I'm too slow skinning my coon. How can I speed up?

just keep skinning ya get faster and better the more ya do.

It used to take me a good 1/2 hour+ to skin coon, now I'm down to 7-8 minutes. It's mostly just practice. The legs and the face is what would always take the longest, I learned how to use a screwdriver to pull the legs by watching coon creek outdoors videos on youtube and that alone helped a lot, along with learning to always have a sharp knife. I use one of those disposable scapel blade things. I don't use a skinning machine or gambrel, I just have a dog choker collar hanging from the garage rafter that I put on a back leg.

Pull harder or go mechanized. I don't do big numbers so I can't offer much real help.

Cut off the front feet that will save you time when It comes to that area.
And the use of a ball peen hammer to beat off the hide around the neck and arm pits. It works great on coyotes It will also work on coon. ADC has flick showing this method.

Skinning them when they are warm makes things go by much quicker as well.

I still consider my self slow compared to lot of what I hear people say.. I also use a choker and pull hides, only my choker is a rope with wood block..but works same.. I found I got faster just by repetition and having routine. I also make my opening cuts on a bench before I hang the coon..Have a vise gripe mounted that I lock tail in. Make my opening cuts skin down a bit. Have a bench mounted tail puller so next pull the tail. Then hang coon by one back foot and pull by hand. If I hurry myself which I don't like to do. I think start to finish I'm at around 5 minutes per coon..I seldom rush myself though and now that I'm older I'm slower too. So I'm probably closer to 10 minutes now. Really I don't worry so much about time just get going get it done. ends up where it ends up. There is always other variables mess with the time too. Size of coon? bigger takes longer, how cold, wet, dirty etc...
Get after it get it done, you'll get faster..

Mac

If you skin them the way I do here....



You can do them this fast or faster.....



You can skin a few by hand that fast or faster, but you'll be worn out much sooner.

The BIG, Cold coons are a little slower but still not too bad of a time....



Hopefully that helps.

~ADC~

One thing I am struggling with is having proper gear. This is really slowing me down right now. I made my own fleshing beam which I thought how much smarter I am than everyone in the world and made it shaped totally different than a standard beam. Yeah well I am an idiot lol. I really struggle with it. Then My fleshing knife is a 9.95 model which with good other gear can perform but when surrounded by crap it performs like crap. I did buy a Havalon replacement blade knife and love it for knife work. I myself am also just not very good at it yet. For years i preferred to sell on the carcass and only recently learned to skin. Then for years my wife done most of my skinning because she is awesome so i still didn't get time doing it. Now I am struggling with all of this but getting better one animal at a time lol. It takes me 30 minutes plus to skin and flesh a single coon. They don't look bad when done but there aint a one that is a "top lot" or anything. I try and take my time to learn to do it right. I am sure it will get better. Getting better gear one piece at a time though will help me personally out.

I open mine on the bench. I hook up one foot stretch out that coon by pulling on the other leg Make one continuous cut from ankle to ankle I cut straight through the anus. You can trim up the anel area when your boarding. Then ring those ankles. If you don't have a hooked bladed box cutter go get one It will make your opening cuts much easier and faster. Open the tail with a sharp knife and strip out the tail bone. Then take your limb loppers and cut off the front feet.
Then I hang my coon on my power skinner.

Use an old rag on the pelt, helps pull better.

lots of good advice here. on the front feet, insert the tip of the knife into the ankle, and make a slit up the leg a couple inches long. when youre pulling the front legs down, the leg/foot will pop right out of that slit. then just cut off the hide. trim after boarding.

like beav says, get some hook blades for your utility knife. theres 2 sizes of "hook", and get the smaller size. this is one of the best tips given above.

When I worked on a fox farm in Alaska my partner and I both could do sub 2 minute fox all day without mechanical help. Coon always took a lot longer!

Less knive, more pull.

I can skin coons pretty quickly by my standards. About 3-6 minutes depending upon size and sex, but what I can't seem to get faster at is fleshing the coon. It takes me longer to flesh coons then to skin them and to date I have not used a machine.

Bryce

Anybody wanting to make a coon bigger and fur denser to make more money???? Make the opening cut on the inside of the thigh to below anus and just slice around the butt hole that way you'll gain an inch maybe 2 when boarding them! No wire throw those out unless you supplement wood in the tack area but still wood is better very uniform make the coon match the board not the wire match the coon! You're graded on the length to outside and DO NOT pull that tail! Just tack open loose and don't waste time putting a bazillion tacks in place this will increase the density in the inspection window... Those 2 tricks w/ a board will increase the value... And for sakes put a mark on the boards for length grade if you can't make the grade by over a 1/4 inch or so back it up to get the next lower grade and increase fur density... Trust me I've bought fur many furs and this is the most common mistake I've seen that opening cut do you want a XXL or a XXXL? I still haven't figure out how to make them all 5XL workn on it though PS I use wood on everything except beaver I've found the hoops w/ a mid tensioner works great I can micro adjust to grade easily gets them dried faster too and I can hang a freaky bunch on a few chains across the fur room.

And for the boards rather than having them piled all the way along the wall get a few thick planks about 3x 8x 10 ft or what ever and router 1 inch deep slots slightly wider than the board slot every 4 inches then they'll all be standing in military formation!

Never hurts to run a dehumidifier and fan either and keep a 65 degree temp

Lots of good info here, I’ll add My little bit, after my opening cuts and I get the tail stripped, I have a 3’ loop of paracord that I will tie around hide. Make sure to tie a couple inches up from the tail so you don’t rip the tail off. Then I put my foot in the loop and step down. It can be a little tricky at first, have a table close by to set your knife on. Then I use lansky knife sharpening steel to pull the arm pits.
For knives I use some old slaughter house and Chicago cutlery knives, for opening cuts I have one of those triangle pelters. Use one knife for cuts that might touch bone and the other for areas you know you’re safe. I wear an old pair of bibs so I don’t get covered in blood and a pair of super thin cotton liner gloves under my rubber gloves if I’m skinning frozen critters.
There’s also a method where after you get them opened up and the fur pulled down a bit, take a good handful of hide and fur with your right hand then put some weight down with your knee on the flesh side, kinda hard to explain thru words, but the best thing you can do For yourself is to skin when they are still hot

Skin ,then freeze your pelts to flesh when the season winds down. The set up fat on coon is so much easier to flesh. Costco has a deal on chest freezers! If your doing a lot of coon, invest in one of ADC’s skinning machines. I would not trap coon without one!