How to Skin Deer and Goats by Fisting for Perfect Skins and Carcasses: Warning Graphic!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 ก.ค. 2015
- This is my strategy for skinning deer and goats when the skin is to be used for tanning leather. I have developed this method over many years skinning hundreds of animals for butchers, hunters and for field station studies. It can always use refinement, but it works well for me and I think is a good basic system for amateurs.
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The opening cuts are made first and a few areas at the edges of the cuts are peeled back as necessary. Otherwise, the knife is used very little and the skin is pulled, fisted and levered off the animal instead of cutting. By avoiding use of the knife, there are few opportunities to cut the skin. Skinning with a knife carefully enough to avoid cutting the skin takes FOREVER too. Skinning by fisting and pulling leaves the carcass very clean which is much better for hanging the meat, especially if you are hanging in the field or ageing the meat.
The skin in this video will be used for some experiments for my new book-in-progress on making Vegetable tanned leather, using bark and leaves and stuff like that, aka bark tanning or barktanned leather. My previous book with Tamara Wilder through paleotechnics is Buckskin: the Ancient Art of Braintanning has a sizeable chapter on skinning deer. Here is an Amazon link to buy that book directly from me. amzn.to/1hcqDPf
I think this video turned out okay in spite of being in a hurry and having no script or extra camera person. Look for a more detailed and thorough one on skinning deer in the future! Happy tanning!
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When I’m older my dream is to live in a log cabin in a forest I made myself, have a farm of cows and a bow for hunting, maybe a blacksmith room, I will be a carpenter for a job and live like a medieval person. I’d love this kind of life. I admire you
Awesome Alexx. Well, you have a good head start. Start learning stuff now wherever you can. There is so much to learn. Thankfully you have the internet. Just make sure you actually do stuff and don't just sit around watching all the time. Most of these skills are earned, not just learned easily.
SkillCult yeah I just like to watch these videos to learn what to do and how to do it. I get it’s not as easy as it looks.
I'm glad you made the point about using a small handy kitchen knife for skinning. One year I realized I'd left my "designated skinning knife" at the house, so I grabbed my smaller fillet knife out of my tackle box and used that instead. It worked so well, so much better, than the larger skinning knife, that I switched permanently. Use what works best!
Way late to the game brother, but I appreciate the time you take to make content like this.
Never got to learn any of these skills growing up. Individuals like you growing through the trouble of putting this educational content out there for everyone, is the reason I know anything at all. Thanks again for your take on the subject.
You're welcome :)
Thanks, well done. My dad used that kind of technique and I had forgotten so much.
Thanks for the first part without any animals (for the sensitive people that i want to show this to). You do a good job of explaining why not to cut the hides when skinning. Thanks alot
It would be a damn shame for some people to realize where leather shoes and hamburger comes from.
did a great job. pleasure to watch someone who knows how to do it.
thanks. if you watch someone that does a lot regularly, it is amazing how fast they are. I've been faster in the past, but it's the butchers or people that can kill many deer a year in their hunting season that get really fast. Still, it takes more time to skin perfect hides every time.
Thanks again for posting these. I first watched them a few years ago before I got my first deer; my second is gutted and hanging (by the neck!) and I'm heading out to skin it right now. What a great feeling. Your videos are the best I've seen on skinning and tanning, and I like your wood splitting stuff too! I have a growing axe collection and they're all kept sharp and they all work for a spot in my shop. This winter I may take a stab at making some hawks for throwing!
I'm glad your axes are in order, most of mine aren't lol.
@@SkillCult my general rule is that anything I own, I have to use. No junk in the corner. I have a few nice hawks I haven't thrown (yet), but otherwise they're all in good shape. In an ugly pile on my bench, but hey.
The story I heard was that you should build your own bookshelves and make them really nice. This way you'll realize how much work it would be to build another, and so instead you don't keep the books/magazines you don't love or need. Just the ones you use.
Deer is skinned and I'm beat - you make it look so easy! Thanks again
Well made video!
@SkillCult Thanks so much for this video. Super great. So many useful tips. Always wondered how to avoid hair on the meat. Now i see, you cut from the inside out. Been loving your other videos as well. We are here in Guatemala, where I have been farming for 7 years. Goats, pigs, chicken, and more. Your stuff is great and I have become quite a fan. Thanks again.
