How do you hang your deer?

[Double D]

Good evening everyone.

Currently 57 degrees, clear blue skies and windy here in Cutbank.  It was 98 degrees two days ago, hot for September. Now it's cooled of and making me think of the upcoming hunting season.

I am thinking of changing how I hang deer in my shop.  I currently have an eye in the ceiling  that I attach a block and tackle  and hoist the deer on.  The ceiling is only 8 foot so the lift is just enough to get the deer off the ground. It works but could be higher skinning the lower part of the deer carcass.   I am think about cutting hole in the ceiling  and mounting an electric hoist up in the rafters.  I'll make the cut-out like a lift out access panel that I can lift out to use and back when the hoist isn't in use.  This will let me raise carcass high for working on the lower area.

Any body else have any set-ups they use and can share?

[Swampman]

I keep mine in an ice chest with the drain open and keep adding ice for a week.

[kevthebassman]

Generally with rope.   

[Double D]

I keep mine in an ice chest with the drain open and keep adding ice for a week.

What does that have to do with hanging and skinning?  We sure don't need any ice here

[Double D]

Generally with rope.   

Moved way beyond the rope, looking a for a bit more sophistication and a whole lot less work...

[Doug B.]

I am think about cutting hole in the ceiling  and mounting an electric hoist up in the rafters.  I'll make the cut-out like a lift out access panel that I can lift out to use and back when the hoist isn't in use.  This will let me raise carcass high for working on the lower area.

Any body else have any set-ups they use and can share?

Exactly what I did about 20 years ago minus the electric lift. Still use the block and tackle. I ran a 2 X 4 between two rafter peaks, tied a whoppin' piece of rope around it, and hook on my B & T. This divides the weight between the two rafters so I don't pull my roof down. Kidding! Don't lose a whole lot of heat through the hole during the short time skinning, and when the jobs done, leave the "hatch" out to cool the room down. Works great!

Now to get something to hang!

[Double D]

I have passed 60 years and the old block an tackle doesn't work as well as it use to...must be global warming, thus the idea of the electric hoist.  We hang 2 to 4 deer a year and maybe an antelope.I was hoping some one might have something better.

[yooper77]

If the temperature isn’t lower than 40 degree, I just skin and quarter the animal and put it where it can be kept cool if not butchered immediately.  Even so, my animals don’t hang for any longer than a day before processing.  The great taste I get all comes from how the animal is treated after it hits the ground.

All I use is a Pulley Hoist for hanging if I can, unlike in antelope country when there are no trees, I skin and quarter on a tarp on the ground.

yooper77 

[Anduril]

DoubleD,
What does past 60 have to do with this, unless it makes you smarter 

My set up is about the same as yours, a block & tackle attached to a stout eye bolt in the ceiling.
My garage has about 10 feet of height so getting a critter off the floor is usually not an issue, but I had a cow elk (once) that was dragging its nose.

Getting back to smarter, an electric winch in the attic sounds like the way to go.
..

[hunt-m-up]

I've thought about the electric hoist as well, right now we just use an old hay rope and pulley in a machine shed so no problem with height. I like your idea, the only thing I might do would be to mount just a pulley in the rafters and run a cable down the wall somehow to another pulley. You could then use any type of winch or power source to pull the cable up and still be able to use the winch anytime you wanted for other purposes.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

DD, this is not my set up but I wish it were. I will try and explain, but anything to do with building is not my bag.  I use a simple hand cranked cable and block and tackle. BUT my pal has a building with a very high roof. He has an electric hoist in the rafters, and a "eye bolt" cemented into the floor of his shop. When he hangs his deer, he skins it at the same time.  Here is how he does it.... He hangs the deer with the head up, cuts a circle around the neck, puts a golf ball under the skin below the cut. Ties a stout rope or maybe a cable around the golf ball so the ball is encased with deer hide and turns on the hoist. As the deer is hoisted, the skin is peeled back. Pretty nifty, but my shop is far too small for this....  I think I can get more details if you desire.

[GRIMJIM]

That's good ole fashioned American ingenuity right there.

