Keith, you're absolutely right, but for one little thing: I wanna see you make that first backstrap cut and then get 180 degrees with your knife, for the next cut.
Something to think about
: If you hunt by yourself in rough country, a deer doesn't have to be very big to be one heckuva problem. With a backpack and some plastic garbage bags, and following Keith's method, you can turn a 250-pound, live weight deer, into a quite manageable package to haul back a mile or six to a road.
Well, mostly manageable...
Art