When I first started skinning I got hair all over the place and had little idea what I was doing. When I think back, it was pretty awful :) Over time, skinning for hunters a lot, I cleaned up my act. Cutting under the skin is almost always faster too, except for ringing around the legs and such. It helps to not have too large or wide a knife. Guatemala is beautiful. I have climate envy! Do you follow David the Good's channel? Lots of good stuff on tropical gardening.
Very interesting man!
Thanks again!
Thanks for the very informative videos! it`s a plesure to watch them. I`m looking foreward to the videos about tanning. Greets from switzerland!
+froschseiler Thanks much!
Mate, if you were in Australia doing this, the flies would be driving you crazy. Good video though, easy to watch and appreciate.
The ending 😂😂❤️
Damn you make it Look easy
When I skin a deer I make similar cuts but instead of the fisting you are doing I just pull the skin off. I have a very high hoist and can raise the deer over my head for better leverage, grab with both hands and pull down. With a small deer, or goat I would assume, it pulls off much easier than a large buck. I'm not putting any knife marks in the hide so I'm not understanding why you don't just pull the skin off as opposed to kind of sticking your hands, arms etc. between hide and carcass and separate. I hope I asked that well enough, just trying to understand since I have not tanned hides before.
That's how I do as well
I just did my first deer and he makes this look a lot harder than it really needs to be. After watching a bearded butchers video before I skinned mine I don't know why anybody would stick their arm in up to their shoulder and not pull the hide off.
I use my quad and a rock and a rope to pull the hide loose , got weak in my old age.
The only suggestion I have is to get a chainfall (also called chain hoist). It makes raising and lowering the carcass so easy. There is no bending over or reaching way up in the air. My back starts to hurt after just 15 minutes of bending over, so the chainfall really helps. Just attach the animal to it on the ground and pull the chain to raise it up. No more struggling with heavy deer, especially when you are by yourself. Great video though. That is a clean looking hide.
+jhm8071 Thanks. I have used a crank type of ratchet wench a lot, and even have one in storage to install at some point, but I don't have anything set up right now. This one was light, but it can definitely be challenging hanging a larger animal by myself. I always seem to manage somehow, usually by hugging the carcass and lifting it with one arm while pulling on the rope with the other.
Great video! Are you going to follow up with one on how to preserve the hide? Freezing, wet salting, drying, etc.?
Dennis Lanigan Yes, eventually. I was going to do one with this skin, but it didn't happen. Hopefully I'll do it when I get a buck this season. (notice I said WHEN :) I like freezing and salting and will rarely dry a skin unless I have to, just because they are so much harder to soak up.. Until I get a video out, the buckskin book has a chapter, which you can actually read online free on the paleotechnics.com site here: www.paleotechnics.com/articlesindex.html This book may go out of print this year as we are running low and don't have money to invest in a printing. Hopefully I'll get it digitized sooner or later. Thanks for commenting.
Learning new shit with every video, keep up the good work
Hahaha nice i never knew what to call it but i discovered this trick this year and love it. I hope the elk hides i get from the butcher aren't all cut up.....i would offer to do some but they probably won't let me. Glad your telling the people this....it would have saved me lots of time.
I think you're fucking awesome. 18:53
ha ha.
That mosquito is killing me 😂
Great vid! Your probably even better now that was a while ago. We've always skinned our deer upside down and since I enjoy tanning I'm not the fastest but my hides aren't nicked up. I grip with left hand and push down with my forearm which works great. However I have to work the back down first instead of leaving it for last. Interesting. If I skinned alot I'd get a foot operated hoist and have a few vice clamps connected to cables on a ground plate.
Great vid. Me and my buddies drove from the city into te wine country, picked up a roadkill beautiful fox to skin it ad use the fur. I got no idea how to do that but this vid helps. It’s almost midnight and Im heading to my shop right now to try to do this. Im sure I picked up the wrong time of day to do this for the first time.... wish me luck
Good luck :)
Who would have ever guessed that a search for "goat fisting" would lead me to such enlightening content? 😃
This was always the part I disliked the most on deer and Elk. I am glad some of the meat held onto the hide when you pulled it off that would always happen to me so I never felt conferrable doing it that way.
Great video thanks for sharing..
