17 replies to this topic

[riobuster]

Well I was finally able to go on my first coyote hunt after months of anticipation, first waiting for winter and then for the rain to let up! I decided to try Spenceville since I at least saw a coyote there when I was turkey hunting in Nov. After watching my Randy Anderson video, I had dreams of 2-3 coyotes at a time running to my calls. Just kidding, (Iv'e read enough posts on this site to know it wouldn't be that easy) but I was hoping to at least see one. Well, after 4 hours of walking and calling in different areas the only thing I managed to call in was a hawk that swooped in so close I could see the confusion in it's eyes as the dying rabbit it was coming to get turned out to be me. Even though I didn't call in any coyotes, it was hard to be dissapointed since it felt soooo good to get out and hike around in the sun! When I got back to my truck I found it being"guarded" by a dog that looked to be a pitbull lab mix. The thing was so menacing I thought I was going to have to shoot the dog just to get to my truck. But I did manage to quickly get in while it was busy growling over on the passenger side. Anyway... I drove about a half mile down the road and I see this coyote by a pond about 150 yards away! I guess it felt safe at that distance because It let me pull the truck off the road, stop and get out, get my gun and load the one shell I grabbed in a hurry and let my walk the 10 feet or so to the fence. I used a fence post as a rest as I lined up the shot and as soon as I got him in my crosshairs he decided he had to leave and started to trot off. I led him a bit, fired off a shot and could see him spin around and go down. Another coyote that I hadn't seen took off. Well, I wish I could have called him in for the shot, but I was pretty jazzed anyway! So now this leads my to my questions.-How long (with practice) does it take to skin out a coyote? it took me a good 2 hours with a lot of time figuring out how to deal with the butt area. I hear people talk about doing it in the field and I can't amagine how they would.-do you flesh it right after skinning or do you wash the fur first? I read somewhere that you were supposed to wash the fur to get the dirt and blood off. by the time I got it skinned and washed and mostly dry I was so tired I just salted it and decided to try and flesh it later.-can someone post a pic of a fleshing beam? and what do you use to flesh? a draw knife? where is the best place to purchace equipment?- I plan on tanning my own skins for hanging on the wall and was wondering where to buy a good tanning kit. Is the one Cabela's sells ok?Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for the help!!Jim

[joel1316]

I got this link from ShooterJohn from a few post below:http://www.predatorm...teskinning.htmlHere's the thread:http://californiapre...p?showtopic=403

[ShooterJohn]

Jim, Joel beat me to it but it can be difficult to get in a lot of practice. Unless you see that pit bull again! You could always skin him after you shoot him that is.

[DaveB]

Concrats Riobuster.I checked out the link to Predator masters, that guy is good, I have skinned my share of coyotes when I was trapping but I was never that fast. I was happy with doing one in fifteen minutes. I have not tried it but I had a trapper friend, an old timer that did it veru similar except that he used a come-along to pull the skin off. As for a fleshing beam, I use a 2x8 about 7 or 8 feet long tapered to a point on the end. Make sure that it is smooth with not ridges or nicks in it because if there is, your scrapper will likely catch on there and tear or cut the hide. As far as scrapers go you can buy from a trapper supply house for 7 to 20 bucks depending on the style. And last but not least, after skinning I always turned the hide right washed it good, made sure there was not mud or burrs or anything else in the fur. I let it dry, then turned it inside out to scape it. after all the flesh and fat, if there was any was off I would put it on a strecher to dry. I was selling my furs and the buyers I used did not like them salted. If I has too many pelts to process I would roll them up put them in a plastic bag and freeze them until I could. You can find trapping supplies i.e. scrapers, fleshing beams, tanning kits ect. from www.rpoutdoors.com.Good Luck. Dave B.

[ShooterJohn]

Here's a place to look at some tools and such also. They have a video here called "The two minute coyote."http://www.king-cart...duct=Fur & HideI made a lot of my own tools, stretchers and fleshing boards. There are lots of places on the Internet just Google it up.

[Cranky Farmer]

Congrats on your first coyote! What caliber were you using and did you get any pictures?

[onecoyote]

ShooterJohn, I saw that "two minute coyote" video a few years ago when it first came out. When I was doing alot of coyotes I got down to about 15 minutes a coyote and I thought that was good. I never thought of doing it like the guy in the video, hard to believe he could do it in two minutes, but he did.

[ShooterJohn]

This will save me trying to draw a picture and is what you need to make things go easy for the do it yourself fur preparer.http://www.mntrappers.com/beams.html

[Braz]

Congrats on the first one. I got my first in November and it was also at Spenceville. I went out there this morning and I thought I had run into the first army. There were guys in camo all over the place. I would just about be ready to stop and see a car parked along side the road. I would driver further along and run into a rancher. Hell, I saw fewer people when I was downtown picking up the drycleaning on the way home. :)As was said in another thread, it is just getting hard to find a place to hunt on public land. When public land is close by, there are too many folks trying to use it at the same time. I did make a few walks but saw nothing. But it was a glorious day for a drive.

