My niece has a coyote that needs skinning. I don't know how she got it but she wants me to help her with it. I haven't done much of that and wondered if anyone could give me some pointers.

Bona, Does she want to case skin it or skin it for a rug(Open). Fur prices are really really down right now.

What other fur animals have you skinned?

Tracy

In case you aren't familiar with case skinning, when using this method, the hide will come out like a tube.  This is how you skin for the market.

All you do is hang the yote up, or not, whatevers suits you, by the hind legs and make a cut from foot through the crotch to the other foot.  Then you just peel the hide down over his body and head.  Be carefull around the "arm" pits, ears, and eyes.  If you've not done much skinnin, those areas can be tricky.

A note on the ears:  as you pull the hide down, you'll expose the base of the ears.  You can press them with your finger and see that they're hollow.  You need to cut them free of the skull at the base of this hollow spot, if that makes any since.  I think you'll see once you get there.

ch

Before you do anything,check the coyote for fleas and if you see any crawling,get some Raid Flea and Tick spray,spray it down and seal it in a garbage bag for an hour.Those fleas jump ship fast when there is a body close that is warmer than the one they are riding on.Our coyotes are full of them.Coyotes are harder to pull than other animals like foxes.Just take your time.The tail bone needs to be removed also.There are ways to pull them but you need to split the underside of the tail full length anyway so you can do that and carefully skin it out.Rubber gloves are a good idea when handling furbearers.

I hate skinnin yotes.

Be prepared to have to cut the whole thing off, their just isnt no such thing as pullin it off when it comes to yotes,,,least not the few I tried skinnin.  

I've skinned more than my share of foxes, but them coyote's are STINKING critters. Especially if they are males. I've got one in the freezer right now.....case skinned, I picked it up on the interstate a few years ago.

Winterhawk1960

Yotes er stanky

I,m going to have to agree with trapper dave, I,ve skinned quite a few yotes an they don,t pull very easy even when warm, They stink an the hide part is thin so be careful with your knife, I skin the feet out an leave the claws on an thats a whole bunch more work but they look good when garment tanned with the feet on. Best of Luck to ya Later Bob

Hey B;

If it was me I would case skin it and let the taxidermist turn the ears and feet (claws) when take it in to be tanned. Just cut the ears off at the base thru the cartilage and be VERY careful around the eyes and mouth. Hold your nose if you have to if it stinks ;-).
Wolves nad coyotes make a nice trophy when done this way.

JMHO  

only takes 15 min to skin one warm, 30-45 when cold. Heck i have an injured back so i cant pull the hide off like i used to.

Tube skin it from rear ( oh yea never skinned one that did not stink) they make a very nice pelt if done properly you have to streach it inside out 1 to 2 days then when dry turn fur side out streach again  and take in to get tanned ,,  you are better off just buying one allready done and tanned ,, very easy for rookies to screw up skinning and streaching ,, Did I forget you need a streacher to streach your hide !      

You can make a stretcher out of a couple of 2X4s; you don't need to buy any special tools.

You could also just salt it down and ship it to the tanner that way, especialy in cool weather.  You've got to salt it good though.  You don't need to stretch and dry it if you don't want to.

hope i can post this here. these are 2 yotes i did last season (along with the deer skin, 2 fox, and a coon).  i have 4 more yotes i plan on doing this year.



really nothing to it, i prefer not to split the hide up the belly for tanning. i dont have a fancy set up, just a sharp knife and a training chain (choker chain). ring the hind leg and split from inside leg-infront of the vent-and up the other leg. peel off and pull down. cut front legs off at elbow. keep pulling down until ya see the ears, cut through the ear at the base of the skull and keep skinning to eyes. cut right through and down to the nose cut it off. put on stretcher for 2 days fur in and turn fur out for 3 more days.  take off stretcher and you are ready to either tan or wait till end of season when you have more.

anyone know how to tan one once skinned, I'd like to use one for a quiver

i have used brain tan methods for most of my critters -works wonders on beaver-but yotes use a commercial tanning agent. trappers tan, krowtan, etc. all good stuff.

2 cups of table salt, 1 cup aluminum sulfate to 1 gallon of water. Alum tanning is very easy it's the softening that takes up all your time and strength.          :D  

Tracy

Tandy Leather used to make a tanning cream that worked nicely.  I tanned several coyote and fox hides successfully with that product; however,  I do not know if it is still available.

I already asked my niece if she wanted it cased and explained that they made a nice quiver. She didn't know. Thought I would case it just in case. Ha!

It is frozen. Would it still have fleas on it? I did start to thaw it in the garage. It has had some heat to it for about 1/2 an hour.

The only fur animal I have skinned was a groundhog. It was a fresh kill but it took me a while.

I would like to keep the feet intact. I'm not sure what I'm getting into there. I watched some videos on u tube. They didn't try to save the feet. They mentioned the smell and the fleas but they were fresh kills.

I have a commercial tanning solution and my niece would like to try tanning it. How do you use the boards to stretch it?

Thanks for all the responses.
Bona

if you give me your email address i can probably send you some pics to help you.
my family has a business hunting predators and i'd be happy to show someone else how to skin.
the photo's are actually a slide show that we use in our semiars at sportsmans shows around Washington and Oregon so we've taken some time on it. i can also help you track down some good tanning solutions.

Thanks Andrew! What about fleas? Do I have to be concerned about them if he has been frozen for a couple of days? Would that kill them?
I will pm you.