Skin big game right away or wait?

[Bluedevil25]

If it’s suppose to get cold in the next week or so I’d skin it same day/night.

 

[PEKS]

I always skin same day, go with what I know, works best for me

 

[Gunnutz]

Deer are thin-skinned and if the warmest temperatures you are expected are less than 6 or 8 degrees during the day then leave the hide on. Gut and cool them as quick as possible after being shot by hanging them.

Leaving the hide on when possible keeps the meat clean as well as prevents it from drying out. There is nothing more miserable than re-skinning the dried meat layer off a deer that has been hanging for several days with no hide on.

Exactly.

Perfect to hang with the hide on at the correct temperature. You don’t want it to freeze

As stated above, heat is the enemy

 

[woodchopper]

well looks like a nice -15 today

going hunting next week might warm up a little, but I know that any deer are going to be frozen solid by the time I get them home

Hides on to help keep them clean while in the truck.

have to hang them 2 or 3 days just to thaw them enough for skinning and another day or 2 before they will be thawed for butchering.

Deer-cicles

 

[canadian hunter312]

Deer are thin-skinned and if the warmest temperatures you are expected are less than 6 or 8 degrees during the day then leave the hide on. Gut and cool them as quick as possible after being shot by hanging them.

Leaving the hide on when possible keeps the meat clean as well as prevents it from drying out. There is nothing more miserable than re-skinning the dried meat layer off a deer that has been hanging for several days with no hide on.

Removing the hide when unnecessary is just a waste of good meat. I was born and raised in the "hide off ASAP" crowd, but I cannot argue with better results after leaving the hide on the first time.

 

[nowarningshot]

Left the skin on a big mulie in the north east. Keep the meat clean. He was grampa shark....reverting and 227lbs on the meat hooks.

If it was anything bigger, i would skin. Big chunk of meat to cool down in a moose front shoulders and neck.

 

[Mayday_]

I saw a butcher on YouTube talking about leaving the hide on for better meat. He said if you can keep the deer cold then keep the skin on.

 

[Hunt&Hook]

Well, I'm all done. I figures I'd post up and let everyone know how it played out.

It was -22C with the wind on Wed when we headed out. Spotted some mulies around 8:00am and stalked for awhile. My daughter managed to drop a buck. Was 10am by the time the pic was taken. The wind had died and the temp was already around minus 10C and sunny by the time I had it gutted. We walked back to retrieve the truck and loaded it up.

Around noon, I spotted a doe and put her down. Gutted, in the truck and headed for home. 6 hrs later, we were home. I hung the partially frozen deer, warmed the garage up to 4C or 5C and took it easy for the night.

The hides had thawed enough at noon yesterday to skin them. While a bit tougher than skinning them warm, the hides came off without much difficulty. I deboned them last night and this morning. The meat was nice and cool, looked and smelled excellent.

I will do the same next trip IF the weather is similar and it will be awhile before I'm home to process them.