Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

DRESSING GAME AND FISH 269It Is common practice to hang deer by gambrelswith the head down ; but, when hung head up, theanimal is easier to skin and to butcher, drains better,and does not drop blood and juices over thehead and neck, which you may want to havemounted for a trophy. Dried blood is very hardto remove from hair or fur. If the skin is strippedol^ from rear to head it will be hard to grain. Andif the animal is not to be skinned for some time itis best hung by the head, because the slope of thehair then sheds rain and snow instead of holdingthem, and the lung cavity does not collect blood,rain, or snow.The more common way of skinning a deer, whenthe head is not wanted for mounting, is to hangit up by one hind leg and begin skinning at thehock, peeling the legs, then the body, and finallythe neck, then removing the head with skin on (forbaking in a hole), after which the carcass is swungby both legs and is eviscerated.If there is no time to hang the deer, open It,throw the entrails well off to one side, then coverthe carcass with boughs as if it were a trap, orhang a handkerchief, or the blown-up bladder ofthe animal, over it, to scare away marauders.Place the deer so it will drain downhill. Anddon't neglect to blaze your way out, so you canfind it again.Butchering Deer.— Now let us suppose thatyou have killed a deer far away from camp, andthat you wish to skin and butcher it on the spot,saving all parts of it that are good for anything.You are alone. You wish to make a workmanlikejob of it. You carry only the choicer parts withyou that evening, and must fix the rest so it willnot be molested overnight.Of course, you have a jack-knife, and either apocket hatchet or a big bowie-knife — probably thelatter, if this is your first trip. First hang thedeer, as described above. By the time you arethrough cutting those poles with the knife your