Beekissed
Mountain Sage
As promised, I am posting some pics of skinning our calf for processing. I didn't include pics of the actual kill or gutting as I'm sure some would not appreciate the finer points of getting right in there for a snootful of reality. 
The really funny part of the day was trying to get this wild and wooly calf from the pen to the butchering point....worthy of Funniest Home Videos, for sure!
After shooting with a .410 in the head and a quick death, my mother cut ligaments surrounding the anus, rectum and urethra....it was a messy thing. Not clean like a deer kill.
Then we circumcised the skin around each leg and peeled the skin down on the neck.
Repeated the process on the lower legs as well.
This is the first time we hung an animal with the guts intact, so this was a new step for us but it worked out rather well....I won't show the gutting.
We used an electric sawzaw for the legs...first time I've ever tried this and it was wonderful!! Where has this little beauty been all my life??? All those years haggling away with a hack saw.....
After getting the cape down a little, we inserted a hammer under the hide and tied with a rope for attaching to the truck for pulling.
A slow pull.....we had to go slow, as a calf's hide is really quite thin.
And at full extension....and zip that hide comes right off in a jiffy!
A finished carcass that will hang and cool over night, and be quartered and processed tomorrow.
Certainly not our best work, but it was freezing temps, frigid winds, some of our tools were not optimal and our tree isn't really tall enough for this~but it got done, thank heavens! Thank you, Old Bat, for being my model for the day! 
The really funny part of the day was trying to get this wild and wooly calf from the pen to the butchering point....worthy of Funniest Home Videos, for sure!
After shooting with a .410 in the head and a quick death, my mother cut ligaments surrounding the anus, rectum and urethra....it was a messy thing. Not clean like a deer kill.
Then we circumcised the skin around each leg and peeled the skin down on the neck.
Repeated the process on the lower legs as well.
This is the first time we hung an animal with the guts intact, so this was a new step for us but it worked out rather well....I won't show the gutting.
We used an electric sawzaw for the legs...first time I've ever tried this and it was wonderful!! Where has this little beauty been all my life??? All those years haggling away with a hack saw.....
After getting the cape down a little, we inserted a hammer under the hide and tied with a rope for attaching to the truck for pulling.
A slow pull.....we had to go slow, as a calf's hide is really quite thin.
And at full extension....and zip that hide comes right off in a jiffy!
A finished carcass that will hang and cool over night, and be quartered and processed tomorrow.
Certainly not our best work, but it was freezing temps, frigid winds, some of our tools were not optimal and our tree isn't really tall enough for this~but it got done, thank heavens!
Thank you, Old Bat, for being my model for the day! 
OMG!,...men! 
. Good going Bee and Bat! You are WOMEN,...we hear YOU roar! 
