§ 27. Bleeding
The animal should be bled immediately after stunning or shooting. To do this properly requires practice. With the stunned animal lying stretched out on the floor, stand at its throat with the back toward its body. Place one foot against the jaw, and with the other hold back the front legs of the animal. Reaching down between the feet, lay open the skin from the breast toward the chin for a distance of about ten inches, using the ordinary skinning knife. Insert the knife with the back against the breastbone and the tip directed toward the spinal column at the top of the shoulders, cutting just under the windpipe, and about five or six inches deep. The vein and the artery cross at this point, and if they are severed, the blood will flow out very rapidly. When the vein has been cut below the windpipe, run a knife in on top of the windpipe and sever the blood vessels on that side also. If stuck too deep, the pleura will be punctured and the blood will flow into the chest cavity, causing a bloody carcass, which is not desirable.
The animal will bleed out if the blood vessels on one side only are cut, but it will bleed more quickly if those on both sides are severed. A little practice is required to do it properly, but when once learned it is not easily forgotten.
Bleeding can be accomplished, but not so rapidly, if the throat of the animal is simply cut, just back of the jaws.