WING"TIPS" # 21 ''over the shoulder'' skinning

[wingman]

Hello! Thought I would try to put up a posting once again as time allowed. This one is on a method of skinning the carcass out of the bird, I originally learned the over the tail method but now I skin all my birds over the shoulder, Basically meaning I make my center incision and then work the skin towards the neck, snip the neck flush with the body and then work down to the wings, pop the hip out and finally down to the oil glands and the pygostyle, ''tailbone'' I find this method VERY fast as I can ''carcass out'' an average sized bird in about 4-5 minutes, and then on to removing the flesh and degreasing, I know many on this site may already skin this way but some may not have been introduced to the method, I recently skinned a pair of barrow goldeneyes through an  ''armpit'' incision as I have been having some slight staining on the incision edge from the fat or something in the birds diet It worked great but did take some thought when I wired the bird together, Anyway look at the pics and maybe give it a try? GOOD LUCK!!

[wingman]

And a couple more 

[wingman]

And the final pic

[rocky don]

man wing man your my new hero!!

[goose2duck]

once i cut the neck free i then hang with a piece of wire through the wish bone area and let gravity take over with the skin. that works great...

[hambone]

Wingman that looks like it would be a good method to use to detatch the legs at the hip bone, does this way also cause the breast to split up higher when rolling over the body? Hambone

[wingman]

Hambone, On most species it doesn't split up as long as you adequately skin down toward the armpit to release any tension of the skin adhering to the carcass, Occasionally one will tear along the midline but not often.

[diehard]

Other than the amount of time to skin can you specificly write what some of the other benifits are?

[SteveP]

Thanks Wingman, I definitely see the benefits of this method from your pictures and descriptions. I'm going to use it on my next waterfoul that isn't already skinned.

[Cuts75]

A girl posted this method a few years back and I have been doing it that way since. It makes it a lot easier to skin that thin thigh meat away from the skin and the progstye area. Great, Pat

[wingman]

Diehard, For me SPEED is the main benefit as speed and efficency are important when you  do this for a living, BUT I find it much easier to skin this way rather than over the tail method, it allows me to ''pop'' the hip socket out with ease, and I guess the reason I like it most is for myself it seems easier, I posted the method to show that there is more than one way. It certainally does not mean it's the only way I skin all my birds but for me has been the most productive method.

[mimes]

Wingman, you are not the only one that has trouble with staining on the breast incision. I have to constantly keep an eye on my incision, the feathers tend to want to "roll' to the inside of the incision and grab any moisture and oil/discoloration that is on the inside. Sometimes i stuff a paper towel in there or go ahead and dust with borax. Anybody else run into this or have any tricks?

[NDNHunter]

Be sure you make your incision far enough up the breast to prevent tares in the skin as you pull over the shoulders, which will cause you headaches when trying to get a smooth finish. Go clear to the neck with your cut, I learned this the hard way. Easier to sew a clean incision than to try and piece together a rip. I've been doing over the shoulder a long time, I do all my birds that way. Its not only easier to skin this way, its easier on your skin and feathers, not as rough. I especially like the ease of which the tail section can be skinned, pain in the tail the other way. Don't be cheap with the borax, use a lot as you skin as this will keep moisture off the feathers. just trying to help! My 1 1/2 cents worth!LOL

[hambone]

Mimes assuming you have properly cleaned and rinsed you are probably getting some grease from the skin on the feathers during the drying process either from touching the feathers to the skin or from your hand if you will notice it  gets somewhat greasey when your hand is inside supporting the bird. You can make a rough excelsior body with neck leaving a wire handle out the rear, insert into skin and pin shut, now you can dry without touching the skin and all the  feathers will touch is the excelsior  when dry remove body and liberally apply borox this should solve the problem. Hambone

[BeckyBird]

Hey Cuts75!
 You mentioned that a few years back, a girl posted this skinning method.....that might have been me! I used to write on the old forum, and I vaguely remember writing about the same topic. I remember how excited I was when I first learned how to skin that way, and I wanted to tell everybody! I used the name Becky back then.....maybe it was me. Who knows?