Trad Gang
Topic Archives => How To - Resources => Topic started by: Shaun on November 09, 2006, 08:16:00 PM
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There have been some recent questions about field dressing deer. From this I deduct that some folks might want to know what to do when they get the deer home. You can always take your deer to a locker and leave it with instructions. But I like to do it myself at home.
This is the method I have been using for years and we eat at least three deer a year at my house.
First: get one of these
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp001.jpg)
I save the heart and liver when I field dress. I pull the tenderloins (two strips of muscle inside the rib cage near the backbone) when I hang up the deer.
I hang them from the rear leg tendons with a gambrel. You can cut them up right away or let them hang if the weather is cool. Hanging tenderizes the meat - good beef is hung in a cooler for up to three weeks. Does and yearlings I cut up right away. This buck hung for a couple days but the weather was turning very warm, so time to cut.
Take the hide off by cutting the skin around the legs near the gambrel - don't cut the big tendons that he's hanging from. Pull the hide down and use the knife as little as possible. You will have to cut some, but try not to cut the hide. Also, try not to transfer hair to the meat as you work.
When you get to the front legs, cut around as you did the hind legs and slit the hide under the arm to the center cut. Cut the front legs off at the joint. The neck takes some knife work to peel. Cut the head off at the Atlas joint - where the spine meets the skull.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp002.jpg)
Next cut away fat and connective sheeth that covers the back and the loins (large muscle down each side of the backbone). When you get down to the front shoulder, cut off the front leg by cutting under the scapula. In this picture the loins are exposed on one front leg is nearly cut free.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp004.jpg)
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Once both front shoulders are cut free, you can filet out the loins (backstraps). This is the primo stuff, so try to get them out without much waste. Start at the top near the hams. If you run your knife up along the spine, you will hit bone at the pelvis. This is where the loin starts. Worry it free and work it down cutting where it attaches to the ribs. You will make a mess of the first one but practice will soon make you proficient, especially after you learn how good this is to eat.
Here one loin is being removed.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp005.jpg)
The shoulder pieces I bone and save for stews, chili, or grinding. The loins I cut into family sized portions and freeze in these large pieces. You can cut them into medalions, butterfly steaks or whatever when you take them out of the freezer. On a large deer cut the loin into thirds, on a yearling, I might freeze an entire loin in one package.
Here are the two loins and one shoulder.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp006.jpg)
Note: before you cut the loin into sections, remove the silver skin like you would remove a fish skin when fileting. That is, slide a filet knife between the meat and the table or board while pressing down but keeping the blade flat and working the length of the piece. Don't throw that back sinew away - back a bow or trade it to someone who makes bows.
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This is just what I'm looking for!, gonna be a good one. thanks Shaun :bigsmyl: :goldtooth:
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The neck I cut off - either worry free at a vertibral joint or saw it off. I use the neck for mincemeat. The local farmers swear by neck cooked in a crock pot with a liter bottle of 7-up. Have not tried it yet, but its on my list. Mincemeat recipe will be a different thread. For now, I freeze the neck whole with the bone in.
I do not save the ribs. Used to when there were not so many deer, but I have not found a rib recipe that trips my trigger and cutting the little bit of meat from between the ribs is not worth it to me.
So we are down to the hind legs or hams. I used to cut these in two inch thick slices with the bone in for pot roasts. But now I bone them as follows. Cut the leg free at the ball and socket joint. Work you knife along the pelvis and find this pivot joint. Once again the first one will be ugly, but you will soon learn to do a neat job.
Lay the freed leg on you table with the ball joint down. We are going to get five cuts from this piece - bottom round, top round, eye of round, sirloin tip and rump (sometimes called butt).
