dressing a deer--question?

I gut it and remove the windpipe while the thing is still warm, and yeah, I would chop off the head (with an axe), before hanging it up by it's back legs to be skinned and cut into pieces. Heaving the head off makes it easier to skin. I had a meat/bone cutting bandsaw and would slice the antlers and the top of the head off and scoop out the brains because I think they are good to eat. Then I'd chuck it on an ant hill. I'd save the antlers because I turn cue sticks and use antler in place of Ivory for ferrules and tips.

With the advent of CWD, it is dangerous to cut the head off while the meat is still in the general vicinity. I usually hang them in the head up position by putting a rope around their neck. Without a head, it would not have worked. I get my deer ground so it does not matter whether the blood pools in the good meat in the back or the front shoulders. The chest/abdominal cavity drains better in the head up position.

hi there

i always cut off the head before i hoist my deer to the rafters by the gimbles, simply because when im skinning the deer out i end up with all the skin in a pile around the neck this way i just skin it right off the neck and im done, it also helps the chest cavity drain while your working, as for hanging it any other way than the gimbles it would make it to hard to skin, i also start skining the legs down past the gimbles before i put the gimble pole in cause it is a pain to start the leg skining around the gimble pole. hope this helps you out.

Do you own a two story gargage? I ask, because if you hang anything from that part of the animal, or, even if you are refinishing a chair in your garage - it would be too high to work on.

However, if the garage is small in height - like the ones in a condo or 4plex house - yes, you would have to cut the head off or the legs and butt would be on the ground and quite difficult to butcher.

When I lived in Tok, Alaska our garage was just barely large enough it fit a compact truck. It started off as a car port that got it's sides walled in and insulated. I didnt think much of it until it was -30F outside and we tried to hang a caribou...... with the head on, it looked like it was sitting on it's butt ready for tea time. Would have made a funny picture if not for the rope around it's neck. Here we had to cut off the head just to get it off the ground enough to work on. Really big deer - are about the same size of a medium caribou - and in a small garage with no rafters you would have the same issue. You simply put a big eye hook into a main beam in the ceiling - not enough room for a decent block and tackle - and sink a meat hook or shark hook into the front (not back) to start. Better cuts of meat are on the back and sides.

One step more. I had a friend who lived next door and he had to cut the head off his dall sheep just so he could climb down from where he shot it. Took him four hours packing it on his back before he could get to a place where an atv could be used. He left the head - with the huge full curl horns attached - on the picnic table while he dressed out the animal in the garage. Poor guy - steps outside the garage only to see a neighbors dog sitting happily chewing on the trophy rack! Dog totally destroyed it.

Normally you gut the deer not long after the kill...And then skin it and clean it as soon as you can get it somewhere to string it up. so....really noone should have the opportunity to steal the rack b/c you are headed straight to clean it. Cleaning it ASAP is essential b/c if you dont then the meat is ruined. But as for someone doing their deer that way....I guess everyone has their own way of cleaning their kill...But would seem like a lot of extra work and a pain in the rear to do it that way.

I hang deer by the back legs, and skin them. When the skin is pealed all the way down to the head it's cut off.

But with the skin on, no need to

I wouldnt ever