New Skinning Shack Almost Finished

[HunterDave]

Just for general interest and perhaps get some constructive criticism/ideas of how to best utilize the limited space available to me to put up fur.

I commandeered our 10' x 12' storage shed to turn into my skinning shed. Being an urban Trapper has its challenges when it comes to finding enough space to do what I need to do comfortably......sewing holes in -30 is no fun.

Frozen coyotes will be hung in, and skinning them will be done in my garage where I have a skinning base and winch (putting them in is my next project). That's where my freezer is as well. My shed is going to be for thawing frozen coyotes and fleshing/drying skinned ones as well as putting up muskrats, beaver, squirrel and weasels.



I scrounged as much as I could, using left over pieces of lumber/plywood, insulation, counter top and $10/gallon mis-tinted paint. I changed the one light bulb that I had and replaced it with an 8' florescent light with daylight bulbs. The light is easy on the eyes and a little artificial light during the winter should be nice. I still have to tack up the wiring with clips that I have in the shed out at the lake......small potatoes.



So far I have a little work station for putting up rats. I'm going to put in two L shaped shelves above the table to store odds and ends. This corner will be the main work area with my fleshing beam at the end of it.



Here's what I'm thinking. I'll hang my thawing coyotes over my fleshing beam at the end of my work station from O ring screws screwed into the joists. That area can double as an area to dry washed pelts as well. Along the ceiling on the opposite side I'll screw in strips of wood and put hooks in it to hang my rats on wire stretchers. On the floor below them I'll make slots for my coyote/fox boards to stand straight up. I suppose that I can put my beaver boards against the far wall.

The shed is insulated, I have electricity for heat, light and a fan and the humidity can be adjusted by simply opening the window. I plan on putting some scrounged vapour barrier on the floor with scrap carpet over top. In the Spring I'll just roll it up and take it to the dump.

Does anyone have any ideas of how I could better utilize my space or anything else?

[Ultimate Predator]

Looks more like an office if it's not a cooler sorry no good heat is your enemy

[ditch donkey]

Jeepers Dave, looks good to me, but I'm just getting into it, so I can't really offer too much insight.

[nube]

I find if you check snares daily you won't have a lot of frozen coyotes to deal with. I don't recommend letting them freeze then thawing out as it is a bit tougher to deal with. I am not sure if your shed will be insulated enough to keep it warm without costing a bundle heating it. If it works then great. For me I have a small gas furnace in my attached garage and the gas company upped my bill on me after the season and not really sure what it cost to heat but it must have been enough to get them to bump it up.
I think you have a great idea and I hope it works for you. I think you will have fun tweaking it after this season and figuring out what you need

[HunterDave]

I used the shed un-insulated last winter and the little electric shop heater barely managed to keep it in the recommended 10 to 15 degree level but it was running continuously. Hopefully, now that it's insulated, it will only have to kick in every so often in order to maintain a 12 degree temp. I won't be storing any pelts in there, they will go in the rafters in our unheated garage until I take them to the ATA. It'll be a lot more full tomorrow when my trapping goodies come out of the garage and into the shed.

[war-dog]

I'm also in the process of building a skinning shed in my backyard as I don't have time to skin anything out at the trapline. My town office is making it very hard to acquire a permit to build a simple shed. I have it pre built in pieces waiting for them to give me the go ahead. I'm doing 12x12 cause that's the biggest I'm aloud to do. Mine will be very similar to yours and I'm hoping it will be enough space to store everything and still have room for me and my trapping partner to both skin comfortably. Mines gunna have 8 foot walls with a little 4 foot wide loft at the back just high enough that we can walk underneath so things can be stored up there and I will have my deep freeze underneath in the corner.

[HunterDave]

I honestly don't think that a 12' x 12' shed is going to be big enough for you, War-dog, especially if you plan on putting a freezer in there. That's only 2' wider than my shed and with just putting up mainly coyotes/fox and muskrats, I'm thinking that it'll be comfy with just me, and that's with using part of my garage as well. I would imagine that with a line you have a lot more traps and equipment than I have. IMO, and having stood inside of my shed, that extra 2' is going to still be pretty small for 2 guys to work in with fur hanging.

I plan on moving my trapping gear inside the shed tomorrow and I'll try to remember to post a picture of it afterwards. Maybe it'll give you an idea of how much room is left over.

If you are going to go the route of putting in for a building permit, I would suggest going bigger. It can be done but the town will have to put an ad in the paper and notify your neighbours of what you intend to construct. If anyone has a problem with it they can bring it forward to have it shut down.

[nube]

DAve I wonder if a little wood stove would be easy to hook up in there enough to help defrost a few critters?

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by nube

DAve I wonder if a little wood stove would be easy to hook up in there enough to help defrost a few critters?

Yeah, it would work but I think that the electric heater will work better for maintaining a constant temp and it takes much less room. I'll see how it goes this winter and improve things as required. For now, I'm happy to have a comfy spot to work in, especially for sewing holes with bare hands, things like that.

I'd like to find a way to get my coyote skinning base and winch in there but the ceiling is too low. Maybe build some sort of bell tower type of thing in the roof?

