Skinning coyotes

[blakcoyote]

Thought a nice pictorial on skinning coyotes would be nice on here for beginners.This is how I do it,some others may do it a little differently. It took a while to put this together.So here it goes.

Well here it goes.I have about 17 pics for this.Some of you that have skinned squirrels should be familiar with this.Before you start,a word of caution,either wear rubber gloves to protect from diseases,and/or wash your hands well when your done,and don't eat,drink or smoke while your skinning to protect yourself.Also,I used a coyote for this,but you do the same for,raccoon,mink,bobcat,fisher,otter,muskrat,fox,skunk and weasel,beaver are open skinned and this winter,I hope to show you how.This method here is the case skinning method and is a must,if you plan to market your skinned pelts.

First you secure a hindfoot,I use a sharpened 30d nail,held in a vice,then run it through the foot.Then grab the other hind leg and pull it towards you.Then run then knife from the foot your holding all the way to the other foot,passing just under the nuts or female parts,like so:


After that cut,cut along both sides of the anus,starting from the underside of the tail,so that it makes a V,like this:


Once you've done that,work the hide off along the legs and rump,using your knife and fingers,until you have the hide free,you can cut the leg hide loose from the feet anywhere you want,whether it be close to the toes or hock,it does'nt matter,it should look like this:


Now everything is loose except for the tail,skin the tail slightly by cutting up the underside and pulling the hide back gently,so you don't accidently cut the hide from the tail.The bone needs to be stripped out.Once you have some of the tail bone loose,you can wrap your middle finger around the bone and grip and pull the tail hide off the bone,it's tough at first but once it comes,it'll slide the bone right out,some use a flat piece of 1/8" steel with a V notch to do this.

Now it should look like this:


to be continued..........

[blakcoyote]

continued...........
Now that the tail is free,hang the critter by the back legs so it's up higher for when you get into the grunt work of pulling the hide.Then take and cut the front legs off at the elbow(I use a large pruning shear,learned that little trick on this forum),then I put an old sock over the animals head so it goes past the ears onto the neck,this helps prevent excess blood from getting on the fur when you start pulling the hide.It should look like this:


Now your ready to pull the hide,grab the hide by where the rump fur is and pull down,using an old towel or rag helps your grip,or a pair of cotton gloves.Pull the hide until you get to the shoulders,like this:


Once your to the shoulders,you need to work the front legs out,I usually run a steel through the arm pit,between the hide and the upper leg, until it goes out the otherside,then grab the steel on both ends and pull down:





to be continued........

[blakcoyote]

continued...
Now your critter should look like this:


Now pull the hide down some more by wrapping the towel around the whole hide to give you a good grip,until you get to the ears,they'll look like 2 big bumps.


Now with a sherp knife,cut the ears loose,cutting close to the skull,they should look like the following:


And both ears free.Now pull the hide even more,until you get to the eyes,they'll be 2 small bumps:


to be continued.............

[blakcoyote]

continued.....
Once at the eyes use a sharp knife and cut as close to the bone as you can,while pulling the hide,it should look like this when your done,notice the blood,that's where the little sock trick helps,theres always blood,when you get to the head:


Now continue pulling and cutting down the muzzle until you see teeth,then cut the bottom lip right off about 1/2 way down the jaw,just cut it straight across.Like this:


Then continue pulling and cutting until you come to the nose,then sever the hide from the carcass by cutting it off the nose,you'll have two parts,a carcass and a hide.Turn the hide fur side out.


Now you can after letting the hide cool about 10 min.,fold it in half and put in the freezer,after it's froze you can put it in a plastic bag for longer storage in the freezer,don't put it in a plastic bag before it's froze,or leftover heat can't escape soon enough and could cause the fur to slip.

Hope it teaches a few new guys the basics.

Enjoy,Duane

[trappnman]

Good pictures duane!

exactly how I do it, except rather than cut off the front legs, I ring them in about the ame spot, and skin them out to about an inch from the body. Takes but a few seconds.

Some prefer having the frong legs out of the way, but I like them on. I tried lopping them off, but I got more blood them I like, plus I often use them to turn or hold a coyote in 1 position.

[cameron2]

Duane:

That's a great sequence of photos. Good job.

I don't skin coyotes anymore since I met Corey on this site. He loves to skin coyotes so much that I send them all to him.

