Hide on or hide off

sheephunter

sheephunter

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How many people hang their animals with hide on until they are ready to butcher? I've used this technique, when cool enough obviously, to hang all my game until ready for butchering for the past 30+ years. This way when you pull the hide off, the meat is not dried out at all and there is zero wastage trimming dried surface meat off. The one trick is to remove the windpipe as it will rot very quickly. We just butchered my moose yesterday and the meat was absolutely perfect. Just curious who else does it this way.
 
sheephunter said:
How many people hang their animals with hide on until they are ready to butcher? I've used this technique, when cool enough obviously, to hang all my game until ready for butchering for the past 30+ years. This way when you pull the hide off, the meat is not dried out at all and there is zero wastage trimming dried surface meat off. The one trick is to remove the windpipe as it will rot very quickly. We just butchered my moose yesterday and the meat was absolutely perfect. Just curious who else does it this way.
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Yep!! Agree with your methodology. As long as the temperatures are favorable [quite cool]

However, if it is warm at all, the hide must come off immediately, or bone sour can result, tainting the entire carcass.

We cut my moose up yesterday as well....perfect condition, absolutely pristine.

Regards, Dave.
 
I have done that also, but usually when it is cool and my purpose was to keep it clean in transport. Have never done this with a large moose, there is a lot of thickness in the neck and front shoulders and i would wonder about spoilage if it did not cool.

Any ideas on leaving the skin on, with a larger animal, while still allowing those thick areas to cool??
 
My moose was perfect from last week and temperatures never got much cooler than +4. We cut the moose in half, around the middle, for transport and then hung it in the garage. It was cold to the touch the following morning. I've done this with dozen of elk and moose and never had an issue with spoilage. Obviously it's not a good option if temperatures are warm.
 
For me its always hide off and into game bags within an hour or so of the kill....the quicker it cools the better the taste! I'll cut game myself if I have the time otherwise I will take it into a butcher for cutting. I should add that I prefer my cuts with the bone in as IMO the tastiest part of the meat is always right beside the bone. Moose has been my main table meat many years, I'd much sooner eat moose than beef.
This years moose went to the local meat cutter quartered and in game bags ....went to pick it up last night and no moose. I'm thinking these BC North Coast moose are pretty tough animals...shoot them twice with a 308 win, quarter them, and put them in game bags AND they still get away! :(
 
sheephunter said:
My moose was perfect from last week and temperatures never got much cooler than +4. We cut the moose in half, around the middle, for transport and then hung it in the garage. It was cold to the touch the following morning. I've done this with dozen of elk and moose and never had an issue with spoilage. Obviously it's not a good option if temperatures are warm.
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This is all we have ever done. If it was very cold and we aren't going to be home for a while we have done the pull skin method and wrapped in shrink wrap. This has been the cleanest way we have ever skinned anything.
 
I use both methods.

Depending on temperature, timings, my availability to process the carcass, transport needs, etc.

Last deer I did hung outside in single digit temps for 5 days before I got around to it. I had it well closed up in cheesecloth and a clean bed sheet to keep it from the bugs, and it was quite nice to skin it and cut it directly.

If I had whacked her in Sept, I would have been a bunch more worried about temperatures.

I have seen deer that were hung until they were almost jerky on the outside, then hauled to the butcher. Makes for a pretty small box of venison once trimmed!

Cheers
Trev
 
I've done hide on and hideoff. Then there's hide frozen on, a combination of #2 while wishing it were #1. For the most part I'll get the hide off if possible and practical. I'll cut deer up quickly before they dry out. Ageing seldom factors into the equation, compared to expediency.
 
Done both ways lots, lose less meat hide on but with our moose here, it makes them quarters a whole lot heavier.......If the temp drops then "hide frozen on" is a real pain..........I've heard all the hype about getting the hide off before the animal is even dead or the meat won't be worth eating but have never found there was much difference in taste. Taste is way more dependant on rut and food source than "hide on" or "hide off", in my experience. The Yukon has been "bulls only" for so long I don't even remember if the cows taste different or not.........in fact I don't believe I have ever shot a cow.................Almost never skin caribou prior to hanging, haven't noticed them to be bad tasting...........usually have to thaw them to get the hide off.
 
Dogleg said:
,,,Then there's hide frozen on, a combination of #2 while wishing it were #1.
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That brings back memories! Somewhere there's a picture of a buck I shot laid out in my brother-in-law's kitchen, thawing out so we could skin it. Thank God for global warming eh, never have to go through that again f:P:2:
 
Hide off, but then I hut relatively close to truck ATV access on my property and don't even field dress, hang it up, skin, then gut and right into the cooler.
 
9.3mauser said:
That brings back memories! Somewhere there's a picture of a buck I shot laid out in my brother-in-law's kitchen, thawing out so we could skin it. Thank God for global warming eh, never have to go through that again f:P:2:
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Gave a frozen buck to my uncle many years ago. He thawed it in his bath tub like some kind of bleeding horizontal deer-sicle. His marriage did survive it, a bet I would have lost if anyone would have taken it.
 
i like to skin them as i get home. I then wrap the whole carcass or quarters in old cotton bed sheets. This prevents the exposed meat from drying out and hardening. I also open up along the back by the spine all the way to the end of the neck to aid in cooling and I open up the hams to the femur to get that heat out. I have fed my deer to people that have eaten tons of wild meat and they always swear mine is the best and quite often they question if it is actually venison.
 
I grew up being told that hide off is the way to go every time. I did the same until I started hunting on my own and decided to start leaving the hide on while the animals hang for a few winter days and will never go back to removing the hide as soon as it's hung. I always hated tossing away the dried out meat that was exposed to the air for days before being wrapped.

I find skinning and trimming to be much easier after they've hung for a few days as the fat is firmer and doesn't move around as much.
 
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