I imagine most people CAN skin anything with varying degrees of efficiency, but just wondering if there is any critter you just plain don't like skinning.

For me its fox. The thick fur combined with thin skin makes it a pain in the butt, from skinning to fleshing to boarding. I just hate doing them! Id trade anyone nose count otter or beaver for fox in terms of skinning fleshing and boarding.

Anyone else?

yote stink dog

Coyotes

Otters and beavers. Hate skinning them. Coons too, coons are alot easier than beavers and otters for me, but I hate skinning them all the same.

Wolverine

Grinners. Gave up on them after first season. Stinky stinky little buggers.

Hate skinning coyotes and fleshing beavers

Otters. Love catching em, dread skinning em. Yotes don't bother me much for some reason.

I'd have to agree with the Fox, I've been freezing everything and then doing them later, I don't think that helps much either with the foxs pelt and fat drying out for fleshing, I think coyotes are by far the easiest for me.

Beavers

Most people dont like otters because of the tail. I was one of those people till I figured out a way to do the tails in about a minute flat. My first otter had about sixty holes.


Once the tail was fast, I started enjoying them. I just hate having to be so super careful with the fox. One bit of too much pressure and riiiip. Nice hole.


That said, after doing a bunch of fox this season I am much better, but I still dont have to like them.

Coyotes are nasty for me I actually won't do them. Badger and beaver I don't mind doing but are tough to flesh for me.

Coyotes arent far behind. Occasionally I get that one that just wont flesh clean. I think I need better technique with them. Plus our coyotes are 40lbs for a tiny one.

I hate putting in the push pins for a fox tail. My little girly hands never seem to get the pins in all the way due to the fur.

Ok, now id better stop whining. lol

Coons hate them. Yotes don’t bother me at all.

Nasty, Rotten, Putrid, Butt-Sniffing, Stink Dog Cayutes !!!

w

Love catching the yotes hate skinning the yotes I'd rather peel 10 skunks then do a yote but I do them anyways!

Cold cats and coyotes around the shoulders.

Otters and coons I let the winch do all the pulling...

I've only put up coons,mink and rats.

Don't mind doing them. Like Swamp said I let the winch do all the work. Coons are a little greasy though. OK alot greasy!

Brad

Yotes for me, They stink.


B

Badger-->coyote-->opossum

B A D G E R S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Especially frozen coyotes when in a rush.......jk

I once worked for a dead stock company. Skinning day old dead cows and horses in the summer months was a joy!

I've skinned many different critters with the exception of otter, skunk and weasel, wolverines and wolves.
I like Lazarus hate skinning badgers and mink, mainly it's the smell I don't like.
Allan

Red squirrels,always a pain to make sure the tail winds up with the pelt and not the carcass.

Fox. I've only done a couple in my short trapping career, but my 1st one ended up a tail-less disaster.

Fox, they pull easy but they tear way too easily, I can't hardly get myself to slow down and be careful.

i love working in the shop but for 30 yrs my dad skinned 90 percent of my rats and beaver.he loved to skin those 2 but wouldn't touch anything else.he passed 3 yrs ago and rats and beaver bring back a flood of memories of hundreds of hours in the shop with him.

Coyotes

Raccoons I hate the most, I will skin Fox all day compared to one coon.

Ive seen your skinning videos. If you skin fox like you skin coon, like me you will have the same issues.

thirty seconds a coon doesnt fly for fox. Exactly why i hate them

if I could get my coon to half your speed id be a happy man haha

Dont worry about it and send the tails to Mepps. probably worth more even still. I had what I thought was a decent red squirrel for three years now at fha. They just threw it out. lol

Yotes

I don't market red squirrels thru the auction at this time,although in the past I have avg'd just under $4 for a pile of them.
I sell on the craft market,tanned.Tails are important in that market.
They sell good at auction when they are used for linings in expensive leather jackets.In that case tails don't matter.

Does mepps still use them even? Perfect. tails to mepps, and fur elsewhere. lol

Hutchy,

How About Sharing & Explaining Your Secret For Skinning An Otter Tail Fast ?

w

Coyotes are never fun.
Favourites are Otter, and Beaver.

As per discussion above....Tails are easy to skin, once you learn to "upcut" with the knife, they are also easy to flesh.

Spruce

Coyotes

Badger

Armadillo.

Will

I will gleefully put a knife to a whole truckload of coyotes before I would willingly put up a badger. A good skinning setup makes peeling coyotes a non-event.

Squirrels and coyotes, I wish everything skinned like a rabbit

LOL, you get it.

