Skinning Your Deer
One of the most common questions regarding cutting a deer is how to properly cut a deer.
What Ruth and I refer to as "Quality Deer Processing" is actually the entire concept of obtaining the most quality meat possible off of the animal we are doing.
One area that provides a significant contribution (or loss) of meat is the skinning process. While there are several opinions on skinning, including the high speed "rock in the neck pouch method" that uses your lawn tractor, 4 wheeler, or SUV to yank off the hide we still stick with the old fashioned do it by hand method. While this takes us 20 - 30 minutes we know that we are going to leave the meat on the carcass resulting in a higher yield and also get a higher price for our hides as a result.
The following pictures illustrate the way we have found to be the best for us. By doing it head down we also find that we have less hair on the carcass when we're finished. The little bit of hair around the neck area after we remove the head comes off easily with the cold water rinse we use after skinning is finished.
The #1 thing to keep in mind when skinning your deer is to use your hands 75% of the time and your knife only 25%.
FYI
1) The longer a deer hangs the harder it will be to skin.
2) Younger deer are easier to skin than older deer.
3) Does are normally eaiser to skin than buck.
4) DON'T BOTHER TO TRY AND SKIN A FROZEN DEER!
Click here to download detailed step by step instructions on how to skin your deer
