It is common practice to hang deer by gambrels with the head down; but^ when hung head up, the animal is easier to skin, easier to butcher, drains better, and does not drip blood and juices over the neck and head, which you may want to have mounted for a trophy. Dried blood is very hard to remove from hair or fur. If the skin is stripped oif from rear to head it will be hard to grain. The more common way of skinning a deer, when the head is not wanted for mounting, is to hang it up by one hind leg and begin skinning at the hock, peeling the legs, then the body, and finally the neck, then removing the head with skin on (for baking in a hole), after which the carcass is swung by both legs and is eviscerated. If this is a buck, you may wish to save the head for mounting. For this, the skin of the whole neck must be preserved, clear back to the shoul- ders. Cleanse away any blood that may have is- sued from the nose aVid inouth and stuff some dry moss, or other absorbent, in the beast's mouth. Open your jackknife, insert the point, edge up, where the neck joins the back, and cut the skin in a circle around the base of the neck, running from the withers down over the front of the shoul- der-blade to the brisket or point of the breast on each side. Do not skin the head at present — you may not have time for that. Insert the point of the knife tlirough the skin over the paunch, and, following the middle line of the chest, slit upward to meet the cut around the neck. Then reverse, and continue the slit backward to the end of the tail, being careful not to perforate the walls of the belly. Then slit along the inside of each leg from the hoof to the belly-slit. If you wish to 3S CAMP COOKERY. Fig. 7.- — The Use Your place to Knife. From Forest and Stream. save the feet for mountings be particular to rip the skin in a straight line up the under side of the leg, starting by inserting the point of the knife be- tween the heel-pads. Now comes a nice tricky that of severino: shanks. Nearly every in- experienced person starts too high. Study the ac- companying illustrations of these joints^ noting where the arrow points^, which is the place to use your knife. In a deer the joint is about an inch and a half below the hock on the hind leg, and an inch below the knee on the fore leg. Cut square across through skin and muscles, in front, and similarly behind; then, with a quick pull backward against your knee, snap the shank off. The joint of the fore leg is broken in a similar manner, excepting that it is snapped forward. Having stripped the vertebrae from the tail, now peel the skin off the whole animal, from the shoul- ders downward, assisting with your closed fist, and, where necessary, with the knife; but wher- ever the knife is used be careful to scrape the skin as clean as you can, without cutting it, for every adhering bit of fat, flesh, or membrane must be thoroughly removed before the skin is ready for tanning, and that is easier to do now than after it dries. The whole operation of skinning is much easier while the animal is still warm than after the body has become cold. To skin a frozen animal is a desperately mean job. I have known 1 DRESSING GAME. 39 four old hunters to work nearly a whole after- noon in skinning a frozen bear.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

It is common practice to hang deer by gambrels with the head down; but when hung head up, the animal is easier to skin, easier to butcher, drains better, and does not drip blood and juices over the neck and head, which you may want to have mounted for a trophy. Dried blood is very hard to remove from hair or fur. If the skin is stripped off from rear to head it will be hard to grain. The more common way of skinning a deer, when the head is not wanted for mounting, is to hang it up by one hind leg and begin skinning at the hock, peeling the legs, then the body, and finally the neck, then removing the head with skin on (for baking in a hole), after which the carcass is swung by both legs and is eviscerated. If this is a buck, you may wish to save the head for mounting. For this, the skin of the whole neck must be preserved, clear back to the shoulders. Cleanse away any blood that may have issued from the nose and mouth and stuff some dry moss, or other absorbent, in the beast's mouth. Open your jackknife, insert the point, edge up, where the neck joins the back, and cut the skin in a circle around the base of the neck, running from the withers down over the front of the shoulder-blade to the brisket or point of the breast on each side. Do not skin the head at present — you may not have time for that. Insert the point of the knife through the skin over the paunch, and, following the middle line of the chest, slit upward to meet the cut around the neck. Then reverse, and continue the slit backward to the end of the tail, being careful not to perforate the walls of the belly. Then slit along the inside of each leg from the hoof to the belly-slit. If you wish to 3S Fig. 7.- — The Use Your place to Knife. From Forest and Stream. save the feet for mountings be particular to rip the skin in a straight line up the under side of the leg, starting by inserting the point of the knife between the heel-pads. Now comes a nice tricky business, that of severing shanks. shanks. Nearly every inexperienced person starts too high. Study the accompanying illustrations of these joints, noting where the arrow points, which is the place to use your knife. In a deer the joint is about an inch and a half below the hock on the hind leg, and an inch below the knee on the fore leg. Cut square across through skin and muscles, in front, and similarly behind; then, with a quick pull backward against your knee, snap the shank off. The joint of the fore leg is broken in a similar manner, excepting that it is snapped forward. Having stripped the vertebrae from the tail, now peel the skin off the whole animal, from the shoulders downward, assisting with your closed fist, and, where necessary, with the knife; but wherever the knife is used be careful to scrape the skin as clean as you can, without cutting it, for every adhering bit of fat, flesh, or membrane must be thoroughly removed before the skin is ready for tanning, and that is easier to do now than after it dries. The whole operation of skinning is much easier while the animal is still warm than after the body has become cold. To skin a frozen animal is a desperately mean job. I have known four old hunters to work nearly a whole afternoon in skinning a frozen bear.

Camp cookery (Kephart)