Skinning wild game

Coldwood

Coldwood

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Jun 5, 2006
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I've cleaned and filleted fish and skinned my fair share of domestic rabbits and chickens, but I think there are probably other concerns with wild game. Any suggestions?
 
If you have done domestic rabbits, then squirrels, coons, deer are not much different anotomicaly. Some people fear getting tule...tulma....rabbit fever from contacting the blood of wild game, so you will see a lot of recommendations to wear rubber gloves while skinning them. I don't. Some critters at this time of year harbor pests like lice, fleas, ticks etc. You want to take steps not to be their next warm host. Some critters harbor internal parasites, and you don't want those either. Avoiding contaminating the meat and yourself with feces and partially digested matter, urine, is just good common sense. Learn to remove the viscera in one complete package and dispose of it properly. Cook both the meat and organ meats fully to nullify any parasites and such. Rare meat is good and good for you, intestinal worms are not.

Yumm! Makes me want to head out with my bow! Early deer season is on here!

Codger
 
Codger_64 said:
Some people fear getting tule...tulma....rabbit fever from contacting the blood of wild game, so you will see a lot of recommendations to wear rubber gloves while skinning them.
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I ask the following question fully admitting that I've never hunted for anything in my life, and have no plans to try to do so anytime soon. Still, I'm curious. It is true, I believe, that some diseases such as bubonic plague are found in rodent populations throughout the west. By that, I mean in the fleas and other parasites that live with rodent populations (I think squirrels in some locations are known carriers of the plague).

Given this, how do you take game that might have highly troublesome parasites without getting infected yourself? Is it all in the clothing that you wear so as to not get bit by those pesky fleas?

As I said, I'm simply curious.
 
I might have better called this "How to eat wild game." It is a common story up here about how guys will go off to deer camp and shoot a doe for camp food and then get sick. Theory is, it's the wild meat and hormones. Ideas?
 
Bubonic plague, and most other flea transmitted diseases are quite rare in the U.S. I suppose that rabies is more prevelant. One thing any hunter should do is to study his quarry briefly to determine that it is healthy in the first place. Not all parasites are disease vectors, particularly external ones. Next, if I take an animal with parasites, I usually hang it and let it cool somewhat. No body heat, no parasites. They go looking for a warm host with flowing blood. I then clean the critter inside and out, and rinse in cold salty water when I get home. If it is small like a squirrel or rabbit, I carry gallon ziplocs and do the dressing in the woods. Larger game like deer are field dressed, then taken home to hang and cool before skinning. I don't carry the deer, but either drag it on a sled or travois, or load it in or on a vehicle. Old drawings of a longhunter returning to camp with a deer across his shoulders are romantic, but not very true to life. Incidence of diseases being transmitted to hunters from their game are so rare that it is fairly inconsequential. Simple sanitary handling practices are usually sufficient precaution. Bubonic plague is not the instant death sentence it once was. Streptomycin knocks it out in most cases. Nowdays, it is pretty well limited to occasional occurances in third world countries, if I remember correctly. I am not an epidemiologist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express!

Codger ;)
 
Coldwood said:
I might have better called this "How to eat wild game." It is a common story up here about how guys will go off to deer camp and shoot a doe for camp food and then get sick. Theory is, it's the wild meat and hormones. Ideas?
Click to expand...

SOme guys get a case of "caveman-itus", and forget to follow the rules of sanitation and safe meat handling they (or their cavewomen) use back home. There is a propensity for nimrods to hang a deer in camp, stripping of meat over a week's time for meals. Ever seen a week old roadkill? Wanna hamburger made from meat left out for a week? Hormones? Hah!! I laugh at your breast size increase!:D

No, these guys don't handle their meat properly, don't wash their hands properly, don't sanitize their cookware and tableware. Mr Pastuer would not be amused. Though he might find some interesting cultures to study.

Codger
 
I have been killing and eating wild meat all my life, and grew up with hunters, I have never heard of anyone getting sick from eating wild game. I regularly eat deer, rabbit, squirrel, coon, dove, quail and wild pigs, I think my favorite food in the whole world is fileted and fryed dove breast. I do not wear rubber gloves or take any special precautions, I do like to let big game, deer and hogs, hang for a few days before processing, but I don't always. I did get covered up with lice one time from a hog I killed, I took a bath in sargents flea and tick shampoo and got rid of them though, I know, I know, you might be a redneck if..... but it worked.;) I don't eat any animals that are obviously sick or when cleaning, look or smell different from normal, I cook everything well except dove and deer, I know it is risky but I like them a little rare, and 40 years and so far so good. Chris

EDIT: Just like Codger, I believe most of the cases of the runs in deer camp come from improper hygene, not properly caring for the meat, and maybe a bit too much of "grandads cough medicine."
 
