Help, I need to tan a coyote hide.

[Dave Bulla]

Ok, time to tap into the great collective trad gang brain once again....

As of yesterday I have a raw coyote hide to try to tan or have tanned depending on the work to money savings ratio.

At this point, it is skinned most of the way.  By that I mean that we cut from the anus up the backs of the legs to the heels and cut the feet off at the heel joint.  The tail bone was cut off at the base and is still inside the tail.  Peeled the hide down like a sock to the shoulders, got the front legs pulled down to the lower forearms and cut through the bone about 3 inches from the paws.  Continued pulling the hide over the neck as far as the ears and then cut the head off the body.  It was about 20 degrees out or colder when we did this in the Conservation Area parking lot and we were in a hurry.  Tossed it in the back of a truck where it promptly froze.  Not really sure how cold it was but I rinsed my hands off and made the mistake of picking up something metal while they were wet and it quickly froze to my hands.

So, what I'd like to know is, how do I finish skinning the feet and head.  I'm sure I can do it, just don't want to get done and find out I should have done it differently.  Should I leave the feet on?  If not, how do you "clean" them?  Can they be turned inside out and skinned like the rest of the yote or do you take off the pads and just leave the tops and claws?  Do you even leave the claws?  How?  What about the ears?  How deep do you cut them and what is meant by splitting the ears and lips?  I'm sure I've heard that mentioned somewhere.

Also, what is a good way to home tan a hide with the hair on.  Either home remedy or off the shelf tanning stuff?

Or, which is the better option, finish skinning it, flesh it and have it tanned or try to tan it myself or don't finish it, take it to a pro who will finish it and tan it or .....????

This is a real nice coyote.  About a 35# male (guessed) with prime fur and not a blemish other than a hole or two.

Hmmmm, too danged many questions.  The better one might be is there a website that explains all this?

[Andrew Wesley]

if you pm me your email i'll send you some pics on how to do it. also skin it out all the way first. flesh it. salt it. then tan it.

[Dave Bulla]

Sent you the pm Andrew.

[Jerry Jeffer]

Dave, to skin out the head, use a scalpel or exacto knife for the ears eyes and lips. You can use a regular razor blade or knife for the rest. Pull the skin forward as much as you can while skinning. Stick your fingers in the ear to help you find the base. You want to cut as close to the base as possible. Same for the eyes. Put a finger right into the eye, keep the skin tight over your finger so you can skin right down and get the  eye lids with the hide. Same goes for the lips. You only need to split the lip if you want the head mounted. As for the feet, skin them down to the toes and then you can cut through the toe so the claw will be attached. Dealing with the pads involves extra preservation. If you want it tanned as a wall hanging or rug like with the head whole like a bear rug, I would recommend a taxidermist. If you want to tan your own. I suggest Dixie tan. It is very cheap, has easy directions and can be found on line with a quick search on your browsers search engine. Hope this helps.

[Dave Bulla]

Not sure what I'll do with the hide yet.  Kinda big for a quiver but I skinned it "tube style" just in case.  Might leave it whole and hang it up or lay it somewhere as a decoration but might cut it up and make a hat out of it or something like that.  Mainly, I've never tanned any sort of hide at all and I figured I'd go whole hawg and try to tan it down to the feet and claws with the face intact then worry about what to make out of it later.

What about stretching it?  Back home, lots of guys trapped and always tube skinned and stretched their hides.  Do I need to do that or is that just a way to avoid shrinkage before the tanning process is begun?

What about salt?  The hides I've seen hanging in trappers sheds on stretchers didn't appear to be salted at all but I don't know.

[Andrew Wesley]

hey, just emailed you dave.

just make sure you salt it afterwards.. use a lot of salt to get all the moisture off or it will rot.

and a big coyotes makes a great quiver, you just need to fit an insert to keep the depth of the tube shallow enough to fit your arrows.

[BMOELLER]

Hey Dave, Where you get that coyote?  

[Dave Bulla]

Dang Brian, it's just one that was laying along side the road......

I'd have told the story but....well, gun stories and bow forums don't mix so they say.

Aw, what the heck, Brian made a nice shot on it with an open sited .223 contender.

(Maybe if the mods see this they'll let it slide in the interest of learning about hair on tanning.  Or at worst, just delete this one entry...)

[Dave Bulla]

Hey guys, thanks for the help and the pm's with info and links.

We'll see how it goes and I'll try to post back.