This morning when i went to check my traps i noticed the beaver carcuss i'd discarded near the trail had been moved about 20 feet. I figured either a coyote or a dog to move that meat around because it had been 39 lbs. So i got a little anxious figured maybe if it was a coyote i might have it up ahead in a trap. I got to the first one and nothing....as usual. Went to next one and when i crested little rise i hear some barks and yipps and saw there was a coyote in the trap up on its hind legs trying to get away but its front paw was in the trap. I just had a little army shovel and sometimes i knock an undrowned muskrat over the head with the shovel. But that seemed too risky to try with the coyote, especially since it was just caught by a couple of toes. So i went and got the .22 and shot it from 25 yards or so and it dropped it right off. It must have moved though, because the shot went through the neck and it wasn't dead, it was paralyzed and watching me. So then i didn't want to make another hole, so i shot it in the mouth.

Here's a picture of it:



Then i loaded it up to go show it off to everybody and got my feelings hurt a little because my sister said oh that's just a little baby one. Her husband shot one that weighed 40 lbs; mine weighed 29, but it seemed big because i had try carry it at arms length in case it had fleas.

Then i started skinning it out and it took from 9 a.m. till 2 p.m. almost solid except some knife sharpening breaks. I was trying to do a taxidermy skin, although i don't know how and was just guessing. I ordered the mammal breakthrough book but didn't get it yet so not much to go on. However, i started at its head and left plenty of lip and skinned up past its eyes with no tears. Then i cut up its belly and had to cut down both hind legs. You're probably not supposed to cut the legs and i didn't want to but that's the only way i could get the skin off. I skinned clear down to its toenails almost then used wire cutters to cut the last joint off. I remember reading someplace about not making cuts around their genitals. This one was a female and i didnt' even realize i'd skinned clear under its tail so without even knowing i'd cut the last inch or so of the innner anus from the inside so its not even cut around. Got the skin off the front legs without slitting them at all. I guess i'll figure out how to remove the ear cartridge after i get the book. I'm pooped, it was hard to keep repositioning it and tugging on the pelt. I cut the head off and boiling it for the skull because it had big teeth, its most noticeable feature.

Plinker

Those yotes look nice no matter thier size to me.
Skinning them will only get easier for you now .
It took me ages to skin my first foxes too. Dont worry about making holes with a .22 - they are good repair practice.
If you have made mistakes and cut 'bits' off you can plan your mount to hide those until your more confident skinning too.
If fleas are present - i put the fox into a big cloth sack and spray in the bag with a good bug spray and leave it for 1/2 an hour - or freeze them and do them another day.
I now skin all my foxes (we dont get yotes here ), with a dorsal cut and somtimes i need a relief cut to the feet area.
I salt as i go, cut the feet bones off at the 'ankle', the tail off at the base and skin them out after i have got the cape off and turned the ears. ( i have a 'thing' with turning ears asap).
Using a wieght such as a 25kg bag of salt on the skin helps stop the fumbling around with the feet too.
I prefer to apoxie sculpt my fox ears so l leave the cartliage in but when i use earliners on other things i leave taking the cartliage off until after it has been tanned,(EZ-100 or lutan F). It seems a little tougher and easier to get off.
Good work!

Just exactly is it you are going to try to make with the skin?

Thanks a lot SheHuntz. I must have done it half right or at least from the description or i know you wouldn't say "good work." I appreciate that coming from a real taxidermist.

Really though, i only made one little cut in it that will have to be sewed up, which was surprising since i read they're thin skinned. This didn't seem thin skinned and was pretty fat.

22WRF, thanks for asking what i'm going to make. I thought the title was descriptive and could be interpreted as i'm going to make a coyote mount. But i maybe don't know correct terminology. Since you asked though, got me thinking about a nice rug someone had made and it had teeth and eyes and looked great. That might be a lot easier project. Thanks!

Plinker

Wow, Plinker. Nothing like swinging for the fence on your first time at bat.
Yotes are hard to skin. Even case skinning them like a fox. Their waist is so narrow compared to their chest.
The quicker you can get to them the easier the hide will slip and the more elastic it is. I too put mine in a big plastic bag and spray them good with flea/tick spray.
I didn't learn just how hard they were to skin until my youngest son left home and went in the navy and I had to start doing my own skinning.
BTW, a .22 short or .22 CB cap in the middle of the head works well. Angle the shot so it travels thru the head and down the neck.

Hey Beeman. Well since this one was still warm, i didn't think would have been to awful hard to skin, if not for trying to do clear down to the toes. That took lot of time and i ended up taking a sharp carving chisel and poking down along the skin of the ankles...pressing toward the flesh to save the hide.

Sounds like you have some coyote experience....

Do you trap them, or shoot them?


Plinker

How do you skin out the tail? Do you make a lengthwise cut and then "unfold" it, or do you peel it off like a sock?

Frans

The best way to do the tail is with a "tail stripper" and a "tail zipper". Both are available from trapping supply or taxidermy supply companies. The stripper is like a pair of pliers with a round holes in it. You grip the tail bone with this and pull, the tail slips right off the bone. Then use the zipper (looks kind of like one of those razor blades with a guard that they sell for gutting deer) pull this along the underside of the tail to open it up for salting. This takes about one minute.

A pair of pliers works well to

A pair of screwdrivers crossed over like chopsticks works for me.

See that, shehuntz!

We all have a little "Old School" in us!!

quote:

Posted 02 March 2006 03:23
See that, shehuntz!

We all have a little "Old School" in us!!

quote:

Posted 02 March 2006 03:23
See that, shehuntz!

Shehuntz, I tried your method but I got kicked out of the Chinese restaurant

I lived in Okla for 15 years. I find if you skin the tail down a bit (from the butt) the stripper works a lot better. The one I have has two different sized holes and works for coon, yotes, fox, etc. I've used clothespins, pliars and such but I'll pay my two bucks for a tail stripper any day. For opening the tail to dry, I've found a rib out of a old umbrella works great. (the little "U" shaped thingy) Slip it down the tail after you've stripped it and then it guides the point of your knife right along.

I don't know how it would work in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia because of the humidity but in Okla, my wife would run our coyotes thru the washing machine after they were skinned.

Hmmm, I heard about that trick, but the one time I tried this on a fox the skin tore right off leaving the bottom half of the tail attached to the bone ... but if it is the way to go... maybe I wasn't careful enough...

OK, now I have to go shoot a coyote! ;-)

They've been outsmarting me lately.

Frans

Frans, you might have been using the wrong sized hole. Or you weren't keeping the halves of the toold squeezed together tightly enough.

I've got the 2.00 tail puller, but a split stick works good, too. Not tried the umbrella rib, i used a letter opener shaped something like a gut hook.

I learned to do same as Beeman and skin tail down a couple inches. The one i didn't skin far enough ripped off of a gray fox and i had to sew it back on. Told the fur buyer because i didn't want to be selling him damaged goods, but he said it didn't matter.



Plinker