I caught my first animal in a trap a few weeks ago and it was
a coon. When I went to skin it the next day all of these little
bugs appeared on it's face and everywhere. They appeared simmilar
to big fleas or something, I did not look that long because I did
not want them all over my shop. I put it in the freezer for a few
days and thawed it and they were still there. It is currently
freezing now. The only thing I could think is that it was a little
warm that day 40 or so and I had it in the back of my truck for
a while and then left it in a bag overnight. I would like to mount
the coon cause it is my first but what about those bugs. Should I
soak it in alcohol or something. I tried to tell you as much as I
could so someone can tell me whats up.
thanks
jason
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Jason,
Parisites are common on all living creatures.
Freezing should kill the little boogers though you will probably still see a few of them on the carcass.
If you plan on having more small game in the future go to walmart and by a couple bottles of boric acid(roach powder). Dump the bottles into a trash bag and roll your animal around in there real good for a few minutes and this will kill the bugs. Just don't breathe any of the powder! That way you can skin your animals out fresh which is much easier and will give you a better skin to work with.Remember not to leave your animals lay out. Either skin them or feeze them as soon as possible.
Good luck, Jeff
The correct spelling of that word is Parasites.
A can of Raid and a plastic bag is all you need to get rid of fleas, ticks, and parasites of several kinds. just put the freshly killed animal in a palstic bag and spray into it some Raid. I leave it in for about an hour, and then remove the critter. They will still be twitching, but are basically finished and you can skin them out without worry of them climbing up your arms. When i go out to get the critters out of the trap, i just carry a plastic bag and raid so I can just do it right then.
Putting freshly killed animals in a plastic bag was a recipe for slippage?
Freezing will kill all bugs. Not bacteria or viruses in all cases - but all bugs certainly. Pop it in the freezer for a week. It may take time for them to completely freeze - but once the bugs are frozen - they cannot live. The water in their cells crystalizes and as they do so, expand. Those sharp jagged edges of ice shred the cell membranes and kill the bug from the inside out. Pulling the critter out to soon often results in the bugs warming up and 'coming back to life'. That being said - I'm sure the bug spray methods work effectively as well though I don't know if plastic bags and additional chemicals are the best avenue to take? Comments from past experiences? Any future problems, slippage, residual chemicals on hair?
Just skinned two pheasants yesterday and had a few bird lice crawling on my arm . Usually get a few fleas jumping off foxes now and then . Once I had a few large ,1" thick blow fly maggots crawl out of a deers nose when I picked up a road kill in july . I get chiggers and poisen ivy from butchering deer as I dont hunt so I'm not in the woods . The worst was watching round worms come out of a skunks butt when I poured ammonia on the smell . You'll get used to it after 30 years or so . That why we wear gloves .
Rolling a coon or any anuimal in a plastic bag for a couple of minutes to kill bugs WONT cause slippage. LOL! Lorfy mercy folks..These are animal hides not 100 year old tissue paper.
The reason I suggested the powder/bag trick is that the animal can be skinned in just a few minutes after treatment and I can get the powder worked down to the skin which I can't do with the spray. The animal is then taken out of the bag,given a good shake outdoors and skinned. This gives the benefit of getting the skin off ASAP without freezing,thawing,etc. I have not had any problems doing it this way.
As far as residue,any of the powder that is left will be gone after the first rinse so it shouldn't interfere or react with any other chemicals that we use.
Sorry if there was any confusion, Jeff