How to properly skin an animal?

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brentn

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I've always wanted to know how to do this, whether it be a deer or a coyote, but to properly skin it so that you can save the fur. Not necessarily how to dry it out properly, but particularily how to actually get the skin off easily.

What do you need?
Whats the procedure?

If someone wants to take the time to explain, exactly what they do when they make a kill to get the skin and meat, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm not looking for anything exact, as I'm sure that pictures or a video is the best way for that, but a good general idea, how to cut, what knife to use, what to look out for.

I appreciate this!

Brent
 
Well, there is the golfball and tow hitch method. I have never done this or seen it done but you could do a search on it.

Basically from a minds eye perspective where would you need to cut to take off your skin. Cut around the ankles up the inner legs up the chest to the neck around the neck and wrists and up your arms.

Any sharp knife will do not too long of a blade though would be my recommendation. Basically you are going to need 5 seams. One on each leg and then one down the middle of the belly. It is best done by hanging the animal in question by the hind legs at the achiles heal I'll call it. Cut the hide around each "ankle" (just the hide not any meat or tissue) and then cut a seam to the bunghole. Use the knife sparingly usually you just pull a lot. There is a membrane between the meat and the hide that helps you out in this cause. Usually just sliding your hand between the hide and meat will work. Work your way all the way down the animal to the sternum and then you will have to cut around the wrists and seam to the sternum and cut around the neck. All done and really pretty easy.
 
awesome, that was pretty much what i was looking for.

So, the membrane is what helps you out. You said to not cut too deep, do you want to just cut into the membrane and not any further?
Would a razor blade be best for this job?

Yea I know it sounds rediculous, but seriously I am incredibly new to this.
 
saw this done years ago when i was a kid, if you hapen to have any kind of air pump around, manual or electric cut small holes in the in the skin and inflate away, this soposely makes the skining job that follows alot easier. i don't remember to well how it was done but i think they would cut small holes in the a little above the hoofs.
 
saw this done years ago when i was a kid, if you hapen to have any kind of air pump around, manual or electric cut small holes in the in the skin and inflate away, this soposely makes the skining job that follows alot easier. i don't remember to well how it was done but i think they would cut small holes in the a little above the hoofs.
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I don't think people who do this for a living (i.e., taxidermists) do it this way.

One other point, if you don't want the hair to slip, EVERY bit of fat and flesh has to be removed from the hide if it's going to be salted. An easier way is to put the whole hide in the freezer until it's to be tanned. Also, if not freezing the hide, the lips need to be split and the cartilage removed from the ears and nose.
 
A coyote, as most all (except beaver) furberring animals are corectly skined "cased". This is done by cutting from rear ankle to rear ankle (around the butt hole) & around the rear feet. You skin the legs down, then hang it by the back tendon. Make a slit up the tail about 1/2 way, skin the tail down, then (we use a pair of regular plires) between the tail & hide and pull the tail out of the skin. You then skin, mostly pull, the hide down the carcass, pull the front legs through, cutting the hide @ the rists. You pull down to the head, cutting the ears, lips & nose with the hise as you pull it off the carcass. They are dryed after fleshing on a board shaped like an ironing board.

Deer was explained correctly.
 
Hogs are a PITA.

I recently got a lovely skinning blade from Walmart, a Gerber fixed blad for 22 dollars. I put an edge on this thing that I can literally shave my face with, though I do prefer my Gillette for that. But, MAN, does that little cheap knife take an edge! It holds an edge pretty well, too. A good knife definitely makes the job easier. Don't be afraid to stop and sharpen as necessary, too.
 
+1 for GCW5's explantion I have skinned muskrats,minks and coon just as he explained. And as far as drying the hides, either wood boards, or very stiff wire bent in the shape of a ironing board, attached to a 2x4 with holes for different size hides.
 
As mentioned razor blade is bad idea. You really don't use a knife all that much except for cutting around the ankles neck and seams I mentioned. As you pull you will notice some fat and meat sticks, this is what you gently cut through back to the inner hide so you can pull again.
 
I don't need a 4 wheeler/truck on deer, but hogs, especially a BIG one with all that gristle, well, it's a pain and I don't know if the golf ball thin would work. I usually skin down the whole animal with a knife, even smaller hogs.

With deer, I get the skin down off the hind legs and wrap a tree branch or something up in the hide that's hanging and just use it for grip and put my weight behind it and can skin it right down just by pulling.
 
We have used the "tow and hitch" method for years. Cut around the animal's neck, loosen up the skin by cutting between the skin and the meat (the fat that holds the two together) until it is hanging off its shoulders. Then get one rock, a rope, and a pick-up truck and you're good to go.
 
