Butchering frozen game?

Skin it and bone out the meat after it's cooled down but before it freezes and put it in coolers.

Make sure it is skinned before it freezes. Been there. Dome that. It sxxxs. Semi frozen meat is not bad to cut up and wrap at all. Skinning one with the hide frozen down is a tale of nightmares.

If you are cubing or slicing the meat, semi frozen is the best way to do it. Get the skin off of it ASAP, it's easier when still warm. I don't saw into the backbone because of CWD, Take the ribs off the spine or bone out, then bone the rest. If you have big coolers, the boning can be done at home. Bag rib trim and flank, get it to refrigeration ASAP. I hunt close enough to home that the last deer I got, I shot a 7:30 and had it in the freezer by 10:30, but a cabin could make it harder to keep the meat cooler once skinned.

Random 8 said:

May be facing a new problem this year. Expecting solid cold through this weekend, highs in the low 20's, lows single digits or lower. I have no provision to hang a deer at temperatures that will prevent a solid freeze. I know I can quarter and skin a frozen deer, but will the meat be affected by partial thawing to bone and trim? Still working on tracking down a semi-heated garage, and butchering in camp is an option, but not a good one with our 12x16 cabin. Quartering frozen and partially thawing to bone and trim would be the best option. Anybody have any experience?

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Get the hide off ASAP. Partially frozen acts like refrigerated. You might just have to bone it all out, or chunk it and bag and wrap it. If it is truly frozen, a sawzall and a sharp boning knife will handle it. put a clean plastic ziploc type bag over the business end and tape it on, leaving only the new 6" metal cutting blade blade poking out. Ring the bone with the knife, cut the bone with the saw. The cuts of meat might not be pretty, but it will be fine.

Skin it, then let it freeze, then cut it up, package it and return it to your freezer (I have a meat cache)

I would cut it with a hand saw here at home, outside , frozen, with a fine toothed saw, sawzall, or a bandsaw, if available. Bone in cuts are best

Fine Figure of a Man said:

Skin it and bone out the meat after it's cooled down but before it freezes and put it in coolers.

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AGREED
Everybody is right, get that skin off of it when it's that cold.

LD

Everyone is right, get the skin off before the carcass freezes. I do some taxidermy work and it is very hard to get the skin off of frozen meat. Many times hunters will leave the frozen neck inside a cape they want to mount. What happens is that I am always concerned that the cape will spoil before the meat thaws out. The outside of a large piece of frozen meat can be warm for several hours before the inside thaws out. The downfall to taking an animal in the few minutes before dark is that you have to deal with the carcass in the dark, sometimes in very cold temperatures. The choice is whether or not you want to take an animal that late in the day.

Also, it's not that hard to skin an animal laying on the ground. Take a plastic table cloth to lay the animal on to keep the dirt and grass off the meat. Do not field dress the animal before you skin and do not cut the head off. This keeps the blood off the carcass. Roll the animal from side to side as you skin. You can also cut the skin down the back to make it easier to skin. Once the skin is off you can field dress the animal as it lays on it's side and do whatever else is needed.

The meat will be fine. I prefer to skin and quarter an animal on the ground where it died, then take the backstraps, tenderloins and neck meat off and leave the ribs/guts and hide in the woods. Whether I bone it or not depends on miles out and terrain. Point being for OP, get the skin off while the animal is still warm and the meat won't suffer at all freezing a bit while it hangs.

I agree with IdaD. After many years of hunting I prefer to remove the head and cape when the animal is laying on ground, and then remove the choice meat that you want to take home. The ribs, guts and hide that I don't want stay in the woods.

I can get even a big midwest whitetail into a 128qt marine cooler by quartering the hinds and shoulders, taking out the backstraps, then neck. even plenty of room for ice if needed in warm weather. only parts that don't go in are head, ribcage and pelvis.