I shot a doe this morning. There was a time when I would: haul it to camp, hoist up on game pole, skin and quarter, haul remains away from camp. Not anymore. I parked close to the deer, did not even move it, cut off quarters with skin on, carried to tail gate, removed skin, and put in cooler. I also took the back straps. Done in a matter of minutes. Had lunch in field, and went for a walk. I have done the same with hogs. I learned this from youtube.

I butchered a small hog on my tailgate the other day. Now I understand why you guys like hogs. It was super easy.

You get the tenderloins?

Brother Phil - It would be nice if you could post that you-tube link. I would like to see that.
thanks

I only get to shoot 6-7 deer a year. Have to get me that neck meat, have to.

I did this Saturday night right on the tail gate. Camp is about 10 miles and we were trying to get to dinner.. quick and easy but you tend to not get everything off the animal that could be used like the neck meat, rib meat etc..
I would think you’d have to field dress them to get to the tenderloins though.
When I hang them, I typically don’t gut, but can push everything far enough into the rib cage to get the tenderloins.

I'm going to have to try this. Probably some trial and error along the way, but good to know in the long run.

It's easy.

They sure come apart easy when they're still hot.

Isn’t it a pain to keep hair from getting all over the quarters when you skin them?

This is what I was thinking.

I understand its purpose, but tend to agree it would get a lot more hair on the meat. Also for us we have sand like in the dunes at the beach... nearly impossible to keep the sand off of it. I know in remote locations mountains etc. this is probably very usable technique, but ive got a pipe rack with cable winch and gambrel, lighting, and water waiting at camp and its not much of a drive. Plus i can get out of my hunting area without being around spreading noise and scent for an hour.

I’m not saying that method won’t work, but I can’t see how that’s a very clean way to go about it.

Use a gut hook to cut the skin then the knife to separate the quarters. The gut hook cuts from the inside out and not through the hair in.

Ive got a gut hook and a wyoming knife. They are better than cutting from the outside, but they are far from perfect and still get hair everywhere.

Can't say I've had a hair issue using the gut hook. I'll have to check it tomorrow.

I was at our lease two weekends ago and one of the other hunters shot a great buck (13 pt, big bodied). He had it up on the gambrel when I showed up with three pigs to clean. When he was "done", I asked "aren't you taking any of the neck meat?". He chuckled and said he's never done it. I took he carcass, and then carefully cleaned out the whole neck in on piece, about 8-10 lbs of good meat for stew or grind. He was surprised and grateful. Smaller does don't carry much neck meat but on bucks, it's totally worth it. I've even seen people cut up the neck in cross-cuts (bone in) and then clean the trachea out, you end up with good roasts for the slow cooker.

If the weather is really warm when I am hunting then I will not shoot and animal (unless its a huge buck.) I like to shoot deer when its very cool outside. If I were to kill a big buck and its warm outside, I will tag it on the spot, load it on the rack of the Polaris, take it back to camp and quarter it ASAP. For me, and this distance from my blind to the skinning pole, this would take me less than an hour to have it on ice. Same thing when its cold. I have to hang it by the back legs and skin/quarter the animal. I am not going to be bending over and trying to get a deers legs to stay spread apart and not have water nearby to keep things clean.

I cut the one front shoulder and then the hind quarter on the same side cut out the backstraps flip it over to the other side go front quarter back quarter. If it's a heavy bodied deer I make 2 cuts on the neck and take the neck meat. It's takes about 10 minutes, I rinse the quarters with water and put them in the ice chest.

It's really easy to skin a side at a time, and then you have the meat laying on the hide. Also, easy to make an incision and remove the tenderloins. You can take the neck and rib meat this way if you want. Cut off the legs at the knees and load that thing up. That's how we do all our big game (including elk and oryx). We can do this in just a little bit more time than it takes the average person to gut an animal, and it is a whole lot less bloody.

More than one way to skin a cat.

I never field dress a deer. Haul them to camp. Hang them skin, quarter and dump guts in a bucket. Pic is what I do with any hog over 30 lbs. I have sat radio in truck and as I hauled this one to pig dump the Beatles Little Piggie played on the radio.

i have only done this method once or twice with javelina. There just isn't much on a javalina to take except the hind quarters and the backstrap. I think with deer i definitely prefer a cleaner approach that will allow me to yield more off the carcass. when i did it with the javi i can't say that it was really all that convenient but javi is a pretty small animal. they are a little eaiser to work with.

I've almost found out the hard way that there are laws prohibiting the "wasting of game". I shot a doe one morning and shot through the front quarters and did not take them when I cleaned the deer. Game warden inspected the freezer that evening and noticed hind quarters and backstraps and ask about front quarters and where I had disposed of the carcass. I seriously believe I was headed toward a ticket for "wasting game" but the buzzards did such a number on the doe in the 12 hours that it was there that it looked like it had been there since last year. Saved by the Buzzards!