Skinning wild game

Codger_64 said:
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.
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Longest I've aged meat is three months. Best damn meat I have ever eaten.
There is some waste unfortunatly:thumbup:
 
I grew up eating alot of wild game as well, ducks, geese, geese, deer, rabbits, squirells, pheasant, dove, and geese.

We also shot alot of geese, big old Canadian honkers. Our blind was on a hilltop in SE Pennsylvania. A friend of the family used to lease a blind on the Chesapeake. He came out to hunt with us once and couldn't believe we were doing for free what he was paying through the nose for.

We used to stuff doves with grapes and wrap them in bacon. We would cook them in a rotiserie (sp?) oven until they were crispy.

Down here I used to take my daughter out dove hunting with the air rifle. This wasn't wingshooting, just sniping at them on the ground. I like to pan fry them (sectioned) in butter, seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic until almost cooked then pour in the juice of a few fresh squeezed oranges and let it all reduce to a sauce. Awesome stuff. Mac
 
Dump some boned out and cubed up Venison in a crock pot and cook it like a stew... no one but the cook would know its venison.
the secret ingedrient is fajita seasoning...

Squirrel...do em just like you would chicken n dumplins... yummie...
 
Codger_64 said:
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. to hang a deer in camp, stripping of meat over a week's time for meals. Ever seen a week old roadkill? 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
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Reminds me of somthing i saw on the TV about russian soilders in afganistan- they virtualy ALL got sick at one tiome or other and the army doctoras found that they left trash and half eaten food around their tents, didnt bother to walk to the latrines to take a dump, and would not wash their hands when they did unless and offcier was watching them
We're so used to antibiotics and good medicine that people let regular hygine slip way too often today.
 
Some of you guys have got to get out more . L:O:L

Seriously . I,m not talking about skinning game . That just takes a little experience . I would be more concerned with what comes out of those little plastic wrapped packages of meat at a supermarket than what you would get in the woods .

I open some packages of ground beef burger and it stinks . You get some nice fresh ground deer burger and it smells sweet . Go to a buffalo farm and get a nice fresh cut steak . Hold it up to your nose and smell . (Don,t worry it won,t bite you . L:O:L) Its sweet and delicious .

Sorry coldwood , I hijacked your thread for a bit . Dressing a deer isn,t tough . I have only done three . Big thing is to field dress it as quick as you can . Keep your hands clean and cool off the carcass as quick as you can .

If I can I put a bag of ice up inside the chest cavity to cool it off . If not I will split the sternum and spread it out with a forked stick to get cool air in there .

Dang it now I,m hungry again .
 
I filet the dove breast with a razor sharp henckels knife, this is a blade forum, :D soak the small fileted dove nuggets in buttermilk for a few hours. Coat with seasoned flour then egg bath and then back into the seasoned flour, deep fry and enjoy. I like to dip them in ketchup mixed with tabasco sauce, absolutely delicious, people that will only eat food that comes out of a cellophane wrapper or a drive through window don't know what they are missing.:rolleyes:
 
Running boar are you talking mourning dove ? We have them up here and I flushed out two this afternoon . People don,t believe when I tell them there used to be tens of millions of them and that they are a game bird .

Too small they say !

One day if I find a big enough concentration of them they better watch out .
 
Mourning dove or white wing, I eat them both. They are not too small, me and my son can clean 30 of them in just a few minutes, by the time the are cleaned the grease is hot.:thumbup:

I have heard people tell me they don't fool with doves because they are not big enough to be worth their time, and those same people will eat shrimp like no tommorrow.:rolleyes:
 
Kevin the grey said:
...Dressing a deer isn,t tough . I have only done three . Big thing is to field dress it as quick as you can . Keep your hands clean and cool off the carcass as quick as you can .

If I can I put a bag of ice up inside the chest cavity to cool it off . If not I will split the sternum and spread it out with a forked stick to get cool air in there .

Dang it now I,m hungry again .
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I've dressed hundreds of deer over the years, and you are right, cooling the meat quickly is important. But since I seldom eat the ribs, packing the chest cavity with ice won't accomplish that. The thickest muscle mass holds the most heat (viscera doesn't count since you need to remove it anyway)

Some guys cut the deer's throat first...Why? to "bleed it out". Well...aren't you going to enviscerate it? Most of the blood is in the lungs, heart and liver. cutting the throat of an already dead animal won't do much.

Some folk believe you need to cut off the tarsal glands (on the inside of the rear hocks) so they won't taint the meat and give it a strong taste. Well...did the deer live all it's life with these glands? Do you really wanna get that stinkum on the knife you are going to cut into the meat with?

Some say you have to split the pelvis...Why? Deer, once you learn their anatomy, are put together with joints. Natural spots to disassemble them into managable portions.

Some say you need to saw thru this bone or that...again, Why? Bone dust is awful, goes rancid quickly, and is hard to get off the meat.