His method is a little different though. First step, cut the tail off . . . Second step, cuss about how bad coyotes stink. . . . Third step, cuss about how much you like coyotes . . . Fourth step, cuss about how you need to quit cussing . . .

Well, you get the idea. If you're ever in Southeast Nebraska, you owe it to yourself to look up Corey and get a skinning lesson from him in person. It's well worth it.

[bobCATching]

hehe,,,, sounds like Corey taught me LOL

pefect Cory!

[billkasten]

Duane great I'll send those asking to this site sure beats trying to explain it. Thanks

[blakcoyote]

Glad you like them,like I said,everyone does it a little different,just thought I'd show the basics.

Oh yeah,I left out the cussing parts to keep it clean,LOL

Skin em' warm,it cuts down on the cussin',lol

[Corey]

Great post Duane....thanks for taking the time to do it.

Steve W.....i've taken to calling them stinky hard skinning sob's "Hollywood Possums" I believe you where the first to coin that phrase...and it stuck....I chuckle everytime I say it.

Cameron.....I realize your getting old, and forgetful, but the animal of yours with the missing tail was a gray fox....the coyote that I skinned has all the goody's still on him.

Corey

[ohiyotee]

thats to much work for me , i got a winch .

[Billy Y]

Thanks for this post. I'm new to skinning coyotes this year and I can already see I'm spending way too much time on the legs.

[Bristleback]

D, great job.

One more tip I might add............IF you have ROOM.....once you get the critter: coyote, bobcat, coon.......pulled down to the shoulders, wrap a gunny sack/old towel around the entire hide and toss that between your legs, while you are standing up.......simply back up with the skin between your legs.........this keeps tension on the skin........works like a dream, especially once you get the front legs done.

[ohiyotee]

If you skin a coon like that you could lose 3 to 4 dollars a hide. greg

[trappnman]

lose $3-4 a coon?

I know you are talking the long cut up to the penis egion, thus giving a longer back- but selling local- it doesn't matter. A big coon is a big coon. Buyers go a lot by weight of fur and the look of the fur- size locally is 2 and at most 3 grades.i

[jim]

After ringing the hind legs I use a pair of pliers and just pull the hide off of the legs andhind quarters down to the tail, can't imagine doing that with your fingers and the knife. Then I use my horizonal hand winch setup. Jim

[ohiyotee]

Yes Steve you are probably right , if you are selling in the grease it would not matter but if you are putting up and shipping the difference is usually a size . For example last year on my nafa sales sheet i show a 3xl labeled select coon $22.00 , a 2xl labeled select $16.00 clarity and section the same for both. The difference between the 2 is only 2 inches in stretch but $6.00 on the sheet.so as you can see money can be lost or should i say not realized if you don't watch the small stuff. I see it all the time at the local fur auctions . greg

[trappnman]

I understand what you mean greg-

size is important selling green also. For example, I sold coon 2x this year at an $18 high grade averge- which means coon in that general size range were $15-22 or so. Early coon have typically 3 grades- but later coon they are all furred up so its big and mediums.

[mostinterestingmanintheworld]

If you ring the front legs your cutting fur which dulls your knife.

Better to slit them up slightly past the elbow the when you pull the neck out to the ears the front legs strip out with them.

They are taut and you just touch your knife on the skin side and the pop off. Knife stays sharp.

Another technique which avoids using sharpening steels, trap pegs, and such on the front legs is to reach up under the leg where it meets the chest with a grip on each side. Pull back toward the neck and down usually it just pops loose and you can pull the neck.

Kind of hard to explain but is easy when you get the hang of it.

I'll admit a big old dog or tomcat may need some kind of tool but with 75% of them it's a 2 second job on the front legs.

I touch the joint on the back foot with my knife, crack the joint, and leave the back feet on the hide to use as something to grab when making the big pull. Try it you'll like it.

Not being critical, those are great pics!!

Joel

[GUTPYLZ]

That was a great post and I'm going to try some of your tricks.

I don't know if you have tried it or not, but I think I learned from Yancy and Jeff to cut around mouth first. Cut the gums around to the back of the mouth and the nose just past the cartilage. Cut the gums of the lower jaw just to the back of the mouth. I find that after I cut the ears, the rest peels off really easy. It is almost a must do, if your going to give it to the Taxidermist. You won't harm any of that sensitive area.