How To Properly Use A Skinning Knife

As ancient man discovered millennia ago, regardless of whether you choose to hunt small, medium, or really large, you still have to deal with the arduous task of removing the skin from the carcass after harvesting the animal.

Fortunately, unlike ancient man, modern hunters can choose from a wide range of skinning knife designs made from a wide range of advanced steels instead of flint or obsidian.

However, merely buying a modern, high-tech best skinning knife isn't particularly helpful if you don't know how to use it. So read on for useful information that will help you operate this modern, high-tech tool with the ease of a professional butcher.

What type of blade design should I use?

Now the first thing to note is that some animals like squirrels, rabbits, goats, and deer have loosely attached fur, while other types of animals, such as pigs, have very tight fur.

Thus, skinning an animal like a rabbit or a deer. The hunter can grab the edge of the skin and pull it out of the carcass while using the tip of his knife to cut the thin membrane that binds the skin to the muscle tissue.

You must do this to remove the skin from the case.

However, when skinning an animal with tight-knit skin, such as a wild pig or wild boar, the surface must be carved away from the carcass because it is attached to muscle tissue by a thick layer of it thick, hard, thick fat.

Therefore, knives with Drop Point or Clip Point knife designs are generally best for skinning animals with loose fur. This is because, most often, only the tip of the blade has used when skinning these animals.

Knives with drag point knife designs are usually best for skinning animals with close-knit hides because they have deeper bellies and, therefore, longer cutting edges that facilitate a long, slicing stroke.

Something else to keep in mind is that when skinning medium to large game animals, such as wild pigs, whitetail deer, elk, or elk, these animals are covered in coarse hair that will quickly dull the sharpest knife edge.

One solution is to carry a folding knife and a fixed blade knife so you can use the folding knife to make the initial cuts along the abdomen and legs and around the neck.

This helps preserve the edge of your fixed blade knife for the removal of leather from the casing.

Does the process itself change for different types of games, and how do I do it?

Not really. Regardless of what game size you hunt or what type of skinning knife you choose to use, removing the skin from the case is virtually the same.

For example, you will first need to make an incision along the abdomen that extends from a point between the front legs to the anus. It would help if you also were careful not to pierce the membrane in which the internal organs are contained.

Once the abdomen has been opened, you will need to reach the inside of the housing towards the neck. Moreover, use your Damascus hunting knife to cut the throat so that the entire membrane can be removed intact.

Next, you will need to use your knife to cut a circle around the anus so that the entire membrane can be removed entirely, and then the skinning process can begin.

The skin can be removed with the carcass lying on the ground or lifted off the ground through a convenient tree branch.

Either way, once the internal organs are removed, you'll need to make incisions around each leg's extremity and neck. Then make additional incisions for leg down to the chest and abdomen.

From here, you'll need to grab the edge of the fur ether near the neck or the groin, depending on whether the animal is lying on the ground or hanging.

Then you will have to pull it out of the case while using the tip or full sweep of your knife to cut the skin off the case.

Then once it starts, you can work from head to head, head to head, or belly to back; what suits you.

Ending:

But, the main concept to keep in mind is that different types of game animals require slightly different methods to remove fur from their bodies and therefore require different blade designs.

Also, keep in mind that short blades tend to work best in small games, while medium-sized blades tend to work best in medium-sized games, and large blades tend to work best in large game species.

Also, since it is sometimes necessary to re-sharpen a skinning knife in the field, both diamond stones and ceramic sharpening stones are particularly useful because they do not require lubrication before use.