I can't draw a bow yet, but I started skinning and fleshing...snakes that is! These are spoken for, and soon to adorn a couple of trad bows.
Just figured some Tradgangers who aren't exposed to the how to's of where the beautiful skins come from can see the slop.
I'd rather gut a buffalo myself, but its giving me something to do as I heal up!

dang that's givin me the creepin crawlin sumthins up and down my spine.

Yep you right about that.I noticed you skint the head also.I have always cut off the head first.Maybe a mental thing, but probably just lazy LOL.Nice copperheads none the less!

Heh, many moons ago I once was showing my son how NOT to skin when near the head. I slipped and my thumb drove into the lower jaw, and a copperhead fang drove right in. Turned out fine, but man did that smart. I was all worried about residual venom, bacteria, etc. so I had my thumb soaking in pure rubbing alchohol half the night.      

Perty, perty snakes. I hope you stir fry the carcasses. And you know David, if you eat their gall bladders all your ailments will leave you and youll be feeling like a bull again.   :rolleyes:

Okay Izzy, I just ate them. But I feel more like bull****.  

You better hurry up and get that spoon back in the silverware drawer before the misses sees it!

Very nice David,a lot of work there!

Great work David. I really like Copperhead skinned limbs.

That is awesome David....cool thread.  Looks like detailed work!!

Those copperheads sure are dark colored.. Around here they are the color of polished copper..

QuoteOriginally posted by Trumpkin the Dwarf:
dang that's givin me the creepin crawlin sumthins up and down my spine.

Glad I'm not the only one...I hate snakes...

Nice!! Love the look of Copperhead skins better than anything else. I didn't think they were all the way up in Mass though.

I agree about gutting a buffalo. I've skinned mostly rattlers and one big copperhead, but the copperhead's smell almost made me sick.  By far smelled worse than something dead 3 days.

Wow, cool! Thanks for the post. Never did it. U scraped the skins with just a regular spool?! Interesting ...
then air dry right?
After air dried how do u store them till use?
Thanks, Jim

I flesh them,with the spoon, then wash well with a very mild dish detergent. This degreases some of the fat content also on the skin surface. Then rinse extremely well with cold water.
Lay them scale side down on a large, thick piece of cardboard or wood and tack it down with pushpins. Do not stretch the skin too tight when pinning, just a bit. Otherwise when it dries it will either pull the pins out or tear the skin.Copperheads are kinda delicate.  When dry, I trim the very outer edges, then roll them up in a ziplock bag.

Like Pat said,those are a lot diffrent color than the ones we get down here.Most of the snakes i get either are shot in the head or the head smashed.That of coarse usually causes the poison to be all over around the head/neck area.Twice for me and once for a friend, we got poison on our hands while skinning and ended up burning/ tingling and swelled up to my elbo from one and my friend spent the night sitting in a chair in the yard throwing up.In all three cases we had washed our hands with dish soap witch is a surfactant and may have been why it went trough the skin but i dont know.All 3 times it was rattlesnakes.We now wear rubber gloves,lol.I just finished a 59 polar with copperheads.They are very translucent skins so the maroon glass color shows through on the light color parts of the snake pattern and it really looks cool.You can also plainly see the bear polar decal through it witch i like.I have been bit by rattlers, copperheads and mocossins many times and have the scars to prove it.Once by a diamond back while i was squatted down picking wild blackberries that was just under my butt cheek,lol.Was NOT cool!It took over a year before the scar even healed up.Copperheads dont even make me sick anymore.But i skinned so many snakes out this year that this fall when i am in the woods it has me plumb paranoid.Around my house we are infested with them.We had one pitbull that got bit three times by a large diamond back, once right on his spine and the dog died in about 45 minits.One of my timberwolfs got bit 3 diffrent times and only swelled up but didnt seem sick.My other wolf wont get near a snake, i think she is the smartest one,,lol.

These are actually from Georgia....I think. A taxidermist down there freezes them for me.
I'd love to see that '59!!

I've often wondered how to do this. Thanks for the thread!! I think I'm gonna try it with some prairie rattlers we get around here. After fleshing and degreasing them, do you ever salt them or preserve them with anything? Or are they good to go once stretched and dried? Thanks again