[SHOOTALL]

at the club we have 2- block and tackle set ups for skinning . I also have a set up that fits the rec. hitch on my truck and at home we use the front end loaded bucket . Its way to hot to "hang" for long so in the freezer they go

[Double D]

I have heard of the pull the hide of the deer trick before and seen it once.  The time I saw it, the deer was hung from a heavy limb in tree. Hide was cut around the neck and partially skinned back THe wrist and ankles were also ringed.  A rock was place in the hide like the golf ball and a line tied around it.  A snatch block was tied between two trees and right under the deer. A cable from a winch on front of a Pickup was ran up through the block and up to the line tied to the rock.  The hide was then "winched" off.

I never remember to try it when I am working a deer.

[AtlLaw]

I have heard of the pull the hide of the deer trick

We do that every year... with varying degrees of ease before success.  I hate skinning deer!   

[SHOOTALL]

I saw that also at a club that had someone fix your  lunch and clean your deer .No I'm not a member . They had a winch mounted in the cieling . After pulling the skin off they gutted it and took an elec. chain saw and quatered it . They did 4 the day i hunted with them .

[mechanic]

Here in sunny Ga. its apt to be too hot to hang them at home.  I do the lazy thing and drive to the processor.  He drags it over to a refrigerated room, lifts it with a hoist and calls me when it's packaged.  All I gotta' do is kill it, field dress it and get it out of the woods.

Even in Dec. here we are subject to have days to warm to hang them at home.

Ben

[Double D]

Yes over 60 means smarter...being over 60 also means fixed retirement income and no money to pay for meat processing, which I have done only 2 or 3 times and have never been satisfied.

[Cottonwood]

I keep mine in an ice chest with the drain open and keep adding ice for a week.

This is not necessary, as it has been proven that deer meat does not have the enzimes that beef do.  We hang over night, and cut it up the next day.

[Oldshooter]

At the ranch we have a big a frame (lighted) with a couple of boat winches and cables run through pullies.

We use some spreaders hooked in the joints and pick em up with the winches and skin as we go up so the work is at eye level all the time.

some big plastic drums cut in half catch the guts and "feathers"

It really is nice to have the height to keep from working on your knees or bent over.

We have skinned with a 4 wheeler winch with the brick in the hide but it is not a always thing. and we always have someone who has a new idea for skinning and guttn but we ususally go back to tried and true methods. We try to plan skinning around rain!

[yooper77]

I keep mine in an ice chest with the drain open and keep adding ice for a week.

This is not necessary, as it has been proven that deer meat does not have the enzimes that beef do.  We hang over night, and cut it up the next day.

I agree totally, the faster you get the animal processed the better it tastes.  Get the hide off and butchered.  Also no saws, all my meat is boned out.  I don’t eat bones so I don’t cook bones, plus bone marrow taints meat.

yooper77

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  The attitudes on aging meat is varied. Here all the old timers and the Game and Fish recommend aging mulies and elk, but not antelope. Maybe whitetails do not require it from the feed they eat.  We used to age our bucks 10 days and elk 10 - 15 days.   

[dpe.ahoy]

I have mine done as soon as I can, never have been much on aging wild game.  DP

[Double D]

I am not looking to hang for aging either.  Hang to get the hide off and then cool. The next day cut and wrap.  Only roast---neck and shoulder- have bones left in.

[Cottonwood]

I am not looking to hang for aging either.  Hang to get the hide off and then cool. The next day cut and wrap.  Only roast---neck and shoulder- have bones left in.

Amen, I do the same way!

[Savage .250]

   As I`m an out-state-hunter, I take mine to the local "butcher shop" and they do all the work. Skin,cut,wrap and freeze for the trip back.
   Back in the day we used to hang-um from a tree in the back yard and have at it.   
   

[Blue Duck]

I bought an electric hoist at Harbor Freight about 4 years ago.  Best thing I have done in a long time.  It was on sale at the time for $60.    It lifts up to 400 pounds and works great.  Keeps your work right in front of you at the right height.   works great.