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roll the edges of the skin with hair underneath so that the hair will not 
become bloody. Trickling blood on the inside of the skin may be 
mopped up with a handful of grass or mess. Skinning the head and feet, 
and other fine points of the job may be done later in camp. 
A medium-sized mammal, after the hind legs are skinned, may be 
hung up by a loop of rope around the pelvis, thus allowing the operator 
to have both hands free to skin the rest of the body. The big game 
hunter should carry a few yards of small rope or cod line for such purposes. 
If it is desired to hang up a deer carcass out of the reach of pre- 
dators, split the hind legs at the hock joints and thrust a strong stick 
through under the tendons of Achilles. Then lift the deer up so that the 
stick rests on a heavy pole leaning against a heavy tree branch. By 
giving short lifts and shoving the cross stick up the pole, the carcass may 
easily be raised until the nose clears the ground. The carcass may also 
be elevated by a pole tripod, the legs of which are first spread out and 
then moved in one at a time. 
If necessary, a small deer may be packed entire. Make the disem- 
bowelling cut as small as possible so that the blood does not run out after 
draining. Then cut a slit through the skin under the tendon of Achilles 
(just above each hock joint on hind leg). The front leg is cut through 
and disjointed at the elbow so that the upper projecting end of the ulna 
will act as a catch-pin. Then slip each front foot through the cut in the 
hind leg of the same side so that the elbow joint will catch in the hock inci- 
sion, locking them together. The packer then puts his arms through the 
spaces between legs on each side, and hoists the deer on his back with 
deer’s head up and tail hanging down, the abdomen of the deer resting 
against the man’s back. In this way a deer may be carried like an 
ordinary knapsack load, without the use of any ropes. 
The leg bones of large mammals, and the pelvic bones, if possible, 
should be saved if the animal is to be mounted. 
Skinning Homed Heads 
Hornless heads of any kind can usually be skinned down to the 
nose, and the skull removed in the same manner as in smaller mammals. 
Obviously, the neck skin of an animal can not be stretched enough to 
go over a pair of horns or antlers. The neck should be skinned up as far 
as possible through the body cut, and either disjointed just back of the 
head, or left intact until the head is skinned. In very cold weather or 
when pressed for time, it is best to disjoint the neck and carry the hide 
back to camp with the head unskinned. Unless the neck skin is very 
thick and heavy, as in the buffalo, so that it cannot be rolled up, the 
writer generally finds the head easier to manipulate after the neck is 
severed. Frozen specimens should be thawed out slowly, and not be 
allowed to come into contact with extreme heat, sun or open fire. 
To skin a horned or antlered head, a Y-shaped cut is made along the 
back of the head and neck, reaching a point a little in rear of the horns, 
with a diagonal cut to the base of each horn (Figure 24). The incision 
is carried close to the base of each horn, and chiselled deep through the 
thick skin to the bone of the skull. The skin is cut and wedged away 
from each horn, worked free from the forehead, back of the head, and 
