Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:35 pm Post subject: Rabbit Skins - *not for bunny huggers*
Just wondering if anyone can describe to me how to skin a rabbit? Or direct me to an appropriate book. I think my mum might have old-fashioned cookery books that might describe, but not sure.
Nic kindly gave me a couple of rabbits and I've put them in the freezer. Would like to save the skins once I've finished with the rabbits to dry them (or whatever the correct term would be) so I could then wrap them around some dummies.
I bought a rabbit skin dummy previously. Am I better to just stick with that and not bother with the skins?
It is cheaper to use the skins of the carcasses, but a lot of time and hassle. I prefer to pay someone else to do it and pay over the odds for flippin skins. If you see anything dead on the road that is of the feathered variety, it is worth chopping off the wings to use as well or is you know of anyone who shoots perhaps they would do that for you too.
I don't go choppping wings off road kill - but the chappies I train with think they are so macho and they are very quick to do it!
Sherry
There is a bit of an art to the rabbit skins Mo. I don't do it myself and the last one that someone did for me he left too much fat on the skin and I ended up with a game bag full of maggots . Not nice at all!
Once you have the skin you need to stretch it on something like a pallet or choppping board. apply rock salt and sit somewhere dry ( i use a boiler room) if it's really sunny (which will be unlikley) sit it out facing the sun for a few hour's untill the skin is like cardboard, fire round a dummy and bob's your uncle
It's really easy Mo! I have a few of them nailed out on boards in my shed at the moment, covered in salt.
This is gonna sound a little gross, so bunny-huggers please stop reading here...
They skin supremely easily. It's literally like peeling a banana Well, warm and freshly shot they skin easily anyway, and I have skinned frozen rabbits before and they were pretty simple as well. I take a cleaver and a chopping board outside, and I chop the feet off, and then you can easily slip a finger between the skin and the flesh and peel them apart.
I haven't looked at the link Lewis posted, but it's probably excellent, he knows his stuff. If you do a search of the FT&H forum, posts by me with rabbit in them, I wrote a post like yours last year sometime, and had some great suggestions and links posted. Then Steve put up a thread about skinning rabbits.
I also found some great links on the River Cottage forum, so take a look there too, a great video by someone - just did a search for skin a rabbit or something and it popped up.
It depends very much on what life expectancy and also finish you want on the skin,
The way that has been described works fine and i have done exactly this method myself,
But drying in the sun will make the skin much more brittle and will not achieve the same finish that you might get on a shop bought skin.
These are properly cured and even though they are hung out to dry,, they much avoid sun and once they are proper dry, they are also streched at regular intervals to soften them up.
If you want to achieve these sort of results you need to visit a taxidermy type shop and get some proper curing agents.
they last for ages and can be re used over and over again.
see steps below given to me by proper taxidermy company
1) Skin rabbit and remove as much as possible of the membrane as possible. Salt at this point, it helps to remove and get a grip on the membrane.
2) Salt the skin flesh side down for 4 days - Just whilst fleshing the skin can then be rinsed in cold water and left to drain.
3) Rinse of salt and remove any more membrane
4) Soak in solution for 48 hours ?? Yes, pop into the tanning solution for 24/48 hours.
5) Hang out to dry - single cloths peg on a washing line out of direct sunlight.
6) Stretch skin once dry begin stretching whilst damp/dry not completely dry - the skin darkens as it dries - give it a little tweak and stretch on a corner - the skin will lighten as it's stretched - at this point it can be softened by s gently stretching in any direction. The more stretching the softer it becomes.
7) Should be all done - correct!
also see this comment from her with regards to pinning them out tightly
after tanning, the skin should be hung to dry with a single cloths peg on a washing line - as the skin dries it shrinks, this then enables it to be softened by gently stretching in all directions giving a soft finish. If the skin is pinned out tightly when wet, as many books recommend, the skin will dry taught and it will be impossible to soften.
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