Removing the hide off a big game animal reduces the chance of bacterial growth and contamination of meat. Abattoirs and butcher shops skin animals right after the kill, as it is insurance for cooling meat, reducing bacteria, and increasing drying and air contact for aging.

Where to start
Getting the hide off a deer is relatively easy. How you remove the hide will dictate how clean the carcass will be for butchering. Get the hide off with minimal cuts through the hair requires a strategic approach to skinning and can reduce the time required to clean the carcass.

Directional cut
A clean carcass starts with field dressing. Make your initial incision through the hide in the same direction that the hair is growing. An incision in the neck, working down the sternum, across the paunch, and then to the anus will ensure most of the hair stays on the hide. It is easy to see the direction of hair growth on any part of the animal, and once you start cutting with the flow of hair, you’ll quickly notice there is less of it coming off or out of the hide and your knife stays sharper longer.

With a field dressing incision running the length of a deer, it is easy to join it into incisions on the legs. Make sure to cut in the direction the hair is growing to reduce follicle release.

Hang head down
Hanging the animal from the back legs allows you to work the hide off the animal, starting at the tail. Cut between two vertebrae at the base of the tail, then make incisions down the back of the legs from the anus to the knee. As the hide is removed, it should fold back over portions of itself that are still attached to the deer. The hair on hair contact helps keep the carcass clean. If the deer is freshly killed, you should be able to pull on the hide and have it release from the carcass.

Skin front legs
Cutting through the hair on the joints needs to be done before you open any more of the animal’s hide. You can use a saw if there is difficulty finding the joints. Skin the front legs up through the armpits of the animal to make the job easier before you work down the back and sides. Cut the front legs off at the knee and make an incision from the chest, down the inside of the leg to where it was cut off at the knee.

Use the right knife
Make sure to use a sharp knife, and run the blade from under the skin, cutting up through the hide. This method makes it easy to open the hide for field dressing and keep hair off the meat. A sharp knife can be gently worked down the hide, cutting clean. If you can’t gently push your blade, keeping it engaged on the skin, it isn’t sharp enough. The more you pull the knife up and through the hide and hair, the more follicles will be cut and scattered in your work area. The newer styles of knives with replaceable blades allow hunters to make incisions with surgical precision.

For video tips, visit Harvest Your Own on YouTube.