Blade Direction when Skinning / Caping Your Game

[vincentcui]

Hi folks, we all know that "there's more than one way to skin a cat". When you skin/cape your game, what direction is your knife blade facing? I have always cut inward (blade facing the animal, cut into hair first then into meat) for all my games from coyote to moose. I have watched some YouTube videos showing the better way to skin a game is to cut outward (blade facing me, cut into meat first then into hair). The method is said to be cleaner because it keeps minimal hair on your game meat, but from my perspective it is slower and has a bit of risk of not cutting straight line. What is your opinion? Should I start to practice cutting outward?

[whognu]

what i do

from first contact

poke a 1/2" hole roughly beside penis (careful not to puncture the paunch)

put your 1st and second fingers under hide

put blade (tip only) facing outwards, running between fingers all the way to the brisket

all skinning is done blade out, never in

very little hair to deal with

good luck

[Walking Buffalo]

Yup, ^

Initial cuts are best done from under the skin through the hair.
This will cut Much less hair, better for meat and a cape that will be used.

After the initial cuts, when caping or skinning for a mount or a finished hide, you may want to cut towards the meat in order to not cut the hide.
If your not using the cape or hide, skin with cuts towards the hide,

[Blacktail]

knife edge up.
Hair is a knife blade's enemy

[vincentcui]

Thanks folks. I will cut edge up starting from today.

[Arctic Lake]

Vince if I’m understanding you and what your asking Whognu has a point . If an animal ( let’s say a moose ) is lying spine down You want to make a cut from the front to the rear or vise versa without going through to the abdominal cavity . So you now can see the hide and flesh membrane barrier . I skin with my right hand grasping the hide and pulling up and away from the carcass while the knife is cutting the membrane between the hide and flesh . The blade of the knife is pushed against the hide not the flesh . Let’s see if this helps in the video below .
Arctic Lake

[Arctic Lake]

[Redthies]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BNPV1R2...hk_typ_imgToDp


This is all you need to know. Buy one of these knives. They are UNREAL for skinning. I’ve bought one for every one of my friends who hunts big game.

[elker]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BNPV1R2...hk_typ_imgToDp


This is all you need to know. Buy one of these knives. They are UNREAL for skinning. I’ve bought one for every one of my friends who hunts big game.

I ended up with ordering this one from Amazon.ca a few months back, as .com is not applicable for us. The blade worked so well for my moose this season.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B002L6YV2Y?...fed_asin_title

[elker]

Just checked the price. Wow, it rocketed from $30 to $73 at Amazon.ca