Deer Skinning Instructions
- 1). Set up a skinning station in your garage or shed. Screw a J-hook into the underside of a rafter. Slide a heavy-duty pulley onto the J-hook. Make sure the pulley is rated for more weight than your deer. A typical deer weighs less than 200 pounds, but a pulley rated for 250 pounds or more is ideal to withstand the downward force applied to the deer hide as you skin the deer.
- 2). Run a rope (rated for more than the weight of your deer) through the pulley and tie it to a gambrel. Gambrels are metal bars used to hang game. They are available at sporting goods stores.
- 3). Cut a slit in the loose skin behind both of the deer’s rear knees. Do not sever the ligaments in back of the knee. Insert the hooks on either end of the gambrel through the incisions.
- 4). Raise the deer with the rope and pulley. A winch secured to the wall makes raising the deer easy. Lift until the deer’s head is off the ground.
- 5). Slice the hide on the deer's belly from the bottom of the ribcage up to the jaw, assuming the deer is already field dressed (entrails removed). The hide from the ribcage to the anus will already be cut during field dressing.
- 6). Spread the deer’s hind legs. Grasp the thin hide on the inside center of the deer’s hind leg. Make a few slits with a sharp skinning knife, separating the hide from the skin without cutting into either. Once a flap of hide is free, slit the hide running up the inside of the deer’s leg to the knee.
- 7). Cut through the hide all the way around the leg at the knee. Slice the hide away from the carcass without nicking the hide or meat. When the hide is free, grasp it firmly and pull down, slicing and pulling as the hide works free. If the carcass is still warm, much of the hide can be pulled free of the carcass with occasional slicing. Slide the freed hide down the leg until you reach the rear of the deer’s torso. Repeat on the other hind leg.
- 8). Pull and slice the hide along the torso. Separate the hide from the cartilaginous rib area. Once that’s done, the hide will separate easily from the deer's back. Pull and slice down to the front legs.
- 9). Cut both front legs off at the knee with a hacksaw or reciprocating saw.
- 10
Insert the knife between the hide and flesh on the inside of the deer’s front leg. Slit the hide until the cut reaches the central cut on the ventral side. Repeat on the other leg. - 11
Slice and pull the hide off the legs and from the armpit region. Continue up over the top of the shoulder and onto the back. - 12
Slice and pull the hide over the shoulder and down the neck. When you reach the deer’s jaw, sever the head from the rest of the carcass with the reciprocating saw or hacksaw.