The case for the Butt Out tool

A deer gutting hack for hack deer gutters 

By Megan Plete Postol | PUBLISHED October 10th, 2022 

Let it be stated that although I am an okay hunter, I am an even okay-er field dresser. I have killed a handful of deer in my time and only in recent years have I actually began field dressing them myself. 

What I have learned since doing that is that field dressing is MESSY work and requires attention to detail; one wrong slice and you have got a flood of digestive matter right where you don’t want it – that’s on your precious meat - uncontained and in the way. 

There is one particular aspect of field dressing that I find especially tricky. It is sealing off and removing the anal cavity. Here is where a little gadget called the Butt Out tool comes in handy. This tool helps to isolate and close off the intestines – a critical step in the field dressing process. 

The Butt Out tool (now in its second version: the Butt Out 2) is a plastic utensil with a handle that gets inserted into the anus of the deer. It is designed for big game such as whitetail deer. The tool, once inserted into the anus, is then twisted and pulled straight out. The sharp corners of the tool snag in the wall of the anal cavity membrane and the intestine comes right out. Once it has been pulled out about ten inches, it can be tied off.  

I’m aware of how gross that sounds, but here’s the thing: no matter how yucky, that anal canal needs to come out when field dressing a deer. This simple tool makes something that is not pleasant and potentially really disgusting into something fairly straightforward. Push in, twist, pull, and cut. 

Hunters Specialties sells this product for less than ten dollars, and it is available on Amazon. It weighs less than one pound and takes up just a little bit of room in your hunting pack. Plus it can be washed off, disinfected, and reused an unlimited amount of times. 

What I like best about the Butt Out tool is that it helps newbies climb over yet another barrier to hunting. The field dressing process can feel complicated and overwhelming. This little tool simplifies one portion of that. While it does not make field dressing fool-proof, it creates a way for one aspect of that process to get done effectively.