Skinned 25 Badgers two seasons in a row. Don't mind them a bit. Just as soon leave a coyote in a ditch rather than skin it.


Horizontal winch is just the ticket for badgers. Now that I have a Steinmeyer knife, fleshing is a breeze. Wish I would have had one years ago.




Charlie

Beaver

Badgers

Ermine. You even look at the rear-ended, and the shop reeks. And that gland smell won't wash off with anything short of turpentine. Mink is nice, compared to weasel.

Badgers

Never Layed Hands On A Badger.

Phil, What Is It About The Things That Make Them Unpopular To Skin Out ?

w

Badgers suck!

X2 Don't mind coyotes, hate badgers.

I hate skinning Yotes. Stinky rotten things.

Coyotes don't smell so bad, now them miserable badgers are stinking critters.

Is Skinning A Badger Worse Than Dealing With A Liberal DEMO-CRAT ?

Badgers? We don't need no stinking badgers!

Of all animals that I have skinned,they are the toughest,on top of that,they flesh just as hard or harder,on top of that,if you dry them hide out,and then go to turn them fur side out,they turn like turning a very tough card board box,so,don't dry it very long at all,couple hours (2-3)hide side out.
Having said that,they are georges tanned.I want to get a jacket made with black leather sleeves,and collar,and bottom strip,with badger on the rest.-someday

Badgers can be pretty tough skinning. I'll still do it though!

stinky possum with the green stuff runnin out of it.

BOCO'S ON THE BOTTLE !!

bad part is i know exactly what he is talking about.

Chimpanzees, they look a little like humans when your peeling em.

Better to see a video. If you want to pm me, I can take a video of the next otter tail and send it to you somehow. I dont know how to post videos on here. I have some traps out, likely get an otter or two this week.

Does anyone know if posting a video to you tube is the only way to post a video on here? Doing otter tails this way really changed skinning for me. Maybe ill make a post of it if I can figure out how to post a video

Elephants. Hate having to roll them over, and getting them boarded is real buggar. Gotta be darn careful of the cartilage in the ears too. I'm thinking of rolling em up and sticking them in the freezer and trying Bocos frost scraping methods in the winter.
Guess I shouldn't gripe, those stinky hippos are nearly as bad.

Osky

I would love to see a way to do an otter tail in one minute.

I love doing otter tails. Really pretty easy once you get the hang of It.
Never try and take It off all at a time. Kind of like fileting a fish. Take off one edge at a time then take off the middle. Takes about a minute.

The way I do the tails is with a certain caribou beaver skinner knife. About a 2 1/2" blade with a deep belly. I do it on my round beam. Hold the otter with your belly and stretch the tail tight with the other hand. The belly of the knife conforms to the two ridges of fat on each side of the tail. I basically just push the fat off with the knife and work down to the tip. No real slicing, just a push. As beav said it becomes kind of fun. Occasionally I will nick the side of the tail, but its easy to get right. Just takes the right shaped knife and a push.

Lions. Especially ones named Cecil.
Coyotes suck too.

Those nasty coons. Never had to skin a possum but I think I'd hate them too.

Coyotes have some stinky behinds. I don’t find it difficult to skin them. Even badger smells don’t get to me like a coyote with a smelly bum

2 words. Garbage can!!

Brad

Coyotes can go on a the skinning machine.Beaver's can't.So Beaver's.

I am the worlds worst knife sharpener, so coyotes are the toughest for me, and my short stubby fingers don`t help with
the pulling either!

Chickens and young turkeys. If you want to screw up some good poultry get lazy and don't pluck it. I have no clue why people buy, or how they stand to eat, skinless chicken breast. You serve up some white cardboard and I doubt anyone would notice. skin is where all the good grease is and fat not only tastes good its good for you. Healthy energy that will keep you going a lot longer than sugar.

I've skinned a couple of porcupines for a mammology class and I can say, quite literally, they are a pain to skin....

Lol. I am guessing you dont flesh a porcupine over your knee??

Well you don't do it twice!! Fleshing was more like lots of borax and blade work...

Who said ya can't pull a beaver on a machine? Just a bit different hook-up.
Dennis

Surprised no one mentioned snapping turtles. Not only do they dull a knife out in no time flat, they fight you the whole time.

I can skin a fresh turtle in about 15mins no waterhose eaither, I don't mind skining nothin to much but I thank i hate yotes mostly cause I'm not set up to deal with um and I rarely get to skin a warm one( witch are no so bad) and being a taxidermist most of them are shot in half with what ever arm cannon thay happen to be deer hunting with!
Colt