Ouch!! Thanks Codger, that's more information than I wanted to pay attention to, but thanks! Your information is valuable.

I always suspected that eating wild game might be chancier than what they write about in survival books.
 
Yup, Codger, it's a well known tradition up here. Cow farmers will go string one up in the barn and let it "age". Cut off the green parts. Aged beef is good.
 
Coldwood said:
I always suspected that eating wild game might be chancier than what they write about in survival books.
Click to expand...

It is not. Venison has less fat than beef (and I raise beef), and fewer hormones and chemicals than chicken (and I raise chickens). Wanna see a nasty critter? Visit a poultry farm. Wild game meat is by and large better and better for you than domestic meat. I had squirrel for supper this week. Venison last week.

Codger
 
LOL, runningboar, thank you, no. I greatly prefer spinach to loose lettuce, but right now I am eating dandelion greens off the lawn...and lambs ears...and violets ;)
 
Aging of beef (or venison) is not an art, but roulette unless you have a thermally controlled cooler to keep it just above freezing for the required period of time. What you are doing is actually controlled decay.
 
When I kill deer that I have ran with dogs, legal where I live, I am a houndsman, I was raised by houndsman, and will be a houndsman when I die. I put the quartered meat in a big cooler completely covered with ice with the drain hole open and the opposite end propped up with a brick. I leave it like this for up to a week, just topping the ice off when needed, it really helps to mellow out the meat and take the strong taste out. Chris
 
Codger, I understand what you're saying. This is deer country up here and we have a lot of deer cutters, the meat is available. My wife won't eat it. It's the Bambi syndrome. I would also eat woodchuck, squirrell, and a few other things I won't mention. I agree, a good grass-fed woodchuck is a whole lot better...and I mean better, they cook up good, tastes like pork roast....than any hormone-laden piece of meat I'm going to get at PriceChopper...But...It's a cultural thing. I would rather be out harvesting squirrels and chucks and deer. Don't mind bear or moose, but they're a bitch to get out of the woods. Thanks, Don ;)
 
Have a processor work up a tenderloin for you into butterfly steaks 3/4" thick. Dredge them in peppered flour, fry over medium heat in a cast iron skillet with either olive oil or bacon fat until brown. Serve with a side dish ow wild & brown rice with mushroom soup as the last ingredient. You tongue will slap your eyebrows and ears trying to get to it. And..."Yes, dear, it is expensive veal cutlet!" ;)

Codger
 
I grew up on such things as squirrel pot pie, and venison. I learned early on from a long line of hunters all the prep work. Haven't had any issues in my life with wild game as far as disease or sickness but I have gotten sick from store bought on several occasions.

Only other issue that came to mind for me when eating wild smaller game animals, as we did most every evening in West Viriginia where I grew up, is a warning my mom often said right after someone said grace at the table before eating, "now be careful chewing people, I might have missed a pellet or two and we don't want any broken teeth tonight." :D

STR
 
Now that's intersting about the woodchucks. I have killed more of them than I could ever count but never thought once of eating them. They were just a rodent pest in our book, open season target practice. In a survival situation I would eat one, especially now that I know they're good eating. Mac
 
When I grew up in northern California, 50 years ago, we were always eating venison, squirrell, quail, duck, etc. My wife grew up on a truck farm in Pencilvania...I guess they didn't know how to eat right. Too many potatoes.
Anyway, she's an animal lover. And I love her, gotta respect it. So I am not the hunter meat-gatherer that I would like to be. I mostly shoot paper targets.
 
My wife was a city girl, and my son grew up with her prejudices. My daughter grew up a country girl, and shares my love for the outdoors. She and I eat wild game, my wife and son does not. I respect her wish not to eat it, she respects my wish to do so. As long as I bring it into the refridgerator or freezer looking like storebought, she'll cook it for me. She may ask me how to do it, but this kid was eating bacon wrapped dove breasts cooked on a campfire when he was eight. Kilt 'em, cleaned 'em, et 'em. Rite dere.

Codger
 
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