"Well Codger, how would you do it!?" Thought you would never ask. ;)

1. Keep the critter clean inside and out. If it is a clean kill (the stomach and intestines intact), and you are near the spot where you are going to do the butchering, leave it whole. Don't field dress it. You will open the body cavity to all kinds of filth and foriegn matter if you have to drag it. If it is too heavy, you are too far from your butcher table (or tree), or the viscera has been punctured, then field dress it forthwith.

2. Move the deer so that it is on it's back, and standing between the rear legs to keep them spread, pinch the loose skin behind the teats on a doe or ahead of the penis on a buck, lifting the skin away from the stomach lining. Make a small slice in the skin between your fingers and the stomach to get a starting place. Work a finger or two into the slit in the skin toward the chest and again, lift. Now, invert your knife (tip in, sharp edge up)and using your two fingers as a guide on either side of the blade, slit the skin toward the chest. The idea is to not puncture the stomach cavity just yet. Continue the skin cut to the sternum (breastbone). Now, do the same thing with the thin layer of muscle covering the stomach cavity. What you have done by cutting the skin (hide) from beneath, is to avoid cuttin and loosening a ball of hair from the hide. And not cut open the stomach and intestines spilling their contents.

3. turn the deer on it's side and carefully pull the stomach and intestines out the opening you just made. Remember they are still attached on each end. When they are out, I reach as far as I can into the pelvis and "milk" the intestine back toward the pile to empty it of it's contents outside the cavity. Then I sever it. The bladded is in this area near the backbone, don't accidently cut it. Then I pull down on the upper portion of the tube leading to the stomach from the trachia, and cut it as high up as I can easily reach. If you are afield when you do this, lace a twig, or string thru the incision in the hide to close it up until you can transport it. This keeps the dirt, twigs and leaves out. The entire eviceration is easier done with the deer hanging head down from a tree or gambrel.

Want me to continue, or are youse guys getting grossed out?

Codger
 
lol

I shouldn't have read this thread before dinner. Now I'm seriously hungry.

I have often been sorry that I didn't grow up around hunters, so I never learned how. Had a friend in college who hunted on his family farm, and I tried to get him to take me out and teach me, but it never happened. Later, I had a boss who actually took me on a deer hunt (bow season), but it turns out him and his pals were more interested in hanging around camp drinking than in doing any actual hunting, so again I didn't get to learn how.

It isn't the killing of the animal that gives me pause; I believe I'm a good enough shot to accomplish that. Rather, it's the dressing and cooking of the game that I'm clueless about. I've read about the process some, but somehow me going hunting, killing something, then potentially screwing up the cleaning and preparation process so that I can't actually eat what I've killed is, I don't know, disrepectful or something.

One of these days I intend to take up hunting, but when I do it'll be with a camera and a long lens. That is, I think, something I can do without disrepecting the animal.
 
Codger, runningboar, thanks for your input...you guys ought to publish a cookbook, seriously.

pict, yes woodchuck (or groundhog) are good eating. We have a lot of them up here, they are a clean vegetarian animal. They make big holes in the ground and farmers shoot them because those holes will break a cow's leg.

We also have a bird species called "Rock Dove"...in the city they're called pigeons. Pigeons are a multi-colored hybrid and they live off all the city crap they find and what people feed them. In the country, rock doves live wild, eat wild berries and grains and corn, have a common feather pattern that is distinct from the city pigeon. Where I live, we don't have any problem eating rock doves but disdain pigeons. I seriously doubt that anybody could tell the difference between the two. In a survival situation, I would eat a pigeon in a New York minute. I think they are also called "squab".
 
Most all of us started with small game hunting. A rabbit, a squirrel, a dove, grouse or quail. I was lucky enough to grow up on a farm, and had mentors who were hunters from before and during the depression. My Papa Oats, Mother's father was the family sportsman. He died in the very early sixties, and his friends D. L. (survivor of Bataan), and Jess took me hunting and fishing. I feel like I never didn't know how to hunt and fish. A single shot .22, then my own .20 ga. shotgun when I was eight. There were no deer there in the Mississippi RIver Delta, so my baptism to deer hunting was on trips to the Ozarks once a year. Never got a deer then, but I still have the antlers from Papa Oates' buck killed near Emboden Arkansas in 1959.

Maybe you just need a mentor. Or not. Not every one has the hunter instinct. And if you are satisfied hunting with a camera, that is fine too. Hunting is not the only way to enjoy wildlife.
 
To further this question of wild game: In the past two weeks I have seen a lot of racoon and porcupines on the side of the road. I'm not advocating eating roadkill, although there is a roadkill cookbook, but has anybody had any experience cleaning or eating racoon or porcupine? Or possum, or muskrat, or snapping turtle? You can post anonymously ;)
 
Codger, not grossing me out at all, I find that cleaning process fascinating, that is exactly the kind of information I was looking for.

Thanks to all of you. Don't stop, please continue, this is valuable information on this survival forum.
 
