Processing a frozen deer.
 

Typically I always skin my deer the day I kill them and then let them hang for several days. Last weekend I killed a doe and had some stuff come up. I got it hung up but not skinned. The temps have been in the teens for highs all week and zero and below over night. I am planning to work on it tonight but just thinking about skinning a deer that is frozen solid just doesn't sound fun. Any of you guys skin deer that are frozen? Is it going to be a super pain in the arse or not much different then normal. It is about 23 degrees here today which is a heat wave right now. I guess you guys that are farther north deal with this a lot more. Usually where I am at this time a year the temps reach the 40's during the afternoons.

Well it took 4 of us to pull the hide off. Since most of the deer was going to sausage I cut out the loins and then took a "saw all" to the hams. I started with a knife and it was going slow with thin cuts. Once I got the power tools out I had her cut up in no time.

I always skin mine while they are still warm. Sooo much easier. Last winter I left a big doe haning for 4 days with temps below freezing during the day. I just got busy with work and didn't have time to get to her. I won't make that mistake again. I had to quarter her up and bring each quarter into the house to partially thaw before I deboned it.

I killed another doe tonight and have her hanging in the garage. I am going to skin her in them morning. Like you I won't make the mistake again of letting one freeze solid. It wasn't a mistake as much as it was a scheduling problem. I just had some stuff come up that didn't allow me to get to it.

Ha Ha. Thats too funny. I got a doe, skinned her and let her hang. Well after that night she froze up rock solid. She stayed frozen outside for five days!! I brought her inside to thaw out, Thought she would never loosen up...... Yeah, after that I will be up late night quartering her for the fridge....

Done that once years back, and it sucked big time. I had it in the garage with a portable heater on it for a day and a garden hose with hot water and still was a pain in the butt. Zeak