user448

I am an experienced backpacker who is interested in learning to hunt. I've only hunted squirrel and partridge previously. I will be going on a 4 day trip in northern Michigan soon, basically just setting up a basecamp and hiking/hunting/exploring each day. I will be attempting to hunt rabbit and coyote (will be using a .22). If I bag a yote, I'd like to take home the hide. I DON'T want to pay a taxidermist, I'd rather do it myself.

How would I go about preserving the hide while I am out in the field? It's going to be between 0 and 25 degrees this weekend... should I do the skinning and fleshing in the field, and then salt it while I am out there? Then transport the hide home with salt on it and then do the tanning at home? Skin it and let the hide freeze, then thaw at home and then flesh/salt/tan? If I were to shoot one on day one or two then there will be a few days before I leave, just want to make sure I do it right so I don't waste the hide by making a mistake.

Nomercy448

I'll be interested to see where this one goes, since "user448" is a user name that I can't help but notice...

Skin it and remove as much of the flesh and fat as you can without scraping, then freeze it, either leaving it outside, or putting it in a freezer. Take your pick whether you roll it or lay it flat to freeze. Hauling the frozen carcasses home won't be handy, but hauling them home while they're stretching and drying on a stretching board won't be handy either. It'd seem like wasted hours in a day to flesh/scrape while you're on your trip, unless you have a lot of dead time after dark before bed.

To be quite blunt, as someone who has done this many times over for many years, you will NOT save money tanning your own handfull of coyotes, especially if you've never done it before. It's fun to have done it to say you did, but for what it costs, you'll be money ahead to pay a taxidermist to have it tanned for you. Most guys around here are $75-125 for a tanned coyote pelt, starting with anything from a whole carcass to a dried and put up hide. Between fleshing boards, stretching rigs, knives, salt, and chemicals, etc, PLUS, the likelihood that you're going to screw up at one point or another of the process and ruin your hide (over scraping, under scraping, letting it freeze when salted, letting it get too hot raw, etc etc) is fairly high, which is just money down the tubes.

But whether you take that advice or not, I'd HIGHLY recommend that you don't waste your time on your 'multi-day trip' spending any time in pelt preparation. Skin them, get as much junk off as you can while it's still easy, then bag them up and let them freeze until you can manage them when you get back home. I'd also say that I'd consider it to be irresponsible to pack the equipment and chemicals necessary to properly tan the hide on a backpacking trip, as it'd just be a lot of wasted weight, bulk, and energy.

I'll also say that you're also very unlikely to get a coyote during a multi-day basecamp 'walk about' type hunt, and going to have a rough go of it with a 22lr, let alone in Northern Michigan. I've hunted the southern end of "northern michigan" above wisconsin a few times with buddies up there, and the hunting isn't easy, and they tell me that it only gets worse as you get further north. Are you calling coyotes, or just planning for an opportunity shot?

user448

Thanks for your input Nomercy. Ironic to have another person with 448 in their name reply. I just returned from my trip. This was my first real hunt so it was more of a learning experience than anything else. Needless to say, I was not successful. Didn't see any coyotes but saw tons of tracks and heard them at night in camp. I was hunting before dusk, overlooking a large field with lots of coyote tracks. I was calling, and heard one howl very close, my guess was less than a 1/4 mile away. Oh well, I didn't expect to get one my first time out but wanted to be prepared if I did.