TheformerLives

Anyone here have any good tips on skinning a 'yote? Im thinking of going hunting for them this year but need something to do with the carcass such as keeping the pelt. Thanks

leehop

TFL, there are two was to do it. Depends if you want a flat skin, rug, or a fur piece, tube. The most common, IMO, is called cased. First you make four cuts circling the ankles. Next cut around the anis, then a straight cut down the back edge of the hind lags from ankle to anis. Carefully loosen the hide from around the back legs. Pull the skin down down as far as you can untill you can start skinning the tail. Here you need a tool. Some say use a couple of sticks or nails but trappers and skinners use a tool made for the purpose. Pulling the skin down the down the tail a couple of inches, insert your tool around the tail and holding it tight, pull it downward, pulling the skin off the tail. Now start carefully removing the skin from the carcuss the same as you would take off your tee shirt, being carefull to leave as much meat and such on the carcuss. If you have to use your knife, do so very carefully so as not to cut the hide. Work the hide all the way down to the front legs and remove it from the legs the same as you did from the body, leaving only the feet on the leg. Work the hide down over the neck to the head. Now you will have to use your knife to loosen the hide. Carefully cut around the ears as deep in the ear canal as possible, then the same around the eyes. Work down the face, removing the lips at the edge of the black area. At the nose, cut off the cartlidge. Now you should remove the ear cartlidge and that of the nose. Stretch the hide on a wire frame or board cut to the right shape and tack it down pulling it tight. Using a small knife or a tool made for this, cut down the the under side of the tail so it can be taked open or flat. At this time you should use a dull tool to remove as much of the tissue from the hide as possible. When you have done that, rub the hide down with noniodized salt, being sure to well salt the ears and nose and tail. Place the stretcher with the hide on it in a cool place with good ventalation. Once the hide is dry and paper like turn it right side out and return to the stretcher. Now using a brush and damp cloth clean the fur. When the hide is dry and stiff you can remove it and have someone tan it for you. I will only keep a few months in this dry state.

Hope this is not too much for you. The other way is to make the cuts along the underside of the legs and then from the anis to the chin and pull the hide off, the same as the other way. This way you stretch it out flat ad tack it down. Everything else is the same.

Criggster

Good luck skinning them if they are not full of fat. I skinned one as described above to have the pelt tanned, and it was the hardest animal I have ever skinned in my life! I could have skinned two deer in the time it took me to skin that coyote.

SamPAhunter

Check out this link. I belong to this site and you can find out everything you need to know there!
http://www.wild-about-trapping.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1120

steakman

1 other tip to keep in mind is to skin the yote as soon as possible.warm body lot easier to peel

zmax hunter

A friend of mine, he has a skinning rack, we hang the yotes, or whatever and so you can skin em, it has a crank handle winch which we tie on and it does alot of the pulling.

leehop

Has anyone seen or heard of skinning with comppressed air?

catch

heard of it, never seen or tried it. leehop had it pretty much right. just remember you're not racing anybody so you can take your time. when i first started out i had trouble behind the front legs, and i still have to go slow around the head so i don't end up with a "starry eyed" pelt. for a tail stripping tool you can take apart a spring loaded clothes pin and use the two halves. for slitting the tail some kind of guide is helpful, like an umbrella stave or something else that is thin and flat. keeps you from gettinga crooked, spiral looking cut in the tail

matt1891

how difficult is it to do the tanning yourself?

i was thinking about making a little decoy out of a rabbit skin, but by the sounds of it i need to rub it with salt, let it dry & then have it tanned before making my decoy.is that right? i'm a noob when it comes to this =D thanks

matt

bowhound53

Skin them like you do a coon, there very tough to skin the hide is very tight to the body. I use a winch on my side by side to pull them up and connect there hide to a rope, going down to the ground to an anchor point.