What makes a successful hunt is defined by the individual hunter. Most consider success, however, to be a good stalk followed by a well-placed shot that harvests an animal.

That was the fun part. Now it's time to do the tough stuff.

A hunter begins to fulfill his or her responsibility to bring home edible venison by properly preparing and transporting a big-game carcass. The task, commonly called field dressing, can be accomplished in a variety of ways. Helen McCracken, the Hunter Education Coordinator for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, observed "field dressing isn't a science. Everybody is going to do it a little bit differently."

There are several basics, however, that all hunters should follow.

Safety is the first consideration. Stories abound of hunters being kicked or otherwise surprised by an injured animal they thought was dead.

"Approach it from behind and make sure it is dead, before you get too close to the animal," warned McCracken. "And definitely don't use the gun barrel to touch the animal, because if the animal is still alive and jumps out you're going to have a loaded firearm flying through the air.

"What I would suggest is … stop and look to see if the animal is still breathing, or the eye is still moving. If not, go up and bump it with the toe of your boot a couple of times and see if the animal has any movement."

When the animal is safe to approach, there are a variety of ways to dress it out. Many hunters choose to quarter the animal, or take the meat off the bone. Others remove the entrails, and take the carcass out whole.

If a hunter chooses to remove the entrails, a sharp knife and careful hand are required.

"I still use the older method of field dressing where I make the cut up through the center line of the body, up through the brisket down through the stomach area," McCracken said. "Then I go in and open the brisket, reach in and grab the esophagus and basically pull about everything out of the animal."

Removing the entrails also helps cool the animal quicker, which is critical in preserving the meat.

"There are three things that will make your meat spoil," McCracken said. "One of them is heat, one of them is moisture and one of them is dirt. The sooner you can cool your meat out, the better quality meat you're going to have."

Cooling is rarely a problem during a hunt held in cold weather. When warmer temperatures prevail, however, measures need to be quickly taken.

Chris Clark, co-owner of Dan's Meat Processing in Evansville, recommends freezing milk jugs full of water and placing them in the body cavity after the kill.

If darkness or more equipment requires a trip to camp, quarters can be hung in a nearby tree to cool. Another method is to cut off the forelegs, then prop the animal on its legs with the body cavity open for air circulation. Also, strip the hide off the back to allow heat to leave the carcass.

Keeping dirt and flies off the meat is also important. Many put the quarters or boned out meat into mesh game bags for protection. Some publications recommend putting pepper on the carcass to discourage flies.

McCracken said others "will leave the hide on, but that's going to be dependent on what the weather conditions are."

Clark also recommends rinsing out a carcass if possible.

"A lot of times there will be fecal matter that's blown around in there, and if they can wash that off it's really going to help keep from spreading around bacteria," she said.

Hunters must take care with their cuts while skinning, if they wish to preserve the cape and hide. Taxidermists are a good source for information on how to remove a cape, which is the head and hide used for trophy mount.

McCracken said the hide can be preserved by making a cut around the forelegs, then cutting "up the inside of the legs and start peeling the hide off."

With chronic wasting disease (CWD) a concern in many deer and elk areas, hunters are advised to practice good sanitation. The disease has never been proven to be transmittable from wildlife to humans. Nevertheless, McCracken recommends using latex gloves while field dressing, and following Game and Fish recommendations to avoid contact with the brain and nervous system of harvested animals.

McCracken said Game and Fish hopes to soon produce a video to instruct hunters on how to protect themselves from CWD.

"Just be very careful when you're going into the field and don't cut into the spinal cord," she said. "And if you're taking the head off, let it be the last thing that you do because the prion for CWD is not normally found in the meat. … Unless you contaminate the meat with your tools, your meat should be free of the (disease)."

Dealing with CWD

According to the World Health Organization, no cases of chronic wasting disease transmission (CWD) from wildlife to humans have ever been proven. Nevertheless, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department recommends hunters play it safe.

Recent research indicates intact carcasses from deer that died of CWD may spread the disease to healthy deer. To minimize this possibility the department recommends that deer and elk hunters transport only the following items from areas where CWD is known to exist:

*Cut and wrapped meat

*Boned meat

*Animal quarters or other pieces with no portion of the spinal column or head attached

*Hides without the head

*Cleaned (no meat or other tissue attached) skull plates with antlers attached

*Antlers with no meat or other tissue attached

The head, spine and other nervous tissue should be left at the site of the kill or bagged and disposed of in an approved landfill.

*Hunters must leave evidence of sex, species or horn or antler development attached, as required by Game and Fish regulations. For further information refer to the Important Hunting Information Section in the current year's deer or elk regulations.

*The Wyoming Game and Fish Department will continue CWD surveys this fall. Tissue samples will be collected from harvested deer and elk at selected check stations and meat processing facilities. Hunter participation is voluntary. Surveys help the department monitor CWD in Wyoming.

*Testing procedures are not intended to provide quality assurance for individual carcasses. Hunters who choose to have their animals individually tested can contact the Wyoming State Veterinarian Laboratory at (307) 742-6638 for testing and fee information.

- Courtesy Wyoming Game and Fish Department

Gutless field dressing

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is now recommending hunters in areas with chronic wasting disease leave the skull and nervous tissue of harvested deer and elk in the field. The following method of "gutless" field dressing, which is recommended in a new book by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation called "Elk Hunter's Cook Book and Meat Care Guide," is a good way to leave unnecessary parts behind.

*Position the animal with the feet downhill. Make a cut through the hide from the base of the skull down the backbone to the tail. Make a cut through the hide behind the shoulder and go all the way around the ribs to the brisket.

*Skin the front shoulder. Talk to your taxidermist before going into the field if you are saving the cape for mounting.

*Pull the front leg up and remove by cutting it free from the rib cage. Remove as much meat from the rib and neck as possible. Place in a game bag and hang to cool.

*Skin the hind quarter.

*Remove the hind quarter by cutting against the pelvic bone until you reach the ball and socket joint. Place in a game bag, then cut through the ligament holding things together. Hang to cool.

*Remove the remaining meat by cutting along the backbone from the pelvis to the head, then peel down. Remove all the remaining meat with this piece. Bag, then hang to cool.

*Remove the tenderloins by reaching under the section of the backbone between the ribs and pelvis, then pull free. You may need to cut to loosen the ends.

*Roll the carcass over and repeat the process.

- Courtesy Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation