What is your method? How do you keep the hair off the meat? Bob

First , cut off the feet and tail. Then, make a cut across the back skin big enough to get your fingers in. Pull the front towards the front and the back towards the back and when you have skinned to the head, cut it off. Pull the back half skin completely off. Now cut the belly lengthwise and remove the entrails.Thats it!!

I clean them just like he said, but to cut the feet off, break the legs and then cut with a knife, a small folder does fine. If the meats blood-shot, soak it in salt water. Sometimes I just cut the ribcage and front legs off if a bullet went into them. Rabbits clean the same way, only the skin peels off easier.
Good eating, both of them.

Finally something I know about ! Here in the hills, squirrel gravy and biscuits is held in high esteem. But woe to the person bringing in hairs. As soon as the squirrel hits the ground ( we hunt with tree dogs) make a cut under the tail just down to the meat. Be sure to cut the two little tendons( they look like dental floss). Put your foot on the tail right at the body and get a rear leg in each hand. Then pull up hard on the rear legs.The hide will peel off turning inside out just like pulling off a sweater. The hide will still be on the rear legs so put your index finger under the hide still at the squirrels navel and pull it up. The hide will pull right off the hindquarters. Take a little pair of game shears and snip off the head and feet and then the rear feet. No hair at all. It takes longer to read this than it does to do the job. Give it a try it takes a couple times but then you cant be beat for speed or cleanliness.

Same method I've used for many years.



I use one of those little Gransfors Bruks mini hatchets for the head and paws.



Some great recipes in Gray's this month by A.D. Livingston.

323, same as me except that I use anvil type pruning shears on the legs. I've used the same ones for years and never had to sharpen them. miles

I do it like Jamison except I dunk em in water to matte the hair. May try the other way though. Interesting posts. Thanks. Bob

I was getting all hopped up on knives, sharpening the ones I have razor sharp, reading knife forums, looking at catalogs, etc, etc. Today I killed another squirrel, and after already having figured this out before, had another try at it. Got out the trusty razor sharp knives, and tried to clean it. Absolutely useless. And the cut under the tail and pull method; I tried that too, for the umpteenth time, and it failed as always. Just ripped the tail off as usual. Put down the knives, got out my Gerber game shears; whack whack whack whack whack whack, cut off head, remaining tail bone, and legs below the knees, slip the lower blade underneath the back skin at the head cutoff, push to slice down to the tail, grab skin and peel back, take game shears, insert underneath, make two snips to cut from chest to anus, insert two fingers and roll out guts, done. Takes longer to type a description than it does to do it. At least for me, knives are useless on small game, the game shears are the only way to go. Faster, easier, and I don't risk being cut because of slipping with a razor sharp knife. I'll let the knives be saved for other uses. And quit whining and digging through catalogs wanting stuff I don't need! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

HOWDY ALL!

it's been a long time since i have posted here. hope this is helpful to some of you.


here is a little video that my friend knottybumpo and i made which shows squirrel skinning 101. you will need a late version of wmp to see it!

i am the scamp doing the skinning. http://members.localnet.com/~nickdd/

here are a few tips that may help you.

1. pull the tail along the back towards the head. just before the point where the tail joins the body there may be a part in the hair. this is the place to make the first cut. you cut straight down through the tailbone towards the back. some folks leave 1/4" or so of the bone on the body when finished. this won't hurt anything. avoid cutting below the tailbone. when you get this part right, you should never be cutting into meat at all.

2. after the tail bone is severed, you want to skin a flap of skin big enough to get the edge of your foot onto solidly. that's what this is all about. it's the flap of skin you stand on and not the tail. the tail is weak and will break. when you skin this flap back with your knife, as you get further back and wider, start to angle the cuts on both side toward the underbelly. i skin to about where the back legs join the body. at that point i will have the cuts angled toward the underbelly. on fox squirrels, i may make a longer flap for more surface contact. their hide is considerably tougher than the grays.

3. when you step down on the flap of skin, use the edge of your shoe and get it as close to the meat as possible. it helps to do the skinning on a flat hard surface. this is to keep the skin from slipping out from under your foot.