Find this big diagonal seam. It may be lined with fat like this or just a lean line.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp007.jpg)
Make a shallow cut and work your fingers in. There is a natural seam where the muscles will separate. Work with your fingers and just enough knife work to free the piece like this.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp008.jpg)
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Continue to follow this seam until the piece is free. This is the top round. On a small deer, you may want to leave the next piece - the eye of round - attached to this piece for a bigger hunk. On a large deer I make one freezer package with both eye of round pieces in it. Here is the freed top round.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp010.jpg)
The eye of round is only a couple inches wide. It has a seam and comes off next.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp011.jpg)
The next piece in line is the bottom round. It too will come free by finding the seam and working with fingers and some knife.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp012.jpg)
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The sirloin tip is firmly wrapped around the actual leg bone. On the top end of the sirloin is the rump piece. Find the seam between these two and worry the rump piece away from the sirloin and then cut it free where it attaches to the bone.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp013.jpg)
Here the rump piece is freed and I am holding the sirloin. I freeze both rump pieces in one package and use for stew.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp014.jpg)
Now the sirloin. Turn it over so the leg bone is visible. This piece is attached firmly to this bone.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp015.jpg)
Carefully cut with your knife tip against the bone and it will come free.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp016.jpg)
The sirloin is a very fine grained solid piece shaped like a football. I like to use it for saurbratten or a roast.
The meat on the lower leg is called the shank. This is a wonderful thing to slowly braise. I keep it with the bone in for just this purpose. Cut the shank off at the leg joint.
Here is what you get from the back leg. Top round, eye of round, bottom round, rump, sirloin and from the lower leg the shank.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp017.jpg)
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FAT DEER!
I have helped my boss/buddy and his wife process quite a few deer and elk and I concur with what Shaun is saying and showing.
When you 'butterfly' the loins; you lay the loin down on a flat cutting surface like in the photo; and cut through all the way with one slice across the loin; then almost all the way through on the next slice- and keep the distance between the cuts the same.
Then you unfold each into a 'butterfly'.
I take off all the sinew and other tissue I can and end up with a great tasting steak.
On elk; there are a second set of tenderloins near the front of the rib cage.
Sometimes meat processors call the tenderloins 'kidneys' and PRETEND to cut them out and throw them away..
if there was no gut material on them; they are considered by many the best part of the deer for the table :)
Keep going Shaun :thumbsup:
:campfire: :archer:
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To package for freezing. Trim as much fat and sinew off as reasonable. Deer fat does not keep well and will flavor the meat. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and then freezer paper. I have large rolls of each, but you can get by with grocery store packages of plastic wrap like Saran Wrap or Renolds Wrap and some smaller rolls of freezer paper.
The plastic wrap is what protects the frozen meat from air and the freezer paper protects the plastic wrap.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp019.jpg)
Use as much plastic wrap as it takes to completly wrap the piece. Then use a square piece of freezer paper. Place the meat on one corner of the freezer paper and roll it diagonally toward the other corner while tucking in the sides. This makes a "butchers wrap" that can be closed with one piece of freezer tape. Lable each piece with contents and date.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp020.jpg)
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Put this in the freezer and you are a wealthy family! Learn to handle and cook venison right and you will have your friends and family asking you to go hunting more often.
If you are bitten by the self bow bug, you may want to save the sinew from the legs as well as the back sinew. The leg sinew lays along the bone of the lower leg. Cut it off and dry them for later use.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/DeerCutUp018.jpg)
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Shaun-
cool idea- and thanks !
this one should be archived !!!!!
:thumbsup:
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oh one question-
did that cam shaft(in the background) come outta that deer ????????LOL !
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Great cut along. That is just how we do it here in NJ but our deer are much smaller. I love it when people from PA and out west ask what do you do with 10 deer? I say that coller I just filled with boned meat from one PA deer last week held three Jersey deer with bones in. J.Michael
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very good !!!! ....... always wondered how to ID all the different rounds
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Shaun,
Great pictures and info. I usually use the neck/shoulders/shanks for burger meat. Can you give out the recipie for braising the shank--that sounds like it would be worth a try.
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Shaun,excellent picture along.I do basically the same as you,however, since our deer are smaller I follow the bone and cut off the top,eye and bottom round as one big roast.Then cut of the sirloin and butt.One thing you want to do if you leave the round whole is reach in and cut out the small gland in there.Ohh nice bug btw.
CB
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If you eat enought deer (my kids think beef "tastes funny") you will learn that the different pieces have different flavors and textures. The local river rats tell me there are 13 distinct kinds of meat on a snapping turtle.
