PREPARING After the harvest

As a rule, hunters should follow a basic checklist to ensure the quality of their venison. The Pennsylvania Game Commission makes the following suggestions:
UTag the deer and remove entrails. Remove it from the field, skin it or pack ice in the body cavity until you get it to a butcher shop or home. Don't leave the deer on a roof-rack or in the bed of a pickup.
UIf you plan to process the deer yourself the next step is to wash out the body cavity and remove the hide. The hide comes off more easily when you cut off the front legs at the elbows, and the rear legs just below the knee joint, with a saw. Use a knife to cut the hide from where each leg was cut back to the body trunk. Cutting the rear legs at the joint also makes it easier to hang a carcass on a gambrel or meat hooks. Hang the carcass by the large tendons on the back legs.
UNext, the hide is pulled from the carcass, starting at the rear end and working downward toward the head. Peel it from the hind-quarters first, then cut the tailbone and pull it down to the shoulders. Work the hide over the shoulders and pull it away from the legs. Finally, pull the hide down the neck as close to the base of the skull as possible and cut the carcass free from the head with a clean saw. Remove the trachea.
UThe remaining hide-free carcass should be washed down immediately. It may be split lengthwise or left whole. Any blood clotting and hair should be removed. It's also a good idea to remove large fatty deposits to improve the quality of your meat. It helps lessen that "game taste" many people dislike about venison.
UFollowing these steps will prepare your carcass for hanging in a meat processor's refrigerator. If you hang the carcass in a garage, or out of the sun and away from insects, it will keep for at least several days as long as the air temperature in the garage or wherever the carcass is hung doesn't exceed 60 degrees. If the air temperature is in the 30s or 40s, the meat can hang safely for a week or longer.