skinning out feet

I have been doing taxidermy work for about 2 years now. I was taught that when you skin out feet on small game that you would split the foot on the inside about 4 inches up and down through the pad. I have read on here that is wrong. Any help would be great. Thanks

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if you dont split the pad...

..you dont have to sew it back up

If you don't

split the pad you won't get all the nasty fat out of each pad of the paw. Better to split, with 2 seconds of extra sewing.

i dont split the pad ...

but i do turn the foot inside out and clean out the pad - do this on all small animals up to a coyote - i never split pad if i dont have to - i invert and wire wheel them

skinning feet

thanks for the info. but do you split the leg down to the pad or can you skin it without splitting. thanks