How to Skin a Raccoon in Fur Trapping

The value of a raccoon pelt is dependent on how well it is skinned and handled.

The sale value of a raccoon pelt is dependent on how well the pelt was skinned and prepared. Fur buyers pay top price for a pelt that has been handled well, and bottom price for a pelt that was poorly skinned, fleshed, and dried. Raccoons are skinned in the method known in the fur industry as "cased." Case-skinned pelts have only a single cut in the fur itself and that is along the top of the back legs; the fur is skinned off the carcass like a sock being pulled off your foot.

Things You'll Need

• Sharp knife with a 3 1/2- to 4-inch blade
• Rubber gloves, snug fitting
• Knife sharpening stone

Instructions

1. Hang the raccoon from its back feet by tying a cord around each back foot and the other end of the cord around a rafter or board mounted for this purpose. Pull the hind legs as far apart as they will go and tie the cord off fast with the hind legs at your eye level. The head will be hanging down.

2. Put on rubber gloves and cut completely around all four legs at the point where the skin of the feet and the fur meet. Cut completely through the skin, exposing the muscle.

3. Stick the tip of the knife, blade up, into one of the cuts around a back foot and cut directly along the top edge of the hind legs. Cut above the anus, between it and the tail, and continue the cut until reaching the cut around the opposite hind foot.

4. Poke the knife tip into the cut going past the base of the tail and make a cut on the underside of the tail all the way to the tip of the tail. Cut the skin loose from the tail bone by cutting through the membrane between the skin and tail bone. Free the skin completely from the tail bone.

5. Begin separating the skin from the hind legs by cutting through the membrane that holds the skin to the muscle. Continue separating the skin from the muscle by pulling the skin out from the carcass and cutting the membrane until you have reached the front legs. The skin that has been freed will be hanging down past the head.

6. Work your fingers and thumb around the shoulder until your fingers pull the skin away from the leg muscle, allowing your fingers and thumb to meet in the space created in front of the shoulder. With one hand pull the leg skin down toward the foot, and with the other hand pull back on the leg until the skin pulls free over the foot. Repeat this procedure for the opposite front leg.

7. Skin down to the head, continuing in the same manner as the top part has been skinned. At the base of each ear, cut into the muscle and against the skull freeing the ears from the skull with the ear cartilage attached to them.

8. Work the skin down the face and cut across the eyes with the knife blade flat on the eyes so the eye lids and skin rimming each eye stays with the skin.

9. Pull the skin down tight against the mouth and nose and cut the lips free from the jaw bones by cutting against the bone, leaving the lips on the skin. Cut through the inner nose cartilage, leaving the nose on the skin. The skin is now free from the carcass.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep the knife sharp as you skin--a sharp knife is easier and safer to work with. A fine toothed metal file makes a good knife sharpener; a swipe or two with the file on each side of the knife's cutting edge will make it sharp again.

• Raccoons have a thick layer of fat between their skin and carcass; most of the fat will be attached to the skin when you are finished skinning. All of the fat will have to be fleshed off the skin before the skin can be stretched and dried, or it will turn rancid and burn the hair roots causing the hair to fall out. Fur buyers will not buy a raccoon pelt that has not been fleshed.

• Because of the heavy fat, the skin will need to be cut free from the carcass the entire length of the body. You will not be able to simply pull the skin down as you can on animals with no fat on them.

• Work carefully around the face of the raccoon so as not to make the eye holes over sized or cut off the lips. These parts are not used in the fur industry; however, they do indicate to the fur buyer if the skinner was a good fur handler or not.

• Raccoons are known to carry diseases including rabies; be sure to wear rubber gloves when skinning as protection from these problems.

• Use caution when skinning with a sharp knife. The fat will make the knife and your hands greasy and slippery--it is easy to slip and cut yourself.

References

• "Raccoon Trapping Methods"; Russ Carman; 1982
• "Trapping North American Furbearers"; S. Stanley Hawbaker; 1969