Your Own Squirrel Pelt - The Envy Of The Neighborhood

In this articale/tutorial I will show you how to skin and preserve a squirrels hide. Watch for my later tutorial on how to gut and prepare the carcass for the freezer.

Step 1 Items Required

1 x Dead Squirrel
1 x Sharp Knife
1 x Lb of Salt
2 x Rags
1 x Cutting Board
1 x Non Queasy Stomach

Comments

[373hunt]

He makes it look easy. I tried it and ended up with a mess.

[bleary2]

what did you do to make a mess?

I have one squirrel hide,
one coyote tail,
one turkey skull
two turkey wings,
two pheasant wings
and one pheasant tail...
hmm no mess

[jedwards5]

can u cut off or cut down the tail?

[matt_and_nick]

my squirrel's tail did nothing like that. i had to cut the bone with a pair of pruning shears, and i still have a good amount left in it

[mattgrant88]

you are my kinda guy, I just ripped the skin off and am in the salting process. i plan to tan it after. just dont upload the pictures of your "human skinning" tutorial. you might get arrested this time.

[matt_and_nick]

what if you have a cadaver in school?

[Dr.Squirrel]

You evil people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Screams!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[matt_and_nick]

how do you make it so it's more pliable, so you can use it for hats/gloves/ect?

[kerosene-soaked-clothes-arent-fun]

ok that is very disturbing to watch, truely worthy or a marlyn manson video

[matt_and_nick]

that's the circle of life. it ain't pretty, but you just gotta get over it.

[meralgia]

you never really mentioned what to do with the head. dunk that in salt too?? remove the brain?

[ShootThePigeons]

I usually use a machete to cut off paws/ head first, if it's not fresh. Fresh squirts everywhere.

[spearairsoft_bravo]

how pleasant, cheers anyway

[conner_henry]

Thank you so much for this review. Like you said there are no other sites that explain it in detail. I have just one question. How would a squirrel tail be considered a weapon?

[spearairsoft_bravo]

suffication my friend

[Kurtis]

We think this tutorial is great, but how do you get a pelt that has the head and feet and tail along with the skin?

[spearairsoft_bravo]

just pull the skin over the head and pull the legs off along with the rest of the skin. Peel the tail off with the skin.

[geekchic]

This skinning method gives you what you call an "open fur" which means that the belly is cut open so that when the hide is dried there is one fur side and one skin side. To keep the head you should use the "closed fur" method, which basically takes the hide off the animal like a sweater and have only one main cut between the back ankles across the anus.
Check out these pdf's for more detailed info on skinning and drying furs:
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/TEM_Chapt_17_206599_7.pdf
http://www.furharvesters.com/pdf/pelthandling.pdf
http://www.furharvesters.com/pelthandling.htm also has some other useful pdf's that may be helpful.

[15zhangfra]

if you do hunt an animal, make sure you take the pelt or eat it. god it's so annoying when people just kill off an animal and leave it there for maggots.

[deer-slayer51]

how long does this last?

[jjlm93]

I did this once and had great success... Although the second time left me with a little bit of a mess on my hands... Be very careful not to pierce the lining around the organs or they'll spit out and smell terrible

[UltraMagnus]

so, if it is stiff like a board, how do you use it to make something? (coat, gloves, whatever)

[BoTz]

you need to smoke the hide or rub it over a board for a while :)

[UltraMagnus]

any plans on writing an instructable for smoking a hide?

[BoTz]

maybe I have just graduated college recently and am looking for a job if I can find some time ill put one together :)

[Lady Adrian]

Please do! I would really appreciate it. I very much want my pelt to be cloth-like. You can smoke it soft after it has been stiff for a while, right? By the way, this is a great method. I haven't found anything online that's half his easy and convenient. Great for beginners like me!

[volman11678]

is there a way to make the pelt flexible when you finish

[sherlocksbumstead]

haha. i totally butchered my first squirrel. actually, it was the first thing i'd ever skinned. right now it's sitting in a homemade tanning solution, so it'll probably be rock hard rawhide when my tiny bit of pelt comes out. i with i'd taken another look earlier at this. i totally cut open its gun and had intrails falling out of it. most anoyingly, salvaging it after that made fleshing it a really crummy job.

[McForten]

Where do you get that non-quesy stomach? I don't think I could handle doing this in real life. ;A; Would using a squirrel that had been turned into road kill work for this? A squirrel had recently got hit by a car near me, so why let it go to waste?

[shai739]

where did you get the carcass?
it seems in great shape and compared to http://www.instructables.com/id/Badger/

seemed easier to skin though that might be because you had a better system/ more experience

[stasterisk]

Why is the fat orange?

[deer-slayer51]

i think this guy ROCKS!!! he is the only guy that has a video like this exept 4 1 other guy but he only teaches the tanning part not the skinning and i needed to learn how to anyway because im going squirrel hunting sept 1 08 and 2day is august 21 so thanks a lot guy who just taught me and hundreds of others how to do this process.

[joye68]

When you're hungry, you'll eat a squirrel. I never had to skin them but we've shot them (family time)! We stewed and fried ours. We ate what we killed. Yes, that includes deer... We also fish. Got any fish (mounting or otherwise) instructables coming up? It's only cruel to the animals if they're still living when you do this. It's not like you're cracking open a monkey brain while they're looking at you in Asia or anything. Sheez. OH... nice job, btw. Disclaimer: In no way did this instructable make me want to go out and kill a squirrel... yet...We have plenty of roadkill out here in these parts. I'm sure I can recycle something somewhere. I think someone nailed a skunk yesterday. The smell should be ok by now. If not, how would one go about handling that on fresh roadkill?

[Ben.land101]

when a taxedermist mounts fish they make a model of the fish.(at least i think so correct me if im wrong)

[Rishnai]

Yep, it's fiberglass. All the fishy bits wouldn't survive long otherwise.

[joye68]

*laughing hysterically* Honestly, I couldn't correct ya. I just catch 'em and eat 'em! ...and look at others mounts of sailfish and swordfish on the walls. Those suckers are huge.

[lydian711]

I joined to remind people that skills like this are why we as humans have survived... If you have a problem with that, then you should go on living your life as a sheep (in a nice way). Let's hope you never have to do without the luxury of a supermarket, for you would surely starve. Thanks for the awesomeness, BoTz

[lbrewer42]

I've done bunch of these - but I use "20 Mule team Borax" instead of salt. I simply cover the pelt (flesh side obviously) with a 1/4 inch covering of Borax. No scraping fat or anything. i just let the pelt sit this way (and sometimes forget about them!) for a few months (time may be less - never really checked!). If there was any fat left, it tends just to peel off of the hide and there is no rotting. I have done the same with beaver with similar results.

[tyeb]

i realy hate squirles i'm going to try it as soon as i bag one of these furry demons from heak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MakerBreaker]

so what your doing is just taxidermy...wow this is pointless. and how are you supposed to get a squirrel?