I have been trying everything I know to do and ending up with the same thing. I ether end up with half a tail with hair and the other half looks like a rat tail or it tars in two. I have giving up in popping the tails out and have gone to splitting them from vent to tip and inserting the replacement core and stitching it back up.
My question is how do I keep from making all my squirrels bob tailed squirrels?
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freezer burned? Sounds like it. If the squirrel is somewhat fresh, it should just pop right off. I usually skin it down a couple of inches then pop. Hope it helps.
Several suppliers sell tail pullers, you can use two pencils/dowels, or as I do, a small pair of pliers pipe jaw teeth held by the plier head. It sounds as if you're trying to pull body skin and squirrel body in two separate directions and tearing your tails off. I can'e imagine trying to resew a squirrel tail. They're bad enough as it is.
I am relatively new at this myself and had the same problem. on the last 2 squirrels I did ,and a ringtailed cat as well, I injected the tails with StopRot at approximately 1 to 2 inch intervals starting at the bottom and working toward the body. then I skinned as usual; by the time I reached the tail they slid right off with no problems. I used a wood clothes pin as a "tail skinning" tool, just put tail in notch of the clothes pin, maintain pressure and pull, they popped right off.
Good Luck
It's called the Tanner Tool. It opens ears, pulls tails and stretches hides. As soon as I can get the pictures of it, I'll post it. But all the above are good advise, I have used the Stop Rot with good success on freezer burned tails.
I'm begging to think that all my squirrels are freezer burnt.
Agene thank you everyone for your help.