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Any tips or recommendations for skinning and processing a frozen deer?
Was fortunate enough to harvest a buck last week and with the temp drop, I've had a frozen deer hanging for a week now.
I've thought about throwing a space heater in for a few hrs before, or possibly trying the golf ball skinning process...
Anyone experience this with any tricks or tips?
We have had moose freeze solid years ago. The butcher had to thaw them out to skin and process them.
You will need to unthaw it. I had to process one in Michigan a few weeks back and it was frozen. Had to bring it in the garage to unthaw & skin it. No way I could get the hide off or cut the meat when it was frozen solid...
On the plus side the meat was extremely tender after a few days of hanging... :)
Forget the ball trick. It won't work.
Be prepared to have very frozen and unfeeling fingers by the time you're done.
How do you unthaw something that is frozen?Quote:
Originally Posted by bellerivercrossbowhunter
You'll have to bring it into a garage or shed that's heated and it may take a full day to get to where you can handle it.
You should be able to cut off all the appendages and then quarter it up with a sawzall /recip saw with out losing too much meat then bring the parts into the basement to thaw
I got my skinned while the carcass was still warm, but then it froze over night. I did a quick quartering while it was still hung, brought the pieces in and left it for a day then deboned it the next morning.
If you have a small chainsaw it will work well too, you just lose a bit more meat. The chain oil will wipe off the exposed meat after your done cutting and it's still frozen.
Sounds like this will be some extra work! Lol
I'll likely have to bring it to the garage and get a space heater on it... sounds like it may take the better part of a day?
Does this sound right?
What Mike says. You can use cooking oil instead of chain oil for chain lube if you go that route.
Do I need to worry about spoilage from warming it up to skin/process and refreezing?