by: Art Patton
September 1981
Once you have found your deer and made sure it is dead, your next steps will determine, more than anything else, how good your venison will taste.
The clue is to get the meat cooled quickly and the best way is to remove immediately that mass of hot internal organs and let the cool air circulate on both sides of the relatively thin layers of meat making up the carcass.
Contrary to popular belief, there is no advantage in "slitting the throat". The deer is dead - that means bodily functions have ceased - the blood is not flowing. Therefore when you slit the throat you drain only the very little blood in the vessels within a few inches of the cut. When you remove the heart in dressing the deer you will cut these same vessels anyway and you have wasted cooling time by cutting the throat and maneuvering the deer into a head-down position to try to increase drainage. However, if your dad taught you to slit the throat and you believe it is necessary - do it, it won't hurt, unless you're going to have the head mounted. In that case, don't do it.
Removing the scent glands from inside the hind legs before you field dress the deer is also not necessary. In fact, if you do remove them before you dress your deer, wash your knife and hands between operations so you don't transfer the secretions from the glands to the meat.
O.K. - what is necessary? Basically the only thing necessary is getting the body open so you can get the guts out and the cool air in.
There are several ways to do this. One way that works is:
Roll the deer more or less onto its back with the fore quarters uphill, on a hummock, blowdown or stump if handy so that the entrails will tend to fall out and away from the carcass when released.
Cut completely around the anus (and vulva in the females) so that the intestines will be unattached and slide out easily when the time comes.
Next start the belly incision at the back of the ribcage. If you plan to have the head mounted, do not cut forward of the ribcage. Slide two fingers just ahead and on either side of the knife blade and with them lift up on the belly tissue to prevent the knife point from puncturing the paunch or intestines. A drop point knife is most practical for this operation. Cutting from ribs to tail, in the same directory as the hair lies, will result in less cut hair on the knife from the incision at the back of the ribs along the centre line of the belly to the udder in a female or the sex organs in a male. Cut around these to release them. Tip the animal on its side so the paunch and intestines fall out, reach through the opening in the pelvic girdle as far as possible, grasp the intestine as near the anus as you can and pull it back through the pelvic girdle and out with the intestines. With a female deer, first cutting around the anus and the sex organs will permit you to squeeze off and pull both back through the pelvis and out with the intestines. If you carry a small axe, heavy knife or bush saw, you can continue your belly cut through the pelvic bone all the way to the female sex organs or the anus in a male to make their removal easier.
Now you're ready to work forward. You should have your jacket off and your sleeves rolled well up - you're going to get bloody. A red shirt as well as red jacket would be safer right now. Reach inside the ribcage and locate the diaphragm - the thin muscle tissue wall separating the stomach cavity from the chest cavity. Remove this wall by cutting all around it close to the ribcage. Now reach forward in the ribcage, find the windpipe and cut it off as far forward as you can. Grasp it and pull it toward you, bringing with it the heart and lungs and dump the entire internal contents out the belly opening, onto the ground. If you are not going to have the head mounted, this step can be made easier by extending your original centre line, cut forward to the base of the neck and cutting through the brisket to open the entire chest cavity. Remove the hear, liver and any other organs you wish to keep, form the rest of the pile and set them aside to take with you.
Haul the carcass away from the gut pile, roll it belly down and lift the shoulders to drain the body cavity. Wipe out the cavity with paper towels, dry grass or leaves or clean out with clean water if you are so inclined. Prop the cavity open with sticks and you are ready to start dragging it out head first.
Tying the front legs to the head makes a more compact unit to drag. Antlers on a buck often provide good dragging handles but a length of rope, strapping or even your belt may be used to advantage. If you need help to get your deer out, prop it up, hang it, prop it over a bush, blowdown or whatever to allow maximum air flow. If you are going to be quite a while or overnight before you can get back with help, put brush over the deer to discourage scavenger birds - but be sure you can find it again!
Transport the carcass home in as cool a place as possible - not over the hood of your vehicle - with the cavity still propped open.
Once home you will probably want to hang it for a few days to age. this is best done in a cooler with the hide off but may be in any cool, dry shaded area free from blowflies. If the weather is warm enough so flies are a problem, enclosing the carcass in cheesecloth or meat bags works best but a sprinkling of pepper on all exposed meat also discourages flies and the thin layer of meat covered with pepper can be cut off when you cut the meat up for freezing.
To skin the deer you can hang it by the hind legs. Slit the skin from the pelvic cut up the inside of the hind legs to the heel and cut all the way around the leg at the heel. Then by pulling down on the skin with as little cutting as necessary, pull the hide down the legs, continuing down the carcass to the back of the ribcage (where you started your cutting incision).
If you are going to have the head mounted, stop here and cut the loose hide off. Start a new cut at the centre of the back and slice forward up the back of the neck to a point a few inches behind the antlers. Make angle cuts from there to the base of each antler. Now skin the front half of the carcass to the antlers. Either cut the head off with the hide attached and take it to the taxidermist that way or skin out the head, being very careful around ears, eyelids and lips to remove meat, fat and gristle without damaging the visible parts. If you are going to skin the head yourself, it would be wise to talk to your taxidermist and find out how to do it.
If you are not having the head mounted, you can split the hide from the belly cut over the brisket and up the neck to the head, continue pulling, pushing and cutting connecting tissue only as necessary, slit the hide up the inside of the front legs just as you did the hind legs and take the hide off all in one piece right up to the head.