Well then, The post was a success! If you got anything out of it you're ahead of the game! lol

I don't have a stop watch in my shed. I know the last one of the evening takes me longer than the first one.

Some days I'm slower than others and sometimes I need more breaks and I hate to let a beer get warm while I'm skinning, so My breaks last a while.

I enjoy fleshing coon, guess I'm wierd though

You get a nice female and it's a breeze. Just push off the fat. Dinks and young ones are pretty easy too, especially warm. (Just have to be careful of the nipples.)

You then get an ear-torn, scar-faced nasty old boar bruiser with a scarred up neck and then you feel the pain. Especially if he's stone cold in a conibear. Getting off their neck gristle is pretty tough, even after freezing.

I agree with bic.. i think there easily to flesh when they are cold..

cool

Its all technique. There was a time it took me 30 min to skin a coyote and I might still have screwed up the ears or eyes. Another half hour to 45 minutes to have it on a board.

The one I did a week ago took me about five minutes to skin and 15 to flesh. I had it on a board and everything cleaned up in just over a half hour. I could do a bobcat in about the same time if I wasn't overly anal with them. If I were to push myself I could do it faster. I have done enough that I have a technique down.

I have skinned less than 10 rats in my life. The last one took me 15 minutes to skin because I tore it open and made a mess. And then I still made a bad cut on the face. I think the world champ can skin 5 or 7 in a minute. A beaver might take me 30 minutes to skin. A coon isn't bad, but they are different than a coyote, so it takes me a little longer. I don't have the technique. That is all there is to it.

Feel no shame about it. You can learn a lot by watching someone better than you. Thats how I did it. Having to sew up big holes that you cut steepens the learning curve too. I popped the tail off of about 4 coyotes befor I figured out how not to do it.

Best thing you can do is go to a convention and spend a day beside Greg Schroeder and watch him flesh coon. The man is good.

WHAT? Are you serious? What's the deal with the NIPPLES?

My GOD man! Is this "nipple" concern in the ATA handbook?

I've never even thought about this angle.

ok whats with the nipples?

Skinning is like most things one does. The more you do it the better you get at it.
The first critters I skinned were seconds due to cuts. They took forever to get done. Every thing seemed hard and time consuming.
Now none seem hard and few are what I would call time consuming but I have yet to try a Porkypine.

fleshing coon with nipples you hit them and they can tear a pretty good size hole.