wondering today how long it takes you to skin animals.

coyotes?
otters?
coons?
beavers?


me coyotes 20 minutes.
otters 20 minutes
coons 3 minutes
beaver 30 minutes.

as the season goes on I can knock few minutes off coyotes.

You are skinning them cold, try doing it when they are warm, on coyotes you will cut your time down by 2/3

I never timed myself to be honest. It just takes as long as it takes. If I had to guess I would say it takes me 15 minutes on a coyote, 10 on a fox, 10 on a skunk, 20 on a bobcat (only cause I’m extra careful, I’d cry if I put a hole in a $400 cat)

Now I’m gonna have to time it and see if I’m a bad guesser lol.

Till I'm finished with the hole pile

I turn on the radio, pour a cup of coffee or 2 or 3 and just take my time and enjoy it. My catch numbers are never to the point where I feel overwhelmed with putting up fur. The guys on this forum that can skin a muskrat in 1 minute and a coon in 5... got to that point on shear volume, if you're skinning 100 rats and 30 coon in a day, speed is a necessity.

10 minutes on coyotes after ive done a few each season. Fleshing is were I feel like I'm way behind the curve on.

I never rush the skinning.
Speed comes naturally with experience,and learning proper techniques.

Well said Boco.

As much time as it takes to do a proper job. Like "Boco" said speed comes with experience and using proper techniques,

I do find it fun to time my self and see if my times improve over the years. I use a skinning machine and respect any of you that just skin by hand. I also used to skin for FHA in high school so that did help me get a lot faster.

Average times are probably
Coons 3 min
Beaver 5 min
Otter 7 min
Coyote 8-10 min

Depends on what you call "skinning". If you mean the time it takes from bringing the animal in to the shop/garage until the animal is ready for fleshing, then you have to add the time it takes to comb the fur out and remove any burrs. Which sometimes is the longer part of the process. But if it's just the opening cut to off the nose, I would say

Coyote - 10 to 15 minutes
Coon - Depends on size ~8-15 min
Beaver - 20 minutes

Sometimes the tails slow me down if they are frozen, and if they are warm and start bleeding all over it slows me down as well because I try not to make a huge mess of my skinning area and myself. Once I get them opened up and in the gate things go pretty quick though. I have also ruined some good looking fur by trying to go to fast, so I quit doing that and just remember that trapping is a hobby for me and skinning isn't something I need to do to set a speed record doing.

I haven't skinned a critter in several years, but the wife is pretty darn good. Timed myself against her, lost and it hurt my manly attitude.

I also never time myself.And I try never to skin a fresh beaver. I lay a beaver on its back in a cool area for about 24 hours. by doing this,the blood coagulates in the head area,so when skinning you don't have a bloody mess to deal with.
I also pour my coffee and put LPs on my stereo--and enjoy the experience.
Tom

It takes me probably 15 minutes for a coon but I feel like efficiency has a big part in it and in trapping in general if you get started and have to go get a tail puller and then you have to go get your knife sharpener or another knife your taking up time and not being efficient.

Yes. When I skin I make sure I have several knives, a whetstone, a needle and thread, a roll of paper towels and a can of flea spray within arms reach before I start. I sew holes up as I go so they don’t get bigger when I’m grabbing and pulling and fleshing, so that slows my time considerably on some pelts.

Coyotes are a lot faster since I build a skinning machine.

I have a skinning machine but can't bring myself to do coyotes with it. I kind of enjoy the physical aspect of by hand. I'd say I'm around 10 minutes a coyote. A coon with the machine is done before I know what I did.

I also slow way down on cats. I try to skin them without any kind of blood. I'm not a fan of washing the cats. Does something that just makes them look worse. Also pull them all by hand.

Timed myself on a coyote tonight out of curiosity from this post lol. 16 minutes, 25 seconds on a cold coyote. Think I could do a warm one a bit faster. I was pretty close with my guess of 15 minutes

Oh, and I don’t have a skinning machine. Wish I did, my shoulders are about shot.