How To Skin A Fox

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The first thing I do is skin out the front feet. To start, I push the tip of my knife (edge up) through the front of the pad (right where my thumb is). Then run the knife up the back of the leg to the armpit. It is very important to make all cuts from the inside of the skin! I just use a small pocket knife that I can easily re-sharpen, but you've got to be more careful with a sharper knife to avoid cutting the skin when you don't want to.
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After splitting the skin, peel and skin it back around the leg, and away from the foot bones. It's best to use your knife as little as possible, just peeling the skin. Many furbearer hides are very thin and this will reduce accidental cuts! If you're new at this, just remember that the idea is to cut only the membrane binding the skin to the muscles, leaving as little muscle on the skin as possible.
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Skin all of the toes out to the last knuckle and cut through the joint. This leaves all of the toes on the foot and many hides will bring better prices with the feet still on. Keeping the feet is also a must for taxidermy, and it's pretty easy to do it right yourself.
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Skinning the feet is tedious and is the most time consuming part of the job. It takes me longer to skin the feet out than to do the whole rest of the critter.
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Taking your time is key. Probably 99% of the accidental cuts I make are when I get in a hurry. It would be a shame to ruin such a nice hide as this to save a few minutes! It is WELL worth it to do everything right the first time!
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