Skinning moose sequence?

[Upearly]

An older, very experienced hunter (who successfully moose hunts alone every year) told me that he always skins his moose immediately after it's killed, BEFORE it is even gutted. He says that its easier (the hide practically pulls off) and the meat stays much cleaner as there is no gut pile, loose hair or blood pools to step over or around while doing the job. The cut meat is laid on the skin side of the hide to keep it clean. The gutting is done at the end. Does anyone else butcher moose in this order? What's your opinion?

[BearSniper]

Skinning

That makes alot of sense.

I did a 2 point buck once that way. Very light and easy, took the hide off then quartered it. Fast & smooth.:smile:

[BCBear]

I agree about the skinning,thats how i do my deer, skin off right quick. Guts next, then meat cutting time. What other 'tricks' does this guy know??

[rollingrock]

That's how I do my deer too.

[wetcoasthunter]

interesting yes, but not too sure about it. If you are in a wet, swampy area (which happens alot with moose) i think I'd rather keep the skin on so the meat isn't rolling around in the muck. Gut it, quarter it, hang it, skin it, wipe it down with a damp rag to get any hair or whatever off the meat. Not saying this is the WAY to do it, just how we do it.

[NEEHAMA]

guts out first. if there is a chance a little bone fragment has blasted through a bag or two it could be slowly seeping bile into your meat. gut em, hang em skin em. i'll take a little blood and hair over bile.

[tuchodi]

I agree with westcoasthunter as that is how we do our moose. If I am alone I dont think there is any way I can deal with a moose as ("upearly's") buddy does. Its hard enought dealing with just gutting it when your alone. I usually just gut them and open them up to cool and go get my friends to help with the work after the fun is done.

[rollingrock]

I don't know how to skin a moose without gutting it first. The reason that I skin my deer first is because I wanted to keep the hide, and by doing so the hide's quality stays better. The meat is still quite good.

[Rock Doctor]

I do it that way, and it works very well. Once you are familiar with the anatomy of the animal, it becomes easier to do it this way than any other IMHO.
Once the animal is down, I split the hide from the anus to up under the chin and down the inside of each leg to the center cut.
With the animal laying on it's side, peel the hide up and off the top side, and let it lay out on the ground.
Remove rear lower leg at the knee, toss aside.
Remove rear leg(thigh bone) with all associated meat, from center of thighs, around hip socket, and up over the rump/base of spine (do not enter into gut). (leave thigh bone in, or remove as you prefer)
Remove front lower leg, toss aside.
Lift up, and remove front leg and Shoulder Blade, and all associated rib meat. Leaving Backstrap, hump meat and neck meat on animal.
Now split up the center of the back along the spine and remove the full Backstrap, hump meat, and neck meat all in one piece.
Make a small incision along the spine of the lower back, into the gut, and reach in and massage out the tender loin.

And there you have it, half of the animal in three manageable pieces (plus a tenderloin for dinner). No cutting of any bones required, very little hair on the meat, and no dirt. Put these pieces out of the way, hanging up preferably.

Roll animal over onto hide, so you are once again meat side up. Peel back hide same as first side. Remove meat from the second half of the animal, same as the first side.

Hide is now laying out flat, a skeleton with guts laying in the middle of it.
Now if you want soup bones you can use a knife and cut through the cartilage "buttons" between the breast bone, and the lower ribs on each side. Breast bone makes exellent soup.
You can now reach in and remove the heart if wanted.
Now if desired you can run a bone saw down the top of the ribs, along the back bone to remove the ribs. (If the front legs were taken off with care, there should not be much more meat to the ribs than the 1/4 inch of meat between the ribs, not worth it if you have a long pack ahead of you.)

That's it, if you are into eating guts, I will leave it to you from here on:lol: .
Should not be anything left except: Backbone, Hip bone, gutsack, and hide (if you are not taking it).

Once the hide is peeled back from the animal, I can remove the 3 main meat chunks in about 17 minutes.

Sorry for the long post, I tried to condence it as much as I could.
This method works very well for me.

[mntman]

An older, very experienced hunter (who successfully moose hunts alone every year) told me that he always skins his moose immediately after it's killed, BEFORE it is even gutted. He says that its easier (the hide practically pulls off) and the meat stays much cleaner as there is no gut pile, loose hair or blood pools to step over or around while doing the job. The cut meat is laid on the skin side of the hide to keep it clean. The gutting is done at the end. Does anyone else butcher moose in this order? What's your opinion?

do it this way every year, sounds like the same old hunter taught me also

[quadrakid]

we did it that way on a moose two years ago, sure wish i had learnt to do it30 years ago, been packing too much bone for too long.

[kootenayelkslayer]

You can take all the meat (except the ribs) off an animal without even opening the cavity up. Once you have that animal skinned, obviously the shoulders and hinds come off easily, but you can even get the backstraps and tenderloin out by making a few cuts through the back. It's a nice way of processing an animal for sure.

[Mr. Dean]

But don't you need to leave evidence of sex attached when you're still in the field???

[Mattimoose]

interesting yes, but not too sure about it. If you are in a wet, swampy area (which happens alot with moose) i think I'd rather keep the skin on so the meat isn't rolling around in the muck. Gut it, quarter it, hang it, skin it, wipe it down with a damp rag to get any hair or whatever off the meat. Not saying this is the WAY to do it, just how we do it.

x2 on that one brother, This old guy must be moose hunting with a tractor, backhoe or skidder. The hide comes-off easy hot, but I only was ever able to do that on the farm, with head-shot cattle. We do do our deer that way but it is because we have a tractor on-site at the camp, and our blinds are on the camp road. Caribou, on the other hand are manageable and can be done like this on the ground, on the hide, and afterwards you can tuck the legs-up inside like a rabbit and use the hide like a bag.

[Mattimoose]

guts out first. if there is a chance a little bone fragment has blasted through a bag or two it could be slowly seeping bile into your meat. gut em, hang em skin em. i'll take a little blood and hair over bile.

x2 on this-one too.

[mapguy]

it would depend on where you are a long dusty ride back to camp is not recommended without the hide or something to keep the dust off
dirty meat sucks

[Rock Doctor]

Mr. Dean
But don't you need to leave evidence of sex attached when you're still in the field???

Not a problem Mr Dean,
One nut can be left attached to each hind, as well as a patch of hide to make sure it's all legal.
The best parts of doing it this way is just how clean you can keep the meat, and the reduction in weight (no point in packing out bones unless you plan to eat them)

[Sitkaspruce]

I use the no gut method like Rock Doctor uses. No mess, speeds up time and no packing, dragging, skidding and paying for bone weight that you will not eat.

Here is a link to the method done on an elk
http://home.att.net/~sajackson/guttless1.html.

Modify the way you want as I have done. I have used it on moose in swamps, on the road and just about anyplace you can think of except in a lake. I carry a small 8x10 tarp, small 3 lbs Eastwing hatchet and 50" of parichute cord with me. Simple, clean and efficent.