In the last episode, you saw me harvest two beautiful young fallow bucks to add
to our cull sheet. This time I'm going to show you how to successfully skin the
deer and how to check that it's safe to eat.
So we're back at the larder these are the guys that we shot earlier so the
next thing is we've got to get them dressed out. Okay, so, the next thing
you're gonna do is open him up down the front down the center. So gonna be a
cut from here right the way down to his neck now I'm going to expose his
Trachea windpipe so I'm just opening the muscle up around his windpipe bring
that down there like that either side just make sure that's free so when I
come to take his lungs out and have a look at those in a minute
that'll all come out as one which will be fine. After this we can start skinning
the shoulder, we always want to try and keep him on his back as square as
possible. I'll put that between my legs and hold it there and now I've got the
line where I'm going to work is there it's quite visible for you to see.
I'll take my knife again we're gonna work exactly the same as we did it on
the other side we're just going to cut that there and follow the line of where
I'm holding it straight up his leg and then the bone will be exposed there and
you'll be able to use that as a guide so you're not cutting into the flesh, go
straight down the side of the bone like so we're just peeling it off just
peeling it peeling it peeling it but this time of the year they are quite
loose in the hair because they haven't got the winter coats on. Just peel that back
like that then just move around a little bit just to get it tight against when
you see where we're working and start again just working it, working it.
Okay so when we've got to there, we've gone past the knee joint
so knees there and see it flex there's two joints in the knees and if you can
see the white bit there that is the joint that we want to be taking
it off at because that joint is nice and flat and you'll be able to put your
knife through it. So straighten him out and get your knife in there and hopefully, we'll
get the joint like that can bend it as it goes back and through we go. No
effort really whatsoever. Now we've got that we're still attached there you can
see because that's where we've worked with the knives either side so just put
the thumb crook of your hand in around there just gently pull it I'll peel it
off the shoulder and doing it like that we're keeping the skin away from the
meat so we're trying not to get as much hair on it. That's the front end ready
for pulling off. We're just going to saw the brisket we've already done the
gralloch in the field, this is just to open the chest cavity up so when we come to
take his liver, lungs and heart out it's easier to get down there and do it.
Quite simple all you need to do is make an incision from the bottom of his neck
right the way down to the back of his chest where we did the gralloch in the field. So
we're going to do the back legs now same thing again let's get the leg
pull it forward stick it between your legs and now you've got the line
straight the way up of where we're going to go, nice and simple. I'm going to start
at the bottom I always use my knife when I'm cutting or skinning on the side
not down so I'm going to be cutting into the meat if I was cutting down at it to
open it up like that I'd be cutting here which is not what we want to do, so I'm
holding my knife on the side using my index finger on
my knife so it's like using a pencil, you can feel where it's going just following
it up, be careful not to cut this tendon because we caught that we're gonna be in
a world of hurt when it comes to hanging him up.
we're just gonna peel it off again nice and warm it's very easy. Just push it off then use the
heel of a knife rather than the blade. He's a nice young buck, just push it
off just keep pushing a little bit there use me index finger on my knife again
just push
So that's as far as we need to go with that side, I'm quite happy with that. We've
kept it all nice and clean
Now we can go down the inside of the leg to the center of the deer.
That's as far as you need to go, that is the middle of the animal right there
that bit no need to go any further than that. So now we're just going to take
this leg off, same again this jointed and the joint we want to be taking it
off is here in front of here is right in there, so we'll just cook through
that leg like that might need a bit of a snap follow it down a little bit.
Using the heel of the crook of your hand again just give it a little
pull. You can see how all the skin is hanging back away from the meat exactly
the same again we're just going to do it on the other side.
So we've cleared all four legs on the cradle which is, I find it's easier the
skin falls away gravity does its thing they're being hung up in the air if
you're hung up in the air you're trying to work you're trying to work in between
the legs because now it's concertina together when he's laid on his back
he's naturally displaying it just makes the job quite a lot easier so as you can
see the next thing we're going to do we're going to just finish opening him
up down the down the center, fold the inside back to here and clear his
flanks and down the front off his ribcage and then we're going to just
take the skin off the back and that all be him skinned.
You can see the points of his flank where he joins his leg there, I'm just
gonna get the heel of my knife push it through there give that a little tweak
you can just see where they start catching I don't want that to catch
because if I kept pulling that now they'd pull that muscle off there but I
want to leave it on say it's gonna work it a little bit with my knife holding it
there just give it a little push using my hands and my forearm pushing it down.
You can see how the flanks come in all nice and easy now put a fist in again
just wiggle it push it down inside a lot easier then trying to use it with a
knife it's if you're using your knife you're just making score marks in it if
you're pushing it down one fist as you can see it's all coming together quite
nicely it's all coming together we've got the back legs free now the
flanks are free the brisket in the ribs are free and we just held there in there
and that again let go of it and it's keeping the carcass clean.
Now we're back to the back got to remove the tail there's various joints in the
tail that you can take you'll find a joint work through it take the tail off
like so through the bone, no problem just pull down with it.
Push it away with my fist.
Just keep going down.
There we go. We've got it skinned next thing we're going to do is remove
the bladder which is still on the inside and remove the vital organs, then we're
going to inspect the vital organs. We've got to inspect the vital organs checking
for disease if there's any problems with the animal that's where we're going to
find it. The telltale signs are going to be in the glands, any inflammation whatever
if something isn't right the kidneys give us the most information about the
animal they filter everything they are like your car's main engine filter
they do everything so if your kidneys are pretty much clean
and nice then the rest of the animal is probably going to be pretty much good.
This animal I can tell you now there's going to be no problems whatsoever when
we get inside I'll be very surprised if it is it's a beautiful little beast
there's no inflammation in the glands in the legs or anywhere that we've looked at.
So I'm just gonna check the heart just having a look make sure the muscles
all nice and clean and fresh which it is and I'm just going to do the liver it's
lovely no parasitic infection or anything in
there. There are two more glands in the lungs
again we'll check in for TB the lungs are nice and clean and pink no sign of
any infection in there that's lovely do the same on the other side nice and
clean beautiful leave the kidneys in because if I were I'm not going to
sell this to anybody else's for myself but if I was selling it to anybody else
if the kidneys are in and he seemed they've been inspected the kidneys are
clean they pretty much they pretty much know that the animal is good. Make an
incision in them just have a look, beautiful nice and clean yeah he was a
beautiful young buck. Do the other one make an incision nice clean kidneys.
Fantastic it okay so of harvested him, we've gralloched him, we've dressed him
we've inspected him and there is a beautiful little beast. I just like to
say if you're going to do it don't be daunted by it get stuck in and
do it, take your time, keep your hands clean keep your utensils clean. it's not
that big a scary job, once you're doing it it's so much more rewarding to do it
yourself than to kill something, whip the head off, whip the feet out whip its guts
like this it is very manageable not a great big red stag I'm not telling to go
and try and do that to you by yourself but if you're shooting roe
young fallow, muntjac, get stuck in have a go yourself you'll learn you'll
appreciate a lot more when you've done it absolutely fantastic.