Processing/Skinning Frozen Deer

[rick_iles]

Do I need to worry about spoilage from warming it up to skin/process and refreezing?

Dont completely warm it up. Make sure the meat stays near the freezing temps and you will be ok. I wouldn't subject the carcass to any heat source though. Like Sawbill said, you will have some very cold fingers !!!

[dutchhunter]

Sawsall is the ticket to cut it up into chunks.warm it up just enough to pull the hide off.

[Gerald]

Butchers don't like the chainsaw method. Tiny bone splinters. Been there done that. Sawsall is the way to go.

[Monster29/66]

Vegetable oil for bar oil..

Sawzall with 12" blade works well in a pinch

[northernontario]

Supposed to be warmer in the coming days. Now's the time to get a sunny afternoon to warm up your workspace. Ideally you get that thing into a warm space, or a space that can be warmed... you need to thaw the outer layer to get the skin off.

We dropped a deer off at the butcher last week... taken at last light, gutted in the dark... -20 overnight. By the next morning it was frozen solid. Got it to the butcher the night after it had been killed, he had to thaw it out to be able to butcher it. You only need a workspace around 4°C to thaw it out.

[dutchhunter]

I like to freeze the meat in as big a chunk as you are going to use.leave your steaks in a chunk and cut them up when you are ready to cook them. Meat keeps better in the freezer in bigger chunks. You can cut it with a sawzal pretty easy.

[blasted_saber]

I think the last thing I'd use on an animal I respected and wanted to eat is a chain saw. Go spend $50 at Canadian Tire and get a sawzall. You owe the animal that much.

[MikePal]

I think the last thing I'd use on an animal I respected and wanted to eat is a chain saw. Go spend $50 at Canadian Tire and get a sawzall. You owe the animal that much.

I've only seen it used when guys are out at a remote camp and circumstance requires a 'MacGyver' fix.

It really is rather clean and easy, your cuts are only to remove appendages and split the main bones, spine and hips, so very little 'eating' meat is touched by the saw blade. Very clean actually, minimal loss, better than the alternative of being forced to abandon the carcass.

[blasted_saber]

They didnt have an axe?

I just....dont agree with its use on an animal. There is nothing about a chainsaw cut Id describe as clean.

[sawbill]

At 4 in the morning and after a 12 hour day and its a road kill to clean up then yep! I'd use a chainsaw. But for a hunt then its just about all skinning and filleting knife.