Ever a time to leave the hide on?

Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
3
Location
CO
Would it ever be beneficial to leave the skin on an animal?

Basically, if you arrow an elk at last light and the corpse is already cooled to ambient temperatures when you track it down (say 40 degrees), could leaving the skin on help keep it cooler for at least a portion of the following day? Since hide is an insulator, in theory it would take the meat longer to heat up during the day. (Obviously at some point during the day the hide would be removed).

This would really only apply to quarters, just wondering if anyone has any experience or thoughts on using the insulation properties of the hides in a beneficial way to try and extend the amount of time meat can stay in the field before going sour. (Especially when it takes a few days to get the meat on ice)

Are there other, non-temperature related reasons to leave the hide in place, even if only for a short period?

Thanks
 

boom

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Sep 11, 2013
Messages
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not an elk..but a deer. you leave the hide if you have to drag it any.

i guess it is feasible to drag an elk..with an ATV or something, a winch.
 

rayporter

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Jul 3, 2014
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arkansas or ohio
I do prefer to leave the hide legs on if weather permitting. I remove it at the truck. usually you have to break it down and hang the pieces to get it cool enough. then I load it on a horse and the hide keeps it clean.

if you don't break it down that night and it only gets down to 40 you may not save it.
 

wytx

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Feb 2, 2017
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Wyoming
We almost always leave the hide on for transport and sometimes for aging. Antelope are the exception since most hunts are at warmer temps.
The hide helps keep dust and other stuff off of the meat.
Luckily we have great aging weather during hunting season so we'll leave hide on if possible to cut down on the amount of dry rind that forms on the aged meat.
Temps are the key at harvest.
 
Joined
Mar 13, 2017
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Chico, California
when i have killed elk in late season montana it was absolutely beneficial. when it is zero degrees out there is no need to cool it down fast. i have killed them when it was sub zero and skinned them and then you end up skinning them again because you remove the outer 1/4 inch of meet after they freeze solid.

aside from that any time i can get my animal out of the woods with the skin on i do. so much of that depends on temperature though. I am pretty good at processing game in the field or at home but I always do a ton better when i can get it home whole and skin it while hanging from a post. Many times due to distance from road that just is not possible.

That being said i have some great pictures somewhere of frozen cow elk i got out of the hills whole. It froze solid and we stood her up in our living room, and other places where we staged it...it was entertaining. Had to leave it in the laundry room to thaw enough to skin it.
 

shader112

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 20, 2018
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when i have killed elk in late season montana it was absolutely beneficial. when it is zero degrees out there is no need to cool it down fast. i have killed them when it was sub zero and skinned them and then you end up skinning them again because you remove the outer 1/4 inch of meet after they freeze solid.

aside from that any time i can get my animal out of the woods with the skin on i do. so much of that depends on temperature though. I am pretty good at processing game in the field or at home but I always do a ton better when i can get it home whole and skin it while hanging from a post. Many times due to distance from road that just is not possible.

That being said i have some great pictures somewhere of frozen cow elk i got out of the hills whole. It froze solid and we stood her up in our living room, and other places where we staged it...it was entertaining. Had to leave it in the laundry room to thaw enough to skin it.
HA! Please post pictures if you find them
 

Riles1050

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Mar 27, 2018
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162
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Saratoga Springs, Utah
I'm a big believer in getting the skin off as quick as possible. Only reason to leave it is to help keep the meat clean. If temperatures are cold enough i'd be ok with that. Get you some good game bags and that'll bridge the gap of keeping it clean and flies off it anyway.
 

Larry Bartlett

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There are times when leaving the hide on the quarters is prudent: swampy or muddy kill sites, freezing ambient temperatures, situation dependent.

Keep in mind temperature rules everything post death. An ungulate's core temperature at time of death is about 100 degrees F. If that animal lie dead somewhere for a few hours while searching for it, expect core temperatures to remain above 90 degrees. In fact, an intact cavity can still produce liver temperatures above 70 degrees after 10 hours post death. The main engine for this heat retention is the gut sack and the belly cavity.

My best advice whether the hide stays on qtrs during transport is to remove the edible meat from the internal organs as quickly as possible. If time doesn't permit adequate dismemberment, the best course of action is to open the stomach cavity and remove everything. Open the cavity with a branch or rope tension and secure carcass in coolest breeziest place awaiting dismemberment.