Loins are the gold standard. Fine grained, tender and good in any recipe. My next favorite piece is the bottom round. Flavorful, long grained texture and tender. Top round is right in there too. I find the sirloin tip to be tough especially on a large deer, but very fine grained and good in a slow moist heat cooking method. The tenderloins from inside the ribcage - remember I cut them out right away when hanging up the deer because they are not protected from the air - are incredebly tender and great on skewers on the grill. Alternate hunks of tenderloin with pieces of vegetable and mushrooms, baste with a little something and stand back. A fine deer stew with shoulder, rump or other misc. pieces is so good that most visitors will not believe its deer. And I already mentioned braised shanks.
These creatures are not only irresitable fun to bow hunt, but can be the best eating you ever had. I'm still dreaming of that pan seared loin medalions with wine merchant sauce that Chef Dan fixed for us on a recent hunt in SD. You can find his recipe in the most recent Bowyers Journal.
So get out there and get some. The rut is on!
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Steve, braised shank is a standard in most big cook books. Braised lamb shanks will cost you a fortune in a good restaurant. Basically, braising means slow moist cooking. Brown your piece of whatever (I joke that an old boot would be good cooked like this) in a heavy pan with some oil. Then add some some root vegies, onion, carrots, celery (OK that's not a root, but put some in) some garlic and spices - brown a little more. Add liquid - water, broth, wine, etc. and then cover. Cook slowly at low temp in the oven for hours till tender. Mmmmmmm
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Nice job Shaun. :) :) :) :)
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Excellent!!!
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Thanks Shaun. If I ever get to hunt again :rolleyes: I am going to try that. I have been out your way all week WORKING and listening to the big buck tales from all the guys at the plant...lots of close calls. Have to go to Mexico all next week, while the orange army in MI puts all the deer underground till April or so :knothead: .
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Nice of you to take the time to share with us.
I sure some have learned much from your efforts here!
Doing it yourself makes it better on the table!
:campfire:
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Shaun has done a fantastic job, but I'd add one variation. Save the upper leg bones, cut into four inch sections with a butcher's saw, do the same with the shanks, and cook a s-l-o-w osso buco recipe (similar to his braised shank recipe, with half a dozen or ten tomatoes (plum, with some paste or dried tomatoes, and maybe a couple of spoonfuls of A-1), lots of garlic, one or two onions, lots of wine, and some orange rind zest. Be sure to use more liquid than for a traditional braise, set it outside to cool for a night, and remove an ungodly amount of fat the next morning. Tremendous flavor will have rendered out of the marrow, and most of the tendons, ligaments, etc. will have converted into gelatin. This stew will make you very popular and strong like bull, though the sounds of marrow being sucked out of the femur puts off the fainthearted. Probably not the ideal meal for a first date, though if she goes for this you have struck gold.
FWIW, I just tried a jumbo batch in a pressure cooker, which didn't seem to do the gelatin conversion as well.
Shaun, I want to eat a meal at your place sometime. And you're always invited here in Evaro, MT.
Now, a question for the larger group--I see and hear talk about roast or smoked ribs. I've never really found a way to do them that was worth the trouble. Anyone have any ideas?
Though my ex-wife took the cookbook, I know of a heart recipe that's incredible. The recipe requires slicing the heart, so it doesn't matter if it already has a clean two or three blade slice through it...
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You guys are making me hongry...lol!
Eating's my favorite part...
Nice tutorial there Shaun...if you start by pulling the hide on the hind legs down past the tendon, while he's still on the ground or in the pickup bed, BEFORE you hang him on the gambrel, it's a lot easier (and cleaner hairwise) than trying to work around the steel after he's up in the air. Wish I could just pop over and show you how easy it is, but I'm clear up here in the northwest corner, dang it!
JockC...ribs grill good with a little smoke, lots of pepper and a good Bar-B-Que sauce. Be sure to leave the flank on if you're gonna grill. Greasy! Yeah! Good!
Sometimes I bone out the ribs (in between) and smoke the strips for jerky. The tallow makes for some mighty tasty jerky.
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We have a 'regular cut'; which is steaks;roasts;and burger.
We take the rib meat and toss it in with the burger.
normally we mix in about 10% beef suet; and grind it twice. You can buy suet at the grocery store in the meat section or ask a butcher for some.
deer fat is not suet- on a beef it is only found around the kidneys...its not fat from outside the body cavity.
