subject: How Should A Deer Be Skinned? [print this page] Skinning a deer is not easy the first timeSkinning a deer is not easy the first time. Before you get to the skin, you have to field dress the animal. You can do this with a hunting knife, such as a Bowie knife. Many hunters find smaller blades easier to use than larger ones. The largely stems from the fact that gutting and skinning the animal are rather precise tasks and failure to pay attention to where your knife blade is can result in your ruining the meat by tainting it with urine and feces.
The first cut you'll make with your Bowie knife will begin at the deer's genitals. You'll be cutting up, toward the neck of the animal. As you ascend toward the head, you'll run into the rib cage. You have two options for dealing with this. If you want easier access to the heart and lungs, you can split the ribs high enough to afford easy access. Cut alongside the sternum, not down its center. If you don't mind reaching up into the body cavity, you can simply stop cutting at the base of the rib cage and pull the upper organs out by reaching up underneath the ribs.
The bladder of the deer is located just where you'd think, near the genitals. The intestines are also located here. Do not puncture these organs. If you do, the meat is useless. You can get a skin, but you'll have wasted the entire animal. You may have to gently slice away some organs to remove them. If you do taint the meat by piercing organs, do not attempt to use it for food; it is potentially deadly.
Knife blades do not have to be large to skin effectively, and you should aim for a precise cut that doesn't saw the animal. Hang your deer head up. You'll make an incision around the neck of the animal and then down to the top of your field dressing cut.
Work the skin back enough to get a good grip, and then tear it off of the deer with even effort and sustained pressure, stopping at the front legs. The front and back legs will both have to be removed with a saw, so you can do this now. After they're off, pull the skin down to the tail and remove it by snipping the tailbone. Once the skin is off the back legs, it's ready for tanning.