Quarters of elk, moose, and caribou take longer to cool than deer, antelope and sheep, but they all cool surprisingly fast once removed from proximity of the gut sack. With the hide on, meat will stay warmer than 70 degrees for several hours post harvest, but it'll be cleaner if the alternative is muck and mire...and one last fact to remember: due to the rapid destabilization of the temperature of that meat the first 8 hours, bacteria and other spoilage factors cannot begin their assault because their environment has yet to stabilize (temperature); therefore the threats are low as long as the temperature continues to fall steadily the first 8 hours.

After about 8 hours, the cooler the meat remains the better for the end quality of field care...and that usually means the hide needs to come off to allow deep cooling above 34 degrees and below 45 degrees for at least 3 days before freezing.

TMI probably.

later
 

Larry Bartlett

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Hey Boom, one of the most embarrassing typos of my career was published in my A Complete Guide to Float Hunting Alaska 2nd edition. I mistakenly used "winch" for wench...and my female audience loves to bust my balls about that one!

at least with phones we can claim the fat finger phenom of texting typos!
 
Joined
Nov 16, 2017
Messages
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Central Oregon
Wanted to say thanks for posting your experiences.
Found this thread while researching for my 1st late hunt.
Harvested a cow just before dark 25 degrees, low was supposed to be 6.
Quartered her hair on.
Took all the loose meat that night. Came back next morning.
Everything was great.
 

WCB

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Joined
Jun 12, 2019
Messages
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Only time I ever did was while guiding horseback elk hunts. Truly quarter them so only leaving behind the gut/organs. Throw hide on quarters on mules in panniers...kept the dirt/dust off. Also quicker with clients there so we could get guys back hunting or back to camp for din din. If we needed to dump them for the night or once we got back to trail head we would throw them in the front of the stock trailer. Also made it easier for us to separate elk for inspection by G&F.

Personally I skin and bone everything out (regulations allowing). I see no need to carry the extra bone and hide out on my back. If I ever hunted where ATVs could be utilized within a short pack out I might consider bone in quarters easier to hang but never hide.
 
Joined
Aug 20, 2018
Messages
21
Location
Idaho
If you are horse packing the meat, and don't have anything to keep the flies and ravens off, or if you need to get going fast, it can pay to leave the hide on, and short quarter as normal. Getting it in 4 pieces in a tree will do a lot to cool it, and you still have 1 side with no hair. If you are backpacking, for sure it pays to get it down to the minimum weight before carrying, removing everything you are not going to eat.
 

wyosam

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Aug 5, 2019
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Would it ever be beneficial to leave the skin on an animal?

Basically, if you arrow an elk at last light and the corpse is already cooled to ambient temperatures when you track it down (say 40 degrees), could leaving the skin on help keep it cooler for at least a portion of the following day? Since hide is an insulator, in theory it would take the meat longer to heat up during the day. (Obviously at some point during the day the hide would be removed).

This would really only apply to quarters, just wondering if anyone has any experience or thoughts on using the insulation properties of the hides in a beneficial way to try and extend the amount of time meat can stay in the field before going sour. (Especially when it takes a few days to get the meat on ice)

Are there other, non-temperature related reasons to leave the hide in place, even if only for a short period?

Thanks

If it is cold enough to cool an elk to 40 degrees by the time you find it, I’m going to bet keeping it cool the following day is not an issue. The outside may get to that temp, but deep muscle is not soloing off that fast complete with the hide on.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

TheGDog

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Jun 12, 2020
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OC, CA
It's been really hot where I've harvested. I have to debone right then and there if its daytime.

HOWEVER... another problematic thing I have to deal with out there is the Meat Bees. They are pretty dang bad out there. So because of that... if it's actually hot enough that I've bothered to remove the gut pile... I'll walk it over quite a ways before I drop it onto the ground in order to give the Meat Bees something to mess with and leave me more alone while working on the animal.

ALSO... with that Meat Bees problem... I used to be dumb and hurry up and skin the entire side I'm working on first.... then set out to removing the muscles. What I've learned to do is leave the hide on, up until the moment I'm working on that specific area. This minimizes how much meat to air contact is going on and thus help reduce the surfaces into which the Bees may be attracted and want to explore here on the animal while I'm trying to work on it. That helped considerably.
 
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