+taz man I will sometimes really go out of my way to keep all the meat on the carcass, but it's usually just that thin meat on the back, so it really doesn't matter much. You shouldn't lose any sleep over it. A lot of hunters will start cutting when they see that, but then the carcass and the hide usually both end up sliced up for no good reason. It's better just to leave it on the skin than try to cut it off. It wouldn't have taken me a lot longer to keep all that on the carcass, but I was in a hurry and I just don't care that much. I used to care more, but it was more ideological than practical. It is no big deal to flesh it off the skin when tanning either.
+taz man That thin muscle that stays on a hide is what the animal uses to shiver/shake its fur to keep flies off and what-not. Hardly anything there, and you shouldn't worry about that waste (anymore than you should worry about the small scraps that stick to the bones).
Thanks brother, my father used the same technique on rabbits and Kangaroos in the 60's as a kid I used to help him.
Neat. Most people don't get to grow up around those kinds of skills anymore.
I like to do the technique of getting to clean skin and then go to the outside cut for roadkill. Because in the smushed areas the skin just will not separate from the bruised meat if I don't come from the inside. It's fun to see you use this method too!
Ah, a roadkill technician :) I used to have a tshirt that said roadkill removal technician lol. No fun to fist into gore and broken bones either!
@@SkillCult no it's not, thats why I stick to small stuff. I just love to work with squirrels small enough to get it done in an hour and a very pretty colour!
@@rosemoon9219 I'm always trying to convince people to tan squirrel skins but they all want to start with a cow or something lol. Squirrel skin is super nice.
@@SkillCult a cow is a bit much yes! Even for someone who's been doing it for a while
That helps a lot considering we just bought a goat because covid-19 if we need to I will skin it and cartoon it up and eat it
Thank you so much for the detailed video! I was wondering if you could do a detailed tanning video, from start to finish? Particularly fresh hides with fur. I looked through your videos, and didn't find anything, or am I completely missing it? :P
Most new tanners want to tan furs. I may eventually do some vids on that, but it's never been a huge interest of mine and I think the vegetable tanning is what I need to get out most right now. I do have a video following that process, though it doesn't cover all the tools and stuff very thoroughly, but a lot of good stuff and it's a good primer. It's the Axe Strops series. th-cam.com/video/urJ2Ll5im_A/w-d-xo.html
Awesome! I'll have a check at 'em :) either way I'm subscribed now, so I'll keep a look out for future tanning videos. You just get into more detail than most do, a no you explain the 'why' behind each step, and I really appreciate that :)
also have you ever tried using just a fist full of water to aid in the fisting. it does seem to help me sometimes. Or, is there a reason you dont do it?
No, never can recall hearing about that one. That totally makes sense though, I'll try it! thanks.
I fisted my first buck a week ago. I was not able to fully hang the deer though so it was only a little successful. Lesson one: i need to pack a larger rope with me, and maybe a pulley of sorts. (I hiked in and packed out so I try to keep loads light.) After i had the first half skinned I tried hoisting it up higher, and that’s when the rope broke, luckily it was when i had it in a bear hug so the carcus didn’t get dirty. I’m sure if someone was watching they would have had a good laugh. I had to finish on a tarp, and fisting was not so easy but not impossible. Very good technique. Thank you for sharing.
That sounds annoying. skinning on the ground isn't fun, but I've done it reasonably clean before. Takes way longer and infinite patience and attention.
where do you get your bodies? Do you hunt them or raise them yourselves, or are given or buying them, and if so from where?
awesome for sure, def like to see a video of big game skinning like this but on the ground since if your skinning in the field your not gonna hang that baby up
You can do it by just laying the skin out after skinning. the first side with the animal on it's side, then rolling the body over onto the laid out skin. You have to be super careful and slow though and it can still get a bit messy. Helps to have a helper handy. I've done it though.
Have you ever tried a small dive tank or air compressor insert a hose and use air to skin the animal? I would probably stick the hose under it's lower leg and pump it full of air. Probably leave the animal intact without gutting it and isolate the head with some rope to prevent air from escaping.
I havent, but people do it. I've also heard of doing that by mouth, I think with a small tube and a slit cut in the skin for goats or sheep.
I know this video has been up for several years so I hope you see this comment. I am a beginning tanner and have managed one nice braintanned elk. It's beautiful. But I wanted to get your book Buckskin: The Ancient Art of Braintanning. However, the cheapest I could find it was a used copy for $188. And yes, that is US dollars. Is there any hope it might get re-issued / re-published ?
