Power assisted fleshing?

C

Charles

New member
I seem to take a lot more time fleshing a coyote pelt than skinning it, and wonder if there isn't an easier way? I know that professionals use expensive fleshing machines, but is there some cheap way of doing this, like an attachment or a wire brush on an electric drill?
 
Coyotes are a chore to flesh period, without some good tools.
I read an article once about a taxidermist that used a high pressure-pressure washer to flesh hides. He would lay the hide out on the floor, flesh side up and slowly work the stream of water up the hide about two inches away from the skin. The stream of water coming out of the end of his attachment was a flat stream about four inches wide and he got right down on that skin and by the looks of the pictures...the fat and membrane just flew everywhere.
I didn't believe it so I tried it one day with a garden hose first. Obviously the pressure wasn't there, but it did indeed seperate the membrane from the skin, bubbling it up and peeling it in areas. It was much easier to flesh by hand afterwords.
Still no comparison to the Dakota Flesher, I'll stick with that
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~River Runner~

Champion Tannery
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www.predatormasters.com
 
Fleshing not only SEEMS like a chore - IT IS!

RiverRunner,
I wonder how the local quarter car wash would do... at least on loosening the fat, membrane, etc?
 
Just so happens I've tried that on a few coyotes recently - stopping at the car wash on the way home. Not only worked pretty good at getting a fair portion of the flesh off and loosening the rest, but did a bang up job of washing out the blood too. Only one problem I can see, the warm water might lead to slippage if the weather isn't cold enough to cool it off good and quick after the wash. But so far so good for me.

- DAA
 
I used to have an airless paint sprayer that put out a very controllable, wide and flat stream of water-I'll bet this would work great, just hold the nozzle about four inches from the pelt and go to it. Wish I still had it so I could give it a try.
 
Never tried the carwash But I'm positive it would rip the meat, and what little fat a coyote does have, off pretty well.

It may break up the inner membrane but I don't think it would strip it clean. The biggest thing would be to at least break it up. Even using a draw knife on a fleshing beam, if you can break the membrane up a little before trying to flesh it off, it's much easier. They make small hand tools for this and I even seen a guy use the toothed end of a vegetable peeler once. LOL Hey it worked.

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~River Runner~

Champion Tannery
predatorlogo3jpg.gif

www.predatormasters.com
 
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