I'm planning building a skinning machine for next season. Only building it to skin coons, so I don't need one big enough for yotes. The ceiling in the new fur shed is 8ft. If I cut a hole and went up to the peak, it would give me just over 9ft. Would this be enough for pulling coons? Also, how far from the ground should I make my vice grips? Any feedback is appreciated, Thanks!

How big are your freaking coons??

Itd be tall enough for our cooms

9 foot will be enough if you put your clamps 2 feet off the floor. Once in a great while you might get a big coon you can't pull to the nose. But you will do 99% of them with this setup.

Thanks for the help

Some are 30-35lbs, 5-6X.

You'll be ok most of the time like Shannon said with 9'.

I'm sure beav will be on here to bad mouth the grips soon. lol

One other thing. How far apart should I have my vice grips from each other? and whats a good minimum distance from the wall to the grips?

Build it horizontal instead of vertical seen several that way.

Ive heard some people who have horizontal ones love em, but I just don't have the room in my shed for it. Otherwise I would give it a try.

8 to 10 inches will do.

I built one, and use it for everything. If room is an issue, just anchor your clamps to a wall. Mount the winch to a table (maybe on casters), and get the table as close or as far away to make it work.

I built mine on a 7' X 2' table, and installed casters to the bottom. When not in use, I roll it under a boat for storage. You could roll it anywhere. When I need it, O roll it up to a free standing workbench in the middle of my shop, and put it up on that. Perfect height, and all my tools are right there.

Easy on the back, and no blood running down. Everything is at waist height.

yukonal, that sounds like an idea. Do you happen have any pictures of it?

I wouldn't want any less than 12 feet. Some of them big ol Coon can get stretched out longer than you think. But whatever you got to do

My ceiling is 9' to the peak. My clamps are off the floor 18". It is plenty for any coon I catch and I am sure we have the same or similar sized coon. I also skin coyotes by using a rope with a loop in it to shorten the coyote. LLL

Skip the vise grips and use a single cable slip noose. Build a sturdy hook on the base of your skinner. Then place the cable loop around the whole hide and then bend down and place the other loop over the hook. If you run out of head space just lower the coon and move the cable loop up higher on the skin.

In my opinion these vise grips set ups are way over rated. No welding and very little cost In building a few slip nooses.

I have 10 of these cable slip noose's built. I open 10 coon place a slip noose on each one and get to pulling. The hide pulling noose Is about 5" when fully opened. I also have the same set up for the hind legs. But of coarse these nooses are smaller.

Sounds like a quick way to do it, but does the cable ever hurt the hides?

I’m working with a 9’ ceiling as well. My top hanger for the winch ,just about touches the ceiling. I’m not home to look but I think my clamps are closer to 14-15” off the floor. It’s ADC ‘s lower unit (lol ) so you can check his page for the dimension. All I do is raccoon and only had a couple BIG coon that required a new clamp purchase due to running out of room. You’ll be fine with 9’.

Doesn't even leave a mark.

I do, but I'm afflicted by the same "picture to large to post" disease as a bunch of other guys here.

And, I skin a couple 35# plus coon every year on my 7' table.

If guys would try a horizontal skinner, a lot of them would never go back to upright. Can't tell you how convenient they are.

How would you make a horizontal skinner?

I have built both kinds. Both have there good and bad points.

But with a horizontal all you need Is a work bench. Just mount your winch on one end and a place to hook up the hide or the legs on the other end. 7' would be plenty since you can just keep re hooking the hide.

Cost one winch.

Yep they suck.

To each his own.
By using the cable you can choke up on more hide and save on skinner height. And of coarse It's cheaper
and If you can't weld or don't have the equipment It's simpler.

Nothing wrong with your set up but there are several ways to skin a coon.

Could you have found a smaller coon to make this flick? LOL

And I never said they suck I said they were over rated. LOL

That's a big coon beav. I make any coons look small. lol

Here's a couple big cold monsters for you...



No one has time to play with that cable and stuff, that's for old men and girls.

The distance from my floor to the bottom of my gambrel is exactly 8Ft. I have never needed to re hook a MN coon. I use ADCs base system and wouldn't use anything else personally. If you really needed more pull, you could cut the base down a bit, but as said, won't be a need for any coon you get at 8ft, floor to gambrel distance.

Thanks for the pictures! That's a good idea and seems really easy to move around. One of these days I'll see what I can rig up.

Wow that takes up a lot of space laying out like that. What happens to all the blood and dirt? How do you make cuts on the opposite side of the animal? Mine swivels. LLL

Nice set up.
When I built mine I had the winch built up off the bench at about 6" and the same with the leg hook ups. There Is no need to be able to completely flip the critter a half a turn Is all you need.

If you have no head room It's the perfect system and your not spending $400.00 for some skinner.

Blood and dirt gets wiped off with a paper towel after each animal. Wood bed is poly'ed, so it just wipes off easily. I skin back up, so no need to turn. The animal will spin while it's hooked up. Spike thru the arms, and all cuts can be made hooked up with the back up, and belly down.

Really doesn't take up any more space than any other system, as it also serves as the work bench, and is my entire skinning/fleshing/boarding work station. All my skinning, hide prep tools stay on the same bench/table. And all stretching/put up uses the same work station. I flesh right beside it, so just set my knife and other stuff on same table, while I'm fleshing.

Crazy easy to use, and never need to bend over, or look up to skin. And...no blood from the animal rolling down the hide.

Yeah, I wouldn't have room for that horizontal skinner, either. And I sure like the rotating base on ADCs.
But to each his own. Whatever works for a guy.