Field Care of Harvested

Big Game

IC O
EX Circular 507
M
S
TA
N EW

Cooperative Extension Service • College of Agriculture

TE

and Home Economics

Y
U

N
IV T
E RSI
 Field Care of Harvested
Big Game
Jon Boren, Extension Wildlife Specialist
Byron D. Wright, Extension Agriculture Specialist (Wildlife)

You have your deer down. Your hunting skill and persis-
tence have paid off. Now what do you do? The knowledge
you use next will determine the quality of your big game tro-
phy at the table. Proper care of harvested game is the most
important criteria to ensure its value as table fare. This publi-
cation was prepared to assist you in the proper care of your
game in the field. Deer are used as examples in the following
procedures. The information also can be applied to other big
game animals.

BLEEDING

If the animal has been shot in the chest area, or if a major

artery has been severed due to a shot, sufficient blood loss
has occurred. It’s important to note that unless the animal’s
heart is still beating, no significant blood loss will occur by
severing the throat. If your trophy is to be mounted, don’t cut
the animal’s throat. This can ruin the cape of your trophy and
cause your taxidermist additional work, not to mention the
added cost to you. If the animal is not yet dead, simply ad-
minister an additional shot to the vitals to dispatch the ani-
mal.
When an animal is downed with a shot that doesn’t cause
immediate death, and if the animal won’t be mounted, then

2
severing the throat is an option. Use extreme caution when
approaching an injured animal to avoid a serious or fatal in-
jury. A single cut entering the throat at the junction of the
neck and body will sever one or both of the carotid arteries.
This cut only needs to be large enough to allow blood to flow
freely, so a large, gaping hole isn’t necessary.

FIELD DRESSING

Tag the animal immediately to comply with game laws. Be-

fore beginning the field dressing, be sure your knife is sharp.
Unintentional cuts can be minimized with a sharp knife and
the entire job will require less effort. To make the field dress-
ing simpler, take your time. Mistakes made through haste usu-
ally make the job more difficult than necessary.
Some hunters feel it’s essential to remove the tarsal glands
inside the knees between the hind legs, but this is not neces-
sary. It is important, however, to avoid touching the meat af-
ter touching any glands or waste.
Prop the animal on its back and begin field dressing by re-
moving the genitals (figure 1). If the animal is a male, sepa-
rate the penis from the abdomen by cutting the skin and
connective tissue back to the testicles. Continue to separate
the penis and testicles from the body being careful not to
sever the tubes running into the pelvic cavity. The tubes that

Figure 1. Cut under genitals and remove back to the testicles.

3
connect the penis and testicles enter the pelvic cavity just
above the anus and must all be left intact. Now proceed by
cutting the skin and muscle around the anus. This can be done
easily with the same cutting action used to core an apple. This
cut should be 3 or 4 inches and tie it off with a short piece of
string. If the animal is a female, the sex organ should be de-
tached from the body cavity by cutting it away from the
muscle tissue along with the anus. Cut the female’s
mammaries away from the lower abdomen at this time.
Cut down to the pelvic bone (fig. 2). This cut is made ex-
actly between the hind legs. One of the hams will be damaged
if you don’t center this cut. Now turn the knife, blade side up
and make a cut from the pelvis up to the breastbone (fig. 3).
Use your two fingers on the hand that is not holding the knife
to keep the entrails away from the point of the blade. Extend
the cut through the breastbone and up into the chest cavity.
The breastbone can be cut easily by avoiding the center of the
sternum and making the cut along one side of the breastbone.
The cartilage and bone is much softer on the sides than in the
middle of the sternum. If you plan to save the cape, don’t cut
farther forward than an imaginary line drawn all the way
around the animal’s chest directly behind the shoulders.
Reach as far forward as possible into the chest cavity and
sever the esophagus and windpipe. Roll the animal on its side
and then cut the thin layer of muscle (diaphragm) separating
the heart and lungs from the stomach away from the rib cage

Figure 2. Cut to the pelvic bone exactly between the hind legs.

4
 Figure 3. Make a cut from the pelvis to the breastbone.

on the “up side” of the carcass. When cutting through the dia-
phragm, be careful not to puncture the stomach. By rolling the
animal on its side, gravity will work to your advantage by
moving the heart, lungs, and viscera out of your way. Repeat
this procedure on the other side until you have all connective
tissue detached from the body cavity.
You can now pull the entrails free from the carcass (fig. 4).
Pull the penis, testicles, and anus, which should all be at-
tached together, back through the pelvis and out of the body
cavity. It may be necessary to cut some connective tissue free
as the anus and testicles are pulled back through the body.
Take care to avoid severing the urinary or fecal tract during
this process to prevent spilling waste in the body cavity.

Figure 4. Pull the entrails free from the cavity.

