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Bone saw recommendations for the kill kit?

ChasingDinner

ChasingDinner

Active Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2019
Messages
178
Can anyone give a recommendation for a good saw to keep in my pack/kill kit? Some locations I hunt are way to far/rough for a solo drag or cart and require me to quarter and pack out the meat. My main concern was cutting through the neck in order to carry out a bucks head, but would obviously use the saw wherever needed in the process.
I am looking for light weight and quality.
Thanks for your help!
 
You don't need a saw for bone, unless you want to cut off the skull plate. Possibly if you want to take the ribs, even those can be cut at the joints, but it's tough to do. You can literally skin and quarter a deer, including taking the head off, with a pen knife. The head really isn't that tricky, you just cut down to where the first vertebrae meets the head, give it a quick twist, and cut through any remaining connective tissue.
 
I've quartered or deboned a dozen or so in the field over the last couple of years. I've not needed a saw to do so. I got a little worried making the switch to a replaceable blade knife, and not having the backbone in it to get joints apart. I'm 3/3 with it so far having no issues. I think you could get by with any really sharp knife, and if you're boning, add a stropped up paring knife to go with it.

Having said that - I used the tiny little outdoor edge saw that came with my flip and zip to cut through a couple of bones to see how it would perform. For the rare need in meat processing, I think it would do the job. It is mos def lightweight! I've gone 20+ years never carrying a saw in the woods. I'm coming around to the idea with this tiny little thing.
 
Now that I think about it, I guess I have never tried to do it with just a knife and no saw. Always used the saw for the head/neck and lower legs/feet. I typically carry one good field knife for butchering and a pocket knife for whatever else is needed.
 
I just use my knife but I always have a limb saw in the pack and would just use if if the situation arose to need a saw.
 
elk yinzer said:
You don't need a saw for bone, unless you want to cut off the skull plate. Possibly if you want to take the ribs, even those can be cut at the joints, but it's tough to do. You can literally skin and quarter a deer, including taking the head off, with a pen knife. The head really isn't that tricky, you just cut down to where the first vertebrae meets the head, give it a quick twist, and cut through any remaining connective tissue.
Click to expand...
Even butchering a hanging carcass to bone-in cuts, I only use a saw sparingly.
Ribs I cut with a lopper (could use a ratchet pruner on most deer) if making e.g. a crown roast/bone-in loin roast/chops and/or ribs
Legs i separate at the joint with knife.
Head comes off with a knife.

Saw is reserved for cutting shanks for osso buco, if i wanna cut a shoulder into multiple bone-in roasts, etc.
 
While I was up in Alaska I learned they teach how to clean moose and fillet salmon in elementary school......I felt cheated. I've had to just learn under fire and I've wasted to much meat. Since I had no one to teach me I would have paid for a class to learn if there was one offered. So any other states offer anything like that?
 
Might not be what you’re looking for, but I just use a knife. I cut the connective tissue around the sides of the joints when quartering out.

I never split the pelvis. You can remove the hind quarters bone-in by cutting around the ball joint. I even cut a deer’s head off with my pocket knife.

A good way to figure out where to cut is to move the joint by hand and see where the two bones meet. Start cutting across that joint and you’ll see/feel when it starts to break loose.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Weldabeast said:
While I was up in Alaska I learned they teach how to clean moose and fillet salmon in elementary school......I felt cheated. I've had to just learn under fire and I've wasted to much meat. Since I had no one to teach me I would have paid for a class to learn if there was one offered. So any other states offer anything like that?
Click to expand...

YouTube the bearded butcher they have a lot of good deer videos


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Ive used the havalon baracuda and it is good for any field work. Ive even used it to cut the shanks for Osso Buco at home but that’s exhausting.
 
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