How To Skin A Deer Quick and Easy

Many deer hunters believe that scouting for a place to hunt, lugging a tree stands around the woods and dragging a deer out of the woods are the tough parts of deer hunting. That may be true but many others believe the tough part is skinning a deer. Here's how to skin a deer quick and easy.

My friends, let me tell you about a few ways to skin a deer quickly and easily.

While it may not be the most exciting job in the world, skinning a deer is important when returning from a hunt or when still actually on the hunt. If you have taken down the deer, elk, antelope or goat of your dreams in a glorious hunting adventure, you will need to know how to skin the deer and how to get the most out of your kill. If you are just learning about hunting, this information will also be incredible handy for that remarkable day on which you will finally be able to skin a deer.

Essentially, the act of skinning a deer is thought of to be quite simple. The basic fundamental guideline behind it is to follow the built-in guidelines of the body of the deer and work from that standpoint. The skin and muscle tissues of the deer are naturally separate from one another because of the protective membranes, making the process of skinning a lot more like following a built-in blueprint than like trying to lift a rug in the dark. The skin should easily peel from the meat because of these membranes, creating little risk of tearing the skin or tearing the meat.

The most important aspect in skinning a deer is the use of your hands and the pull of your own body weight. With these two integral tools, the aspect of skinning a deer becomes incredibly simple. In fact, skinning a deer can typically be completed in about ten to fifteen minutes without any serious complications.

You should first hang the deer. This makes it easier for you to use your body weight in the skinning process and creates a greater leverage point for skinning the deer. This also ensures that the meat will stay clean. Whether you hang the deer from the neck or from the legs, there is no particular difference. It is important to try to skin the deer within an hour or two of the deer's death, making the skinning process a whole lot easier.

Your knife should be especially sharp. Supposing the deer is hung by the legs, find the large tendon connecting the lower leg segment to the rest of the deer's leg. You should poke a whole with your knife in between the tendon and the bone there, then use your fingers to feel the lump that is created by the deer's double-jointed bone. Once you have found that lump, sever the lower leg at the lower end of the two parts of the double joint. Cut the skin and the tendons here and then snap the deer's leg over your own leg, using your body's leverage to break it.

After you have broken the deer's legs in this fashion, make several incisions around and near the tendon areas. There should be a whole between the tendon and the bone of the lower leg, as well as several incisions near the front legs. You will then sever and snap the front legs as well, making the skinning process easier. After you have made the initial incisions, you will begin the process of undressing the deer of its skin. Use your finger tips and thumbs to get inside the skin near the lower leg incisions and begin to pull the skin off.

Essentially, the pulling of the deer's skin should work a lot like pulling a tight jacket or pair of blue jeans off. It may be a little bit awkward at first, but the layer of meat revealed below the skin should be a more than ample reward. After the skin is pulled off, you will notice the meat is ready to go and the separation of the meat thanks to the deer's membrane has made the whole process a lot simpler than you ever thought possible.

Skinning a deer, while not particularly romantic, is a process that should take around ten to fifteen minutes and relies almost entirely on your own body weight and strength to pull the skin off of the deer's body. It really is that simple.

Now Here's How To Skin A Deer Even Quicker

I found the following video on YouTube. This demonstrates the quickest way to skin a deer. Basically you hang it up by the head. Cut around the front leg knuckles and down the front legs to the brisket. Both cuts should meet at the brisket and then use one cut up the front of the deer to just below the head. Then cut around the head and pull off several inches of hide. Insert a Golf ball or similiar sized rock beneath the skin you pulled off and tie a loop of rope around it.

Next tie the other end of the rope to a pickup, 4 Wheeler, tractor or whatever you have that will pull the hide off.

It takes less time to tell you about it than it does to actually skin the deer. Just watch the video below to see how slick this technique is



See, I told you so!

Now you know how to skin a deer quick and easy!

Basic Safety For Deer Hunters

Every year, many deer hunters end up injured or worse, dead, due to an accident with a firearm. Heck, even Vice President Cheney had a hunting accident. It just goes to show you can't be careful enough when you're out in the woods deer hunting.

