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Skinning Deer: Head up or Head down?
- Thread starter 2Sloe
- Start date
I tried working off the ground last year and it destroyed my back...I do butt up and that's all I've ever seen anyone do at the check in stations...most places I hunt u have to check in ur harvest and they have a skinning rack right there and a designated gut pile for u to get rid of the yucky stuff....
I run head up. I've done both, but I think it is easier to keep fur under control pulling down away from the neck.
LAKY
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2019
- Messages
- 459
I debone right where it died. That way, I'm hauling processed meat out instead of a carcass, bypassing requirements (in some places) for possession tags or proof of sex. I use my kneepad so I don't lean over so much which kills my back. 30-45 minutes and you're walking back with just meat and you're done except for finer processing in the kitchen.
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2019
- Messages
- 1,043
This is the way.
I’ve cleaned head up and down on hogs but only head down on deer. If you’re gutting head up all the intestines are pushing out on the abdominal muscles. It’s hard to cut one open without hitting intestines. Upside is once you get them unzipped gravity does most of work of getting the insides to become outsides then you can reach in and grab the heart.
Head down it’s easier to get the cavity opened up but you have to kind of lift everything up out of the ribs.
When field dressed i much preferred head up. We had a hook that we just ran through hogs lower jaw. So much easier than dealing with a gambrel. When I hunted hogs with a few buddies and dogs there were often times 5 or more hogs to clean. I’ve cleaned a pile of them on the tailgate. It’s about as fast as a gambrel. That’s how I do most of my deer also.
Head down it’s easier to get the cavity opened up but you have to kind of lift everything up out of the ribs.
When field dressed i much preferred head up. We had a hook that we just ran through hogs lower jaw. So much easier than dealing with a gambrel. When I hunted hogs with a few buddies and dogs there were often times 5 or more hogs to clean. I’ve cleaned a pile of them on the tailgate. It’s about as fast as a gambrel. That’s how I do most of my deer also.
Bama_Xander
Well-Known Member
Used to be feet up. Now more gutless method-Pack out.
I skin everything head down from deer to muskrat. It's the natural way to to skin animals.as you're going from the thickest part of the animal to the thinnest.
On deer, coyotes and other long legged animals for non taxidermy purposes the front legs get cut off at the elbow. I'll split the hide from the breastbone where my gut cut stopped and run it down to the throat of the deer then ring the neck to make that section skinning easier.
On deer, coyotes and other long legged animals for non taxidermy purposes the front legs get cut off at the elbow. I'll split the hide from the breastbone where my gut cut stopped and run it down to the throat of the deer then ring the neck to make that section skinning easier.
I trapped when I was younger and also skinned everything head down, generally hanging by one foot. Deer on the other hand, being much larger, I find more difficult heads down….but heads down seems to be winning right now! Lol.
Head down for most everything. I’ve skinned head up,laying on the ground too but prefer head down. I do a modified gutless since I can get my deer out whole at my lease. Hide off then shoulders, next comes the back straps. I’ll then lightly nip the intestinal area open just enough to get at the inner loins then separate the hip sockets and let the spine and guts drop into a tub to be carted off to the gut pile. Hanging to cooler 10-15 minutes depending on how much story telling goes on around the skinning rack.
I have never had anyone show me how to do it and I kinda learned as I went but this is the way I've done it.....
And that is my main gripe about learning to do all this stuff on my own...to get a hunting license i had to go take a safety class that really didn't/doesn't teach u anything about hunting... Only gun safety. No talk about shot placement, blood trailing, or what/how to do if u kill something. When I visited my family in Alaska my little cousin in 6th grade learned to skin/quarter/butcher a moose and fish in public school...
If I'm ever at the check station and somebody brings 1 in I will try to watch without being too much of a creep. I haven't had good luck with other hunters being friendly to me and wanting to show a newbie
And that is my main gripe about learning to do all this stuff on my own...to get a hunting license i had to go take a safety class that really didn't/doesn't teach u anything about hunting... Only gun safety. No talk about shot placement, blood trailing, or what/how to do if u kill something. When I visited my family in Alaska my little cousin in 6th grade learned to skin/quarter/butcher a moose and fish in public school...
If I'm ever at the check station and somebody brings 1 in I will try to watch without being too much of a creep. I haven't had good luck with other hunters being friendly to me and wanting to show a newbie
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That's unfortunate. I would show anyone that wants to learn. I've also offered to travel to help people learn and had a side gig doing deer for some of my wife's family. It's not a difficult thing to learn, but a person really needs to be hands on to learn it.
Think this is a great point. There are many of us just making it up as we go along because we didn't have anyone to teach us tips and tricks about a thing. Some of us really only been taught by the tube.
twdant
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2021
- Messages
- 14
I'm exactly the opposite. I grew up using a gambrel, and tried just putting a noose around the neck and skinning head up for the first time last year (it may or may not have been because my gambrel wouldn't fit between the legs of the monster deer I shot). I'm a head-up convert now. A few things:
1. I find it much easier to avoid getting hair on the meat when I can just slit down the backbone and peel the hide around the front and off the legs.
2. I really like the way the quarters come off when they're hanging naturally down at the deer's sides, particularly the rear quarters. Negotiating the deep hip sockets is easier that way. I use my knife to take apart the joints, so that may not have the same effect for those who saw the joints apart.
3. Head-up means if you accidentally open a full bladder, the pee doesn't run the risk of going all over your tenderloins, backstraps, and front quarters. When skinning head-up, the bladder and intestines are the last thing you deal with, not the first. Most of the meat is already in the cooler before you have to cross that threshold.
I would probably prefer head-down orientation for caping a trophy out, but I hunt in east central Georgia, so that's not a situation I normally have to worry about.
Hall17
Well-Known Member
Since I can never get a straight answer if we are allowed to quarter an animal in the woods here in Pennsylvania I drag them out gutted. anyone from PA truly know?
Regardless, head down is preferred however the last 5 have laid on my tailgate
Regardless, head down is preferred however the last 5 have laid on my tailgate