Skinning deer?

[DeanX]

Do you hang your deer to skin it, skin it on the ground or employ another method? Where I hunt there are plenty of cottonwoods to make hoisting a deer easy. what method do you use?

 

[quickdrawkinker]

Hang it up on something very stable around the base of the horns, cut around the top of the ears and around the neck, make a cut from the center of the neck down through the sternum, cut the legs off at the knees. Tie one end of a rope around the ears and the other end to a truck's trailer hitch or bumper, drive slow for about ten feet and the deer is skinned. Believe me it takes longer to explain than to actually do this. After you have mastered this, it takes less than 5 minutes to skin a deer.

 

[DallanC]

Haha I've seen at least 5 different deer torn in half using that method. Always ends the same way, someone cursing 'cause his half skined deer is now laying in the dirt.


-DallanC

 

[schmalts]

then they were spine shot. I do it all the time without a hitch.

 

[cryan]

that method works so well.. if you do it right you won't "rip them in half" just make sure that you cut the deer at the knees and i have done it a bit different-- just cut the skin at the base of the ears all the way around and about 12"-15" down and then fold the skin down so it is inside out and then stick a jagged rock about the size of a welding cap or softball up in there on the back side along the top of the spine and then wrap a big rope or cable around that rock--attach to hitch (drive slowly and have somebody watching with knife to help out a bit if possible) and deer is ready to be cut. if you can wait to skin it when you are by a truck, then wait.. it is so simple and so fast!

 

[4x4elk]

that works great for deer and elk a like just remember a spine shot or neck shot it will never work and remeber drive slow

 

[nbjbhunterman]

I always get them off the ground either rope or pulleys back at camp and start stretching and skinning. I then quarter and put in bags and hang if I am staying longer than a day.

NBJB

 

[GJM]

Rock and a rope! it has never failed me yet and I have been doing it for over 20yrs.

 

[30inchbucks]

LAST EDITED ON Aug-10-04 AT 08:42PM (MST)[p]I've used the rock and rope in years past and it works excellent. But now I say why gut them and mess with all that. I just skin and take all the meat off the bone right at the kill site. Twist the head off. Take the meat placing it in heavy duty garbage bags and pack it out along with the cape and head. Whats great about it is, there is less dirt and hair in the meat and no scent glands and urine to worry about spoiling the meat. When I get home place the meat in the refrigerator for a week or so to age it and walla you have a tender morsel. Also, as far as I'm concerned, if you drag it through the sagebrush fully skinned for hours you might as well leave it for the coyotes because it will not taste very good. The scent glands should be the first thing to come off.

 

[kicker]

Nothing rots meat faster than garbage bags. The meat has to have air so the enzymes don't break down too fast.

 

[Phantom Hunter]

Rock and rope trick for me if the deer hasn't stiffened up yet. I always use cloth meat bags if I don't have ice to cool the meat. With our smaller bodied West Texas deer I don't worry about quartering before draging/carrying them to truck, but with mule deer and elk, if possible skin and quarter before packing. Leave all those large bones for the coyotes. Why pack out something just to throw it out at home?

Phantom Hunter

 

[30inchbucks]

kicker,
I agree that garbage bags spoil meat fast if you leave the meat in them very long. I use them for a temporary transportation device and that's all. Also, I use them so my backpack doesn't get to be a bloody mess. When I get the meat back to the truck its on ice immediately or if I'm close to home its in the refrigerator. I've never had any meat spoil or sour in all my years of hunting. It taste too good for me to let that happen.