I'm fleshing my first coyote and suffice it to say, I've made many mistakes and pierced through on countless occasions. i'm hoping to tan this hide to hang on the wall in my basement. Do I have to sew up each and every hole? I realize that the large holes should be addressed, i.e. 1 inch in diameter, however, what about the quarter inch nicks? I'm not trying to be lazy, I'm just a bit frustrated and fear I may have "totalled" this hide. It's a beautiful skin, I'm just new at this and am stumbling through. Any of you had a similar experience when starting out?
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Just sew up all the holes unless its very small and you should not be able to tell there were holes. I've sewn holes in coyotes that looked like a softball went through them and they didn't show.
even a hole of 1/4 inch should be sewn. It will show if you dont.
There will be some on here that say oh, no it wont.
Well it will! it will appear as broken hair.
How did you flesh it? The holes are just part of the learning.
I've always learned that you need the right tools, however, in this situation, I can't justify buying. I'm basically using an assortment of knives and am drapping the skin over a piece of 6 X 6. It's less than Ideal. But since my wife doesn't even want the skin in the house, I'm relagated to an 18 degree garage. The stiffness of the skin is probably not helping me! Thanks for the advice.
build a fleshing beam and get a draw knife will help on fleshing your next one. shape a beam out of a 2x6 and you can pick up a fair fleshing knife for about 20 bucks in trapping catalogs. Good luck
A fleshing beam and a draw knife wont work on a coyote. The skin is to thin. I have tried. Same goes for foxes, and the rest of the K-9 family. Look at it this way you will get to learn how to sew real good. Just as I did!
I have been using a fleshing beam and fleshing knife for 20 years on foxes, coyotes, wolves and every other animal I have trapped. Certainly there are techniques that need to be learned, but the beam approach works great and will not produce a riddled skin once the techniques are mastered. It is certainly better than attempting to flesh a skin with a serise of different knives in an 18 degree garage. I vote for the beam and fleshing knife.
In response to putting holes in coyotes hide ( been there done that and still doing it but not as bad.) I have started with a fleshing knife and beam and that was a mess. I purchased a fleshing machine thinking my troubles were over.(wrong) They just got worse. I went to a local taxidermist and he used one also. As I watched him he did it with ease. To make a long story short I have found that depending on the cut you have on the blade,that you really need to keep the skin tight as you draw it across the blade. Also a side note, for me I have had more success if I hold the coyote lenght wise with the head or tail up and drawning it across that way. Be care full with the belly area.
Hope it helped a little