MCgunner,

Not having any experance with wild/feral hogs (except a pop-belly pig after the 1993 flood), I would figured that they would be handled like a domestic hog, scalded & shaved, leaving the skin on. I would guess they are very hard to skin with all the fat & thin skin.
 
How big are your deer?
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Last one was 210 pounds field dressed, 3.5 year old buck. I saw one big ol buck that scaled an honest 274 pounds on a certified scale. I live and hunt between the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.
It's not that I NEED a front end loader, it's just so darn easy. tie off hide, drive a front tire onto the rope, hydro up and it's naked! then I can drive it right over to the shop door.
 
MCgunner,

Not having any experance with wild/feral hogs (except a pop-belly pig after the 1993 flood), I would figured that they would be handled like a domestic hog, scalded & shaved, leaving the skin on. I would guess they are very hard to skin with all the fat & thin skin.
Click to expand...

Wild pig's skin is pretty thick and the hair is very coarse and somewhat long and there's not much fat under the skin. Up around the neck, even on the little ones, is a cartilage layer of armor beginning and on a big boar, it's thick down around the shoulders. It's a pain to get off. But, you ain't gonna rip the skin by yankin' on it. And, you wanna get the skin off. I've seen pigs slaughtered in a slaughter house. They used a hot vat of 5 percent potassium hydroxide with a rotating beater wheel inside. They'd shoot it in the head with a stun gun, it fell off in the vat, and the beaters rotated the pig around and around in the lye solution to take the hair off. I don't think that'd work on a wild pig and, then, what do you do about the armor plate under the skin around the shoulders?

Yeah, they're feral, but after a few generations in the wild, wild boar more resemble their wild European cousins than barnyard pigs. The teeth get long, the tail goes straight, the hips slim and the shoulders get bigger. The head takes on a slender, rather evil look to it more like a Javelina than Arnold the Pig. I really don't understand the genetics behind all this, but it's just how things are.

I was surfin' for hog pictures and found some good ones. This boar is 265 lbs, not a really big one. I've helped skin a 355 lber before. This one is a little bigger than I like to take and his gristle plate is probably pretty well developed, the teeth are coming in pretty well, but not really big, yet. A big one has these huge, evil teeth that look like something the devil would send out of hell to take souls or something. LOL

P5040330.jpg
 
MCgunner,

I can see by your picture the "wild" in this pig. Lots of hair & teeth, small back & hams, big & tough sholders. I would bet they're still pretty yummy. Looks like I need to come south and help you "harvest" a few one of these days.
 
The hog MCgunner posted has fairly long hair, but some have more than that.

Here is an "Pineywoods Rooter" killed off of my Father in Laws place...that you'd never get all the hair off of.

bighogMedium.jpg


tusksMedium.jpg
 
MCgunner,

I can see by your picture the "wild" in this pig. Lots of hair & teeth, small back & hams, big & tough sholders. I would bet they're still pretty yummy. Looks like I need to come south and help you "harvest" a few one of these days.
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Well, they're lean, a lot leaner than domestic pork. We ate a smoked ham roast last night and to tell ya the truth, it tastes a bit more like beef than pork what with the lack of fat. It's pretty tender regardless and better for ya. When they get really big, they get pretty gamey, though. I don't like takin' a big bore, rather have something in the 100-200 lb range. the little sub 100 pound pigs are awesome! Even the ribs do fine on the grill, lean, but don't get real tough. I sorta prefer hog to deer because i like to grill. :D I've never killed a giant one. I let one that was well north of 300 lbs walk right past me once with my Blackhawk's front sight pasting its shoulder with the hammer back, then said, "Nah, nasty old fart and how the heck am I goin' to drag that beast outta here." Nothing was with him, so I just lowered the hammer. LOL

And, hey, I've got more hogs down there than I could possibly shoot or have freezer room for. They've really taken over in the last 5 years. The deer have always been thick down there, but the hogs have been scarce in the past. They breed like rabbits, though. I've heard it said that in 5 years a single sow can produce a thousand offspring, given a reasonable survival rate of the offspring. And, there ain't much that preys upon 'em. Coyote and bobcat might take a piglet, but they ain't gonna mess with mama, LOL, and in less than a year, a piglet goes from coyote prey to breeding stock.
 
MCgunner wrote:

I've heard it said that in 5 years a single sow can produce a thousand offspring, given a reasonable survival rate of the offspring. And, there ain't much that preys upon 'em. Coyote and bobcat might take a piglet, but they ain't gonna mess with mama, LOL, and in less than a year, a piglet goes from coyote prey to breeding stock.
Click to expand...

Thats the whole problem around here. There is nothing that really preys on them much.

The standing joke is: A sow will have 10 piglets and 13 of them will survive!

Sure seems like it some years.
 
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