[Mossy Bloke]

I've heard a couple of guys talk about skinning a deer with a golf ball. I thought it was one of those 'snipe hunting' stories but another guy I know swears he saw it done once. Does anyone know about this? How in the world would it work?

[critter]

Hang the deer. Ring the legs, slit the legs and belly hide. Start the skinning and when you get enough loose skin, wrap it around a golf ball to make a knot. Tie a rope around the knot formed by the skin over the golf ball and tie the rope to a truck, 4-wheeler, etc. Drive away! It will work gutted or not.

[theCZ]

It works! I've never done it with a deer and a golf ball. BUT, I have done it with a rock, two ropes, and a dead calf that I needed to skin to put the skin on another calf to graft it to the mother. Just cut your slits around the legs, neck, around the tailhead region, and place the rock under the skin on the neck iirc, tie a loop/noose around the golfball/rock area, and pull with a truck.

[41 magnum fan]

I have been skinning deer for about 15 years with a golf ball.Works great and is much quicker than skinning one all the way.

[Pumpkinheaver]

I'll have to give it a try this year.

[pinblaster]

You should try field dressing with a sand wedge. :neener:

[V-fib]

I have a device I’ve been using for years called “the ten minute deer skinner” you prepare the deer exactly like critter said (except the deer is on the ground with plastic under the deer to keep the skinned carcass clean). Instead of a golfball you have a round-ended plastic device that is connected to the hide with some wire rope. You put a noose of wire rope around the deer’s neck and secure it to a tree or other immovable object and then you take the other wire rope and connect it to your car/tractor, drive away slowly and the hide peels right off. Works really well. :cool:

[Mossy Bloke]

I think I've got the idea down, but what happens when the hide gets down to the front legs? You split the hide down the inside of the back legs and down the belly, but if you stop there then I can only see the hide being peeled back to the top of the front legs and stopping

[MeekandMild]

I've used a knife handle for leverage, though to tell the truth cutting a finger hole in the hide works just as well. Once, many years ago I tried poking a air hose in one and it did really well to loosen the skin, but there were all these weird bubbles. :what:

[Quickdraw Limpsalot]

The ONLY way to skin a deer. We've been doing this for about 6-7 years now and won't consider any other way.

1) Hang deer by neck, off the ground (with a strong rope)

2) Saw deer legs off at "chins"

3) Cut around neck and down from neck to just between front shoulders (or a tad lower)

4) Pull/skin down far enough to wrap and tie a strong rope around a golf ball (or golf ball size rock, or slightly larger) on the inside of the skin at back of deer's neck.

5) Tie other end of this rope to hitch/bumper of truck

6) Now, EASE forward and watch the skin turn inside out as it comes off the deer like a shirt.

7) Have a person or two support the critter as the skin releases from the end of the deer or it will swing back and hit whatever it's tied to!

8) Gut and clean as usual.

[12 Volt Man]

Dangit. I like this idea. I just got my deer last night and skinned it in the garage. I wish I would have seen this before now. I would like to have tried it.

[Kestrel]

We always did it with a basketball and pulled with a bicycle, but I'm sure the golf ball works great, too...

;)

[lwsimon]

Not only does it work, it works very well. My uncle owns a processing facility, and he uses that technique every day. In fact, he's been using the same golf balls for 10 years! he's quite proud of that :) Somethign about his 2 balls being in more white tails... O nevermind.

[BeLikeTrey]

in a methodical 1..2..3.. "and place ball here and make cuts here and deer swings this direction" sort of thing? I am having a hard time envisioning this. I would love to try it on all my hunted meat. especially "cutting" down on dressing time. (piggies kinda smell real bad you know)

thanks in advance!

[saddlebum]

it works ,but it tends to leave some meat stuck to the hide. sb

[Quickdraw Limpsalot]

Never had any trouble with (significant) meat staying on the hide here. Let's see here...

Here's a downloadable PDF file (http://wildlife.tamu.edu/publications/A011.PDF) I just "googled up."

Our method is a simplified version of this, but works perfectly every time.

[John Forsyth]

Been doing it that way for years. Works like a charm.

[BeLikeTrey]

Thanks man!!! That is EXACTLY what I am talking about. I appreciate the doc!

[clipse]

I gotta try that. Season opens tomorrow morning.

clipse

[mrbill]

as others have said, that method actually works VERY well.

[TrapperReady]

OK, story time...

Several years ago, my friend's dad had heard about this approach. This gentleman has about 100 acres with a very nice home on it... so their family congregates there for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Anyway, he shot a deer the day before Thanksgiving and decided to try this method of skinning it. Everyone was interested, so most of the family (including all the little grandkids) went outside to watch. He rigged the deer, the ball and the rope and then tied the rope off to the hitch on his truck and started to pull away.

