Protect your harvest from spoilage and hair slip with clean, fast field care—so the meat stays safe and the hide stays prime for taxidermy tanning
A quality tanned hide or skin begins with proper field care.
Field dressing your harvest is an essential skill for hunters to learn. Proper and timely field dressing helps preserve the meat and hide, prevents spoilage, and makes large animals easier to transport. Below are practical tips for field dressing while keeping skinning for taxidermy and flat skin tanning in mind.
Safety First
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Wear rubber or latex gloves to protect yourself from blood, bacteria, and possible diseases that wild game can transmit.
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Use a sharp knife. A sharp blade makes the job easier and safer.
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Work in a clean area. Ideally, field dress in a location that is easy to clean and away from your camp or hunting area.
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Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water when finished.
How to Field Dress a Deer (or Elk, Moose, Antelope, Sheep, etc.)
Deer are one of the most commonly harvested animals, so we will focus on deer. The process is similar for elk, moose, antelope, sheep, and other big game.
Place the deer on its back with its head downhill if possible. If you are on uneven ground, elevate the hindquarters using rocks or branches to make the abdomen easier to access.
Spread the hind legs apart to give you more room to work.
Locate the sternum (breastbone) near the center of the chest. Using a sharp, fixed-blade knife, make a shallow cut from below the caping line (Figure A).
Insert two fingers from your free hand to hold the skin up and away from the intestines as you cut straight down along the midline of the abdomen and around the genitals (Figure B).
Cut just deep enough to pierce the skin and abdominal muscles, avoiding damage to internal organs.
Slit the belly skin all the way to the pelvic bone and cut deeply around the rectum, being careful not to puncture the intestine.
Pull the rectum out and tie string around it to prevent droppings from touching the meat.
Locate the diaphragm, which separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity, and carefully cut through the diaphragm along the ribs.
Reach into the chest cavity and cut the esophagus and windpipe off as far up as possible, then pull them down through the chest (Figure C).
Cut any connective tissue holding the organs in place. The goal is to remove the entire internal organ mass in one motion without puncturing the intestines, which could contaminate the meat.
Turn the deer onto its side, grab the esophagus with one hand and the rectum and intestine with the other, and pull hard. The internal organs will come out in one pile with minimal mess.
Inspect and Clean
Inspect for damage or contamination to the meat. If any organs or intestines have been punctured, clean the area. Avoid touching meat with dirty hands or tools.
Use a clean cloth, paper towels, or clean tools to wipe away residue, blood, or remaining organ material. The goal is to keep the cavity clean to prevent spoilage.
Cooling the Meat
Allow air to circulate around the cavity by hanging the deer from its hind legs or laying it on its back with the hind legs open. See the skinning steps below for deer and other animals.
As soon as the animal expires, bacteria begin to attack the carcass. The faster you field dress the animal, the better the meat and hide will be. This matters even more in warm weather.
How to Skin for Taxidermy or Flat Skin Tanning
The following information is courtesy of McKenzie Taxidermy Supply.
Caping for a Shoulder Mount
Using a sharp knife, slit the hide circling the body behind the shoulder at approximately the midway point of the rib cage behind the front legs.
Slit the skin around the legs just above the knees.
Make an additional split from the back of the leg to join the body cut behind the legs (Figure D and E).
Peel the skin forward up to the ears and jaw, exposing the head and neck area junction.
Cut into the neck approximately 3 inches down from this junction.
Circle the neck cutting down to the spinal column.
Grasp the antler bases and twist the head off. This allows the hide to be rolled up and, if possible, frozen until it can be taken to the taxidermist.
These cuts allow enough hide for the taxidermist to work with when mounting. Excess hide can be trimmed, but extra hide cannot be added.
Take care:
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Do not cut into the brisket (chest) or neck area.
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If blood gets on the hide, wash it with snow or water as soon as possible.
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Avoid dragging the deer with a rope. Place it on a sled, rickshaw, or 4-wheeler. Rope, rocks, or broken branches can damage the hair or puncture the hide.
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If you must drag with a rope, attach it to the base of the antlers and drag carefully.
Skinning Life-Size Big Game
There are two methods of skinning for large life-size mounts such as deer, elk, moose, or bear. These methods are the flat incision and the dorsal method.
Flat Incision
The flat incision is used for rug mounts and a variety of poses. The cut areas are shown in Figure F.
Make these slits, cut the feet free from the carcass, and pull the skin off the carcass. The head is detached as with the shoulder mount.
Dorsal Method
The dorsal method involves a long slit down the back from the base of the tail up to the neck. Skin the carcass as it is pulled through this incision. Cut the feet or hooves and the head off from the carcass as with the shoulder mount above.
Use this method with detailed instructions from your taxidermist (Figure G).
How to Field Prep Fish for Mounting
Do not gut your fish.
If you cannot take your fish immediately to a taxidermist, wrap it in a very wet towel and put it in a plastic bag. Make sure all fins are flat against the fish’s body to prevent leakage, then freeze it. A fish frozen this way can safely be kept in the freezer for months.
Tip: A fish will lose its coloration shortly after being caught. A good color photograph immediately after being caught may help the taxidermist duplicate the natural color tones of that particular fish.
*Always have the appropriate tags with your harvest, especially when you take them to your taxidermist. Do not cut the ears for attachment.
What to Do With a Hide After Field Prepping
Once the hide is removed from the animal, cooled, and fleshed to remove large areas of meat, fat, and membrane, freezing it is the best option.
Fold the hide skin to skin with the hair side out, roll it up, put it into a plastic bag, remove the air, and put it in the freezer.
Hides can be kept in an ice chest, but be careful not to get it wet with melting water. A wet hide causes bacteria to grow.
If you are unable to freeze and you are in a remote area, salting is the next option. See our tips on salting hide and skins.
Key Takeaways
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A quality tanned hide or skin begins with proper field care.
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Gloves, a sharp knife, and a clean work area reduce contamination and spoilage risk.
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Field dress fast and avoid puncturing intestines to keep meat clean and the cavity sanitary.
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Cool the carcass quickly by opening the cavity and allowing airflow.
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Caping and life-size skinning require specific cuts, and extra hide is always better than not enough.
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Do not gut fish intended for mounting, and freeze correctly with fins laid flat.
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After removal, the best hide storage option is freezing, skin to skin with hair out, air removed.
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A wet hide grows bacteria fast. Keep it dry in a cooler, or salt if freezing is not possible.
