404 Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



When a raccoon has been properly skinned, place the 

 pelt on a suitably sized drying board and with all the nails 

 that are necessary, nail the pelt to the curing board with 

 the pelage against the board and the pelt on the outside so 

 that the air can dry it. It is very important to strecth a 

 'coon skin square when preparing it for the curing oper- 

 ation, just as is shown in the accompanying illustration. 



Before skinning any animal, if the fur is dirty, bloody 

 or caked with dried mud, it should be washed until the 

 pelage is cleaned. Allow the fur to dry. An easy way to do 

 this is to hang the animal up by the nose or fore feet so- 

 that the excess water can drain off in the direction the fur 

 lies. After it has dried, the skinning operation can begin. 



Never use salt, alum, ashes or other preparation on a 

 pelt when curing it. Simply let it dry in the open air, in a. 

 shady spot, if possible. Never dry a fur pelt by a fire 01 

 in the sun. Another caution to be observed in handling 

 pelts after they have been cured, or while they are going 

 through this process, is in not allowing them to become wet. 

 or even damp. 



To Case a Pelt 



To skin a cased animal the trapper should begin by cut- 

 ting around the heels of the hind legs with a sharp skinning 

 knife. The skin from one heel to the other should be slit, 

 and, in skinning the muskrat and opossum, a cut should be 

 made around the tails, as there is no fur or hair on them ; 

 there is, consequently, no need of saving them. 



With the other fur animals, mink, otter, skunk and 

 weasel, fox and wolf, the tails must be saved. This is 

 done by slitting the skin on the bottom side about one-third 

 of the way down and removing the tail bone. This accom- 

 plished, the skin should be worked down over the body, 

 using the skinning knife when necessary to sever adhering 

 flesh. This can best be accomplished by suspending the 

 carcass from some object by the hind legs. The use of a. 

 skinning "gambrel" will hold the carcass in such a way as 

 to permit the trapper to use both hands in the operation 

 allowing him to pull the skin and cut at the same time. 