I don't like roasts; so I steak all I can and burger some- and make the rest into smoked summer sausage.
In the shop; the meat is wrapped as Shaun describes; when I wrap for myself- I use just over the counter freezer paper. In 30+ years I have not had a freezer burn problem.
I might be damning luck by saying that- but its true.
As a fall professional meat processor I applaud Shauns gift to us here! :readit:
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Very good tute Shaun.I've been cutting up deer this way for 17yrs.It is time consuming but well worth it when it is time to eat it.Also with wrapping that way,I've had venison in the freezer for 4 yrs with no ill effect.(Packages do get lost in the freezer.LOL)
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Meat off the shoulder blades on a larger deer can also be cut up into finger steaks.On smaller deer we just grind up the shoulder meat.
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Shaun, Most excellent!!! Thanks for taking the time to share with the gang.
Same method our family uses,very easy!
Blows me away that people will pay so much $$ to get this done by someone else.
Good stuff!!! I'll bet this will go into the archives....
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Jerry (Alsea) is right about cutting the leg skin before hanging. This will save some step ladder balancing knife work. I do it unless I am dog tired, beat up and bleeding - which is how I usually am after getting back to the barn with my deer. Often hunting alone and dang heavy deer will wear a fellow out.
A hand bone saw speeds some steps but you can learn where and how to cut the joints with some practice. A good knife kept sharp is a must.
RECIPES - Note: There is a separate forum for this, so lets not get too far off in that direction on this topic & forum. I figure getting them in the freezer is part of the hunt and some future use info is important for cuts and packaging.
Then again - JockC, that osso buco sounds great. I will make sure to stop by your place next time out west. I love to cook. Game dinner at my place just about every day and company is welcome.
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Thanks for taking the time to put this together Shaun.
Looks like we went ot the same school of butcherin'. I do mine almost exactly the same.
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Shaun
Well done tutorial. :thumbsup:
By the way, what year is that VW Bug? It looks mint!
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Oh dang, I am hungry now. I can remember a particularly good season where we had a "deer processing day". There was something like 7 or 8 deer to do that day. We cut some chops from one of the loins, cleaned off a big piece of steel and laid it on the barrel stove and cooked them babies up with butter, right there on the stove.
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Here is something I just started doing.
I start the slow cooker with a bag of dry onion soup mix and some water. As I am cutting and come across a piece like the shanks (fore and aft)or any other semi tough or fibrous piece. I toss them in the slow cooker. Let everything cook for 5-6 hours or more. Then turn it off. When the meat is mostly cool. You will notice most of the bad stuff has melted away. The stuff that hasn't you can pull off. I then take this delicious seasoned meat and vacuum seal it for sandwiches. Nothing like onion soup seasoned venison with some horseradish sauce on good bread.
You can also cook it unseasoned as well and grind it for spaghetti meat or for other places some cooked ground works. Or seal it as is and pull out a package and mix it with BBQ sauce for some pulled venison. Or even make a soup.
For me I end up throwing a lot less meat out that I get frustrated trying to get totally cleaned up. I let the cooking separate it and it is delicious.
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Until reading Shaun's hanging post I had forgotten what a pain hanging a deer alone was after a day of hunting. Scent, hair, blood, fat, and ticks all over me and my sore muscles.. I bought a gambrel on sale and a chain block used a few years back, smile every time I use them, and wonder what the hell took me so long.
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Good Tute Shawn. Man, for a buck, that deer sure had a lot of fat on it!
FYI - Speaking of fat, here's one for all the bird watchers/feeders here. Birds LOVE deer fat. We have done experiments with hanging onion bags of deer fat next to beef fat. The birds will usually completely consume the deer fat before they touch the beef fat.
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great post Shaun, got me thinking about a winter trip down there to cut some hedge and eat like a king in your kitchen! I need you to help me in the recipe department, the best venison I have ever had was about the half dozen times you have prepared it! These last two bucks of mine I was able to age just perfectly in an almost constant 38-40 degress for about 5-6 days. The deep redness completely converted to a beautiful rosy pink!, even the sirloin. Most of the cuts were completely relaxed. Should be some good stuff. That big 200lb. nine pointer is some of the most tender meat I have ever had. I am going down to pull some out of the freezer right now! Thanks again for the thread esp. the three separate pieces of round.
