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Trapping and Fleshing first time

nhn2a

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Feb 2, 2016
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So I tried my first attempt at trapping and fleshing and thought I would share the progress.

I'm having a raccoon hat made for my son and all the taxidermists around here wanted $150 to flesh and tan so I'm trying it myself.

Attached are photos so far. Now I'm working on the tanning process. So far so good. I even managed to make my own fleshing board. The raccoon is now salted and sitting overnight waiting for its next salting before applying the tanning solution. I'll post more photos of it as I go.

I welcome any advice or feedback if you see anything wrong in the photos.
 

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Yes I did. I was trying to turn it inside out without splitting it but it just would not flip.
 
Only critter that compares to a coon, when fleshing is a beaver or an otter, neither of which are a greasy as a coon. Getting ready for the next warm spell. Going to get after some rats and beaver and do some YouTube videos.
 
That would be awesome randy. My son and I loved the other rat trapping video you did, enough to where we are going to give it a try in the next couple months. Would love to have a trapper hat and some mittens made by that company out of Duluth from our catch!!
 
Hell of a lot of work for a hat isn't it? haha I tried to make one a few years ago but it got lost in a flood at my buddies house.
 
That's pretty good work! If you want to do a little extra next time sharpen the back of your fleshing knife. If it will take an edge. Then you will have a sharp side and a dull side. Then what you can't push off you can start slicing off the hide with the sharp side. The area from the top of the head to the shoulders is the tougher part. It will take some practice. Ideally you get the whole pelt to look like the bright white portion you have. If the grease is giving you problems you can set the hide in the freezer for a minute or two and let the cold congeal it up a little. If you still can't get it all throw some sawdust on it for a few minutes and then scrape it off. The sharp side will help immensely with beaver and otter pelts. Be sure to post some more pictures!
 
Makes me long for the days of fleshing boards, Ulu's, and turning lips and ears - NOT.
Is a dying "art" though. If you haven't used an Ulu, give it a try. Helluva tool in skilled hands.
The old school small versions always worked the best.th.jpg
 
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Only critter that compares to a coon, when fleshing is a beaver or an otter, neither of which are a greasy as a coon. Getting ready for the next warm spell. Going to get after some rats and beaver and do some YouTube videos.
I think badgers are the worst pretty thin leather so it's easy to cut holes but they are grisly and you have to shave lots off
 
I think badgers are the worst pretty thin leather so it's easy to cut holes but they are grisly and you have to shave lots off

Yep, Badgers are the worst animal I have ever skinned. Greasy, stinky and just a pain in the butt.
 
Thanks for sharing! Trapping is something I've longed to try, just have never made the time.
 
Yeah, thanks for sharing! Looks like you're doing a great job. Man, $150!? I can't believe that. I paid $250 for a 6' black bear. Maybe coons are harder...?
 
Wolves smell similar to coyotes but much stronger. My whole shop smells for days when I skin one.
 
Well I'm a little embarrassed to say that my first time fleshing and tanning was a failure. I used the Deer Hunter's & Trapper's Hide & Fur Tanning Formula and although I followed all the instructions as well as following along with a YouTube series that matched their instructions, the raccoon skin had too much hair slippage to be viable. I'm not saying their product is bad by any means, I'm sure there was a problem in the process on my end but I'm having trouble identifying it. I don't take this failure lightly because it really bothers me to waste an animal even though I did give it my best effort to do it correctly.

The two big possible issues that I think could be it are below but I'd really welcome anyone's feedback that does their own tanning if they've had similar issues and what they did to improve.

1) Being this was my first time fleshing, I was worried about going too thin on the skin and tearing through to the hair. Another trapper that looked at it said I may want to go thinner in the future but still thought it should have been fine the way it was.

2) It was cooler outside when I did this (40-60 degrees) and even though I salted the skin three separate times for 24hrs each (the bottle only says 2 is needed), It never went stiff like it does when you hang it for several days to dry. The video I watched shows the skin still pretty pliable like mine was so not sure if that was the problem but just seemed odd to me.

I have another raccoon in the freezer that I trapped but wanted to rethink my strategy before trying it again. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
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