I've heard it said many times that most hunting accidents could have been avoided by practicing a few basic gun safety techniques.

Know your weapon

If your weapon came with an owner’s manual, read it from cover to cover. Practice taking apart your weapon and inspecting it thoroughly. If you know what your weapon looks like normally, you will be quick to recognize any abnormalities of the weapon in the field. If you drop your weapon or fall while carrying it, take it apart and inspect it for damage. Make sure that the slide operates smoothly. If you are in doubt about the integrity of your rifle, don’t fire it.

Educate yourself about the ammunition that you choose to use. A .22 caliber bullet fired from a rifle can travel over two and a half miles. This knowledge is necessary to line up a safe shot.

Transporting the weapon

Always keep your weapon unloaded until you are ready to fire. If you are going to hike to a new location, unload before starting out. Store the rifle and ammunition separately and, if possible, keep the storage container locked. Never carry a loaded rifle in your vehicle or on an ATV.

Know What You're Aiming At

When sighting up your intended shot, there are many things to consider before pulling the trigger. Never shoot at a partially obscured target. Identify your prey fully before even raising your weapon to take a shot. If you are in doubt about what is moving, control your excitement and wait until the target can be fully visualized. Never hunt after dusk or before daybreak.

Know what is in front of and behind your target before shooting. Do not shoot animals that appear on hilltops and near the tops of ridges as you cannot identify what may be behind your target. If your game is near water, rocks, or buildings, keep in mind that bullets can ricochet off hard surfaces. Do not use the gun’s scope to sight your game. Use your binoculars first, and then if the shot is clear, switch to the scope.

Treat your weapon as if it is loaded at all times

Never look down the barrel of a weapon for any reason. Keep your muzzle pointed away from yourself and others at all times. Learn and use various safe carrying positions for transporting your rifle in the field.

Keep a clear head

Never go hunting or handle a weapon if you have had any alcohol or medication that may impair your judgment. Even a sleeping pill the night before can affect your reflexes during the day. Get plenty of rest the night before your trip and go home early if you find yourself becoming drowsy.

Sighting a big buck or a fat bird can be exciting. It’s important to keep a level head at all times and not let your emotions cloud your judgment. Don’t allow yourself to act without thinking through the action to determine if it’s safe first.

Wear your safety gear

Bring along hearing and eye protection and wear them before shooting. Include safety orange in your choice of head gear and upper body clothing. This helps other hunters in the area distinguish you from the prey.

By keeping these few safety rules in mind, you can look forward to a safe and hopefully successful deer season. Just remember, once that bullet leaves the barrel, there's no bringing it back. There's not a buck out there worth another hunters or innocent bystanders life. Think before you pull the trigger!

Deer Hunting Tips

Deer Hunting Tips

If you hunt woods or transition habitat that deer traverse to move from feeding to bedding areas in the morning, stand-hunting for the first couple of hours of daylight can be effective. The biggest bucks are often skulking back toward their bedding cover at that time, or trying to catch the scent of an estrous doe. The best deer hunting tip is sitting immobile because this is a deadly method.

Locate rub lines leading into these thick areas that the deer are using as bedding areas and set your ambush between the food source and the bedding area. Allot of bucks follow patterns from previous years, with the main idea being identifying where these rub lines are leading to and from.

Deer will frequent areas with a “buffer zone” between the bedding and the feeding areas. This area can be a 30 yard wide strip of overgrowth or a dry creek bottom. They will use this as a staging area from which they will stop before/after feeding and will become a great place for them to chase does in the ensuing rut.

Once you determine a pattern that the deer are using, you can put technology to work for you in the form of a trail camera. These are excellent tools for scouting an area without having to physically be present, and can give you a better idea of what kind of deer are using the area, and when.

In smaller areas, driving may hurt your chances for stand-hunting and still-hunting later, so it'd be better to skip this approach. On the other hand, if you have access to lots of land or can drive-hunt another area, one where your stands aren't placed, then this can be a valuable way to spend the midday hours.

The best way to assess this is to just use common sense. If you're hunting a remote area, it's not good to sweat before walking through a bedding area to hunt the same stand for the sixth day in a row. But if loggers have been cutting in the area for the last month, odds are your truck won't bother the deer much.