4. if the skin starts slipping from under your foot as you are skinning, it is best to stop and reposition it. breaking the tail makes it more difficult to get your foot into the correct postion. i have broken tails and still manage to skin them this way but it is a little more difficult.

5. if you get a big fox squirrel and the skin does not want to seperate at the belly on its own, you may have to use your knife to seperate it. this is not usual but with the tougher fox squirrels, it does happen.

6. i skin the squirrel all the way to where its head and front legs are showing and then stop. i wipe the hair on my right hand onto my britches(this keeps most of it off the squirrel) and grab the varmint with that hand around the skinned out ribs. do not take the pressure off the tail! now wipe the hair off your left hand onto your britches for the same reason. the hide is very tender on the belly. you can push your finger under it there and pinch it between them and your thumb. then with a quick jerk rearward the skin will come right off. see video. wipe off any hair on your left hand. with that hand, pull the front legs out of the skin.

7. you can now do one of two things. you can either grab the body with both hands and pull the head loose or you can just cut the head off while still attached to the skin. i usually just pull the head out of the skin. i normally never touch a knife once i have made the first cut through the tailbone. see video!

for you folks who have never tried this, you find it clumsy at first. remember, i have been skinning squirrels for over 40 years and have skinned a few thousand. it will take you a few to get the hang of it. when you do get good at it, you will enjoy squirrel hunting a little more!


the video is hosted by num1dad. many folks have viewed this on his webpage and i like to make sure we thank him for it occasionally!

luck!

That video really explains it well for me! Thanks!

I can't wait till I see the rest showing how you skin the rest of the squirrel!

wow, great video, wish there were more like that one!

That was way simpler than my method! Thanks!

you all are welcome. i tried to explain this method a few years ago but figure a video is worth a thousand words.

luck!

Wow...I'm bumping a 2+ year old thread......do you all clean them immediately after shooting them? I find that if I wait until I'm out of the woods with a sack full of squirrels, the skin is next to impossible to get off em.

skinning right away or when you get home I have used the above method successfully on both. Stiff or soft it works.

I must be a total clod then...I had the same problem someone else mentioned where the tail snaps before the skin sheds.

I had that problem too. I found out that I was not cutting far enough back behind the tail. here is a rough sketch of how much to cut between the tail and the body of the squirrel.

I can get this method to work most of the time now. I figured out part of what I was doing wrong. You've got to cut out onto the thigh area a short distance each direction from the under-the-tail cut so that it makes a "flap" that gets pulled on, otherwise the tail used as a handle will rip out a small portion of the back hide and fail to peel the rest of the way forward.

I prefer to skin and gut my squirrels out in the woods, before they get all stiffened up, IF there is a creek around to supply water for the job.

I like your method. I also think having a 5 gallon plastic pail with salt water is good to soak them on the way home.

blammer,

Did you draw that?

SQUACKS - Thanks for that video, I always had a hard time showing them the importance of the flap. Your demo makes it easy for them to see how you position it to pull from. Great job!

Grays rule!!! LOL!!!

Blammer, Nice picture!!
I have found if you twist the tail 180 deg. after the cut it pulls the skin apart more reliably without tearing the tail off.

Yea I drew it, pretty sad eh?

IT does look a bit comical. ya think?

Just needs some ears, claws, a bit of fuzz for the tail, and ya got it!

SQUACKS,

I'm kinda late getting to the subject matter here, but that's the way my Dad taught me how about 45 years ago. Very similar to how we did cotton tails, too. I haven't hunted squirrels for a while but have a hankerin to get out there again. Glad to see the old methods still work on modern squirrels. Good video . . .

Is it just me or are rabbits much more willing to shed their pelts than squirrels are? In my experience, rabbit skins just slide right off whereas squirrels need a good constant tug.

Rabbits are a cinch, no problems at all. Squirrel hide is tough and they don't give up their skin easily. The method shown is without doubt the easiest way I've ever used. Been doing it that way for many years now.

It looks like the drawing of an engineer. All factual, no fluff.

But, yes, a bit comical. Even funny when I went back and saw it again.

Mr. SQUACKS, excellent video, sir. I look forward to trying it.

