I am trying my first attempt at skinning for what will hopefully be my first mount. It is a mink and I am just getting started skinning. I think I have done a fairly good job, but I can't seem to get the last few inches of the tail out. Do I need to split the tail on the bottom side and remove it or is there a good trick anyone will share on finishing the tail? Thanks..
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the tail bone gets thin but get it out of there
Mark,
Here's the way I've been skinning tails from mink to foxes to coons to yotes for years as a trapper.
Works every time. Work the pelt of the mink all around the body and down the legs. For that matter,
you can skin the entire thing except for the tail and get by just as well. Now, Pull the hide down
until about an inch to an inch and one-half of the tail bone are exposed. I then take a scalpel or
very sharp knife and carefull sever the surface tendons only connecting the muscles to the tail bone.
Now, place the exposed bone between the jaws of a pair of common slip-joint pliers passing through the
wide gap in the jaws. You don't want to grab the bone of the hide, the bone simply passes through.
With one hand, hold the carcass with the base of the tail between the index and middle fingers. Use
the other hand to grasp the pliers with the tailbone between its index and middle fingers. Pull apart
firmly to strip the hide cleanly off the tail bone. It will resist at first, but once the tendons
release, they go all at once and the bone pops right out. You can get tail strippers through trapping
suppliers, but a pair of old pliers works just as well. Let me know how it works for ya.