I've done it before by thawing first which I don't like to do. I was wondering if a reciprocal saw would be the better way .How have you done it ?

I recently helped skin a frozen elk. It was quite a chore to say the least. We did use a reciprocal saw to quarter it with. The saw made cutting down the back bone easy. Of course almost anything is easy compaired to getting that frozen skin off.
Regards, Keith

It is one of the things I try to advoid. I go to great lenghts to not have to. A reciprocal saw well help but it still is going to be a pain.

a saw saw works wonders, as does a circular saw or a small chain saw..... BE VERY CAREFULL THOUGH.....

Also if you have a large vat of warm/hot water, you can soak for a few minutes in order to thaw the skin and that makes the skinning a lot easier.....

We just finished cutting up 5 frozen deer. It really wasn't all that difficult. We brought them into the house the night before we started butchering and most of the "hard" frost went went away fairly quickly. These deer had hung in an unheated space with low temperatures below zero for over a week. Semi-frozen isn't a bad way to process meat but the danger of a boning knife can't be overstated. It takes a little longer because of the need for caution but the cuts are cleaner and refreezing occurs very quickly. We've done this out of necessity several times and I've never noticed any quality issues with our meat.

I expect to repeat the process in about two weeks when we have our winter elk hunt.

I've done it a bunch of times with whitetails. I used to do it by bringing it into the house for about twelve hours and cutting it up. Then I discovered my bandsaw in the shop. Why didn't I use it before? Dumb, I guess. They use them in butcher shops all the time. A few minutes with the band saw and it's done. I still let the ground meat temper before I grind it. It is a mess to clean meat and grease off of a wood working band saw, but the cutting is quick. A battery powered recip is great for splitting the carcass. The bandsaw is great for the rest of the job.
Bfly

quote:

Originally posted by Keith1:
Of course almost anything is easy compaired to getting that frozen skin off.
Regards, Keith

HELL YEAH!

So any idea how to do that? Only happened to me once. Little tiny pieces, frozen fingers and some, no, make that alot, of very serious cussing. After that, they got skinned right away.
Bfly

Always, always, ALWAYS skin as soon as you can. As stated, it is a hell of a lot easier, but more importantly, it cools the meat off more quickly, which reduces the chances of spoilage. When I have to deal with a frozen (skinned) carcass I bring it into my basement (which rarely is warmer than 60 during deer season) the night before. By morning the meat is cold, but not stiff. Using any kind of saw would not work for me; we always bone the meat out before packaging and freezing. Also, sawing would result in bits of marrow, bone and fat getting on the meat, something I avoid at all cost because of the "gamey" flavor of those contaminants.

The deed is done !
I don't know all the details but the deer was not skinned immediately because because the wanted to avoid drying out the meat .Dressed out and in cold weather it froze quickly. I found skinning not too bad once I used a large screwdriver pushed down between skin and body and pried. I tried a heat gun but that was of no use.Once the skin was off I used a reciprocating saw .A 6-8" blade with coarse teeth [ 6 teeth/inch] was best .I wasn't picky about it ,saving the larger parts and discarding the rest.
I think the reciprocating saw is fine for quartering and other basic cuts ,especially in the field with a cordless one .The rest would be better done with a bandsaw but I didn't have one.
Previously I had done a frozen deer by letting it defrost but that's a pita !
Anyway it worked out fine and it was delicious as they had dressed it out immediately -no gamey flavor.Good NE PA venison.

Long ago a feiend looked at me like I was a terrorist when I came out with my Milwaukee "SawsAll" reciprocating (Hey, I actually spelled it correctly) to cut up a frozen deer.

Normally we don't get freezing weather until after Firearms deer season is over...

But this particular button buck wasn't a hunted deer...
It was a deer aquired by it's own choice...
It committed suicide by broad-siding my pickup truck
as I drove to drop my brother off at his place.

It managed to stick it's head through the swing-away mirror bracket on my passenger door and tore the mirror right off the truck... but managed to break it's silly neck in the process...

He was only a button buck but an especially heavy one
as he weighed in at 165lb dressed.

The entire extended family had a chance to admire him
as they arrived for the usual christmas eve family gathering
as family usually enters through the garage
(the original builders of this house sited it stupidly on the property) where he was hanging frozen harder than
granite from the rafters.

AD

Personally, I'd agree with Sdirks.....I hate using a saw because of the contamination from bone dust & fat, but if that's your only option because of circumstance, so be it. I once used a woodworking bandsaw to cut up a slab of beef ribeyes that a friend had given me for helping work his cattle....never again. I like to never got all the fat & residue out of the saw. Eventually, it became so greasy inside that the blade came off the wheel and wouldn't stay there. Did a nice job though!

Probably the biggest PITA with working on frozen meat is frozen fingers. I find that those disposable latex examine gloves help an astounding amount.

I have broken the tip off a boning knife a few times too.

Allan , it's spelled SAWZALL ! Anyway you were continuing to use big bore for hunting like your 45-70 !!