Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

;DRESSING GAME AND FISH 271deer the joint is about an inch and a half belowthe hock on the hind leg, and an inch below theknee on the fore leg. Cut square across throughskin and muscles, in front, and similarly behindthen, with a quick pull backward against your knee,snap the shank off. The joint of the fore leg isbroken in a similar manner, excepting that it issnapped forward.Having stripped the vertebrae from the tail, nowpeel the skin off the whole animal, from the shouldersdownward, assisting with your closed fist, and,where necessary, with the knife; but wherever theknife is used be careful to scrape the skin as cleanas you can, without cutting it, for every adheringbit of fat, flesh, or membrane must be thoroughlyremoved before the skin is ready for tanning, andthat is easier to do now than after it dries. Thewhole operation of skinning is much easier whilethe animal is still warm than after the body hasbecome cold. To skin a frozen animal is a desperatelymean job. I have known four old huntersto work nearly a whole afternoon in skinning afrozen bear.The skin of the body and limbs having been removed,stretch it out flat, hair side down, alongsideof you to receive portions of the meat as it isbutchered.Gralloching.— Now take up your big knife,insert its point alongside the breastbone, and cutthrough the false ribs to the point of the sternum.In a young animal this is eas}-; but in an old onethe ribs have ossified, and you must search for thesoft points of union between the ribs and the sternum,which are rather hard to find. Here yourknife's temper, and perhaps your own, will be putto the test. The most trifling-looking pockethatchet would do the trick in a jiffy.Open the abdominal cavity, taking care not torupture anything, and prop the chest open a fewinches with a stick, or by merely pulling the ribsaway from each other. Cut the diaphragm free