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Shaun, I need help following your first instruction...
"get one of these...." :mad:
Thanks!
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Meathook-
I do the same thing but I put in some beef broth sometimes.
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Well done, Shaun!
Claudia
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Nice job :thumbsup: I'm with you all the way. I too think the ribs are a waste of my time.
By the way, nice beetle. what year is she? I'm no expert but if that's a factory color I'm guessing '72?
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No the crankshaft was not cut out of the deer, though it might be good with the "old boot" braise method.
Yep, its a '72 Superbeetle restoration. Changed from factory orange to factory green. Trying to drive my way into a flashback. Nearly ready for roadtrippin'.
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I didn't read every post, but what did you do with the shoulders?
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V A, I bone out the shoulders and use this for stews, chili, or grind for burger. Shoulder meat goes in packages marked "boned shoulder", and into the freezer. I prefer to make the decision about what to use each part for as the cooking muse directs me later rather than make them into finished or specialty cuts while butchering. Meat also keeps longer in large cuts rather than smaller steaks, pieces or ground.
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Good job Shaun! :)
I started a few years ago cutting up my own deer and it was one of the best skills I learned.
BTW I got to see Shaun's VW in person and it's in really nice shape. I have always liked those old beetles.
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Awesome job Shaun...after seeing so many deer stacked like cordwood, some smelling like fox bait at processors I learned to take care of my own the very same way that you do. I do my steaks and loins and the rest is either jerky or summer sausage. Just smoked 30 pounds of sausage on Tuesday. thanks for sharing with the gang. I will admit I use a vacuum sealer today for all my meats and like the quality over time much better than paper but of course it's just me and mom now. Once again...great job. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: ...............Mac~
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Been doing ours the same way for years. Thanks for sharing with us.
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Shaun, very cool!!! I do all my own with my Dad!! We also need someone to show guys how to gut a deer. Man, I watched a guy this morning and it was a mess. He just yanked and pulled. He said he was done and I said what about the heart and lungs, he was shocked when I showed him what he left inside. He said he always does it that way and brings them to the butcher!(LOL!!!) Shawn
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shaun, what do you do with your hides?
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Shaun - I cut up several deer a year (2 last week), and thought I was pretty good at it...your tutorial taught me a few things, especialy about the hind quarters. Thanks very much.
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Little Tree, I often sell my hides to a local fur buyer for a few dollars each. This season I'm sending them off to W B Place in Hartford, WI to be tanned. Cost about $25 plus postage per hide. They will also do a hair on tan for about $50. If you are going to send hides in, contact them or a simular company (Google search) for instructions. Most want the hide salted and air dried for a few days - not scraped, and then packaged in paper & cardboard box only - no plastic bags or wraps.
Thanks all for the feedback. I meant this only as a primer to encourage folks to consider doing their own butchering. What you like to cook & eat and the size of your family will change the specifics of cuts. The same general methods will work for any large game animal, I use basically the same method for anything from elk to javies.
I hunt the gun season with a bunch of local farmers. Its a traditional neighborhood social and bonding event. More like a harvest than a hunt. They hang all the deer, leg peeling started like Jerry mentioned, at one barn. Then there is a cutting up gathering one night at the end of the season. Their method is basically the same, but they cut "steaks" about 1/2" thick from the loins and some rounds. The balance of the meat is boned and taken to different lockers that do specialty sausage preparation. They also grind some with beef suet for burger.
Now, get out there and get some venison.
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Nice tutorial Shaun. I always considered the butchering part of the hunt. Last year I shot a deer in the warm weather and didn't have time to cut it up. Paid $80 to have it flash frozen and buzzed up on a band saw. Most of the vacupacks lost their seal and I wound up tossing half the meat due to freezer burn. Was such a waste! I'll never do it again. Have taken to quartering and putting on ice in the cooler for a few days this year. Seems to work. Prefer to hang in 40 degree weather though. Learned something from you on the eye of round. Most of my deer are small enough that it gets left attached to the bottom round. It looks like a tenderloin though.
