Was doing my harvest report and going thru all the freezers.
Found two skunkskins frozen in a bag.
They must have been there 3 years maybe more.
So I guess I will tan them up.
They were in good shape after being in the freezer for so long-no freezer burn,but the fat yellowed a bit at the base of the tail on one.
The rest looked fresh.
I will see how they tan up.
Got them scraped and salted.

Nice find!

I would not have thought that they would have been any good????.....jk

Me either,I was surprized.
Will see how they tan up.

That fat on them acts like a preservative unless heat/moisture is involved skunks stay good for a while. In the fall I wait until I get a few piled up before I work on them with no problems. The glands take a few years to breakdown they stay red for a year or more several years to turn black.

What kind of fleshing tool is that?

Almost looks like just a round rod.

That is a hide rake.
I use it on more delicate skins.The teeth grab the saddle with short strokes and remove it,then the fat can be scraped off by flipping the tool and using long strokes and very light pressure with the blade side.
You have to be careful on skunks not to damage the hair roots.They cannot take agressive scraping.
The hide rake works good to remove saddles on all species.

Always an education, have never heard of a hide rake. Thank you for explaining.
Is this homemade or did you purchase it?
I seem to collect fleshers and would love to own one

Purchased them,made in Austrailia.
Also a great tool for breaking tanned skins on a padded beam.

cool post learned something. will be watching to see, how they tan up

Thank you for sharing cool fleshing tool! Can you show adjustable fleshing beam looks interesting.

I'll post a few pics as I go.Next step will be washing.

Same with the beam,Tripp

Excellent thank you!

Shook off the salt and washed the skunk skins in warm water and some liquid tide,gave the leather side a bit of a scrubbing with a stiff brush,then rinsed them out a couple times in cold water,then wrung them out and mixed up a pickle,6oz citric acid 2lb pickle salt and two gallons of warm water.







Pics of the hide rake and beam.

Took skunks out of the pickle 3 days ago,neutralized in water and baking soday,rinsed and into the tan.I used a mineral tan,aluminum sulfate salt and complexed it with washing soda to raise the ph to 4.5.Took skunks out of the tan today,rinsed them off, wrung them out to damp,and oiled the leather.
Covered with a sheet of plastic to allow the lube to sweat thru the skin before it dries.
Skunk leather is thin so I will remove the plastic in two days and allow them to start drying.

Looks good! I’m surprised I haven’t got a skunk yet in the odd coon set I threw up. I think? I’m looking forward to putting one up…lol
Some reading material I got last year because I though I’d have a few,


Is that beam bolted to an old ironing board? I’ve got a chunk of rough cut 2x12 I wanna shape up.

They are looking very good-interested to see the finished product! Pretty cool thread.

Great Thread

Most of the skunks I catch are in mink sets in late fall,early winter.About once every 4-6 years there seems to be a bumper crop of skunk.Those years I might get 8 or 10 in mink boxes.Most years just a couple or 3.
Once in a while I will see where a skunk is living in a big baitpile and will come out to putter around.Like bears,skunks wont hibernate as long as they have an ample food supply.
I will put down a marten box on the ground and take one occasionally.Those winter skunk feeding on the baitpile have pretty thick fur and are real fat.
Once in a while I will also trap a skunk if I see one hanging around the trapping camp in fall.
They tan up pretty good,I also have sent some to the tannery.Tanned skunks sell pretty good either on their own or as mitts or hats.

Our skunks here dont get very big.

The beam is bolted to an adjustable steel bracket.
The arm has a bunch of notches that allows for height adjustment of the beam.
I picked up that beam years ago from Kenny at TCT booth at a convention.
Kenny gave me a good deal on it on the sunday when he was packing up,since he didnt want to haul the big heavy thing back to North Bay.
Not sure who makes those beams but they are top notch.

Boco i see your snowshoe needs rewebbing. Ive done reweb for people in rawhide and in nylon tube which when saturated with marine spar varnish looks just like rawhide when dry. Advantage of nylon is when varnish wears off and trapper lazy the webbing stays taught.