The Back Track to Camp Over 
a Dim and Tangled Forest Trail 
—with a Buck on Your Back— 
Will Not Be So Difficult if 
You Follow These Suggestions 
allowed a short time to cool—the longer the better in fact, for the 
keeping quality of the meat, though a fresh, limp deer carries by 
this method easier than a cold, stiffened one. Needless to say, the 
cleaner the bleeding and gutting the more pleasant to carry. The 
smaller the opening in the belly, the less the chance for leakage 
of blood; and though hunters in the flush of victory seldom pay 
much attention to a little gore upon their persons, it is pleasanter 
to avoid it. A blood-soaked shirt or sweater soon grows clammy 
and uncomfortable. So all blood possible should be drained out 
of the body cavity by turning the animal belly down for a few 
minutes, but for the sake of comfort it is better not to remove 
the rectum, as during transport later blood will continually seep 
downward and drain out upon the carrier’s clothes. If the carry 
is known to be a short one and the deer small, the animal may 
be packed entire. Where every pound counts and the head is 
not worth saving, the latter may be cut off and discarded—this 
of course in cases where the law allows such procedure. 
NEXT run the knife through the skin above the hock between 
the large tendon and the bone, making a slit about three 
inches long or big enough that the hoof of the front foot may be 
pushed through the hole. Slit both hind legs in this manner. 
Then run the knife around the knee of the foreleg, cutting the 
skin of the sides and front out, leaving the skin on the back of 
the knee entire. -Feel with the thumb or finger on the side of 
the knee joint for a little gap that denotes the parting of the 
joint, and cutting in here from the inside of the leg, partly sever 
the joint. The tendon at the back must on no account be cut. 
Then by giving the shank a sudden sidewise jerk or twist the joint 
will come apart, leaving the upper and lower part of the leg 
held together merely by the large tendon at the back and the 
skin upon it. Next beginning at the former cut, slit the skin 
toward the hoof on both sides of the leg, a matter of about three 
inches and pull both skin and tendon free from the bone of the 
shank for that same distance. Repeat this operation on the 
other front leg. 
The two front shanks now dangle loosely. Now comes the 
hitching up process. Thrust the right front hoof through the hole 
at the right hind hock and the left front hoof through the left 
hind hock and pull both through past the disconnected knees. The 
loose ends of the shanks now form keys; they catch on the hind 
leg and will not withdraw through the holes and the animal is 
drawn together with bowed back, the legs bunched in the posture 
of the comic cartoon of the running dog. 
‘THE rest is largely a matter of strength and endurance. To 
get the burden on back, raise the deer upon his hams into 
sitting posture—backed against a log this is easiest—then get 
down in front and shoulder the animal as though it were a pack- 
sack—head up. The hunter’s left shoulder goes under the deer’s 
left foreleg, his right shoulder under the right foreleg. The deer 
is thus astride the hunter’s back, riding almost exactly as a 
youngster does when riding upon his daddy’s back while playing 
“horse.” The heaviest part of the undertaking is rising with the 
burden- One can always carry it if he can get up. 
When two men are packing out a deer it is vastly easier for 
them to work in this way in relays than to use a pole, that is, 
providing the animal is not beyond one man’s strength. With 
oné to help the other up and go ahead and pick the best going, 
(Continued on page 687) 
Page 669 

Then you get down in front of the deer and into the leg 
loops as you would when using a pack sack 

We are off. In this illustration the hunter is a very 
large man and the deer a small animal 
