I’ve highlighted videos from my friend Dr. Grant Woods of GrowingDeerTV on this website before. For example, click here to see an instructional video from Woods that compares a deer’s reaction to a bow shot depending on whether the animal’s head is up vs. down. In the 8-minute YouTube video below, Woods shares his step-by-step process to easily removing the hide from a whitetail.

Note: As you’ll see, Woods skins the deer back at camp before field dressing it. If you prefer to field dress a deer prior to skinning it, that’s okay, too. The steps for skinning a deer remain the same.

Your goal when skinning a deer is to keep the meat clean. After all, who wants deer hair on a steak or burger? As Woods demonstrates, you need to know how to use your knife; many hunters cut with their knife from the outside of the hide toward the meat, but that puts sliced hair everywhere. Instead, you want your knife blade facing outward whenever possible when cutting through the hide.

In addition to hunting whitetails for work and pleasure, Dr. Grant Woods is a Ph.D wildlife biologist who has harvested hundreds of deer for scientific research. The venison from those deer was donated to local charitable organizations. Because of the high number of whitetails harvested for his research projects, Woods learned efficient ways to clean a deer so the meat stayed clean and free of hair and other contaminants.