skin your deer with a golf ball?!?

[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]

Uh Ed?

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


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

 

[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.