like it much though.

Maple

[Limbs and Sticks]

To me if it's not dead you put another bullet or arrow in the critter if you've never put your hands on a half dead deer you don't know what your in for I don't hunt with one bullet or arrow and no body else here does either, had a good mount messed up because someone got to the deer ahead of me cut the throat.

Wes

[Sopchoppy]

The reason for bleeding a deer was old timers, in the South anyway, said that was the way to make deer meat taste better. Some said if you didn't, it would have a strong taste because the meat would still have blood in it. Others said the same thing about the tarsal gland. I think the best way to insure "good meat", is to get the guts out and get it cooled asap, especially in warm weather.

[VixChix]

I had a dear old friend who used to carry a small pointed knife with him for when he came upon not-dead-yet roadkill. He explained that he'd slip it in at the back of the head at the base of the skull - a quicker safer way of doing it than cutting the throat.

[sumner4991]

I had a dear old friend who used to carry a small pointed knife with him for when he came upon not-dead-yet roadkill.

Did it look a lot like a ice pick? I think I saw that dear friend in a movie once.

I've heard that too, but, never seen anyone actually perform the act. Seems a little creepy to me. I'm in the limbs and bolts crowd . . .that's why I carry extra ammo.

[Galgo]

I cut the throat to loosen up the wind pipe for easy removal from the chect cavity without opening it up.

[one shot scott]

Trying to bleed out something that is already dead is slightly moronic. But I have cut out the windpipe once or twice like Galgo has

[Grizzly Adam]

I had a dear old friend who used to carry a small pointed knife with him for when he came upon not-dead-yet roadkill.

Did it look a lot like a ice pick? I think I saw that dear friend in a movie once.