When field-dressed properly, deer provide meat called venison.
Field-dressing a deer is the act of removing the internal organs so that the deer can be butchered for consumption. Skinning the deer is the act of removing the skin from the deer's hide, again to facilitate butchering. There are many ways to accomplish this task, but for the purpose of preserving the meat (muscle) of the deer for the best-tasting venison, a quick, easy and efficient method works best.
Instructions
Field Dressing
1. Prop the deer on its back. Prop its head against a tree trunk so that it is slightly higher than the rest of the body. Put on rubber gloves to protect your hands from smell and potential injury.
2. Make a shallow cut approximately 2 inches deep with the knife from the deer's genitals to its upper rib cage. As you cut, keep the sharp edge of the blade pointed upward toward the hide, not the internal organs.
3. Turn the deer on its side to allow the organs to fall out. Not all of them will because some are attached inside the body to muscles and fat.
4. Remove the diaphragm from the deer's chest cavity. The diaphragm will be in the center of the cavity, separating the lung and heart from the stomach and intestines. The diaphragm is a tough, membranous muscle that runs from the spine to the stomach (when the deer is in a standing position). The best way to identify it is to locate the heart and lungs above it and the intestines below it.
5. Remove the deer's esophagus. The esophagus connects the heart and lungs; it is a tube-like organ located in the deer's throat that is several inches long. Reach as far as possible into the deer's chest and grab the esophagus, near the heart. With your other hand, carefully slide the knife into the deer's chest and cut the esophagus just above where your other hand holds it and take it out after it is cut. Once the esophagus and diaphragm have been removed, the organs will be released from their internal tethers for removal.
6. Pull out the heart and lungs; the intestines will follow. Place the organs in a garbage bag for disposal. If you choose, have someone hold the carcass up while you rinse it out with water, which will make transporting the deer less messy.
Skinning
7. Hang the deer head-up, meaning that its head will be level with yours and its appendages will be directed downward. There are several ways to hang a deer, and any method you devise will suffice as long as you have access to the neck and rest of the carcass. One method is to tie a rope around the deer's neck just below its jawline and string it up on a post or branch.
8. Make a circular cut all the way around the deer's neck. Make it intersect with the cut you made in the stomach during field-dressing. Start to remove the hide by grasping the skin and pulling down firmly.
9. Cut off the front legs with a hacksaw just above the knees once you have the hide down to the shoulders.
10. Make a cut on the inside of the deer's legs that runs toward the chest and intersects with the initial cut you made during field-dressing. Continue to pull away the hide from the skin.
11. Cut through the tailbone with a knife once you have the hide stripped away down to the tail.
12. Pull down the hide until you reach the deer's tarsal glands. The tarsal glands are dark patches on the inside of the hind legs. Cut off each of the legs just above the tarsal gland to finish removing the hide.
Tags: deer chest, from deer, heart lungs, just above, around deer, around deer neck