Video of Coon Skinner

[mustelameister]

Jerry Houlter, an older fella who frequents the WTA rondy, made several of these "tail rollers" about 5 years ago. His bolts directly to the floor and the two bars are parallel to each other with a handle on the right side to rotate the tail and lock it into place.

He gave out a handful of these and asked the recipients to give him some feedback. I received one, used it one season and told him they really reduced my total skinning time. He asked if I thought they'd sell at the WTA rondy.

I suggested he'd probably get quite a few lookers, but most fellas would probably take a picture of it or sketch it out and either make it themselves or have somebody else cobble it together.

That is, if they believed it really works.

That and he was asking way too much, IMO, for his creation.

Jerry is quite the inventer, those who know him will agree on that. He gave his first demo at the fall rondy here in Wisconsin this past fall, showing many of his inventions over the years.

I continue to use it, but have the wide-jawed vice grips chained to a horizontal landscaping timber at the same height in case I get a tail-less 'coon or there ain't enough of it to lock into the tail roller.

Yup, that really speeds up the time.

[ksboy99]

but.. but... but... you had the time consuming part done... LOL

[thebeav2]

Way to complected and to much engineering.
A simple slip noose will get the job done faster and more efficient with less work.

[huntingmaxima]

Nick, Is there anyway you could post some closeup pictures of that roller setup. It seems to be alittle quicker that the visegrips that I use.

[C1972]

Nice vid. I like to work smarter and not harder. I gotta get me one of those. I still do it the hard way. What sucks is that I've been a welder and fabricator my whole life. Looks like I'm gonna have a project in my near future. What size of winch or electric chainfall would a man need for it to work properly?

[Bristleback]

Nick, when you rework yours are you going to rewire that switch and make it a foot op?

[bobwendt]

what I never could understand is by the time he is skinned by hand enough to get it on a machine, I can finish it by hand faster than anyone can even put it on a machine. serious. 1-2 minutes whole coon and 1/2 of thatr getting hind legs and tail free. then knee in hide and hurumph, down to ears. had days I`d do 100 coon in couple hrs and take coffee breaks and pee breaks.

[buckfreak]

Lets see 100 coon in two hours which makes that 1.2 minutes per coon and coffee breaks and pee breaks drops it lower yet.
You might be good Bob but you aint doing coon that fast especially the old boar coon that have had time to get cold and set up overnight in conibears.

[garman]

save your hands not only for the season but the lifetime, and your indiana, bob, are not our coon or nicks coon, some of your western coon could be, yes nick the less you have to do now saves your hands later, i worked for your buyer for several seasons and for myself and contract work, my hands ache now everyday, i am only 37, you are smart for doing this now

[bobwendt]

I probably exagerated, say 3 hrs and I`ll stick to that one. we have a coon skiinnning contest at our state meet every year. the winner is usually about 1 minute. the nafa agent brings in 20 or so coons. entrants draw straws for for who skins first, man #2 picks the coon for first man up. then man #1 picks #2`s coon, and so on till the last one is skinned. they are average indiana 12 lb or so coons, saved near the same size and age as reasonable from the season before. all cold, not frozen, but been in freezer all summer. all hand skinning, no machines. I don`t enter as I`d beat them all unless by dumb luck I got the scratch back still 1/2 froze one. wouldn`t be fair me competing with the others. be like michael jordan against a highschool player, no contest. you know the nose snaps off, no need to cut at all. you can dangle the knife from your wrist on- a strap and flip it into hand to save the 10 seconds picking it up and down. don`t under estimate what a guy can do that has it down from thousands of coon on production line catches. a minute to 1 and 1/2 minutes on 100 straight is do-able. most just never had 100 they had to do in the evening, so never figured to learn speed skinning. my machine is my knee on the tail and one drop fall, bam, down to legs, swish swish cuts, again and downto ears, again and down to eyes, once more and no cut on mouth or nose, snaps off

[Maineman]

Nice video Nick...

Bob I won't debate what you can or can't do but I think you missed the point here...If we were simply debating the time it takes to skin a coon then you could make your point but I don't think you can argue skinning 100 coon by hand will take more toll on your body than if you had mechanical assistance...Over an entire season you know that stuff adds up...

Dave Z

(Nick clean your shed...LOL)

[trappnman]

Zags once told me the real beauty of a skinning machine, is that you no longer have to skin at odd angles- you always have it right in front of you.

I only used a machine at Jeffs, and it did help my back, more so than my hands.

[thebeav2]

I agree with Bob to a point. Yes I'm faster then the machine. But the machine makes it a lot easier on the old body.
I open 20 coon at a time I hang a slip noose on each coon as I open it. When I'm done opening I start to pull with the machine. My puller Is In the horizontal position. I don't care who you are and how fast you are the skinner takes the work out Of It.
I have been using and building these skinners for 15 or so years and this system and design seems to work the best for me.
I tried vise grips I tried the roller type system I even had system where I dropped the hide through a butter fly type valve and closed It to hold the hide. Every time I tried something new I went back to the slip noose hook up.
Form a slip noose so when It's open you have about a 6" noose. The other end of the noose you have a fixed loop. Place the slip noose over the tail and flank fur. Pull up tight drop the fixed loop over a fixed rod and activate the skinner. If your skinning something like a coyote and your skinner doesn't have the travel capabilities to make It In one pull just reposition the noose and start again. It NEVER slips and dosen't cause any damage to the fur or leather. It's too simple and super cheap.

[bobwendt]

lol, guess I`m younger than I think. I`m like the nergizer bunny, just keep going. seems no less hand work by machine ,or all by hand to me.

[thebeav2]

With one or two coon In the shop I don't start the skinner but when there are 40 laying there It's machine time.

[rk660]

I just barely pull hide off hind legs then power skin. Nick looked like to me you pulled about 6" more hide than needed to power skin. Ive ave about 3 minutes on power skinner, open on bench, then onto skinning machine. Im not the fastest coon skinner in the world, but Ill race anybody who hand skins who thinks they can outskin me on day old cold 25 lbers, 30-50 in a pile. Hell, I might even let a hand skinner beat me, just to watch him grunt and groan that hard!

[thebeav2]

Right on Rich.
Make the money cut Ring the ankles strip the tail and power skin. You do have to help the hide over the belly or you might pull them In half.

[mattduncan]

for you guys that open on the bench how do you hold the coon while opening ? i do it a little diffrent i hang the coon on the skinner and open right there

[Bristleback]

Nick, the numb, throbbing, tingly sux, finally had my right hand operated on, CT, at Christmas last year, numb tingly is all gone, not certain I have the grip I used to. When they pull the needle out to do the nerve test.......RUN!

I too only use a machine at the end of long days 4am til 6-7pm, not faster but saves wear and tear. I hate skinning cold coyotes but refuse to give up daylight to skin.

[trappnman]

coon just seem to lie flat on the bench to open-