Often the wisest old bucks move freely from midmorning until midafternoon, sensing that most hunters are in camp then. Sitting on stand for those hours can yield some of the biggest bucks of the season - particularly if the rut or secondary rut is in progress.

You will not bag a trophy buck by using standard techniques like everyone else. In fact, it probably does not matter if there are big bucks in the area you hunt. The truth is that if you're using all the normal tactics you will not get the monster. The really BIG bucks are old bucks. They do not grow old by falling prey to the normal tactics the majority of hunters use.

You will find that big bucks will frequently have wet feet. Yep - find areas where there is a creek bottom or lowland wet areas such as a swamp and other wetlands. Talk to the experienced hunters who have shot big bucks. They like the thick cover the wetlands produce because it gives them security. Also, deer are excellent swimmers. It is nothing for them to swim major rivers, let alone creeks and lakes. When pressure increases the big bucks head for cover.

Don VandeBergh, a biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, has been keeping an eye on local deer herds in northwest Oregon. According to VandeBergh, the Trask Unit has seen some of the same disease issues that have affected deer herds on the central coast. Best bets will be on timber company land and at higher elevations.

Keeping an open mind and choosing your strategy each day, and even each hour, based on what is most appropriate for the given conditions is especially important if you're still looking to bag a buck well into the season, or if you have a second or third tag to fill. Things get tougher as the season goes on, and being flexible can pay off.

He better think again because many times the parade is only about to begin, and you will wonder where did that buck ever come from?? Most hunters will leave their position to soon bucks who have traveled past the blind may turn around and come down the same trail past the blind the same morning or afternoon.

As the winter snows thaw and the dogwoods begin to bloom, many deer hunters turn their attention to other endeavors. Things like turkey hunting, fishing, or working on that growing honey-do list can all push deer season to the back of a hunter's mind. For those of you serious about your deer hunting, however, there are still plenty of things that can be done to help increase your odds of scoring on a big buck come fall.

Lastly, be still and patient. Don't be one of these hunters who can't sit in one place and always thinks the deer is over the next hill. Most deer are killed by hunters who sit still, watching and waiting.

By the first of the year, deer season is winding down across the country, and many hunters pack up their gear and kick back in front of the television to watch reruns on the Outdoor Channel. For the serious hunter, however, this is no time to rest!

Follow these deer hunting tips for success this deer season!

These Aren't Your Daddy's Deer Hunting Tips!

How many of you growing up heard your Dad or Granpa give you some kind of advice, especially about deer hunting tips, that you later found out wasn't quite true? Maybe they gave you this advice because they believed it to be true or maybe they gave it to you to have a little fun. Whatever the reason, now is the time to find out how to really hunt deer.

With this blog, we'll be discussing the latest hunting tips and tactics. No B.S. is allowed. We don't have magazine's or advertising to sell so this will be a no hold's barred deer hunting blog. If it smells like B.S. and taste like B.S. then we're going to assume it's B.S.!

There is so much misinformation out there today in the Hunting camps that it's not funny. Any of you remember years ago when the "Turkey In Heat" scent came out? There were actually so called bonafide Outdoor Writers giving credit to this junk just to sell more magazines and advertising space in those magazines!

I'm going to warn you now. I'm from the old school of deer hunting. I'm not one of these guys who run around hunting fenced in Deer, or go on these $1000 a day guided Deer hunts then write articles about how great I am. (Jackie B., are you reading this?) I also don't hunt over feeders. I'm from the time long ago when you learned how to read Deer sign, pattern the Deer and then patiently waited for the one you wanted. Sometimes that was the very next morning, sometimes it was the last day of the season. Many times we never got a shot at the Deer we were hunting.

In this day and age of "Instant Gratification", a Deer is the last thing that should be produced on demand. If you don't have the time or patience for Deer hunting (I don't mean Deer shooting either), take up Golf or Bowling.

So, come along and let's really go Deer hunting. The type of hunting where you really scout your area and figure out what the Deer will be doing before they know what they're going to do, not climbing into a heated blind overlooking a 10 acre Green field and shoot a Deer at 200 yards.