Evidently, he hadn't done something quite right, and within a few seconds, he'd only managed to seperate the deer's body from it's head. This, of course, went over very well with all the little ones. :D

He got the kinks worked out before he tried it again, and it is now his preferred method.

[Robertesq1]

This is what the commercial guys use:


http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/horizontal-item.jhtml;jsessionid=AKUXJI2ZEJDZDTQSNOISCO4OCJVZIIWE?id=0016845225595a&navCount=0&cmCat=srchdx&cm_ven=srchdx&cm_ite=srchdx&_requestid=44503&_requestid=60478

[BeLikeTrey]

The mental picture alone has me in stitches. I can't imagine how long I'd be rolling had I been there!! :p

[rick_reno]

The ONLY way to skin a deer. We've been doing this for about 6-7 years now and won't consider any other way.

1) Hang deer by neck, off the ground (with a strong rope)

2) Saw deer legs off at "chins"

3) Cut around neck and down from neck to just between front shoulders (or a tad lower)

4) Pull/skin down far enough to wrap and tie a strong rope around a golf ball (or golf ball size rock, or slightly larger) on the inside of the skin at back of deer's neck.

5) Tie other end of this rope to hitch/bumper of truck

6) Now, EASE forward and watch the skin turn inside out as it comes off the deer like a shirt.

7) Have a person or two support the critter as the skin releases from the end of the deer or it will swing back and hit whatever it's tied to!

8) Gut and clean as usual.

Shouldn't step 8 be step 1? I field dress (gut) deer/elk before hanging them, I've never heard or seen anyone hanging them up to gut.

[BeLikeTrey]

we always put them on a gambrel and jacked them up by their hind legs and gutted them with a bucket underneath. everything goes neatly into the bucket. I hear a quick field dress helps tame that "gamey taste" also. Probably a darned good Idea. My girlfriend points out that the deer in the PDF is already gutted in the pic. gotta love a girl that hunts more than I do ;)
We are going Tomorrow morning early to get a buck I came in on too late last week.
I really need a 30-06 scope w/ bullet drop reticle!!!!!! as he was on the other end of a large plowed field. :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
I digress... Hopefully I'll be trying out my new skinning technique tomorrow ;)

[rbernie]

I field dress (gut) deer/elk before hanging them, I've never heard or seen anyone hanging them up to gut. I know a PH/guide who hangs the animal and skins it first, and only guts the animal it if the client wants the ribs.

[Ed Brunner]

Has anybody here ever skinned one with a tire pump?

[Malone LaVeigh]

In looking at this, it occurred to me that to avoid the swinging problem, you could hoist the animal up high with a block and tackle and then run your tow line through a block that you anchor to the ground. If you don't have enough clearance to pull off the entire hide, you could re-position the golf ball. I'll try it with my next pig.

[Quickdraw Limpsalot]

rick reno -

Since we hunt on my grandfathers 300 acres (adjacent to my parents',) we've always just hauled the deer back to the house and gutted it, while hanging, into a 5 gallon bucket. I'm sure if I hunted on someone else's land, it'd be much easier to haul out a deer sans guts, but it's never been an issue.

Trapper -

Great story. We had one of the first ones nearly seperate at the neck. After that, we learned that it's pretty important to split the skin pretty far down the breast so that it can pull over the shoulders... or simply skin/pull the hide past the shoulders before you begin.

[Robertesq1]

In looking at this, it occurred to me that to avoid the swinging problem, you could hoist the animal up high with a block and tackle and then run your tow line through a block that you anchor to the ground. If you don't have enough clearance to pull off the entire hide, you could re-position the golf ball. I'll try it with my next pig.

I was thinking the same thing although you would need a solid cement foundation to avoid the block being pulled out.

[dad3*3]

Hopefully I get to try this in about a week on a PA Deer. Thanks for the information.

[BeLikeTrey]

A tire pump? I'm scared to ask... :uhoh:


well, ok do tell I can't stand the suspense. :p

[rugerman]

Yep tried it once but I just couldn't get that dam golf ball sharp enough to do squat!!!!!! Really I've been using a variation on that method for 30 years. Instead of a golf ball I just use the ears (if you don't want to mount the deer) you start by cutting across the top of the head in front of the ears peal the hide back far enough to get a rope around the ears and pull away. That way you don't have to get near them golf balls (I hear they are addictive and with my gun and reloading addictions I just can't handle anymore- and my wife wouldn't understand it if I started chasing a pill around someone's pasture). rugerman

[sturmruger]

I have known several hunting parties that skin their deer in this exact fashion. From what I hear it works extremly well.

I have also used an air compressor to skin a deer a little more traditionaly. I would make some very small holes in the skin. I would then insert a fine tip compressor hose and fill the deer with air like a baloon. It worked so well I had it skinned in 20 minutes. This was not a skin that I was keeping so the small holes in the skin were not a big issue for me.