I skinned and fleshed my first 2 coyotes a week or so ago. My first fleshing job went pretty horrible, but I started getting things figured out by the second one. I didn’t wash either one. I know a lot of people don’t.

I have another skinned pelt in the freezer that I need to flesh and board. I would like to wash this one before fleshing. Using my wife’s washing machine is out of the question. I intend to wash the hide in a bucket before fleshing. What is the best way to dry the pelt out enough after washing so I can flesh it and not have to worry about causing hair slippage? Also. Do I use plain water to wash the pelt or should I put some detergent in with it. I appreciate your help. I’m trying to learn as I go. Thanks.

woolite is good to wash with.

I dry my hides in the dryer. Turn the heat off, air dry only and throw in some old towels or other clothes you dont care about. You could use a leaf blower or if you have a wet/dry vac that you can turn to a blower works as well but not quite as well.

You can definitely use the washer(make sure its set on cold water only)...just wipe it down afterwards as you will get some loose fur stuck on the sides of the washer and do a load of your clothes afterwards :P

I used corncob, the hide and some soapy water in a garbage bag SEALED WELL. Then the garbage bag put into a fur bag and also taped shut twice, then into the dryer set to cool down for 10 minutes or so. Sometimes I tossed a shoe in there. They came out pretty nice. It’s a bit of a pain, so I started spraying any bloody areas with water to dilute the blood, then when it’s flipped fur out, I re spray it and lightly scrub it clean. If dried blood is in the fur it’ll be real tough to get out unless you tan it.

I wash my fur after fleshing, I use a bucket blue Dawn for the wash and woolite in the rinse bucket
Ring out as much water as you can and then give a few snaps like a whip from both ends
I then put it on a stretcher board and dry it with a leaf blower, it doesn't take very long to dry them.

I was washing mine in a 5 gallon bucket as well. It works just fine. Now I just flesh and stretch them and after they dry I rub them down with dry borax. Seems to work good on coyotes and cats. Gets all of the blood out and fluffs the fur up as well.

I wash after I flesh. If something was really bad with caked mud in it or something that you were afraid of it causing you to cut holes fleshing you could wash before fleshing. If so I would just wring it out and put it on the fleshing beam. If you wash after fleshing it will help get any grease out of the fur you got in the edges while fleshing.

I've always washed by hand, usually in a utility sink, although at times in a five gallon bucket. Wash machine will work and if I was doing a couple hundred coyotes a year I would get one, but I'm too nervous to throw high dollar cats in one even though I have friends that do. (One guy I know takes his to the laundromat). I've tried lots of different stuff over the years, currently I am just rinsing bobcats with cold water to get any mud and blood out and make it easier to spot bad spots in the fur, coyotes are getting washed with dish soap.

I've always had issues with stuff sticking onto the skin side when I washed hides in the washer. Was a pain to get it back off so I wash before fleshing now.

I always figured washing after fleshing and then boarding would lead to slippage.

Not if you dry the fur side first. I've not had any problems not even with the thinner skinned red fox I wash
You can use an air compressor if you don't have a leaf blower
I have a chunk of firewood with a chainsawed groove in the top to hold the stretcher board while I'm drying them

Done it my whole life, only time you have a problem is if they are green bellied. If I have something green bellied it doesn't get washed.

I wash after fleshing. Comb out fur before fleshing to help prevent cuts. I use the 5gal buckets for washing and rinsing. I do a pre wash rinse with plain water, to get the first layer of grunge off. Wash with soap of your choice and rinse with plain water or add woolite if you like. Wring the pelt out, then snap it several times by the nose and then by the tail/feet. Hang by the nose to drip dry overnight. Put on stretcher skin out until dry enough to flip. Comb fur straight when you turn it fur out. I have never had a fur slip doing it like this. It’s pretty much like bearcats method.

It will if you haven’t planned on good air movement AND adequate exhaust ventilation. It does no good to just circulate moisture laden air, it needs to be removed!

I never mentioned snapping them out, but I do that also. Pretty much the same as you, except I don't let them drip overnight. I squeeze all the water I can out of them when I hang them up, then let them anything else drip until I am ready to put them on the stretcher (may be ten minutes, may be a couple hours, then I grab them and snap any water left in them out, and put them on the stretcher.

Seldom has a good point about getting rid of moisture. It’s definitely something to keep an eye on and more so in an area of hi humidity. Air movement is a good thing no matter where you are.

Thanks for everybody’s help. It would be ideal for me to wash after fleshing. I think I’ll give that a go. I’ll try to dry it the best I can before boarding. I have a battery powered leaf blower that I could use to speed it up.

I am from the "Old" coy school of washing.... but my twist is I use a cold-water rinse to check for hot spots in the fur and get the leather cold. Mop bucket wringer to press out the water then a couple snaps to get residual off... Here is where I'll get some grief.... take 3 bath towels and up to 2 coyotes put them in the dryer regular heat for 30 minutes. Now the grief part is over.... The leather stays cold and the fur is dry, the roots of the fur will still be damp. Flip leather out soak up access moisture with dry towel. Roll leather side in a mixture of dirty borax and corncob, flesh areas that need to be done again. Put on board leather out and pin in place for proper stretch, put in front of box fan at a 45 degree angle belly side first till dry to the touch. Flip and do back side same way. Now that leather is dry to touch flip to fur side out and pin to proper stretch and comb fur to desired appearance. Hang nose down till ready to pull off board.

The very best put up coyote I have seen in my 40+ years of trapping were washed in an old ringer washer with VO5 shampoo with built-in conditioner. They were in a room full of coyotes all caught in the same area and they stood out like a diamond in a goat's... you know. Makes sense, if you want your hair to look good you use shampoo. He lathered up the pelts really heavy then tossed them in the washer full of water. Let it run for a good long time then rinsed them well, ran them through the ringer to squeeze out most of the water , into a fur tumbler to aid the drying, then boarded them, (boraxed the ears and dusted the whole inside the pelt with a shaker bottle of it) brushed them against the grain (tail to nose) and hung them to dry in front of fans. Finally brushing them nose to tail just before removing the stretchers. A lot of work but they were like I said by far the best looking pelts I've ever seen.