We haven't been able get to that project yet unfortunately. The plan was to do it last winter, now the plan is to do it this winter ;) it will happen eventually though.
This is _not_ the kind of fisting I thought you were going to demonstrate......
whats your thoughts on the method of golf ball tied in the neck hide and pulling the whole hid off with a vehicle? peels off too much meat?
Works great. it shouldn't peel off any meat except the fell, that very thin sheet. But you may have to do a little set up first. One thing you can do is instead of a golf ball, leave the ears on the hide and tie under them. that's how I was taught.
So would you consider a buck vanguard a big skinning knife
No, that seems fine. I'd prefer a little shorter and probably lighter knife, but not a big deal. Hard to say without holding it and using it though. I hate those guards though. First thing I'd do with a knife like that if I was going to keep it is cut the blade guard off. A little weight is nice of you have to cut through the ribs, but other than that a light small knife can do everything else including removing the head. Up to butchering that is. Depending on what I have around, I usually just grab a small kitchen paring knife. Animals on which the skin has to be flayed off are a different story though.
I would love to pick up your books ! Can l find them on Amazon?
Out of print. Hopefully this fall....
I've heard some people use an Air Hose to help to break the skin from the hide not sure how you do that but meh something to think about.
I've actually even heard of blowing air between the skin and hide by mouth through a small slit. Never tried it. That was for lambs though I think.
Hi
Great video,
Personally I find your method very good. I do it myself similarly..Only I hang it in from the back legs and I usually start by blowing air after opening a channel with a smooth straignt stick in the back leg, exactly where you open the skin. It helps the skin detach from the meat.
However I would like to ask you if you have tried tanning with ashes, I remember my grandma doing it like that but noone in my familly is able to tell me how she did it excactly. I remeber she used ashes and salt.
Have a good day and keep on. Goat skin is something to be respected and I hope everyone could use it rather than lose it and lose this knowledge.
Hi. I haven't tried the air thing, but I've heard about it. I find it a little easier to skin hanging from the neck. The neck is definitely easier to skin than it is upside down. Even so, I've probably skinned more hung by the back legs for hunting stations and butchers.
Ashes are for removing hair mostly. They don't tan the skin, but will make the hair fall out. They do other things too, like removing other unwanted substances. She probably used something afterward, like bark or smoke or oil to lubricate. Where was she from?
Yes you are right, in fact I find it is easier to skin the neck the way you do. The air I do it because I have weaker arms, I have tried not to do it and it is harder to go into the skin like 12:12.
My grandma ( and me) was greek. She used to make shoes for us with calf and goat skin. She used the ashes from the interior as she scrubed the interior of the skin, this was for the goat. The calf was harder, she put it in the place of the sole. She scrubed the goat skin with white ashes and salt... now that I think about it she left the skins "sleep" she said. She hung them in the place where we made fire for the bread. ( maybe for smoke?)
I will switch to hunging from the neck I guess.
Thank you
maybe she was making rawhide?
@@AnnaYogaInfinityI know I'm replying to a very old comment, but the story about your grandma was really fucking beautiful. 🥹
is the goat okay?
Sir can you learn me how skin turn in to leather in homemade full process step by step
Basic question. Would you use skins from sick animals? Dead or killed because of illness.
Personally, probably not. I read once that many human disease are shared with animals. I think if you used gloves and took basic precautions it's probably not that risky (obviously depending on the disease). But who knows.
Do you have to have a butchers license to do this or to sell the meat?
Most places yes. And for good reason really. People do it, but the health department is going to visit if they find out.
Would it be easier to tie down the feet/legs so the whole carcass didnt move around?
Maybe it would. If there is someone standing around, I often have them hold a leg to stop it swinging around. It is a bother for sure.
thanks for the response. Keep up the good work. I've learned a lot from your channel
Only thing worth adding is that some people may want to purchase a knife with a ball bearing welded to the tip. Stops you poking holes in hides. Good for those without the strength to do fisting or pulling the skin off. Yes there is such a thing. :) Google knife with ball on tip
Hmm and you beginners dont forget to buy meat hooks or gambrel hooks - and rope / pulleys. Back strain you do not need.
And the nicest meat on any animal is the back steak. Thats the long 'sausage' down both sides of the spine. First thing off once the skin is gone.
Nice clip. I'll have to go back now and rewatch your fleshing clip to see the next part for the next time I get to go shooting
I've got one on salting and other preserving of skins too