Steven Rinella, host of the Sportsmen’s Channel show “Meateater,” has teamed up with seven sportsman-conservation organizations in a new instructional video, “Quartering & Packing Big Game,” that demonstrates big-game field dressing and packing techniques for public land hunters. Rinella offers tips and techniques to allow hunters to confidently hunt deer, elk, bighorn sheep and other big game on remote areas of public land.
“A lot of hunters feel uneasy about hunting backcountry public land because they’re worried about what’s going to happen when they get a deer or elk down on the ground a mile or more from their rig,” says Rinella in the video. “But the thing is, public land hunting often doesn’t even get good until you get this far from the road. The hunting pressure drops off because fewer people are willing to walk this far, and the animals know that. If you want to consistently harvest good bucks and bulls you need to be willing to hunt away from your vehicle.”
Millions of American sportsmen depend on public lands, and these lands can receive a lot of hunting pressure. That pressure can push deer and elk deep into areas that are far from roads and vehicles, prompting many sportsmen to hunt on foot, quarter their kills and pack out the meat on their backs. Rinella’s video aims to help public land hunters develop the skills and confidence necessary to hunt away from their vehicles – in places where their odds of success often are higher.
“Hunting the backcountry requires some additional skills,” acknowledges Rinella. “I’m going to give you a few tips on how to break an animal down and get it out on your own. Using this skinning and butchering method is going to help you hunt farther away from the road in places where the hunting is simply better.”
The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the Wild Sheep Foundation, the Mule Deer Foundation, Orion the Hunters Institute, the Pope and Young Club and the Bull Moose Sportsmen’s Alliance teamed up with Rinella to produce and distribute the new video. All of these groups are committed to ensuring the responsible management of public lands and to safeguarding habitat for fish, wildlife and sportsmen.