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Thank you, Shaun - now I know I've been doing it right! I'm serious - I first started cutting my own for two reasons: 1. The meat was always gamey due to bone being sawn through for steaks, etc., and 2. After bringing a 197# dressed weight 8-point buck to the "butcher" (just a guy with a bandsaw, a garage and 3 sons) and holding the paper shopping bag worth of meat from my deer, I asked where the rest of it was. I was told that what I had was what there was, and that I was "ignorant" of how much waste there was in butchering. Yeah, like into his OWN freezer kind of waste. Anyhow, it's a pain for me because of time poverty these days, but my oh my what a wonderful way, to butcher your own. Anyhow, like I said, it's nice to know that I figured out by accident what you've shown is the way to do it. I always had those nagging doubts, especially when people would ask what cut of meat were they eating. Beyond the tenderloins and loins, what did I know? What I called the "round" is actually the sirloin... oh well, good learning times at hand.
Oh yeah, and Max (the family mutt) REALLY likes that I butcher our own! He gets all the scraps, and he especially likes the front quarters after they've had the meat boned off them. Of course I'm sure he'd prefer that I'd leave the meat on them, but that's not how it's gonna be! I'm glad he's not too visible from the road, it looks like a dinosaur kill around his house when we're done.
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Shaun,
There is a guy in Wisconsin that has a DVD, he butchers his deer the same way you do. Everything is deboned. You guys can get the DVD if you want to his (Bill Hesselgrave web site is:
www.hessvideo.com (http://www.hessvideo.com)
The DVD is called: " Care and Processing of Venison"
click on videos available
He shows you everything from field dressing, to wrapping the meet. It's something you can put into your library for archery. I purchased mine at Gander Mountain, it's a sporting-goods store. I'm sure they would have at Cabel's, or you can order it right off his site.
BrokenArrow1
Carl
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Here's a DVD I made for VA Dept of Game and Inland Fisheries and it's only $12.00.
https://www3.dgif.virginia.gov/estore/proddetail.asp?prod=VW250
(http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h21/VAbowbender/Hunting/DeerButcheringCover.jpg)
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Shaun, Very good surgical technic! Doc
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Man, what a great thread. I'm going to put this info to use tomorrow night on a deer shot Wednesday morning. I do have a few questions that may have been addressed earlier but I might have missed:
1) Food savers (Tilia type). Is it better than butcher paper? If so, do you freeze your burger meat and then grind before use or grind and then freeze?
2) Are my tenderloins inside the ribcage toast since they have been exposed to air for 3 days?
Thanks again for a great post.
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Originally posted by mqqse:
1) ....do you freeze your burger meat and then grind before use or grind and then freeze?
2) Are my tenderloins inside the ribcage toast since they have been exposed to air for 3 days?
1) Quality wise it doesn't matter. What I like to do is to freeze the burger portions and scraps until all the deer killing is done and then thaw and grind all at one time, package and refreeze. Just more efficient that way.
2) The tenderloins will have a little rind on them, but are still worth the trouble, not toast yet. A good practice is to pull these as soon as possible.
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Figured I'd offer an alternative method of getting the hide off that I learned from my Dad who learned it from a couple of old guys that did all the skinning for a club in the Mississippi Delta back in the 60's. It's going to seem backwards for all of you that do it the way Shaun showed, hanging by the heels, but trust me, this way works and it really good when you're by yourself.
First, cut the hide all the way around the neck and then down the center of the chest/stomach and ring around the rear end as usual. Next ring the legs and then cut in from the rings to the centerline cut along each leg. Now, peel the hide back on the neck until you can roll it around a golf ball. Cinch a small cable or piece of rope around that with a foot or two of slack on it. Hook the other end to something solid, like the bumper of your truck. Next, loop the rope of your lift pulley around the neck and hoist the deer up. As you lift the deer, the hide will be peeled off without all the huffin and puffin. Growing up we used a boat winch for our lift, so all we had to do was turn the crank and the hide came right off. The guys that taught the trick to my dad used a piece of clothesline wire with loops in both ends and just dropped the loose end over the hitch on the jeep, put the jeep in gear and drove off to pull the hide.