Tag Archives: skinning

Field Care: Quartering and Packing

Packing out a heavy mule deer.

Quartering and Packing

In the old days hunters often avoided hunting too far from roads simply because it would be too difficult to drag the animal out if they got one. A lot has changed since then. Today, backcountry hunters quarter or bone out their meat and then pack it out in a trip or two.

Quartering means removing the skin, all four quarters, the back-straps, and whatever other parts you wish to keep, including the ribs, neck meat, liver, heart, etc.

Boning means removing meat from the bones. Boning reduces pack weight by several pounds, but this method has its drawbacks. First, boning takes time to do it correctly. Secondly, it exposes even more meat to contamination from dirt, bugs, and hair. For this reason I advise against boning meat unless absolutely necessary.

Quartering and hanging an animal is much more sensible than gutting and dragging the animal out whole. A boned-out mule deer weighs about 90 pounds and can be packed out in a single trip if necessary.

An elk is about 3.5X larger than a deer. Boned or not, an elk will take two people several trips to pack it out. Whatever the case, just be sure you have an exit plan before launching an arrow.

The basics of quartering big game can be learned from numerous video tutorials found online. Then it’s just a matter of practice.

Quartering can be a daunting or even dangerous task when performed alone, especially on slippery or uneven terrain. Until you’ve gained some experience, try to enlist some help from fellow hunters for tasks like holding legs and hanging quarters. With a little practice, it can be accomplished alone.

Temperature and Spoilage

Heat is the number one concern with meat care. Bacteria grow  exponentially on a carcass if allowed to stay warm too long. Meat begins to spoil in temperatures above 40 degrees (fridge temperature). In 90-degree weather—which coincides with many archery seasons—meat can spoil in single a day.

The higher the ambient air temperature, the greater chance of spoilage. Ambient air temperature determines how much time you have to get quarters packed out and loaded into coolers.

When daytime temperatures are above 70 degrees, the animal should be packed out within 24 hours. If daytime temperatures are  below 50 degrees, you can take your time, even several days if needed.

Other than rapidly cooling your meat, there are a couple additional ways to extend meat freshness. First, there’s a company out there that makes anti-microbial game bags. These bags can help slow bacteria spread on the surface of the meat where most  contamintatin takes place. Second, when flies are an issue, simply rub black pepper all over the surface of the meat.

Quartering Tools

Be sure to carry the right tools for quartering your animal. This includes a very sharp hunting knife with a built-in gut hook, a lightweight folding bone saw, a knife sharpener, and a 4-pack of lightweight game bags.

My favorite knife for skinning is the Outdoor Edge Swingblade. The locking blade converts to a dedicated gutting knife. Besides gutting, this extra blade easily unzips the hide and cape without cutting too much hair.

Outdoor Edge Swingblade skinning knife and gutting blade.

Some hunters prefer razor knives with replaceable blades like the Havalon models. Havalons are extremely sharp and capable of breaking down even the largest animals. But they aren’t ideal for skinning as they can easily cut through the hide.

I personally carry a small surgeon’s scalpel with cheap replaceable blades and use it in conjunction with my skinning/gutting knife. The scalpel is especially useful for caping and removing the hide from delicate facial areas.

Lightweight surgeon’s scalpel w/ replaceable blades.

Cooling Your Meat

The first step in cooling meat is to open the chest cavity and use a stick to spread the rib cage apart. Next, skin the carcass as soon as possible. The hair and hide is very good at insulating and will hold heat for a long time. An elk carcass left with the hide on can spoil even when left lying on snow.

Skinning is best accomplished systematically as you remove quarters if you’re using the “gutless method.” (See YouTube for videos on the gutless method). In this fashion, the hide is left intact and spread out on the ground as a barrier between dirt and the meat.

Once quartered and bagged, hang the meat in the shade to cool. Either hang the quarters in a tree or prop them up on rocks, logs or bushes to increase air circulation. Even in hot weather, meat will cool rapidly in the shade and will extend pack-out time.

Whenever possible hang the meat in the bottom of a valley and/or near a stream to cool overnight.

You can further cool meat by placing pre-cooled quarters in plastic garbage bags and securing the bags in a stream or river. Just make sure the sun isn’t hitting the bags as they can heat up even when submerged.

