Today was a proud dad moment. We caught our first coon on our first set of dog proofs we put out. The boys we quite excited. Now I did struggle to skin the coon was the first time since I was a middle schooler. I struggled to strip the tail and get past the ears and eyes cleanly. Seemed to be much harder than I remember,lol. The fur just did not want to seperate from the body and tail. Any tips?

The smiles on the boys' faces say it all. Congratulations on your first catch! As far as getting your critter skinned, I'd say make sure your knife is sharp and take your time in getting the hide off. Go slow and be careful where you cut. There are lots of great skinning videos on YouTube that might be helpful in giving you some instruction.

This is how I do it. Yes I use a machine, but the tips are good for pulling by hand as well. Probably the #1 thing that makes it easier is to skin then while they are still warm if you can. Second thing is wear gloves, the cotton gloves you see in my video are for grip, and it's so much easier. You'll still be able to use the rod under the tail and front legs. Them just pull by hand when I use the machine, or if you're really getting into this, you can get or build a machine for yourself.



Once you get the hang of it it'll be like this for you...

Thanks for the info. I used a field knife out of a kit I got for Christmas. It seemed to dull up quickly. I have a weibe coming and I feel like that will take 90% of the frustration away. I can't wait for public to open up to trapping in January so I can really get out with the boys and put some miles in. There is so much to show and teach them about animals and how they live and travel.

Gloves are a important thing as is a sharp knife , and a good steel to touch up the cutting edge when it starts to get dull .

A good horse comb with steel teeth does wonders when you have to deal with burrs in the fur .

I'll add start a journal of what sets you use and where , what your lure used , and what was caught , weather it gets interesting what works and what doesn't and take pictures for the memories and how without them written down how quickly they can be gone ha ha !

Keep up the good work and enjoy your time outdoors !

Congratulations men! Such big smiles, lots of good advice above.
Look up Coon Creek Outdoors with Stu
He has great skinning,fleshing and put-up videos
Ill try to post one in a few minutes

Thats actually what I watched several times before skinning. I couldn't get a rebar to push through the fat and lining and the tail definitely did not want to strip with the metal tail striper I used from flemming traps. The coon was cold as I dispatched midday and skinned in the evening so I'm sure that didn't help things.

I actually did start a trapping journal. I listed sets, location, lure and bait which was a mix of catfood,molasses and vanilla with the lure being Cavens moonshine. I also am using the trapline as a way to help loose weight and stay active. I've been documenting my weight each time I log in the journal. Wrong time of the year to be logging weight being around the holidays. 😆 😂

My metal tail stripper does every critter. When I was a teen I used two sixteen penny nails held together in my fist.
I skin all my critters cold. Usually the next day. Here's what I use for skinning everything but beaver.
I do use a long phillips screwdriver to get under the coon and possums front shoulder. I'm not sure how rebar would work with the ridges in it
If not just take your time and skin around each leg.

I like to use a hooked utility blade for opening cuts, and a serrated parer to cut against bone around the head....and cut half way up the tail before using the stripper..
Otherwise, just take your time and after a couple hundred it gets easy!, lol

Tail-strippers are my salvation but there is a trick that helps. Don’t clamp down so much that the stripper bites into the bone. Leaving it gapped just a scooch helps it pull the hide off the bone.

I cut and skin halfway up the tail also. On coon, there's a point where there is very little muscle on the tail, I skin to there. Then use the tail stripper.
I also pull the tail bone out of the tail fur, not the fur off the bone, if that makes sense. I hold the tail stripper in my right hand, lock that arm in place, then pull the bone out with my left.

The way I phrase it is "you pull the tail through the stripper, not pull the stripper down the tail."

That's a good way to put it.