I have a few questions about skinning Marten.

Does the rear cut go from the middle of each back foot to the vent or just infront of the vent?

How long do you leave the front legs?

If I understand correctly, NAFA wants the front legs tucked in when the Marten is boarded. Full length front legs that have been tucked in are a pain to aline when putting in the belly board.

Cut from the center of the back pad to the heel then follow the color change in the fur to just ahead of the vent. This puts extra fur on the back giving a bit more lengh to the pelt. The front legs can be cut short however when I pelt a marten I leave them right down to the paw.

Farm Boy. Theres a much easier way. Give me a call at home and I'll show you.

I was going to say, "hey Farm Boy, why don't you walk down to Ken's house and he can show you the way".

Geez, it must be nice having Yoda right in the same town as you.

Except Yoda takes alot of naps and is cranky...But, teach you to skin marten he will

He just has to provide the marten and the prunes

PICTURES!!!!!!!

No NO NOOOO The mouth technique. I must have given up too soon. Takotna says I need to do 30 this way and I will be hooked.

just got done with my first ever marten... good size male. wasnt sure how you guys do the front and rear paws but i just end up cutting right above like mink.

I skin the feet but the way you did it is fine Mogie.

I also prefer to skin them through the mouth after cutting up the back legs. This works real slick when they are suspended from a hook on a string. I have tried this also with mink, but the ones I get here are just to fat to get the belly through the mouth.

Skinning them through the mouth is so easy and clean, I'd never consider doing it any other way..I used to skin the paws on all of mine but for 3 years in a row now, I've cut them all of just prior to sending to Nafa, so I now have a bag full of marten feet with claws that I havent found a market for, lol..

Boy, when I started not skinning toes, did my skinning time ever drop!!

farm boy,I know you are a slow learner,but white17 has a lot of patience, so have him show you as many times as it takes for you to understand how to skin marten,even if it takes 30 or so before you do one.

thanks white... think i'll just stick to it. trying to do the feet will take me all night. beautiful lil animals.

FWIW, I skin all the way to the claws just because I enjoy it and I think the foot makes the pelt look better. After it comes off the board I take a pair of dikes and trim the claws right up to the toe so there is nothing to snag the other furs. When I have time, I trim the claws on the trail.

For auction pelts, I cut at the wrist. All others get the delicate toe treatment, and my eyes aren't what they used to be, so it takes about double the time for me to do it that way. I agree that they sure look nice when the feet are included.

Back when I started trapping, Seattle Fur Exchange would dock your price if claws were not left on the pelt. Then one day, the light bulb went off in their heads, that claws= fur damage. They sent out a nice letter asking everyone to remove claws. Also, the graders didn't like getting scratched while sorting fur Sure is quicker to just cut the feet off. Also I've always skinned my marten hind end first. I tried W17's technique a few times, but couldn't do the switch over. After several thousand the other way, it's just hard to make the switch. Sure wish I learned the right way the first time.

I too skin from the mouth, skinned one last night and thought i'd share some input on the subject...


First pull cheeks back and poke your knife inside and run knife thru upper/lower lips, scrap the tissue back onto the carcass(sharp knife is preferred)



Pull the lower jaw and poke knife thru to other side of mouth and cut hid off



I then hang by the lower jaw using a bent nail and cut close to the skull and get around the eyes and cut the ears off



Using your fingers poke and push down inside to take hid off carcass



Push and pull action(both carcass and hide) to take the front legs out



Using a papertowel push the flesh back onto the carcass while pulling the mouth of the hide(like drawing a bow)



Pull all the way down until you see the base of the tail



Pretty much the same process as the front legs, push and pull of the carcass and hide to remove the hind legs



Both hind legs off and off to the next step



Take off the hook and pull hide towards you and cut the vent hole off towards the tail, same time while making cut pull to minimize knife use. Before pulling out the tailbone, cut from one slit you made earlier on the hind legs close to the vent hole, move the the other side and complete the cut to the vent hole and finish the other too.



Slide hide onto stretcher and split the tail



Tack onto stretcher and a small amount of using a knife to carefuly take off some of the flesh and done


Sure hope someone understands the process, any other needed explanations would be great.

Nick

Nicholas, nice post! I think I'll try out on a mink/ermine this year...

I still don't get the advantage. What is it? Looks nice and clean, but so do mine done the "normal" way.