I have 2 questions
1 I skinned a squirrel to the tail base Im pulling the skin on the tail down the tail bone should the tail bone come off easy without cutting the back of the tail? When getting the bone out, the flesh side will be shown can I use DP to preserve it?
2 When I get to the feet and hands, do I skin them down to the claws and then cut at the base of the claws?
What can I soak the skin in.Some one told me water,lysol,and dawn detergent then damp dry and use 20 mule team borax. Will that mount last for a long time.
Thank You Very Much
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#1: The bone should come off pretty easily, unless it's been in a freezer awhile and is dehydrated/freezer burned. There are tail skinning tools out there. I've also heard of people using two sticks and clamping the tail between them, then pulling down quickly, keeping pressure on the sticks. DP should work just fine on it.
#2: Yes. Don't cut too close to the claws, or they'll fall off!
Question for you: Why are there so many postings for this? I'm assuming it was a computer error or something. I wouldn't do it intentionally, as it will serve to annoy people.
Why did you post this same thing so many times?
your ansewrs to your FIVE questions:
1.You can use a clothespin at the base of the tail and srtip the bone out in one easy piece. The flesh side will not be showing after you do this.
2. Do not split the tail for preserving or tanning, this will be answered later.
3. Yes, you can cut the finger bones out or keep them in, just flesh them well. It's up to you which method you use.
4. I dont know about that water/lysol(brown bottle or not), you can wash your skin in dawn, then rinse. I find soaking them in denatured alcohol works fine (helps to set the tail also).About 5min is plenty of time.
5. The borax will work fine too, if your skin is fleshed proper it will last for years.
Now I am not saying this is the best or only way to do this. It is a cheap and fast method. If someone wants to explain tanning and other fine details thats fine. If you dont have any books or videos on the subject then by all means you should invest wisely into them. Also the archives here is a giant manual of info at your fingertips. Just remember, books, vids are usually in finer detail. As far as the other multiple times you asked this question, I'm only doing this once. Hope you find it helpful. Dont be afraid of mistakes either, thankfully squirrels are plenty cheap to practice on and easy to obtain.