Skinning game with compressed air?

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05 December 2013, 22:11

Bobster

Skinning game with compressed air?

I had a customer the other day that told me he separates the skin from game animals and catfish with compressed air. He said he uses an inflation needle to inject the air under the hide/skin. I have never heard of this before. Any of you folks ever seen or done this?

06 December 2013, 02:47

mete

Some do it . Some animals don't have skin very well connected to the body.These animals such as white tail deer don't need a 'skinning blade ' , just pull it off or use compressed air .Sheep ,domestic, can be done that way. I don't know how they deal with large wound openings.The air stretches the skin away from the body - the rest is easy. Another way is to tie an end of the hide to your pick-up truck and drive off with the hide !!

06 December 2013, 03:25

Crazyhorseconsulting

Also heard of folks using a garden hose and water. Does the same thing as the air but to me would be messier.

06 December 2013, 07:11

joester

My cousin raised small goats (toggenbergs) and would sell kids live to Greeks and other Medditeranean folks, many would kill them there on the farm and cut a slit into the hide inside the thigh, and blow air under the hide w/a small length of hose, using their breath/lungs! It always looked like they'd have a heart attack while doing so...Then they pretty much slipped the hide right off

06 December 2013, 08:11

Keith1

I have heard of skinning a sheep the same as Joester explains but never saw it done.

Regards, Keith

06 December 2013, 09:44

505G

In the hey day of fox shooting here in Aus, people used to skin foxes using compressed air.

I'll see if I can find a video on youtube.

A few listed. I haven't looked at them.

http://www.youtube.com/results...compressed+air&sm=12

09 December 2013, 06:32

Wendell Reich

There are some Youtube videos on it.

09 December 2013, 07:41

dogcat

Just saw it done on a deer hunt recently. Makes the skinning real quick. I was amazed.

09 December 2013, 08:48

jdollar

can you use a regular shop compressor( say, 125psi) or do you need high pressure air, like a scuba tank? i am starting to thin out the wild hogs around here and the skinning is a PITA!

09 December 2013, 10:14

JBrown

quote:
Originally posted by jdollar:
can you use a regular shop compressor( say, 125psi) or do you need high pressure air, like a scuba tank? i am starting to thin out the wild hogs around here and the skinning is a PITA!

Yes, 125 psi will do just fine. As someone said, the Greeks do it with their lungs alone.(BTW, the best I could do with my lungs was 20pis).

There was a video posted on here of a guy skinning a whitetail in less than a minute. As loose as the skin looked I would bet it had been pneumatically loosened.

Jason

"You're not hard-core, unless you live hard-core."
_______________________

Hunting in Africa is an adventure. The number of variables involved preclude the possibility of a perfect hunt. Some problems will arise. How you decide to handle them will determine how much you enjoy your hunt.

Just tell yourself, "it's all part of the adventure." Remember, if Robert Ruark had gotten upset every time problems with Harry
Selby's flat bed truck delayed the safari, Horn of the Hunter would have read like an indictment of Selby. But Ruark rolled with the punches, poured some gin, and enjoyed the adventure.

-Jason Brown

09 December 2013, 10:49

gryphon1

I have used the method successfully even just using the tyre inflator nozzle, simply cut a slit in a back leg big enough to pump the hide off.

You have to be careful as smaller vixens that are light skinned will blow the side out of the hide.

10 December 2013, 02:50

Bear Cat

What happened to the good old sharp knife LOL

10 December 2013, 20:48

Lhook7

I wish I had thought of this while I was moose hunting. I could have brought my tech diving rig, inflated the moose, floated him down the river, and skinned him in camp.

____________________________________________

"Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life." Terry Pratchett.

10 December 2013, 23:51

gryphon1

I kid you not that when inflated the animals grow to Michelin man size and if you could keep the air in it would work a treat.

13 December 2013, 06:25

Ray Alaska

Probably need a huge air compressor to skin a moose that way

13 December 2013, 08:23

505G

Would be great if they could do Buffalo !

Thick, gristly hide !

13 December 2013, 18:45

trekker111

I've been hearing of people doing it for years, but I've never tried it except on alligator, which are a pain to skin with many tendon like materials attaching the hide to the gator. Make a small slit in a wrist, insert needle, blow up the gator like a balloon. It does make the skinning process much easier.

15 December 2013, 05:28

Skyline

I worked at a place once where we did this to take skin off ostrich and emu……. after plucking. It worked quite well. Have never tried it on anything else.

______________________________________________

The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who are bereft of that gift.

16 December 2013, 07:36

jdollar

quote:
Originally posted by JBrown:
quote:
Originally posted by jdollar:
can you use a regular shop compressor( say, 125psi) or do you need high pressure air, like a scuba tank? i am starting to thin out the wild hogs around here and the skinning is a PITA!

Yes, 125 psi will do just fine. As someone said, the Greeks do it with their lungs alone.(BTW, the best I could do with my lungs was 20pis).

There was a video posted on here of a guy skinning a whitetail in less than a minute. As loose as the skin looked I would bet it had been pneumatically loosened.

i am wondering, though, if it would work on wild hogs, as they have a much thicker, less elastic hide.

16 December 2013, 07:55

505G

quote:
Originally posted by jdollar:
i am wondering, though, if it would work on wild hogs, as they have a much thicker, less elastic hide.

I doubt it. That grizzle / white stuff is very tough.

I would say if you got air into it, it would in some areas "lift" the skin but I doubt it would do what it does to foxes, deer and other thin skinned game etc.

16 December 2013, 14:03

Mike Smith

When I was a kid used to do it with a bicycle pump and the needle for blowing up footballs. Works well but you can still do it much faster by the old cut and pull method. Saw a video this week of a guy skinning a deer with his car. After hanging and making the starter cuts he hooked a cable through the hide and to his car. Pulled the entire thing off intact. Lots of gimmicks but no real purpose in my mind. The only time I could see using the inflation method would be for something like a mink. As to the car method, maybe for something like a moose or pig.

19 December 2013, 21:56

2th doc

Last week we had a couple does killed in upstate Pa. that were left in the barn over night in 10 degree temps. The hides were frozen stiff so my son said let's try to pull it off with the truck. Well it may work when the deer is defrosted but all we did was stretch the doe about a foot and pulled off a couple strips of hide and a shoulder. I have seen it done with a warm deer and a car once. They guy skinned it down from the neck a little and tied a pair of pliers inside the loose end with a rope to his bumper. Backed up slow and off it came right down to and including the tail.

20 December 2013, 20:10

Bbear

As for the inflation bit, I've done a few coyotes that way using the football needle approach. Took a bit of time to inflate everything (all we had was a car-tire electric pump) but once done the 'yote cleaned up quickly.

I've done the truck-skinning but normally with a deer that hasn't frozen. Once frozen, I think the hide 'locks' on tighter. Maybe the inflation bit would work with those though.

When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace - Luke 11:21
Suppose you were an idiot... And suppose you were a member of
Congress...But I repeat myself. - Mark Twain

21 December 2013, 00:18

ab_bentley

I use about 90 PSI and make a slit at the hoof/ foot of the animal and inflate. It works well on the stiff rigor'd animals. Let me pass this on, it doesn't work on beavers.

Adam

15 January 2014, 05:38

John in Virginia USA

I've been hunting down in Palo Pinto county Texas and the land owner there uses an air compressor on the wild hogs he kills and says it works great