When I read the title of this topic, I thot someone needed help giving his pet squirrels a good cleaning( like they can't do that themselves other than occasional fleas..:)

Was gonna tell about my experiences with a pair of orphan baby squirrels I once adopted when a young lad and raised to where they could care for themselves in the wild.
Hardest part was getting a good grip on the scruff of their neck like momma mighta done to carry them if she had to.

( Do squirrels do that or just cats, racoons, possums?..:)

Once that was done then came the water and dog flea soap.Mom told me water should feel just barely warm on the wrist..not hot.
They still squeeked and struggled alot but soon were clean and wrapped in an old towel to get dry..but I guess the "cleaning squirrels topic" here ain't what that was about..:) jim

At least you didn't think it was something about their rear and toilet paper.

I saw Squak's method illustrated in a Sports Afield Hunting Annual back in the '60s, but the illustrations did not stress the importance of the "flap"...I tried it a few times, with limited success, and went back to my old method of ringing them and pulling the skin both ways... Now that I've seen the video and learned how to REALLY do it, I can't wait to try it on my next mess of squirrels..

It is one of those things best seen, rather than looking over illustrations. I've explained it a dozen times to a fellow from Ohio on another forum and he can't for the life of him get the knack of it. I've given him a link to the video, written magazine article length descriptions of the process, and he still pulls the tail off! He's going to come here this fall deer hunting and we'll kill a mess of squirrels, I plan on showing him by cleaning a few myself, then coaching him through it until he figures this out. Once you've done it, no biggie. However, some have real trouble getting started.

Does it work that well after the tree rats get cold????? Cold squirrels are a pain in the butt to skin

It works for me warm or cold. I just work the legs a bit before doing and it works fine.

blammer, agreed! I can pull them out of the game bag on my vest stiff as tree limb, work the legs a time or two to straighten them out, dunk in water, and go to it with no problems!

limber them up ehhhhh,,will give it a try this year

You all plesantly remind me of one of the supposedly drop-dead funny bits I missed out on-- the day the squirrel hunter showed up at the gunstore with a dead squirrel. My one buddy owned the store, and my other was a gun writer. Hewas hanging out the store on a Saturday morning. This completely clueless fellow came in with a dead squirrel and asked for lessons on how to clean it properly.

My two buddies discussed the fine points of squirrel cleaning for the better part of an hour, while the fellow took notes. Included in the discussion was a side argument on which X-Acto knife blade was appropriate. One buddy argued a #12, while the other was fonder of a #20. You could have described how to do an appendectomy with less detail.

This all occurred a year or so before I joined the group, but folks were still doubling over whenever the subject of squirrel hunting came up.

I saw a similar situation a few years ago over on the AllOutdoors.com site. I fellow with under 25 posts started a thread asking opinions on camo patterns for squirrel hunting. He'd been invited to hunt squirrels for the first time, and he didn't want to look out of place to the other hunters.

Should have referred him to the magazine..., "GQ for Hunters!"

I saw the outdoor writer last night. Bob was at this party with a bunch other old-timers. One lady had brought her 19 yr old kid to the shindig. The kid engaged me in a discussion of hunting. We had a nice talk about turkey, deer, shotguns, etc. Then the kid asked me about squirrels.

Yes, I'd shot squirrels.

How do you eat a squirrel?

I referred the kid across the room to my buddy, now 70, for the definative explanation on how to clean a squirrel.

"Hey Bob, what kind of X-Acto blade do you use on squirrels?"

Bob started all over again with the description. Another old-timer (also named Bob) joined in with the argument of a #2 versus a #18 blade, and another generation of would-be hunter was sucked in.

I prefer to pretend I'm letting my son get some practice and let him do it. He isn't actually falling for this, but he ends up doing it quit often, works for me!!!

bump......

....I could'a swore there was no easy way to skin a squirrel! I thought I'd tried it all, including both methods described above. After seeing the video I know there are people who make the stepped on tail method work! It had never worked well for me, but now I've gathered courage to give it another try...Thanks for the encouraging video (You swear it wasn't a trick squirrel?)...

I cant wait to get a squirrel myself, I'm dying to give this method a try.