Skinning a Moose

by Rick

How long can I leave the skin on my moose? Is it better to leave it on or take it off right away?

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Rick, it is always recommended to cool the moose meat (or any animal for that matter) as soon as you can.

How can you do that?

Moose hide is very thick and will prevent the meat from cooling as it acts like insulation.

Skinning your moose meat right away will cool the meat and help to prevent bone sour.

A second reason to skin your moose as soon as possible is it is a LOT easier to remove the moose hide when it is still warm. Warm moose hide is more pliable and can be pulled away from the moose meat with ease.

Once the moose hide has had a chance to cool the fat and connective tissues stiffen up, the task of removing the moose hide becomes much more difficult.

As well as becoming more difficult, when the temperatures are very cold It can be very hard on your hands. It's like dipping your hands in ice water... not so much fun!

A third reason to remove the moosehide by skinning is to help reduce the chances of gamey taste. Some people don't mind the strong taste of meat (like mutton) while others cannot stomach it. As a preventative, get that moose hide off right away!

At our moose camps we follow a fairly standard protocol. Once the moose is back to camp we begin to hoist it up onto our game pole. As the moose is hoisted we begin to skin the moose.

We lift the moose just high enough to reach it and as the skinning progresses we lift it more.

Once the moose hide is completely removed (leaving evidence of sex and species attached) we half the moose then quarter it.

Of course this procedure is followed when the moose is brought in whole.

If you bring moose quarters back to camp then simply hang your quarters and skin them out... yes, right away.

It's also a good idea to cover the moose meat with some type of game bag to keep insects and birds off your moose meat.

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