New Man How-To Guide

How to Skin a Deer
If you’ve got issues with hunting, feel free to skip this article. It’s not our place to tell whether you should or shouldn’t hunt. We’re just here to tell you how to skin a deer, in case you should happen to kill one.

1. Put your rifle back in the closet. Go get your hunting license and take a hunter’s safety course offered by the state or local wildlife agency.

2. Once you’re legal and educated, find something bright orange to wear, get your rifle or a bow, and head out to the woods. (If you have a problem with hunting, you can just drive up and down the highway looking for some fresh road kill.)

3. Shoot a big buck.

4. Once your deer is dead, you’re ready to field dress it. With a very sharp knife, cut from the genitals to the rib cage up to the sternum. Be careful to only cut through the skin and stomach muscle, and not too deep. You don’t want to puncture anything in the digestive system.

5. Turn the deer on its side and allow the guts to fall out. You will need to cut away the fat that holds the intestines in. You will also need to pull the heart and lungs out with your hands. (The rest of the intestines should come along too.)

6. Wash up and get ready for some physical activity. Drag the deer out to the truck. Either load it in the back, or strap it to the hood (if you’re driving a car). Drive home or back to camp to do the skinning.

7. When skinning a deer, the carcass can either be hung head up or head down. Hang it with the head up. Begin by making a circular cut around the deer’s neck. Connect this cut with the cut made in the stomach during field dressing. Remove the hide by grasping the skin and pulling down hard with both hands. Use your knife carefully when freeing the hide from the carcass to avoid cutting the skin. If the flesh begins to pull off with the skin, stop pulling and try again after cutting the flesh back with your knife. (Note: You will need to cut off the front and hind legs with a hacksaw.)

8. By now, you are exhausted from getting up before dawn, driving out to the middle of nowhere, sitting for hours in a blind waiting for a deer to wander by, field dressing the deer and dragging it out of the woods, and skinning it. But you’re not finished yet. You still need to store the meat for butchering.

9. First, cut the back strap and tenderloins out and place them in an ice chest. Next, cut the front legs free and place them in an ice chest. Cut the back hindquarters free by working your way to the ball and socket joint that holds the hindquarters to the hips. Work the knifepoint into this joint and work around the ball. Once both tendons are cut, the hindquarter will be free. Place any other meat, such as the ribs and the neck, into the ice chest. Pack the meat generously with ice and take the meat to the processor for butchering.

This article was taken from How to Hit a Curve Ball (Tyndale) by Stephen James and David Thomas. To order the book click here!