How To Clean And Preserve A Squirrel Skin

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Whether fried or baked, squirrel meat can be a delicious addition to a meal. Many hunters, still, shy abroad from preparing squirrel meat because they see skinning and cleaning squirrels as just too much piece of work. But with the proper tools and technique, cleaning a squirrel is no more difficult than any other kind of small game.

1. 1

   Go the squirrel thoroughly wet before starting. You tin either soak the carcass in a bucket of water or spray information technology downwards with a hose. Getting the carcass moisture before you begin cleaning it will help prevent pilus from getting stuck on the meat.^[1]

   • Getting the carcass wet will besides assist loosen it if information technology's become stiff.^[2]

2. 2

   Pluck out hair at the base of the squirrel'southward tail. Y'all can utilize your thumb and alphabetize finger or a pair of large tweezers to pluck the hair. Removing this hair will make it easier for you lot to cut through the tailbone. Pluck out simply plenty hair to give yourself a clean area to cut, or effectually ii centimetres (0.79 in) in width.^[three]

   • Don't forget to put on your field dressing gloves earlier yous start to skin and clean your squirrel.

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3. three

   Brand a 1 ¹⁄₂  in (3.8 cm) horizontal cutting through the base of the tailbone. Utilize a pocket knife, small paring pocketknife, or other small, precipitous knife. Elevator the tail with one manus and make the incision with the other. The cut should be just deep plenty to get under the peel.^[iv]

   • The base of the tailbone is just above the squirrel's anus.
   • Be careful not to cut into the hide on superlative of the rump or sever the tail. You'll want to keep the tail attached to the skin to simplify the following steps.

4. 4

   Put the squirrel on a solid surface on the ground. Not that you've made the initial incision through the base of the tailbone, lay the squirrel on its tum on a depression stump, board, or apartment rock. The surface you choose should be depression plenty for you to put your human foot down on it. Make sure the squirrel'due south legs are outstretched.^[v]

   • Clean any droppings off the surface before starting.

5. v

   Extend your incision ¹⁄_ii –1 inch (one.3–2.v cm) towards the squirrel'southward head. Put your human foot on the squirrel'southward outstretched back legs to keep information technology steady. And so, as you concord the tail with one hand, slowly cut upward along the squirrel's back.^[6]

   • When making the cut, be careful to cutting only deep enough to separate the pare from the meat and no deeper. Brand the cut about 1 cm (0.39 in) deep.

6. half-dozen

   Make an angled cutting in front of each hind leg. Position your knife where you lot fabricated your initial cutting, just in forepart of the pinnacle of the squirrel'southward right leg. And so cut down at a 45-degree angle towards the squirrel'southward abdomen. Do the same on the left side of the carcass.^[seven]

   • Only cut deep plenty to separate the meat from the skin, or around one cm (0.39 in) deep.

7. 7

   Peel the hide until it reaches the foot joints of the front legs. With your anxiety on the squirrel's dorsum legs, pull up on the tail and slowly brainstorm to peel the hide off the mankind. Stop peeling when you tin see the pes joints of the front legs.^[viii]

   • Peeling the hide off will take a little muscle, but exist careful not to pull then hard that y'all pull the hide all the way off.

8. eight

   Flip the carcass over and skin the hide off the belly to the back feet. Standing on the tail, use your fingers to peel off the hibernate. Stop peeling when you reach the joints right above the back feet.^[9]

   • The skin should skin right off, but if you have any problem, you can use your pocketknife to gently divide the pare from the belly.

9. 9

   Remove the head and feet. Information technology is easiest to use a pair of game shears for this step. Cut through the meat of the neck and snap the bone to remove the head, and cut at the joints but above the feet to remove them and the remaining hide.^[10]

   • Dispose of the hide, head, and entrails by burying them or conveying them out and taking them to a landfill.^[11]

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1. 1

   Make a shallow cut lengthwise forth the eye of the abdomen. Once you've skinned the squirrel, yous can start cleaning out the entrails. Showtime by pinching the stomach and making a small 3 cm (1.two in) cut between the hind legs. Continue cutting until the you reach the neck.^[12]

   • Exist careful not to cut too deeply. If the knife goes in too far, you might accidentally cut the entrails.
   • If yous're using a pair of game shears, some other selection is to insert the tip of the shears into the anus and first cutting upward through the pelvis to the cervix.^[13]
   • Before starting to cut into the squirrel's abdomen, examine the carcass closely and remove whatsoever hair that is still stuck to it.

2. 2

   Remove the entrails and make clean out the internal cavity. At present that entrails are exposed, use 2 fingers to grab the centre, lungs, and esophagus. So pull the innards down toward the tail then out. With this motion, you lot should exist able to remove all the entrails. Clean out whatever pieces you missed. You'll be left with a clean internal cavity.^[fourteen]

   • You can inspect the liver to see if the squirrel was healthy. The liver of a healthy squirrel should be a rich, solid cherry color.^[xv]

3. 3

   Launder out the trunk cavity if you take access to fresh h2o. Use a hose to thoroughly rinse the outside and inside of your cleaned squirrel. Brand sure to embrace the entire carcass with water. A few seconds of rinsing with a running hose should suffice.^[16]

4. 4

   Put your cleaned carcass on ice. Now that you've skinned and cleaned the squirrel carcass, place it in a gallon-sized resealable pocketbook, and place the bag in a cooler filled with ice. Put the carcass on ice equally soon as possible later cleaning it to continue the meat fresh. And then, attempt to movement it into a refrigerator or freezer as soon as possible.^[17]

   • You tin store squirrel meat in a refrigerator at 35–xl °F (two–4 °C) for 1 – 2 days or in a freezer at 0 °F (−18 °C) for up to 12 months.^[18]

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Add New Question

• Question

  How do you cook a squirrel?

  

  Fried squirrel is quite skillful. Breadstuff them like chicken. Cook them on a spit over a bivouac with some wild garlic in the chest cavity. Roasted in the oven or fire with veggies in a foil packet is good, besides.

• Question

  When I pick up the squirrel to wash it, will the fleas or any other harmful things get on me?

  

  If you rinse it well, and then no, but if yous are withal worried about it, wear a pair of latex gloves. Wash your hands thoroughly afterwards.

• Question

  Why would I inspect its liver when cleaning a squirrel?

  

  The liver serves as a very easy mode to view and make up one's mind the health of the squirrel. A bad liver is evidence of an unhealthy animal, which may not exist prophylactic to consume.

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Things You'll Need

• Sharp knife
• Set of game shears
• Water
• A solid, clean surface
• Latex field dressing gloves
• 1 ice cooler with ice
• Gallon-sized resealable numberless

About This Article

Article Summary X

To clean a squirrel, start by getting it wet and then its fur doesn't stick to the meat. And then, make a horizontal incision forth the base of the tailbone, and extend it all the fashion upwardly to the squirrels head. Adjacent, brand an angled cut in front of each hind leg, and pull the pelt off the trunk, stopping when you lot reach the joints on the back feet. Once the pelt is off, cut off the squirrel'southward head and feet. Finally, cut open up the squirrel'south belly, and remove the innards. To learn how to wash out the squirrel's body crenel later you empty it, coil downwards!

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Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Clean-a-Squirrel

Posted by: mcwilliamssamalmot.blogspot.com

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