Finally, consider packing the meat out at night as this can keep both you and your meat from overheating.

Once the meat is hung you will need to figure out how many pack-out trips it’s going to take. This depends on your physical conditioning, distance, and terrain. Try to figure out how much weight you can safely carry long distances before going afield.

When dealing with trophy animals, the head, antlers and hide will add significantly more weight. You can always remove the antlers and cape from the head in the field, but take extreme care. Without adequate caping experience you could easily damage or ruin your trophy cape.

Using Pack Animals

Whenever possible try to enlist a number of friends and/or pack animals for the job. With today’s lightweight frame packs there’s practically nothing you and a couple buddies can’t pack out given enough time. The problem with backcountry hunts is that you may not have enough time to get the animal out before it spoils. This is where pack animals come in handy.

For backcountry wilderness hunts, consider hiring a horse packer. My brother once harvested a 2000 pound bison at the bottom of a snowy chasm. Retrieving his once-in-a-lifetime animal was only made possible by hiring a horse packer. It costed several hundred dollars, but was well worth the expense.

Horse packers with bison.

Another option is renting llamas or pack goats. My brother has a string of pack goats that have proven invaluable for packing elk out of the backcountry.

Having a couple horses will open up the vast wilderness to more hunting opportunities. Legendary trophy hunters like Kirt Darner and Robby Denning frequently relied on horses, not only for access, but for getting their trophies out of the backcountry.

The biggest drawback to owning pack animals is the year-round expense and maintenance involved, not to mention the burden of caring for them afield. But in my opinion, these trade-offs are tolerable if it means consistent success on trophy bucks.

Conclusion

It’s much easier to spend a couple extra days packing a critter out of some hell hole than hunting easy-access country for weeks on end without success. You just need to have an exit plan. This means being in good enough shape for an arduous pack-out, or using pack animals for the task.

Stop-Rot: Saving Your Hide!

What is Stop-Rot and why do I need it?

Stop-Rot is an anti-bacterial liquid preservative that “extends the work time of a fresh hide by slowing down or stopping decomposition,” thus saving your trophy hide from decay and hair loss.

Stop-Rot was developed by taxidermist/chemist, Glen Conley, specifically for saving hides from hair slippage ahead of the tanning process. It has been used widely in the taxidermy industry for many years, and now hunters are starting to use it too.

After killing your trophy animal, bacteria immedately begins to multiply all over the animal, especially around wet and bloody areas. In a relatively short period of time, bacteria begins to attack the skin and and hair follicles, thus leading to hair slippage and a ruined hide. A good taxidermist can fix almost anything, but very little can be done to save a hide with hair falling out.

Hair Slippage: This hide was ruined by bacteria before it even arrived at my shop.

Because bacteria thrives in warm temperatures, Stop-Rot is especially useful during early-season hunts that occur in August and September. Traditionally salt was used to preserve hides afield. However, salt dries out the hide and makes it virtually impossible to flesh properly before going into the tanning process.

How to Use Stop-Rot

Stop-Rot can be used on both the flesh side of the hide and the hair side. The instructions say to “apply Stop-Rot as soon as possible after the animal has been skinned.” For this reason I always keep a bottle of Stop-Rot back at camp. I’ll spray it on any bloody spots or short-haired areas like the face and ears. I just spray it on and massage it in. Be sure to spray a light coating over the entire flesh side of the hide.

Applying stop-rot to a freshly-skinned hide.
Apply Stop-Rot to facial areas including eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.

Where Can I Buy Stop-Rot?

Stop-Rot costs around $23 a quart and is only available through taxidermy supply companies like Van Dykes or Trufitt. To avoid paying shipping, request a bottle from your taxidermist. If you live it Utah, you can buy Stop-Rot at Trufitt’s taxidermy supply store at 1744 South Redwood in Salt Lake City. In Southern Utah you can get it directly from me. I never go hunting without this product.

Conclusion

Stop-Rot should be used when hunting in warm conditions or any time you can’t get your hide to a freezer or taxidermist in a timely manner. Although I’m constantly touting the benefits of Stop-Rot, I don’t receive any sort of commissions from it. My taxidermy business, however, relies on usable hides. More importantly is the preservation of your hard-won trophy.

Stop-Rot: Use it or lose it!