howdy all...
this morning i noticed a fresh looking raccoon dead by the side of the road.  i've been meaning to start learning how to skin animals but i never got around to it.  (i havent yet started hunting either... i hope to do a bit of squirrell shooting soon though...)
i figured this would be the perfect opportunity so i popped him into a few trash bags (heavy bugger... mustve been about thirty pounds or so...)
i got him skinned pretty easily with some help (?) from my dog.  he didnt eat any of the meat i tossed him but he was drooling like crazy...

what i really need is some advice on how to process the hide.  theres still a lot of fat on there and even a bit of blood and muscle... the skull was pulverized so brain tanning is out (although the pelt was just fine...)

also, if anybody knows how to make a davy crocket style hat i'd appreciate some advice.  (although it might make an interesting sporran as well...)  anybody know of any other interesting raccoon products?

I'm still not sure if this post is a joke or not. However my eye spotted "sporran".

What Clan you from ?

No joke... the coonskin is hanging off my barbecue as we speak.  im trying to gather some information to finish the hide correctly.

i have no idea what scottish clan i might have belonged to. all i know is that my moms side of the family has some scottish blood.
i just happen to like the sporran design, and i figured it might look cool with a raccoon face on it. heh.

i suppose it does look rather ghoulish to pick up a dead raccoon, but i figured why waste a perfectly good pelt?  i am trying to hone my survival skills and figured it would be a good learning experience.  i figured i'd be a little green but i wasnt even the slightest bit queasy once i was immersed in my work.  and lemme tell ya... that coon was a lotta work!  im sure it gets easier over time, but it me a good two hours and i still have some work to do...

Glad ya didn't take offense to my post.

Clan McPherson here.


" Touch not the Cat but a Glove "

Josh
I'm not sure if this is the best method, but many moons ago, I did sometime similar.

Take a big piece of plywood, nail, and strech the hide fur side down.

Scrap off a much meat that you can from the hide, then rub lots, lots of salt into the hid.

Leave it in a cool place, out of the sun, wait a week, remove all the salt, then reapply some more salt.

Repeat, removing and reappling salt until hide is dried out.

Hopr that helps.

Lamont Highland Clan

Ne Parcus Nec Spernas

Check out frugals archives under survivalism...  


http://www.scfirearms.org/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro

I skinned and ate roadkill squirrel a while ago.. It was a nice sized female and quite tasty...  :)


I saw the squirrel get hit and it only had a broke neck and was still quivering when I picked her up...  

You didn't mention how stiff yours was when you found it.....

well realist, he was plenty stiff, but still a bit warm on the inside.  probably not older than a few hours but enough that i didn't really want to chance eating it without it being properly bled first.
besides, i dont know much about cooking game (even less than  i know about skinning it)althoughg its gotta be easier than prepping that hide.  whew!
i figured i had enough adventure just trying to get the skin ready... and besides... i dont know any recipes for raccoon.  he was an urban coon anyway... probably ate a bunch of junk food and wouldn't have tasted so hot.

I love the topic "PROJECT ROADKILL" but... [:\]



[puke]

O.K. RWS's recipe will work........for now, stretch it pretty tight on the ply wood and tack it there with finishing nails, now make damn sure you get all the fat and flesh off the hide, and salt the heck out of it, o.k. good and salted right, now rub the salt in rub hard, it won't hurt it, now salt again.  If you are going to do this more frequently you had better do a taxidermy search, and get some sodium bicarbonate, and other supplies.  And no I don't know how to make a damned coon skin cap.[:D]  Oh, if the hide is already dried out pitch it, it's a lost cause.

Fried Chicken & Biscuit Clan [:D]

I once picked up a "rocky the roadkilled squirrel" from the road on the way back from a ski trip.


He was in PERFECT shape with no obvious signs of being hit by a car or anything.  No rigamortis either.

Being that it was winter and VERY cold I threw him in a couple trash bags and left him in the freezer till late spring when I could let him thaw out and work with him a bit easier.


He was easy enough to skin, I left the ears, the eyelids, and went down only to the feet, the tail was the hardest part and unfortunately I broke the tail off before I could get the bone out.  It's hard to turn the tail inside out without breaking such a small tail.


Anyhow, I salted the hide to dry it out but I never followed it up and actually tanned the hide.

Somewhere out in my garage I still have what I call my "Squirrel Chip" where it looks like he had been run over by a steam roller and he's virtually 2 dimensional cause he is so damned flat.

Never found any sources on the net to learn how to tan a pelt.

One time I was driving to work and these 2 squirrels were running across the street. I slowed down to try to let them cross but one of them decided to run back under the car just I drove by. All I saw in the rear view mirror was a squirrel with his head smashed and body in spasms. I felt bad all day about killing it.

poor wittle squirrel!

NOT!


Don't feel bad for members of the Varmint Cong.  They are commies!  Every damned one of them!


If anything you should swerve for squirrels!  Just don't tell the cop that you were swerving for road kill when he asks you why you wrecked headon into a 18wheeler.

A couple of years ago I was driving home from my gf's house. It was 4:00 AM and I thought I'd take the "scenic route" through the Oakland Hills. So, there I am cruising along on the highway doing the speed limit (65) and on the other side of the freeway I see this big buck just standing there staring at me. So, I'm thinking, "What the hell is that buck doing on the freeway in Oakland, CA at 4:00 AM?". Who knows... Anyway, right as I'm about to pass him, the fvcker jumps the center divider to my side of the freeway right in my lane. I nail him right in his butt at 65 mph. Boom! I'm skidding around, my poor little mini-truck is fishtailing. I gain control and pull over on the shoulder of the freeway to inspect the damage. Right headlight, bumper, right fender, all smashed to hell; pieces of hide dangling from what's left of my grill. So I look at the buck, and this guy's trying to get up but I think both his hind legs are broken. So I think, "Hmm, maybe I should turn around, smash him again, and throw him in the back of the truck. I know my neighbor likes to cook those guys". Sounds like a plan. So, I'm getting back in my beaten little truck, and all of I sudden I hear BOOM! Tires screeching, etc. I look back, and some guy with a gigantic, jacked-up Chevy 4x4 just nailed the buck. There's guts and antlers everywhere. The buck was mutilated. So I got back into my poor little truck and limp on home. $1500 damage, could have been worse.

The one time in my life I have a chance at good, fresh road kill, some ahole has to blow it for me.