Anyone skin and tan skunks?

[gocougs]

My son is 11 and started trapping this month after getting his license this fall. He caught two skunks this week and bobcat. He tried to skin out a skunk earlier this year he shot and it didn’t go so well and he wants to try to have one skinned and tanned!

[lokidog]

I've skinned two, they make a beautiful pelt. I don't recall them being particularly difficult to skin, besides the funk. 

[Jonathan_S]

Skin, dry, ship to Moyles. They'll never stink.

[Machias]

My son is 11 and started trapping this month after getting his license this fall. He caught two skunks this week and bobcat. He tried to skin out a skunk earlier this year he shot and it didn’t go so well and he wants to try to have one skinned and tanned!

When I first started skinning skunks I used two hemostats to pinch off both of the nipples on the scent sacs.  Then just be careful when skinning around the sacs.  Actually a very easy animal to skin, very easy to flesh and stretch.  Make very nice hides tanned.  There is a couple of good videos for him to watch on Youtube.

[Humptulips]

Remove the glands first is my advice.
You need a very sharp knife, small blade. I use a good pocket knife. Hemostat is handy too. Lay the skunk on his back.
Make a cut ahead of the anus crosswise. Best made by cutting from the outside. Do not try to puncture the skin and cut from the inside. Creates too much pressure on the glands. Once the cut is started extend towards legs. Be gentle! Then carefully cut just through the skin at the hairline around the anus. You can grasp a few hairs to exert very mild pressure when doing this. This is where a very sharp knife comes into play. You can extend this cut down alongside the glands staying along the hide. Somewhat of a scraping motion along hide. The glands have a muscle layer around them. You want to leave that intact and cut between that layer and the skin. Do that until you would need to skin under the glands. Stop there and return to your first cut. Grab the skin between the glands with the hemostat and exert mild pressure. Cut straight down until you reach bone.
 You can then skin along the skin and tail bone pulling with the hemostat gently as you go.
Th real danger is in cutting the glands. A somewhat scraping motion along the hide will avoid this. Better to cut a small hole in the hide then to cut the glands.
Once the glands are off the rest is easy.

[Loup Loup]

No different than skinning a mink. I always skin out the feet on skunks. Very easy to flesh and putup. Print FHA pelt handling manual for proper dimensions for your skunk boards. Remember to use a belly wedge when boarding.
Skunks are what I started on 48 years ago now. Time flys.
I have Molyes tan my skunks.
The skinned carcass  makes good cat bait.

[Bullytrout]

Bruce, Very well written description of the process.

[wags]

Bruce,
It would be great if you could have someone video this process while you are doing it.
I don't know if you have a Youtube channel, but it is easy to create one.

[rasbo]

Bruce,
It would be great if you could have someone video this process while you are doing it.
I don't know if you have a Youtube channel, but it is easy to create one.

watched the guys skin one at the trappers rendezvous, at a distance of course, I'm weak when it comes to skunks especially spotted skunks. Bruce knows his stuff,Michelle skinned a spotted skunk for me,and joes wife mounted it.

[Alchase]

Coming from someone who knows only what I have read here about trapping, Shouldn't this be tagged and saved at the top of the this Forum for future reference 
Some awesome details in this post

Remove the glands first is my advice.
You need a very sharp knife, small blade. I use a good pocket knife. Hemostat is handy too. Lay the skunk on his back.
Make a cut ahead of the anus crosswise. Best made by cutting from the outside. Do not try to puncture the skin and cut from the inside. Creates too much pressure on the glands. Once the cut is started extend towards legs. Be gentle! Then carefully cut just through the skin at the hairline around the anus. You can grasp a few hairs to exert very mild pressure when doing this. This is where a very sharp knife comes into play. You can extend this cut down alongside the glands staying along the hide. Somewhat of a scraping motion along hide. The glands have a muscle layer around them. You want to leave that intact and cut between that layer and the skin. Do that until you would need to skin under the glands. Stop there and return to your first cut. Grab the skin between the glands with the hemostat and exert mild pressure. Cut straight down until you reach bone.
 You can then skin along the skin and tail bone pulling with the hemostat gently as you go.
Th real danger is in cutting the glands. A somewhat scraping motion along the hide will avoid this. Better to cut a small hole in the hide then to cut the glands.
Once the glands are off the rest is easy.

 

[Jingles]

  both here and on the trapping forum