Skinning the easy way

[Trapp]

I have just recently learned an easy way to skin a deer, thought I would share it.

1. Get the deer to the skinning rack, guts and all, hang it by its head.
2. Cut the around the legs below the knee joints (hard to explain, but: basically cut the skin around the leg to make it look like you put a pipe cutter on in)
3. FORWARD of the ears cut the skin all the way around the head (same as the legs)
4. Cut vertically down the throat a good six inches, carefull not to cut the esophagus
5. Peel the skin back off of the ears, halfway down the neck.
6. Tie a slipnot on a rope, put it around the chunk of skin with the ears, tie the other end to your hitch on the truck.
7. Pull forward, have someone assist with the front legs (pushing the shoulders down)
8. Viola!!! Skinned deer. Now cut around the anus, use the gut hook to split the deer, and everything falls into the bucket.

I will get some pics the next time I can.

[sanson]

I'm ashamed to say I need an easier way than that:barf:

[mete]

I have never understood the need for a 'skinning knife ' for deer since most of the operation is pulling with a little cutting of membrane !! Sure a truck will work as you say but I always dress out my deer immediately as soon as it's dead.

[sanson]

I'll start with something smaller, say a rabbit?

[Art Eatman]

The anus should already be skinned out during field dressing; that plus splitting the pelvis means you get all the innards out without getting urine or fecal matter on any of the meat.

Art

[Trapp]

No field dressing involved Art. Bring it to the rack as it lays. This way takes longer explain than to actually do. Also all of the innards are self contained, and nothing gets on the meat.

Mete, From the skinning rack to my hunting spot is less than a mile. I guess it would be different if you had to travel an hour to get home and skin it...

[kwkoch]

I have never understood the need for a 'skinning knife ' for deer since most of the operation is pulling with a little cutting of membrane !! Sure a truck will work as you say but I always dress out my deer immediately as soon as it's dead.

++ on that, plus it doesnt take that long. by the time you get the rope, truck backed up, someone to help hold and guide the deers legs--i would be done by then.

i did see in i think field and stream something very similar to this.
they said to make similar cuts except just circle the neck (not forward of the ears) make a slit in the back then insert a golf ball and work it up to the shoulder blades then get the slip knot over the golf ball and pull with vehicle. something like that.

[Mikeyboy]

Trapp I see what you are saying, and in my minds eye it does seem pretty easy, however I just want to bring up somethings and ask a question.

1) If you want to mount the head it will not work since your cutting the throat.

2) Your adding a lot of dragging weight not gutting the animal. I'm assuming you next to a vehicle or your camp ready to pack the meat on ice, when you do this. Dragging a skinned animal is not a sanitary thing to do, and a full ungutted deer can be heavy.

Don't you boys in Florida have to gut a deer right away due to the warm temps?

[Trapp]

Mikey, Florida deer are NOT very big. They are gutting within a decnt amout of time, due the proximity of the camp.

[ATCDoktor]

When I first started Varmint hunting I bought a video called "The Two Minute Coyote".

The guy shows you how to skin a Coyote using a "Come Along" hand winch and a golf ball. The hide comes off just like a sock (really it's more like a tube).

It would take 100 times longer to explain how it's done than it takes to do it but it sounds like your using a method very close to his.

[garryc]

We always called that "poacher skinning" because you can skin and quarter very fast.

[zeisloft]

We have used a similar method, except upside down, for hogs. However, we are usually working with gutted critters. We hang 5 or 6 of them and prepcut the hind legs and put a small rock (4” or so) under the skin and tie a ½ hitch around the rock. Throw the truck into reverse and take their socks off. When it gets to the head, we cut. Takes a lot of the time out of cleaning pigs when you can skin a half dozen at a time. If we could only figure out a way to blast the meat off the bones…
~z

[Trip20]

Saw something similar in Field & Stream October 2006 issue. Page 73 of the "Deer Camp Handbook" (see below).

Personally, I never thought skinning a deer was a job that warranted the use of a pickup truck. But I guess it's a good way to get your money's worth of that $30,000 rig.

Any deer I kill keeps it's skin for a good 5-7 days as the meat ages.

[Jseime]

We just get the guts out in the field get em in a truck and when we have the deer hung up in the garage we skin em out real fast.

Skin the back legs pull down, skin the front legs, knock the head off with a hatchet and voila hide and head all in one nice pile and a deer hanging to age.