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Hang the split carcass
in a clean, dry place, 40 F
1-2 weeks

SKINNING A DEER

© David B. Fankhauser, Ph.D. 
Professor of Biology and Chemistry 
University of Cincinnati Clermont College 
Batavia OH 45103
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Cutting slabs of ribs

Created 12 February 2008
This page has been accessed Counter times since 16 December 2008.

This project arrived in a serindipidous way.  But the result was wonderfully delicious bounty of cuts, chops, and some ground meat. 

Here is a link to my page on butchering the deer.
 
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A seven point buck was hit by a van right in front of our house on a cold mid December evening just as we were heading out to a dinner party! 
With my wife's assistance, we wheeled it in a wheelbarrow to a tree out back.   I used my truck to hoist the deer up to a height to make it easy for bleeding and evisicerating. See the next image for the way in which the rope was placed between the Achilles tendon and the tibia for a good knot .
The deer was still qutie warm when it was strung up, and I immediately opened up the jugulars.  I eviscerated it and let it hang overnight in the chill air until the scene you see here.  (I saved the liver, heart and kidneys.)
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To my surprise, even though it had seven points on its antlers, it was only a year old.  (You can tell by the teeth:  After one year, the central pair of incisors are lost and replaced by larger permanent teeth.  Thus, a deer with two large incisors is a year old.  One with four large incisors is two years old, etc.)
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The right rear leg was seriously damage by the accident, and I removed it.

The height was adjusted to make skinning relatively convenient.  You can see that I began skinning at the top of the animal.  Use "fisting" to separate the skin from the body:

FISTING:  Firmly grip the skin, force the fist of the other hand between the skin and body with a twisting and sweeping motion.  If you see muscle adhering to skin, go around to beyond the place and return with fisting motion to regain advantage.
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As the skin was removed from all but the neck, I cut the head loose from the cervical vertebra (between C1 (atlas) and the skull (the occipital bone).  I did not try to skin the forlegs, but rather left them on the skin.

You can see that the right chest was damaged by the accident as well.
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The skinned carcass was hung in an outbuilding which had a temperature range of between 30-40 F for a week to "cool" the carcass.  This is important as the "cooling" allows the muscle to "relax, and makes for much more tender cuts.


Cutting a rack of ribs.
BTW, this animal yeilded very mild, tender cuts of meat.  There was no need to make deer burgers except with spare scraps of meat.  I believe there are several reasons:
1)  Even though it was a buck, it was a yearling.
2)  It was immediately evisicerate, preventing the "gamey" smell from the viscera to penetrate the flesh.
3)  I was very careful to minimize hair on the flesh.
4)  It was hung for a week at 30 to 40 F.

Here is my page on how this carcass was butchered.