THE BEST OF ALASKA ROSE: Butchering Large Game

Alaska Rose (right) and her mother with a moose.

I have made some sketches of how to skin and gut and clean any large game animal without getting up to your shoulders in the body cavity. I can butcher out a moose, skinned and quartered without having anything more than the wrist of my plastic gloves smudged with blood. I just dropped my Registered Hunting Guide license after several years of enjoying getting paid for what I love to do, so I do know about butchering large game. Those (latex) gloves are worth it, to pack in, no matter how light you want your pack to be.

I don't have running water, so I like to stay as neat as possible. If you skin out the critter, and leave it on the hide, remove the top legs before attempting to gut it. Here (in Alaska), as soon as the gut cavity is opened, we have bears, and they are not interested in who got there first. So since I am usually doing a moose by myself and cannot turn one by myself, I remove all 4 legs and the back-straps, cut the head off, and THEN cut along the edge of the ribs to open the entire gut cavity, keeping the flesh over the gut as one large piece.

In the 2 sketches, the first shows an alternate way to gut an animal without getting in up to your shoulders and working blind with a sharp knife. That has never been high on my list of things I really want to do, LOL. Cut back along the ribs to the back, down to the pelvic bone and across. The gut will roll out fairly easily. If you are working on an elk, this is almost a necessity for gutting, as they have sheets of muscle hanging down inside, to hold the intestines in place, since they are jumpers. This large flap of flesh should be used for burger or make rolled stuffed roasts out of it, cook long and slow to tenderize and you will have a nice meal that is usually wasted meat. You can cut any connective tissue, as elk have hanging to hold the loops of gut in place, without reaching up to your armpits and having your head halfway in when the bear shows up. Cut the ribs loose from the backbone and section the backbone and pelvic bone into chunks you can carry and leave the gut pile in short order.

The second sketch is a standard skinning, gutting diagram, showing where most folks cut, skinning and gutting and removing the lower leg sections.

One other small tip, use a utility knife with quick change blade, to skin and section out your large critter. No stopping to sharpen a dull blade, the blade is sharp enough to skin a tough hided moose in short order, and you can get back to camp as soon as possible for another cappuccino. Oh yeah, we eat really well in any camp I am in.

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THE BEST OF ALASKA ROSE--Introduction

I am starting a feature,"The Best of Alaska Rose", that are posts I have compiled and done some light editing on that my hero, Alaska Rose, has written on the APN Forum over the past several months. Why the NC Forum? Alaska Rose has been active on our NC Forum and is an official NC forum member. She also exemplifies the qualities and has the skills that my NC ancestors undoubtedly would have felt at home with.

First, here is an introduction to Alaska Rose in her words. Watch for her advice in future posts about canning, cleaning game, building a cabin, getting rid of a lazy man, building your own solar system, etc.

First place I ever built. It is 14 feet into bedrock at the back. Easy to heat in Winter and cool all Summer.

Hi, I moved up here from Oregon, in 1969. I'm 67, my Mom, living here also, is 89. I live north of Fairbanks, towards the Yukon river. I have worked as a gold miner, a Registered Hunting Guide, and a Fishing Guide. I moved out here a few years ago, lived in a tent the first summer while building my roads and building pads, then started constructing a home. Since then, have built a home for my Mom. My daughter and 2 of her kids and I built her a nice home here, also. I'm really glad we don't have to mess with permits and building inspectors. We are working toward being more self sufficient as we go. I have been a widow since 1988. There are no power lines here, no phone service either. However, I do have intermittent internet service through satellite.

I have 11 grandkids including the stepkids' kids, and one greatgrandkid. Eight of the grandkids live within 70 miles of here. So does the greatgrandkid.
I operate heavy equipment, do goldsmithing, registered hunting Guide and fishing guide, although I have let those licenses lapse. Also let my boiler operator license lapse and sawmill operator license. I do taxidermy work, build our homes and shop, and yes, I would enjoy male companionship. I do not HAVE to have a man around, but like men very much. Some men might be intimidated, but a true friend and companion would not be.

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