Removal of head and feet prior to skinning - is it really a requirement

[Overlay]

Guys
I guess everyone including myself top and tail a deer in the larder then cool onto then skin and butcher up I do mine after 2 and 8 prior to butchery and skin off ( 2 days and eight hours thereabouts)

what are the thoughts on leaving the hooves and head on until the skinning

my small deer I hang via the the aitch bone on a stainless steel x gambrel which allows me not to have to slice the back legs to hang in the chiller combining that with a bleed and post tying off a green field gralloch on the shot site transfer to the larder to finish off the gralloch and a tidy up including removing the pipe work to the head and anal area via tunnel method rather than skinning back from the tail

I’ve done quite a few this way and the carcase does seem to settle better and has minimum cuts and drying out, I prefer to minimise any bare flesh where possible for the obvious reasons throughout

my field grallochs 99% of the time are either suspended or in a cradle for the smaller species in the field, minimal cutting summer or winter

wondering what the general consensus is to / for most stalkers of the smaller species in their handling as I quite like the process

 

[Husky]

I skin as soon as the deer is in the larder and take the head and feet off with the skin.

 

[Hunter 6.5]

All my deers are skinned,gralloched cut in half immediately after dead, simply because I have no larder. Then left two halves in cold room for 24 hours. No complaints about meat quality and taste. Regarding Hove's and head I have no single reason to leave anything from carcass that is not edible and must be removed any way at some point. Even more they potentially can contaminate the meat. Same about the skin, even if I had a larder I'll never get near my house or hang a deer with skin covered with ticks
Cheers
Miro

 

[baguio]

Head, legs and feet off and mostly left in the field. Less weight to carry and much easier to get into the roe sack. Always suspend and the gralloch is removed with the head. Less chance of green getting spilt.

 

[VSS]

I hang my deer (for 1 week) with the head on. It keeps their necks straight, so makes skinning easier.
The head can either be cut off just before skinning, or removed with the skin.

 

[Rory]

I think removing the head and feet make no difference to the quality of the carcass, with the added bonus that you can inspect the submaxillary and retropharyngeal lymph nodes. The legs, where removed at the joints, have such little surface area that no meat is spoiled, it just dries out. Not having legs waving about makes skinning and butchering that much easier in my opinion.

 

[Rake Aboot]

Yeh , I’ve found it makes no odds

I cut the head and feet off before hanging it but equally the heed comes off easily enough when skinning

I always try and maximise how much neck I leave as it’s tasty as hell lol.

 

[Overlay]

Yeh , I’ve found it makes no odds

I cut the head and feet off before hanging it but equally the heed comes off easily enough when skinning

I always try and maximise how much neck I leave as it’s tasty as hell lol.

SWYMBO cooked a lovely fallow neck stew last week with dumplings at my request delicious - my Mrs can cook to perfection the oddest of cuts without a doubt

 

[Rake Aboot]

Mrs Rake once made a venison broth using the neck of a Roe


I cried when it was finished lol

Food of the gods .

 

[Adyb]

I hang my deer (for 1 week) with the head on. It keeps their necks straight, so makes skinning easier.
The head can either be cut off just before skinning, or removed with the skin.

Hanging for a week makes a big +ve difference vs 2-3 days for venison. Meat really relaxes and you get rid of excess liquid - perfect steaks.
For reds i do 7-8 days at 2-3 deg c with ventilation fan running. 3-5 days for boar.
Head on/off and when to skin doesn't make too much difference imo - i process carcasses that come in from driven hunts (skinned fresh, cut in half) and those i shoot from solo stalks - usually hang with skin, no head/feet. Cleanliness important - nice thing about no skin is less hair in the cold store.

 

[Tim.243]

Depends on the size of the deer and how big the head is, before I made a side hoist then I left them on as they make great handles to wrestle them around.
Small stuff I leave the feet on (can't loose them) bigger deer I take off as the long legs can catch up going in the truck.
My small chiller has had its mix of little and large in...

 

[Dazb1967]

Yeh , I’ve found it makes no odds

I cut the head and feet off before hanging it but equally the heed comes off easily enough when skinning

I always try and maximise how much neck I leave as it’s tasty as hell lol.

The neck is one of my favourite joint on all species of deer, Its lovely done in the slow cooker with a few vegetables and a good stock.
I always take the head and feet off straight away for no other reason than that's how Ive always done it, I do the same with rabbits feet and head off in the field

 

[lochty]

I find if you leave the head on, until rigor mortise has set in, it will leave the neck straight which is slightly easier to butcher. I'd take the feet off though as you don't know what it's been standing in, could be a source of contamination.

