I'm not wanting a record time, I just need to know how long it takes to flesh a coon after the initial learning curve.

Should be able to do it around 5 minutes with a little practice.
After a lot of practice it should be 2-3 min.

any suggestions on what equipement I need to buy. We have been catching around 200 coons a year but I think we are going to quadruple the amount of traps/spots to try for 500-1000. so I need equipement to do the job well.

to do a good job it take's at least 20 min.of fleshing time, i am a taxidermist so i take my time to do good work.

A good fleshing beam with a mounting bracket so its not moving around on you. A quality fleshing knife is what you want for doing that many coon. Something like a Dunn or Sheffield.

Might want to get a couple old washtubs to catch the fleshings and a good supply of newspapers or cardboard to line your floor.

Taxi work is different than normal fur market work, ie more fine detail work. Most of the fleshing for fur is done from the ears to the tail and that takes a few minutes to get it as clean as you can get it.

Takes 3 minutes to scrape a coon nice and clean.Smaller coon less.

You should consdier doing one of those quick educational videos and posting it on here. I recently got a knecker 600......still have a tough time on big boars getting the back of the neck clean. A small coon I can do in 5 minutes. Big boar over 20.

Takes me about 10 min, but I am slow. Tom

I would like to see the final product of 38" coon fleshed in 2 to 3 min.

heres one more , a really nice coon that i took about 10 minutes on. I use a Necker knife ,if you need to shave it down close use the sharp side.

Are there any videos out there that show the entire process of fleshing a coon or any other animal for that matter?

They will look just like or better than those pictured by Von. We don't have time to play tidly winks with coon.

Thats right....basily coon that become possession of the Fur Buyer are labled Production coon (for said fur buyer).
These buyers do this production work day in and day out.

I was fleshing coon and showing a guy that was interested in learning how to do it.....he says "what do you think of that coon your scraping with the holes in it from coon the coon hunter".
I said.....I consider it a production coon...and these I must do swiftly.

Other coon that are trapped, no damage, prime and of size get a little extra special care, but 90% are production and get put through the system quick.

Takes me a least 1/2 hour... I've not done many and still working out the bugs

I would challenge the 3-5 minutes to flesh a late-season NE coon. Good grief, I think it took me 40 minutes to flesh a 32" boar coon yesterday. That gristle on the back of the neck is some rugged stuff! Either I am really slow, too picky, or I just plain suck at it. I would go with the latter cause the coons I am doing are the first few in over 20 years that I have finished. Question: How picky are you folks about that area on the back of the neck to the top of the shoulders? Can yo leave any of that gristle on the pelt, or do you take it all off? I have been using the sharp side of my knife and taking it off the best I can. Sorry for the thread robbery...

12.4 hours

But I'm getting better.

The way some of them stretched coon look to me, somebody needs a lesson in skinning the the right way "Making the right cut's when you open them". If a person is going to go thru all the hard work of skinning, fleshing, and stretching them, they need to open them with the right cut first. What a way to gain inches and make that next size for the grade. You can take a 30"
coon and make a 34" coon very easy with the right cut's, and pinning them on the board to get the fullness of the fur. If you pin them right, there is no need to cut a window on the belly side. Look at the difference in these coon. No need to stretch the tail out, plete it in to give that window fur the heavy look. Speed is good for Production coon and wire if you do give a hoot. But wood is the best way to go and make more money for the work you do.

Under 5 minutes on all sizes. The tiny ones way less. Just a few simple swipes. Trapping time is to valuable to spend 10 minutes+ per coon....