Bad luck to eat porcupine unless you have to.Old timers saved them for the times when there was no other food around.There too easy to take.In Louisiana I've eaten all the rest you listed.All good.Add to that crawfish, crab,shrimp,and squid and you have a great meal.Arnold
 
Codger,,with the exception of a couple of things, I field dress deer pretty much the same as you, but I do initially skin on down and around the anus. Split between the hind quarters and trim those back from the pelvic bone so you can then trim from inside and outside to loosen all of that and pull it out cleanly from the inside. Just takes a little extra time.

Field dressing in the field is pretty much the same as you do.

But where we differ, We hang them by the neck and split the skin around the quarters as you would normally would, but then we get right up under the ears as far as a rope or cable lets us, and peel that back far enough to slip a rock under the fir side of the hide and tie a thin cable to it, and then pull the skin off with a vehicle.

Been doing it this way for years and years. Hide comes off clean and doesn't tear up any meat, if you made all the slits right.

With it hanging by the neck, tie both front legs off to either side to keep it from swinging, naturally after the hide is off. Then I can get a cooler close and drop the quarters right into it as they come off.

Then, after it is all deboned, I use a new blade in a recripicating saw to sever the neck just above the rib cage and just below the rope or cable.
That neck piece makes a good roast if you have left some meat on it.

Then I use the cordless saw to take the antlers off. Of course this changes if keeping a head mount.
I also use heavy tree branch trimmers to lop off the legs. Much easier than a hack saw or bone saw
I have this in a word doc with better detail if any want it.
 
ghostguy6 said:
please Codger continue:)
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Well alrighty the. By overwhelming demand of...one: :D

OK, so now you have the deer at home/camp/butchering site.

I hoist the deer on my gambrel with a rope, plain or fancy rig as you choose. My gambrel is a steel coathanger looking affair with an eye at the top for the rope, off each sleeve end is a hook, one for each rear leg. I cut through the deer's lower rear legs (hocks) between the tendon and the bone parallel to the bone. Don't cut the thick tendon, as it will support the deer. I stick one hook through each slit and hoist the deer until the head clears the ground. Now I have to say that a stout stick, 1 1/2" diameter and sharpened on the ends will work as a gambrel, but you have to make sure the deer does not slip off the ends. The gambrel is wide enough to spread the rear legs almost to their limit, and this helps to keep them on the gambrel.

I place a bucket under the deer to catch blood and to toss in scraps of offal and fat while I work. I keep two sharp carbon steel knives handy, and a bucket of clean water to rinse my hands and the knives occasionally.

First, I have to skin the deer. Like with cats, there are many ways to skin a deer. I begin with the fingers slipped under the hide at the rear (now top) of the field dressing cut, and work with the kife inverted between my guideing fingers as before. This time though, my fingers run between the skin and the inside of the thigh, or ham muscles. Again, cutting the hide from the inside out prevents loosening hair that will stick to the meat and cause more work later on. I continue these two cuts up the rear legs as far as I can, usually to the hock (knee) joint. Then I cut around the hock thru the hide until it is loose all the way around. Now I pull down on the hide I have loosened until it is stopped by the tail, and hide still attached to the genetals. The hams now are mostly exposed. SInce there is no meat in the crotch area, and I do not have any use for the genetals (except to sometimes save a scrotum to tan for a bag), I lift the penis and cut under it all the way to the anus, removing the skin from the inner hams as well. The genetals go into the offal bucket. I use a small blade, either an 897UH stockman's Turkish clip, or a sharpfinger to cut carefully around the anus, rubbing the pelvic opening to keep from cutting the colon. When cut all the way around from the outside, look inside and see the bladder. Pinch the urethre closed and pull it out, careful not to spill the contents on the carcass. You can drop this in the offal bucket, or you can save the buck or doe urine for lure if it contains no blood. Remember to rinse your hands and knives in the clean water. Now I reach up and pull out the colon with the anus from the inside. Next cut is from the opening where the anus was, through a joint in the base of the tail. Again, try not to slice hair. leave it arttached to the hide on the backside, Pull the tail down and away, and continue stripping the hide downward using the tail and leg hide as handles. the hide of a fresh kill will usually pull easily, though you may have to help it along with occasional small scraping slices between the skin and muscle. Old deer can be tougher to skin, and take a lot of this. Younger deer can be stripped out of the skin from this point almost like removing pajamas. When you reach the front legs, you may want to raise the deer higher to lessen your bending over. Make the same type "inside-out" cut down the chest between hide and sternum, and along the neck as far as the rear of the jaw. Then make another cut through the hide up the inside of each front leg to the knee joint. when you expose the knee joint, you can see where to cut across that tendon, and on through the socket to remove the lower leg with the hide still attached. Pull the hide off the legs now from the back, and continue pulling until it is free to the jaw, or the rear of the skull. I use a larger bladed knife, the 5 1/4" 165OT to cut around the neck to the spine, then find the space between the vertebra with the blade ti, and finish the cut. Don't pry or you can break a perfectly good knife. It you can't cut all the way through, you can usually twist the head free at this point. Don't pull it off the gambrel!!

Intermission time! Wash your knives and hands and grab a smoke!

Codger
 
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