Skinning a coyote...

I have to admit that skinning this coyote was the hardest animal I have ever skinned. I brought it home yesterday and put it in the garage to thaw, kept a fire going since I put it in there and then skinned it this evening, the head still wasn't thawed out. The smell didn't bother me, after ready how you all said they smelled terrible I was worried about when it was thawed it might smell horrible, it wasn't till I started pulling the skin by the penis that I smelled anything but the most surprising thing was the beast had started getting green belly already, not bad and just on the membrane, not in the skin.

If I am to continue chasing coyotes for fur then I am going to have to build me a skinning machine for sure, I can already see the value in one just for these buggers alone!

Note: skinning a frozen head is near impossible! make sure it is thawed too! lol

Don't worry about it, every coyote you skin will most likely have a green tint to its belly. The effect of green belly is often over stressed by many. Although green belly can be serious it is common on a lot of fur animals. It is not a serious defect until it turns really dark brown or black, then you will start to see some slippage of fur. I often have coyotes hanging for 2-3 days (even 5) in the shop at 40 - 60 degree F temperature with no problem. If you’re worried about it, wiping the area with vinegar or 3% hydrogen peroxide solution will kill the bacteria causing the rot. The initially frozen coyote in this picture was hung face down for 5 days and is perfectly fine re fur slippage.

Good to know. I would have thrown that one out!

You can skin a coyote without a skinning machine, but the machine makes it so much easier on your hands and shoulders. If you have any welding ability you can build your own at a reasonable cost. I only put up a fraction of the fur many do, but I wouldn't want to be without it.

I've had green belly on a few too. Yours probably had the green belly before you even picked it up. Probably went green after being snared is my guess. I made a simple version of a skinning machine that works good and it was cheap. I already had a hand crank winch on the wall for hoisting deer. So I welded up some vice grips with rebar jaws, and a short chain on each. Screwed a board with a eye bolt in the middle onto a few studs below my winch. Slipped a cable through the eye bolt and attached the vice grips. My ceiling is low so I'm pulling at a angle. It works good and way easier on coyotes and

coons. Only thing is Im bending or kneeling. Horizontal would be even better, but this is working.

How high of a celling do you need for a skinning machine with coyotes ? My pole barn is 8' 6" from the floor to the bottom of the joist, but I have at least anther 6 to 8 feet to the roof. A skinning mach. is #1 priority before next season. -Thanks

I skinned all of mine by hand.Didn't use my machine on these tender coyotes.

With the hand crank winch I took it easy on the coyotes. Get good tension and do a few cuts, then crank some more. Helped me a lot with them. Now coons I cranked most of them off.

Mine is on a 12' plank. Have to choke up the coyotes but not the coon. Used to be only for yote and 16 feet long. I got hurt awhile back and used for coon. Been using it ever since. Why not? I have no money in it.

I like 12' and you will be able to skin anything.

If anyone is in the market Northern Tool has electric hoists on sale. I added a link if you want to check them out.

Hoists

I have the 220/440 lbs model and it works great on coons and deer. I am able to skin coyotes faster by hand and I don’t have to worry about tearing a pelt when I pull to hard with the hoist.

I saw the hoists on sale, was wondering what the minimum poundage should be on the hoist for skinning? The 220/440 is only 89.00 right now. I can do government jobs at work and the steel is cheap so I am good there!

I would guess that the 110/220 would be fine, but I wanted to be sure I could hang and skin deer as well. That’s why I went with the 220/440.

I just used a 2500lb, 12 volt atv winch on my skinning machine. Bought from Harbor Freight on sale for $59.00. Rather than buy a battery, I just hooked up my battery charger to the winch.

I was told that I should hook up my winch to a battery first then hook up the charger to the battery. The battery dosen't have to be any good.

Theres guys would have a coyote skinned before you could hook up the skinning machine.

Lol! Exactly...

Technique makes all the difference. Body position, hanging height, a burlap sack and stuff like that. That and it’s probably helpful if you weigh 200+. I’m not as fast as some of those Canadians I’ve seen on YouTube but I’m getting there.

I have used just the battery charger for 2 years now. I don't see anything wrong with doing it.

After 5 back surgeries and having arthritis in my hands and shoulders, I don't have much choice. When I was younger, I would have laughed at using such a thing. Now just getting old and broke down.

That's good info/experience LDW, I have way more uses for a DC than AC.
I'll likely have one by next season.

To all you he men, cherish and take good care of your, a, physique lol.
Don't take it for granted.

For me it's not about the speed in which I can skin a coyote with or without a machine, it's the ease in which I can skin a coyote with a machine. Warm or cold, the coyote peels with same amount of effort from me.

You don't hook up the skinning machine for each coyote. Dumb Canuck. LOL

Beav is “Da Man”

I know what your talking about LDW,lol.
Beav,you dumb cheezehead,you have to hook the animal to the machine to pull the skin.LOL.

Ya but you have to hang the coyote from the gambrel. weather It's hanging from the skinning machine or the joists.

I don't set up my puller to do coyotes. I catch so few It's just as fast to skin them warm by hand.

So for those that skin coyotes with out the aid of some mechanical puller. Do you hang by one leg or 2 ??

I hang by one leg until both legs are skinned to the butt. Then I hang from the hock joint of each hind leg to finish skinning.

I just hang by one leg for the whole process. I figure once I get to the hips and the tail Is stripped It really dosen't make any difference any more.

I hang by two legs and get it as high as i can.

That's why I hook to the hocks when I have the coyote skinned to the butt.

I like to hang by one foot so you have that whole crotch area open when your making your opening cuts.
Grab the loose leg Stretch It apart and start at the ankle of the fixed leg and make one continuous cut from ankle to ankle. Then one straight cut through the bung hole.
I have a 2 step bench so I can step up to the top rung make the first cuts then step down to the next rung get past the hips then I can get down to the floor to finish.

That's exactly what I do until I get down to the butt and the tail off, except I start at the ankle in hand and cut over to the other foot going below the vent. Then cut from tail down each side of vent and then pull the tail. Now hang by both hind quarters and finish skinning.

NO matter how we do It I still hate skinning coyotes. LOL
Especially the Junkers we have.

Beav are you skinning the open necked ones too?

So far I have tossed 3 and I should have tossed 2 more. And the ones I kept aren't $30.00 coyotes. Probably closer to $15.00 LOL

But It's something to do.

Similar to what I'm dealing with...tied into some mangey/ hairless ones ....no brainer to disscard. Then caught some wirey necked, brown colored ones that also got pitched. And throw in a few open necked ones...just hate to see the waste...but I ain't taking the time and effort for no return.

I skin from a gambrel on a hoist. Start the legs on a table then hang them up. Use the hoist to adjust the height as I go. I don’t mind putting up coyotes, helps when you are looking at $100+ average. Snared two yesterday, one was froze solid and then other was all froze except portion of the body. Hung them both on the hoist by the back legs and they were thawed for skinning tonight. I skinned one in 7 min, and had them both on the boards right at an hour.