1. The "you can now do..." is based off data sent to the client from the server. When you unlock (buy) a skill, the server sends you all the new skills and recipes acquired. The client just posts these to System chat.
2. I haven't noticed this in the default client myself, but the last couple of skills I unlocked didn't have anything new other than skills become available.
Pretty sure it's just Big Game Hunting you're missing if the wiki says you just need Field Dressing for Game Meats. Might be butchery, too. (I could probably tell you if I felt like digging through the page creations and checking time stamps, but too lazy to do that when you could confirm it for us by buying one skill

)