[Bozsik]

Congrats on the first yote. You can purchase the tanning solutions from various places. Van Dykes Taxidermy (www.vandykestaxidermy.com) has anything you could possibly want or need. They even have artificial bodies for hippos the next time you shoot a hippo to mount. My suggestion would be to send your first yote skin out to be tanned properly. It is only $20.00 at USA Foxx and Furs, in Duluth MN (www.usafoxx.com). It's a lot of work, and I wouldn't really want to experiment on my first one. If having it come out not-so-good doesn't matter to ya, then go for it. Personally, 20 bucks to have someone else do any the tanning process is worth it. It will cost you 10 or 15 bucks for the solution, that's not to play down the labor in softening when you are done.db

[NVWalt]

RioBuster, take a small rope with you and when you shoot your coyote either hang it , if possible, or take the rope and after you slit the hind legs and ring its bung take the rope and loop it through the legs like you would hanging a deer and stand on the rope, take a couple 16 penny nails and after you slit the tail far enough to make life easier use them to peel the tailbone out of the tail. Grab the hide and pull it off til you get to the front legs and pull them through and then pull some more til you get to the ears and cut them close to the skull continue pulling til you get to the eyes and CAREFULLY skin them and the pull til you get to the mouth and skin the lips and finally cut the nose off close to the skull, Takes no time at all and the hide comes off easy as it is still warm. If you got a good solid sage or post use that to put the rope around. Them hides come off pretty easy when they are done on the spot, especially if you are doing any amount of walking to your stands. As for a fleshing beem, go get a good piece of PVC pipe about 8 inches in diameter and cut it to shape. Smooth and tough and you won't be slicing hides up with the draw knife by hitting bumps and nicks on a wood beam. Just wash the fur and dry it. Salt is ok but not at all necessary and if you sell the fur the buyers don't like salted hides...Walt

[Bozsik]

One other thing you might consider is carrying a spray bottle of pyrethren flea and tick poison. If you get a dog with an exceptional amount of critters on board, it's nice to have. You can also place the freshly skinned hide in a plastic bag after lightly spraying. That way the fleas aren't searching the interior of your car for a new "warm host" when their cold one isn't providing any comfort. db

[ShooterJohn]

You can also place the freshly skinned hide in a plastic bag after lightly spraying. That way the fleas aren't searching the interior of your car for a new "warm host" when their cold one isn't providing any comfort.

So you've had some experience with that eh Dave!

ShooterJohn, I saw that "two minute coyote" video a few years ago when it first came out.

Danny, that guy is fast. Lots of practice makes perfect. I used to think I was fast skinning muskrats when I was a kid. But they still took me about a minute to do them right. You need to do any animal when while it's still warm for maximum speed. Two minute coyote!

[Thumper Dunker]

Great going on your fist one it took me an hour to skin my first one with help

[NVWalt]

RioBuster, You can also make a pretty good scraper out of a 1/2 square piece of bar stock instead of buying a draw knife. Just put some handles on the ends. Used to use one that had bicycle handlebar grips bondoed on each end. You are scraping off the remaining fat, meat and membrane and not cutting it off. Used an old washer to wash the fur in and an old dryer that the heating elements were gone in for tumble drying before putting on the stretchers and then brushing out the fur. It is a lot of work to put up prime fur for the fur market and with the prices you get for fur now it sure doesn't pay much but can be very satisfying to do. Also don't waste your time on hides that aren't prime and shot in the winter. ...Walt

[riobuster]

Thanks for all the help!! I've had to do a total reformat of my computer so I am still getting things back together. I will post the pics I have ASAP.

Congrats on your first coyote! What caliber were you using and did you get any pictures?

I was using a .243 and got lucky and hit him in the head so I didn't ruin any fur :DI didn't have a tail stripper so I was using a couple of screwdrivers without much success, then I used my air compressor to "inflate the tail" and I was easily able to strip it. The compressed air also helped separate the skin around the leg areas.

[riobuster]

As for a fleshing beem, go get a good piece of PVC pipe about 8 inches in diameter and cut it to shape.

NVWALT- I went today and got an 8'' piece of PVC pipe. You should have seen the guy cutting off the piece from a 20 foot section cost me $33 bucks but maybe I can sell the other section.

You can also make a pretty good scraper out of a 1/2 square piece of bar stock instead of buying a draw knife.

Man do I feel dense but isn't a draw knife sharp? or is it more of a scraper? I did order a video from Van Dykes that should answer alot of these questions but I don't want to wait until it gets here. The membrane and stuff sure seems hard to get off!! I was thinking I should try and make a scraper that fits the PVC pipe I will be using for fleshing. Would a piece of sheet metal work as a scraper? if it was cut to fit the PVC.

My suggestion would be to send your first yote skin out to be tanned properly. It is only $20.00 at USA Foxx and Furs, in Duluth MN (www.usafoxx.com).

this is starting to look better and better.

[Bozsik]

this is starting to look better and better.

Oh Really? You will get faster as the time goes. I skin and flesh, but leave the tanning to someone else. The money you save in tanning yourself is taken away by the inordinant amount of time it takes to final the pelt. Good luck again and congrats on the first yote.db