 

[Overlay]

I find if you leave the head on, until rigor mortise has set in, it will leave the neck straight which is slightly easier to butcher. I'd take the feet off though as you don't know what it's been standing in, could be a source of contamination.

Yep I get that but in the field depending on how you extract, having a possible 5 more cuts on the carcase and laying them on the ground and dragging them out is something I prefer not to do, it could help cross contamination which could be avoided if left intact
Having said that a complete full suspended gralloch all bits off into a drag tray job done
Lots of considerations to upping the game on hygiene doing the best you can when you can wins

 

[pob]

SWYMBO cooked a lovely fallow neck stew last week with dumplings at my request delicious - my Mrs can cook to perfection the oddest of cuts without a doubt

I made this last week. https://www.bowhunter.com/editorial/japanese-style-venison-and-pork-belly-recipe/357403 Delicious.

I understand that our US cousins remove the bone because of CWD concerns, but I left it all in. And that is really the point of a recipe like this, I think, reduced butchery.
I couldn't bring myself to put in that much dashi stock powder, so put in 3 x 5g sachets rather than 6.

I take the head off in a field gralloch because, as @baguio said, it reduces spilt green. Also less to carry. But that loses the advantage of a straightened neck in the chiller and a bit of lost neck meat trimming the cut or soiled end. I can't generally leave deer heads in the field, so I think that I will now switch to leaving it on in the larder, or until I skin.
I always remove the feet because, as @lochty says, it reduces contamination. More room in the drinks chiller too.

 

[NullMac]

Pro butcher on youtube hangs them by the front legs and skins front to back without removing the legs. Interesting approach. He believes it is the cleanest way. Hard to say as he was pro level anyway

 

[Freeforester]

I made this last week. https://www.bowhunter.com/editorial/japanese-style-venison-and-pork-belly-recipe/357403 Delicious.

I understand that our US cousins remove the bone because of CWD concerns, but I left it all in. And that is really the point of a recipe like this, I think, reduced butchery.
I couldn't bring myself to put in that much dashi stock powder, so put in 3 x 5g sachets rather than 6.

I take the head off in a field gralloch because, as @baguio said, it reduces spilt green. Also less to carry. But that loses the advantage of a straightened neck in the chiller and a bit of lost neck meat trimming the cut or soiled end. I can't generally leave deer heads in the field, so I think that I will now switch to leaving it on in the larder, or until I skin.
I always remove the feet because, as @lochty says, it reduces contamination. More room in the drinks chiller too.

If you take out the everything from the anus to the oesophagus and tongue completely when gralloching the beast, I can’t see where the spilt green comes from? I personally leave the head on, because (as others already have stated) a) the neck gets set straight rather than curved, making it b) much easier to butcher (I section it into ‘oxtail’ 7 sections, discarding the atlas joint ‘inch’, leaving 6 pieces for 2-3 per serving when slow cooked, because c) it’s bloody delicious cooked low and slow that way! If it is from a smaller roe or a slender necked doe, then I trim off the meat as best I can, and mince it, and offer the meaty bone either as stock or for the hens or the wee birds, hung up in a tree. A single slab from a hind does also nicely as a portion. Skinning from the (feet removed) front legs has always been my preference, as it gives you the cleanest carcase for the next stages, because any dirt, hair or blood in the skin falls down and away from the meat. Prior to this stage, it has been hung by the hocks as is pretty prevalant here in the UK ( though a lot get hung on a ‘krog’ (game hook) under the jaw in eg Denmark).

the squib has passed clear of both shoulders but still within the diaphragm - resulting in very little waste.

Skin being removed along with the head. There is no right and wrong way, only personal choice.

 

[75]

Head off with gralloch for me as I like to leave it attached to oesophagus and foodpipe when I gralloch then no chance of contamination from stomach contents (which do sometimes pass back up the throat and into the mouth if suspended gralloch) but I do get the idea that leaving the head on keeps the neck straight. It's just how I've always done it...

As for legs off - sometimes in the field if it's clean and dry but often back in the larder as they're handy for dragging big reds onto the trailer etc. I don't like them on in the chiller though as just an extra potential source of contamination and they tend to poke into other carcasses if there are a few in there.

 

[Heym SR20]

No right or wrong ways. Like many things there are and will be differences in the way people do things because

1) they learn from different people
2) they live in different places
3) they have different tools etc.

In the old days pre mass communication / internet etc there would be huge regional variations in the way most rural jobs were done.

Fundamentally provided you keep the meat clean and don’t get it covered in shite and piddle does it really matter how it’s done.

 

[maximus otter]

Head off, legs off and "everything from hoop to snoot" removed (hopefully in a one-er) out in the field.

Skin immediately once at home & into my improvised deer fridge.

Butcher at leisure.

maximus "Small scale, friends & family" otter