5
 The carcass must be cooled as soon as possible. If the out-
side temperature is warm, elevate the animal above ground to
facilitate air circulation around the entire body. This can be
accomplished by hanging the
animal in a cool, shady place.
Hang the animal head down us-
ing a gambrel or a heavy stick
placed between the tendon and
hocks of each rear leg (fig. 5).
Attach a rope to the gambrel or
stick and suspend the carcass
above ground. To aid circula-
tion and cooling, prop the body
cavity open with a stick; it may
be necessary to split the pelvis
on very large animals. On large
animals, use a hatchet or saw to
split the pelvis because attempt-
ing to break the pelvis with a
knife can damage or ruin your
blade. Skinning your game will
greatly increase cooling in
warm temperatures and is nec-
essary to prevent problems with
spoilage.
If temperatures stay at or
around 32°F, then venison can
be aged for as long 10 to 12
days. Watch the carcass care-

Figure 5. To remove
hide, make preliminary
cuts as indicated.

6
fully if temperatures increase above 45° during the day or if
the carcass does not remain shaded at all times. Use cheese
cloth or light cotton bags to protect the meat from insects.
Black pepper also can be used to deter insects in an emer-
gency situation. Aging improves the tenderness, but may in-
crease the trimming losses due to dehydration.
If temperatures do not permit the carcass to remain outside,
then transport your game to a meat locker as soon as possible.
Your game carcass also can be quartered and placed on ice in
warm weather conditions. If iced down adequately, meat can
be kept for several days in this fashion. Water from the melt-
ing ice will not harm the meat and quarters can be rinsed free
from bloody water when preparing to process the carcass.

SKINNING

Hang the carcass from the hind legs for skinning. Begin by
making the cuts shown in fig. 5. Remove the hide by grasping
the skin and pulling hard with both hands. Use your knife
carefully when freeing the hide from the carcass to avoid cut-
ting the skin. If the flesh begins to pull off with the skin, stop
pulling and try again after cutting the flesh back with the skin-
ning knife. The thin muscles of the abdomen will pull off eas-
ily with the hide, so patience and careful knife work are
usually required on this part of the carcass.
If the cape is to be saved, you can cut the middle and rear
portion of the hide free from the cape when you reach the area
just behind the shoulders. This is achieved by simply cutting
the hide all the way around the body until the skin is free. Do
not cut the hide in half behind the shoulders if you want to
keep the entire skin intact for tanning purposes. Continue to
skin toward the head and when you reach the base of the
neck, pull the hide downward, turning the hide inside-out.
This will require some effort and is best achieved by grasping
the hide very close to the neck while pulling and tugging
downward. When you get the skin rolled back all the way to
the base of the head, you can then carefully saw the head free
from the neck just below the bottom jaw. If you do not have a
saw, you can cut through the neck muscles down to the bone
7
making sure to free all muscle and tissue. At this point, some-
one will need to hold the carcass while you twist the head 360
degrees. If all tissue is cut loose, the last vertebrae will break
free from the base of the skull and the head and skin will now
be free from the carcass.

CAPING THE TROPHY HEAD

Special care is needed if you want the head to be mounted

for your trophy room, or if you want to sell the cape to a taxi-
dermist. There are two ways to proceed with caping. One
method involves cutting the cape up the back of the neck for
the entire length. This is a common method and makes skin-
ning out the neck much easier, but will require a great deal of
sewing on the part of your taxidermist. The second method,
which is illustrated in this manual, will create less work for
your taxidermist and often results in a higher quality mount.
Begin by making an 8- to 10-inch cut up the neck as illus-
trated in fig. 6. This requires that
the head be detached from the
body as discussed in the section
on skinning so that the head can
be worked back through the 8- to
10-inch slit in the cape. The cape
is detached from the rest of the
hide by making a cut all the way
around the rib cage just behind the
shoulders. When caping the head,
pull the hide free from the flesh,
taking care not to cut the skin. A
knife cut in the head portion of the
cape can be very difficult for a
taxidermist to hide. Be extra care-
ful around the eyes and tear-duct
area in the inside corner of the eye
socket. It may help to put your

Figure 6. To remove cape,

make a short cut along the
back of the neck and
between the antlers. 8
finger in the deer’s eye from the outside and cut the connec-
tive tissue around the eye, but be careful not to cut yourself.
When skinning around the mouth leave as much of the lip
tissue connected to the cape as possible, so that the taxider-
mist can split the lips from the inside to make a realistic
mount. The ears can be cut off close to the skull. Use your
fingers and a blunt object to separate the hide from back side
of the ear cartilage. Do not attempt to cut the cartilage loose
from the ear. Simply turn the ears inside-out with the cartilage
still attached to the front part of the ears and the taxidermist
will take care of it from there.
Remove all meat from the scalp and salt the hide liberally.
Roll with flesh side in and allow to drain for 24 hours. Re-salt
until all moisture is removed. Store in a cool, dry place until

Figure 7. Remove the antlers from the skull by sawing as

indicated.

the cape can be taken to the taxidermist. Antlers should be

sawed from the skull (fig. 7) and all meat and tissue should be
removed.
Many places pay cash for hides or capes or you can have
gloves or other garments made from the skin of your har-
vested trophy. Special attention and care given to game meat
is well worth the effort and will pay off by rewarding you
with many delicious meals.

9
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Original author: James E. Knight, Extension Wildlife

Specialist, retired.
New Mexico State University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.
NMSU and the U.S. Department of Agriculture cooperating.

Revised October 1998 Las Cruces, NM

5C