After you have shot your game, approach it from the rear carefully, making sure it is dead. Validate your tag and attach it to the carcass immediately as instructed on the tag (usually around a horn or through an ear). Start field dressing it at once with a good, strong bladed knife. Be sure your knife is sharp, maintain a fine edge blade as you work. You may also find a knife with a serrated blade and/or a hatchet will help with some parts of the process.

The following procedure has withstood the test of time by experienced hunters. Many, however, like to vary one or more steps, so the hunter should feel free to innovate to suit the situation.

Be sure to check your local fish & wildlife dept. for instructions concerning evidence of sex and antlers and follow their instructions. If you are hunting with others, it is helpful to have one person on each side of the deer holding the rear legs apart and to the side.


With the deer on its back, you should start between the hind legs, and slit a small hole in the belly of the deer above its sex organs.

 

Put 2 fingers (middle & pointing fingers) in this hole facing up and putting the knife between your fingers, cut all the way up to the bottom of the ribs. Your fingers should act as a guide to keep the organs away from the point of the knife inside the deer. If you do cut any of the organs here such as the stomach, you will know it - you will smell a strong odor and you will need to take special care at the end of the process to make sure the body cavity is clean. Go back to your original slit and turn your knife blade down, cut around the sex organs of the deer (using your free hand to hold the skin you are cutting away from the deer - so you don't cut into the hind quarters and damage any meat). Continue cutting down the deer and cut around the deer's sphincter. Go up a few inches to the pelvis and locate the seam where the bones grow together. Feel just under this seam for a bump on the bone. This bump indicates the middle point of the pelvis and the easiest point to split the bones. Place the knife on the top of the pelvis directly above where the bump is on the opposite side and press down hard. If you have a good, stout knife, it may help to twist the blade from side to side to work the blade through the seam. As a last resort, you may have to hit the back of your knife blade to cut through the bone. You can also use a hatchet or saw for larger deer. When the bones separate at the seam, return to the top of your cut by the breastbone and continue cutting up through the breastbone (brisket), and on up the neck as far as possible. A strong, large-handled knife is needed to best make the cut through the breastbone. Don't worry about cutting organs inside the deer as the heart & lungs will sit deep into the deer & even if they get cut the contents (blood) will not contaminate the meat.

Cut the windpipe in two as far up the neck as possible. Lay your knife down. Grasp the windpipe with both hands and pull hard, downward. The insides should come out all the way down to the midsection.

As you continue pulling the insides down you may have to cut the thin layer of meat that is holding the entrails to the ribs, all the way down to the backbone on each side. With a firm grip on the entrails you should be able to pull down hard and have all the entrails come down through the split pelvis and out of the animal taking the sphincter with it.

If a tree is handy and you have a rope, hang the carcass up by the head or antlers for about 20 minutes. This will allow the loose blood to drain out of the body cavity. If no tree is available, turn it upside down in a clean place and let it drain with the head angled uphill.

Take your animal back to camp. Take note that dragging it may get it quite dirty. Keep it clean. (You may opt to quarter or halve it for easier transporting. If you do so, remember to have the tag attached to the largest portion of the carcass.)

Once in camp you can begin skinning. Hang it by the head or hind legs for skinning. The skin comes off most easily while the deer is still warm, so it should be skinned within two hours. To remove the skin, cut down the inside of each leg to the middle of the animal, being careful to cut the skin only. If you hang the deer by the head, cut the skin all the way around the neck, as close to the head as possible. Grasp the skin with both hands at the back of the head and pull down hard. Usually the skin will come off down to the front legs. Use your knife to work the skin off the legs and where the skin sticks tightly to the meat. Then pull down on the skin and it will come free.

Hang it up by the hind legs for four or five hours to allow the tiny blood vessels to drain. Keep the carcass in the shade and as cool as possible, and make certain it is free of flies by wrapping it in a game bag or cheesecloth. It is very important that the carcass is allowed to cool throughout within ten to twelve hours. Once it has properly cooled overnight, warm days in the mountains should be no problem so long as the carcass is kept cool in the shade. Without quick and proper cooling, the meat will spoil.

Once you get home it is OK to cut up the meat or you can age it in a refrigerated cooler, or other cool place for a week or ten days before cutting it up. It is advisable to trim all fat from the meat, as wild game fat quickly turns rancid and will affect the meat's flavor. Wrap the cuts well before freezing. Wild game meat is also delicious if cooked and canned, or jerked. See Venison recipes

If you must travel in warm weather, place the carcass in the vehicle early in the morning while it is yet cool and cover it with canvas and sleeping bags to insulate and keep out the heat. Be certain the meat does not get warm on the trip.

Remember - when properly cared for, wild game meat is a special treat for any table and is very nutritious because it is high in protein content.
 
(parts of this article excerpted from whitetaildeer.com)