Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting One State

Dragging will separate the men from the boys!! I can't wait to kill something in a state where game doesn't have to be checked whole.... However, stalking in the big woods of Maine have always intrigued me. That'd be my bucket list deer hunt for sure.

Montana

Growing up where I did, we often quartered deer up to get them out. It is simply mind boggling to me that some states (or areas) make hunters get deer out in one piece.

I've often thought about driving to a state somewhere with a real late season to get more hunting in, and it has never occurred to me that I may have to get one out whole. I'd inadvertently break the law in some areas it sounds like...

stupid question, but do you quarter them with the hide on? if not, how do you skin them yourself in the woods?

Sometimes I leave the hide on, if the pack isn't too long and it isn't too hot out. It keeps things cleaner and you don't have to deal with the red crust.

Usually though, especially on an elk, the hide comes off at the same time as quartering.

Edited to add: I just flip them on their back best I can, start on a leg, then brace that leg over my shoulder to keep the quarter off the ground best I can, and go to town.

Start skinning on one side and then roll them to the other. No big deal to skin them on the ground if the law in your state allows.

No you don't quarter them with the hide on, as JSH said, start on one side then roll them to the other. If you have a big deer, quartering only gets you part way home, you want to debone them too.

There are more than a few deer that if I had to get them out whole I would have just brought a tent and some BBQ sauce with me and ate the SOB on the spot.



From this:











To this

One more thing, you'll notice in Inman's post he mentioned about throwing a leg up on his shoulder. In treeless areas you gotta do what you gotta do. But if you're in the trees, make sure you have a little line with you. I'll tie off the leg to a tree so I don't have to skin in the 'missionary' position.

Again, not a state, but Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Trouble is it's in Quebec.

Jim

Kentucky

I happen to like being in the missionary position with deer....

Anyhow Steelhead is right: tying off a leg to a tree can certainty help. The elk, antelope and one mule deer I shot this year were easily 50 or more yards from a tree though....but some stout sagebrush can easily work as well.

While this isn't a deer, the concept is the exact same: Use the missionary position to get to this point:


Then pack this out:


Wayyyyyyyyyy easier than dragging a couple miles, which has to be the most frustrating thing in the world.

This wasn't the cleanest job I ever have done, but it was piss'n rain the entire time from shot to dropping the tailgate, so I wasn't in the mood to be Charmin style squeaky clean, which is why I left the hide on. That, and a somewhat short pack of 3/4 mile or so. In this case, I also left the lower legs on so I could use them as a handrest above my head, as I find stretching my arms up relieves sore shoulder muscles when packing out. The little bit of extra weight of hide/legs is worth it to me sometimes.


If the pack out is longer though and/or is is cool out, especially with an elk, I won't be packing the extra weight of the hide.

Sorry for the detour off the OP's question.

This