Deer questions- Graphic

[Beekissed]

You could easily yank that hide off the deer with your SUV and just quarter it up and place it in your fridge. Skinning and quartering is much easier than gutting, IME.

You know that gamey taste everyone complains about? That's from improper dressing and processing of the deer. If you haven't already, you can prop open the chest cavity and do a little rinse with the garden hose to rinse off any hair and scurf left behind in the gutting process. I wouldn't leave it to hang for 9 days, by any means, no matter how cold the temps outside.

With it hanging that low and nowhere else to hang it, I'd go ahead and skin it and quarter it before nightfall. After it's all in the fridge, you can work on it at your leisure.

To use a vehicle to skin is pretty easy...I only have pics of doing it to my calf right now, so I'll post a few if I can find them.

Cut the fur around each leg or even saw the legs off, then cape it:

Insert a hammer under the hide and tie off with a rope...make sure your hammer and rope are securely tight:

Hook your rope to a lawnmower, four wheeler, truck, etc. and just ease forward slowly...go easy and give the hide time to peel:

 

[halo]

There is some amazing information in this thread!

 

[ailurophile23]

When my husband gets a deer, we typically hang it and he guts and skins it while hanging (easier than gutting on the ground!), then he quarters it and we rinse the quarters and place them in a larger cooler with ice and water. At most, we let it sit overnight in this and then process it the next day. Sometimes we process the same day. Another trick to help get the blood out of the meat (if you feel the need to) is to let the meat (quarters or steaks or...) sit in some water with a little vinegar in it - this seems to remove the blood quicker and we will do this to the tenderloin if we plan to eat it the next day - just let it soak overnight in the fridge! The big thing is colling the deer and keeping it cold until it is processed and either eaten or frozen. And definitely toss the bruised meat from where the deer was hit.

 

[big medicine]

I've pulled hides with a rock tied under the hide, never tried a hammer. Learn stuff every day.

I've saved much bloodied meat, caused by shot or bruise by soaking in salted water. If bad, change out with a fresh batches of salt water as needed. Won't save all of it, but worth the effort.

 

[Darin115]

I have a pad of cement poured with a hook in the cement. I have a gambrel attached to a cable. I have a pully on the rafter of the building about 12 feet off the cement. I have a wench to pull the deer up and down. I start at the legs and skin down a little ways then put a rock or golf ball under the hide and tie a rope to it. I lower the deer as far down as I can and hook the rope to the hook in the cement. Then wench it up. The hide comes off as the deer goes up. Works great.

When I get home with the deer I make a small cut at the bottom of one of the legs. I insert a air nozel and blow the hide up like a ballon. Can't blow it up too much or the hide will pop and splatter blood. But you can tell before it pops. This makes the hide come off much easier.
The above skinning method works better after it has been blown up. Or you can skin it by hand much easier as well.

I never remove the guts if I am going to skin immediately. I just hang by the back legs and skin down. Once the hide is removed you can just take the front shoulders, neck roast, loins, leaf loins (little strip of meat under the backbone in front of the hams.) I just make a small slit in the side big enough to get my hand in there and pull them out. Not much to it. Then the hams. You are left with the main body of the deer with organs inside with the hide and the head. If you want the ribs you have to gut. But we just take the above and bury the rest.

We have it down to a art. Can totally skin and quarter a deer in about 15 minutes. Then cool the meat in the fridge for a few days. Then process it.

The OP had to gut the deer since it was going to hang until her husband got home to skin it.

You can also brine the deer in a salt and ice solution. Just keep it salted and iced. Keep the plug on the cooler pulled so the meat does not stand in water. Make sure you keep ice on it. You can do this for 4-5 days. Rinse off the salt and freeze. I do not do this but one of my buddies does it with success.

Good luck in your task at hand. Hope you enjoy the free meat.

Darin

 

[Beth G.]

Hi, my husband and I have hunted for year and done our share of road kill. I have gotten to a point in my life I no longer except road kill b/c of the internal damage and hemoraging it causes. We typically hang our deer for 5-7 days to allow moisture content to dry up a bit. After gutting the deer please don't forget to remove the picky area. You must do this or it will tant the meat. Also, if you skin before hanging it you will lose more meat to drying out too much. Keeping the hide on helps. However, with a road hit deer my husband and I did differently. We gutted, skinned and quartered as someone mentioned. We did these to remove damaged meat, hemorage, and bones. We also always inspect the bone marrow while doing this to make sure it does not have gan-green etc... Or CWD. I have a recipe for the sausage but, have also seen it posted at cooks.com

Good job and good luck!!!

 

[KWAK]

Skinning is actually really easy and FUN lol.

 

[JulieNKC]

Hubby is out there skinning it now and we're going to do the cooler thing. It broke one leg by the hoof and almost the other leg wasn't working right, the police shot it so most of the meat is still good. Thanks everyone, I learned a lot. Second time we've got one from the police. A few years ago we had one that got it's legs all twisted in the fence and broke one, so the police came and shot it. My dad was here then though so he dressed it and they took it to the processor before I got home.

 

[weimanator]

golf balls work also for takin the hide off or usin an air compressor and attachin a piece of copper pipe to the end(they make special needles for these things) and bend one end slightly and use the air pressure to seperate the hide. and yeah to keep it cool spread the legs open far as you can and prop the rib cage/chest cavity open with sticks or w/e you can find. i like to wash mine out with a stiff bristle brush to help get the hair/membrane out. if the internal organs werent destroyed there are great recipes for them

. are you goin to tan the hide?

 

[Ariel301]

Ok, what's the reasoning in hanging them head-up? I've never seen that done, when I've processed large animals or seen others do it, they are always hung with the head down (and either the throat cut or the head completely removed for better drainage) so they can bleed out. We skin/gut/quarter it while it is hung by the hind legs also.