Essentially, the act of skinning a deer is thought of to be quite simple. The basic fundamental guideline behind it is to follow the built-in guidelines of the body of the deer and work from that standpoint. The skin and muscle tissues of the deer are naturally separate from one another because of the protective membranes, making the process of skinning a lot more like following a built-in blueprint than like trying to lift a rug in the dark. The skin should easily peel from the meat because of these membranes, creating little risk of tearing the skin or tearing the meat.
The most important aspect in skinning a deer is the use of your hands and the pull of your own body weight. With these two integral tools, the phase of skinning a deer becomes incredibly easy. In fact, skinning a deer can typically be completed in about fifteen to twenty minutes without any serious complications.
You should first hang the deer. This makes it easier for you to use your body weight in the skinning procedure and creates a greater leverage point for skinning the deer. This also ensures that the meat will stay clean. Whether you hang the deer from the neck or from the legs, there is no particular difference. It is essential to try to skin the deer within an hour or two of the deer's death, making the skinning process a whole lot easier and faster.
Your knife should be very sharp. There is truth to the saying that a dull knife will cut you. Supposing the deer is hung by the legs, find the large tendon connecting the lower leg segment to the rest of the deer's leg. You should push a whole with your knife in between the tendon and the bone there, and then use your fingers to feel the lump that is created by the deer's double-jointed bone. Once you have found that lump, cut the lower leg at the lower end of the two parts of the double joint. Cut the skin and the tendons here and then snap the deer's leg over your own leg, using your body's leverage to break it.
After you have broken the deer's legs in this fashion, make several incisions around and near the tendon areas. There should be a whole between the tendon and the bone of the lower leg, as well as several incisions near the front legs. You will then sever and snap the front legs as well, making the skinning process easier. After you have made the initial incisions, you will begin the process of undressing the deer of its skin. Use your finger tips and thumbs to get inside the skin near the lower leg incisions and begin to pull the skin off.
Essentially, the pulling of the deer's skin should work a lot like pulling pair of blue jeans off. It may seem a little bit awkward, but the layer of meat revealed below the skin should be a more than ample reward. After the skin is pulled off, you will notice the meat is ready to go and the parting of the meat thanks to the deer's membrane has made the whole process a lot easier than you ever thought possible.
Skinning a deer, while not particularly romantic, is a process that should take around ten to fifteen minutes and relies almost entirely on your own body weight and strength to pull the skin off of the deer's body. It really is that simple. - 31499
About the Author:
Deer expert and Author Ethan O. Tanner explains the different types of Whitetail the checklist for field dressing for your treasured Gutting a Deer gift for years to come.
