This mainly concerns land critters...

We'll say coyotes, which are easier to skin while warm and flexible. I'm working up a design for a skinning rig that will fit in the receiver on my pickup.

Anyway...

After you get a coyote skinned what would be the best way to transport the raw pelt?

Leave it laying flat flesh side out?

Laying flat fur side out?

Roll it up and stow it in a cooler?

Probably worried about a whole lot of nothing... Just wondering if there's an issue I'm not seeing.

Mike

May not be what you're after but all my land critters that get skinned warm or cold, warm especially, fur goes in a bag sealed with ether to take care of the other little critters that are along for the ride.

If you are talking about a freshly skinned pelt, flat fur side out would be the best, IMO.

Fur side in - leather could tend to dry out, which would make fleshing harder.

Rolled up and in a cooler, might not give the inside of the ball a chance to cool down and might result in slippage.

Both of the above examples would depend on outside temperature, how long will the pelt be laying around, etc.

Thanks...

Miss Nancy the weather is never predictable here... The high today was 42. The high tomorrow is predicted to be 16. Saturday supposed to be in the upper 50's...

So we can have some warm sunny days in January. And I know that can be a problem.

I was also worried about rolling up warm pelts and sticking them in a cooler.

Mike

Perhaps a rudimentary frame of wire or wood shoved inside a fur-out pelt to increase air circulation/cooling... I figure there will be some air movement in the back of a truck.

Mike

Leave them unrolled and flat in the pickup bed by the cab so they are in the shade. They will cool down after an hour or so. Roll up and put in a Walmart bag. Can be stretched when you get home or stuck in a freezer. You can get more of them in a freezer by laying them them in unrolled and flat but freezing rolled up isn't a problem if they are cooled down good in your pickup bed before you roll them up and freeze them.

Thanks Danny.

I normally keep my gear near the back of the truck anyway. So the area behind the cab should work out.

Mike

Mike, I skin quite a bit in the field due to my house location and my neighbors don't care for my skinning tree. Also I can toss the carcasses in a coulee/ gully and be done with them.
I have a receiver gambrel that works real nice. It is angled to where I can open the topper / drop the tailgate and have a place for my knives and such. This is not my usual rig I operate out of but the only pic I have on hand.
The gambrel is sleeved to where it is two piece and a bolt holds it together. It can then lay flat for transport.
When I am done skinning - roll them up fur side out and place in a bag till I get home.

Thanks Jim, that's a sweet setup. Kind of what I had in mind.

Mike

When I skin in the field I individually bag each pelt (grocery/Wal-Mart type bags) and place in a cooler with ice.

Swamp I know you are away from home for a lot of your trapping jobs. Do you keep everything on ice when away or do you haul a freezer ?

Way back when, the country fur buyer would make his rounds buying green furs and just pile them in the bed of his truck with a camper shell on it. He would have his pickup bed rounded up with furs by the time he made the stop in my town and a lot of days it would be in the 50s and 60s. I can’t say whether they had any problems with slippage but they paid out lots of money for a pile of green furs and did so every week. I don’t think you have too much to worry about but I would probably do as Wissmiss suggested.

As long as it is skinned and dry you are not going to have to worry about the pelt tainting during the day, in my experience....would take really warm weather. I would put it fur side out and keep it in the fresh air as opposed to boxed or bagged with a bunch of other pelts. I used to skin before work on warmer days and leave the pelts in the back of the truck with no problem.

Make sure your rig extends out enough to drop the tailgate...that's a big plus.

I haul a chest freezer.

I used to think ( or so I was always told) that coyotes skin easier when warm. I disagree. I let them sit a minimum of 8hrs now (if its' not too hot) I think they actually skin better AND with FAR FAR less blood. Same with beaver.

It is nice to skin in the field at times however. Sure saves on hauling carcasses around. Especially coon.

They might actually skin easier cold as far as getting the skin off... But when the legs are "rigored" at some odd angle cause you tossed them in the pickup bed, remade the set, and moved on to the next set, it turns into a fight.

Maybe I should lay them out in the bed so they stiffen in a position that makes them easier to skin. Lol

And I agree on beaver. I had a live 58 lb'er once. Had to dispatch him at the set. Just trying to carry him up the bank to the truck was near impossible. It was like trying to hold a bag of jello.

Mike

Rigor mortis which causes the stiffening of the body actually leaves the body after a certain time. The onset and duration is linked to temperatures so a guy might have to wait abit for things to loosen up. Which never seems to work out for me either with coyotes. But often times just leaving them sit a little longer (beaver and coon are easier to let sit of course) will leave you with a fairly pliable critter to skin.

If ya have to skin in the woods, fur side out and in a paper grocery bag. The bag will get a bit gunky and want to stick to a metal bed, I always have a plywood sheet in my truck and the bag doesn't stick to bad to it. The paper lets the pelt breath better i think.