How to Remove the Skin From Deer Heads

Skin the deer up to the neck, if you are skinning the full hide. If you are wishing to just keep the cape, then begin your skinning by cutting the skin around the girth of the body roughly 3 inches behind the front legs.

Cut the head off the body -- if this has not already been done -- as this will make maneuvering the hide; and therefore the skinning process, easier.

Begin an incision at the base and back of each antler dragging the incision both down and towards the opposite antler, so that you create a V-shaped cut. At the join of those two cuts, cut roughly 5 to 6 inches down the back of the neck, so that the final cut is Y-shaped.

Use the exacto knife to gently separate the hide from around the antlers. Continue peeling the hide away from the skull, pushing the skull back through the Y-shaped cut fashioned earlier.

Cut the meat of the ears where they connect to the skull when you begin to pull the hide away from that section of the skull. This will keep the ears intact with the hide.

Press your fingers into the eye socket as you reach it, and continue cutting the hide away from the skull. Be careful as you cut close to the eye not to cut your fingers, but continue applying steady pressure. This will allow the hide to separate around the eyes more easily.

When you begin peeling the hide away from the eye, you will need to carefully cut through the front corner of the eye where it connects to the tear duct with the exacto knife. Forgetting to cut this tissue will likely result in a tear in the hide. From here on, continue cutting with the exacto knife.

Turn the head, so that you are facing the mouth. Cut inside the mouth, allowing the blade of the exacto knife to follow the curve of the gums, so that you can peel away the lips from the front of the skull. Continue skinning the chin for several inches.

Remove the nose with the cartilage still intact, by cutting between the nose and the hard palate, which runs parallel to the mouth. Pinching the nose with your free hand and pulling it up and back towards the ears will allow you to slide your exacto knife more easily along this section of the skull. Continue cutting backwards, until you meet the section where you left-off skinning along the muzzle of the animal.

Press your fingers into the mouth of the deer and press back on the skull -- while also working the skin around the skull and pulling in the opposite direction -- to completely remove the skull.