I took the liberty of advancing to the interesting part.
This video shows the skinner using air pressure to lift the skin off of a lamb carcass.
Inserting at one of the back legs has the advantage for a hunter because there are likely two holes in the skin in the chest where your bullet-or-arrow passed through. Air (or water) will leak out there and they are difficult to close off. The air pressure can help but it cannot make the skin balloon at the front of the carcass as thoroughly due to the leaks.
I don't skin a lot of deer but I find the back-half harder to skin than the front half although that may be due to leverage issues.
If you don't have a lot of hand-strength, you can seal the wand supplying the air with a radiator clamp after you slide it through the incision and parallel to the bone of the lower leg.
Like my Mom used to say: There are a lot of ways to skin a cat...or deer.
There certainly are. But why make life hard? Learn knife skills. Get the hide off in the field while it's easy. I know men that can have the animal field dressed and the hide off in 15 ~ 20 minutes flat - and before anyone calls BS - I saw them do it and timed them. They weren't really hurrying either - but they'd skinned a LOT of deer. Those guys DID get slow and meticulous when they started caping out animals for trophy mounts, though. That is a job best left to the old hands and taxidermists if you ask me... but whadda I know...?
ReplyDeleteProcessors around the Michiana area perfer that the skin is left on so that the carcus stays cleaner. They skin the critters & make a few bucks selling the hides.
ReplyDeleteOr just do the lazy man's method.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqHwgnxCpCI
I thought the video was going to be the Oxy-Acetylene method.
DeleteI was wrong.
Skinning deer in the field is a big no-no!
ReplyDeleteThe meat can easily become contaminated and spoil within minutes. The hide also keeps the outer layer of meat from hardening during hanging, making it unuseable.
Deer and any other large game, should be gutted/dressed as soon as possible, preferably in the field, and the carcass hung head down, until ready to process with the hide on. Time varies depending on ambient temperature and humidity.
Gutting/dressing and processing of large game can be easily accomplished in a pinch using a small 3 to 4 inch blade only, but I also use a longer filet knife to remove larger sections of meat down to the bone.
With the deer hung, start removing the hide at the top/rear legs and pull down gradually while using your small blade to cut the hide away from the fat layer.
Take your time and you'll have less work to do if you're saving/tanning the hide. Once the hide has been separated all the way down to the neck use the filet knife to remove the head by working it between vertebrae. The head and hide are now intact for caping or even a whole mount.
Work on removing the meat next after cleaning off the carcass again, with cool water only, to remove hair and any other blood and dirt. Start at the top and work your way down again. Gravity is your friend.
Meat should be cleaned once more with cool water just before packaging.
Glen hunts in central Alberta where -20C during hunting season is common. Decay is rarely an issue while getting the hide ripped off before the critter is frozen solid is.
DeleteYep. Up here you catch flak if you DON’T get the hide off! The meat cools faster and that is more hygienic than leaving the hide on. I just turned my harvests into hamburger for the most part.
DeleteI didn't notice in the sheep air skinning video if the carcass was still warm or not. The neck blood looked pretty fresh to me.
ReplyDeleteIf "cold" please inform. I've noticed skinning a deer warm with a good knife is much easier than a cold stiff deer.
I assume warm.
DeleteI get the impression that he butchers more animals in a month than I will during my entire life-time.
Earlier in the video he said that he was impressed so that scored some points with me.
That was interesting and informative. I doubt if I'll ever do it again but it's always good to know things. Thanks,---ken
ReplyDeleteIm going to try that on my white rabbits. Woody
ReplyDeleteDo forget to take a picture after "inflating " them. It does make them look larger. When I was young, far too long ago, we would hang our deer in our unheated garage and use the air compressor to loosen the hide before skinning them. They were not warm as we had let them bleed out in the floor drain, but we skinned them the same day they were harvested. Being inside we did not worry about dogs or other critters getting to them. How long we would let them hang before butchering depended on the temperature. if it was warm, we would butcher them quickly. If colder we would let them hang for a day or two.
ReplyDelete