My boss shot a lion this afternoon and wanted my help to skin it. I've skinned out feet on bear before, but I've never skinned a feline. Do I just start at the back of the pads and go to the genitals and do it like a cape or just tube skin it with the feet on? What are the pros and cons of each way?

What do you want the end result to be? Mount, rug, tanned hide?

If you want it for a full body mount,skin the feet inside out from the wrist,/heels,(dont cut through or around the pads)nip the toe bones at the last knuckle and trim fat from pads with poultry shears.
I did a bunch of bears like that for full body mounts in Germany.
It will help if you know what the end use is.best bet would be to talk to the taxidermist,and perhaps leave that work for him if you have limited experience in taxi skinning.

Skin em like bear. That's what I did. Make sure to keep the meat. They are delicious.

They eat good!

Thanks for the input, I think he just wants to make it into a rug

Find out what the Taxidermist prefers!

Rug should be fairly easy for you if you’ve done bears. Skinned 1 a couple weeks ago for a buddy.

If you don't know what you are doing, leave the feet in the hide and the taxidermist will skin it the way he prefers. I have skinned and prepped hides for a taxidermist who prefers the pads to be split rather than cut around the edge or not cut at all like Boco suggests. If you don't know what the taxidermist prefers it is better to not make the cuts, like Boco suggests, and to tube skin it if you don't know where to make the cuts. They can always make the cuts on the tubed skin where they want them. But he will probably prefer to skin the feet himself rather than fix what you didn't do right, or at least the way he prefers.

Leave the feet and head in the hide and the taxidermist will skin them out.