[war-dog]

Ya I hear ya Dave I went to the town office the first time with intentions of building a 12x20 and they said I would need building permit and a development permit with drawings. 12x12 is the biggest I can go with just the permit and there still giving me a hard time cause I don't have two sets of drawings for it. Which I don't understand cause its just a simple shed. I already have the walls for this one pre built and ready so I'm committed. I also have a garage but I was trying my best to keep it all in the shed but we will have to see how this season goes!

[PCP_ECOM]

Well have been working on a couple projects in my main fur shack,which is my garage,my smaller building is for gear storage,here are a few pic's,pictures show garage with my sign,winch for yote's,4 foot fur drum,just need support spindles made and get bearing's and belts,almost all materials were free,still have to rig clamps on winch,also left side of winch is where my double decker rat drying machine is going,hang wet rats on bottom and top will be for drying boarded pelts,2 fan system,the sunflower's do a great job of camouflaging my gear shed,will post more as I progress along,cheeers Peter

[grizz325]

Looks great, sunflowers are a nice touch lol

[PCP_ECOM]

Originally Posted by grizz325

Looks great, sunflowers are a nice touch lol

Happy wife,happy life

[HunterDave]

Looking good, Peter! I'd like to know more about your muskrat drying machine. I had planned on hanging them by the teeth on welded wire mesh but if there's a better way of doing it I'd be very interested.

The fur drum is interesting as well. Will it have the capability to dry pelts or is it just for making them nice and fluffy?

[PCP_ECOM]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

Looking good, Peter! I'd like to know more about your muskrat drying machine. I had planned on hanging them by the teeth on welded wire mesh but if there's a better way of doing it I'd be very interested.

The fur drum is interesting as well. Will it have the capability to dry pelts or is it just for making them nice and fluffy?

Hey Dave,i will be using 2 square style fans in my drying machine,will build cabinet based on size of fan,will have hooks on roof of bottom compartment and I will use hooks through front paws and hang from these hooks in roof,top will be slotted to hold stretcher's up right,fans are variable speeds,vents on end to allow air flow threw,will be using drum for tumbling rats before I skin them and I will also tumble my yote's after I skin and flesh to help clean the fur and remove any blood, grease or fat lingering behind after fleshing,don't believe I will tumble after formed and dry,as they do that at the auction house anyway's,only reason I may tumble would be to sell to local fur buyer,will post pictures of drying machine when complete,cheer's Peter

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by PCP_ECOM

Hey Dave,i will be using 2 square style fans in my drying machine,will build cabinet based on size of fan,will have hooks on roof of bottom compartment and I will use hooks through front paws and hang from these hooks in roof,top will be slotted to hold stretcher's up right,fans are variable speeds,vents on end to allow air flow threw.....

Peter

Peter,
I saw that design on the internet somewhere but I'm having a hard time finding it again. It might have been on a youtube video, not sure. I like the idea of it and I may build the same thing in my shed. The one thing that confuses me about it is that the manual states that you shouldn't put pelts directly in front of a fan because they'll dry too quickly. People are doing it so, I don't know.
I'm going to do another search for the cabinet and see if I can find it.
Dave

[Reeves1]

Dave - I have one Pheasant building that is poorly (no longer used) insulated building. No insulation in the floor.
I put a wall base board 110 type heater, about 4' long in it.
Mounted about 3' of the floor.
On it's (nearly) lowest setting it kept the building at 10c all winter.
It's 10' x 10' with a peak roof. 6' walls.

The other still in use for the Peacocks is 8' x 12' with insulated floor, walls, roof.
Same type heater.
Keeps it at 10c+ in all temps, lowest setting.

[waterninja]

One thing that comes to mind when looking at your setup dave is that the small electric heater should be good for keeping the chill off your shed, but maybe a good propane "sunflower" or something similar will warm it up quickly when your actually working in it. Lots of options in small propane heaters like the ones used in ice fishing huts. Flourescent lighting does not work well in cold temps. and propane heaters last a long time on 1 20 lbs tank.
Might also keep an eye out for an old propane furnace from a tent or travel trail. Lots of heat, and energy efficient.

[HunterDave]

I have propane heaters for ice fishing but I don't want to use them in my shack for several reasons. One is the carbon monoxide.....no need to breath that if I don't have to. My electric heater will cut in and out as the temperature is met, keeping a constant temperature.

[HunterDave]

I've gotta get my workstation organized I guess. I picked up a dog grooming hanger at a yard sale for a couple of bucks. I'm going to try hanging rats from it to skin. Has anyone ever tried doing it that way?



I'm going to put in one more row of hooks for muskrats and that should be lots.



My new coyote skinning base (manufactured by AO member jungleboy) and electric hoist installed in the garage today. That should make life easier.

[braggadoe]

2 more bolts into the concrete, and your whinch setup will be awesome!

a bunch of chicken wire around the outside. is handy. for rats and such. thawing/drying.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by braggadoe

2 more bolts into the concrete, and your whinch setup will be awesome!

a bunch of chicken wire around the outside. is handy. for rats and such. thawing/drying.

You noticed the bolt missing, eh.....lol. The base is being held in with 3 anchor wedges that are epoxied 1" deep. I had issues drilling the 4th hole but it should be okay for the amount of force required to skin a yote. If not, I'm gonna have to re-do it I guess.

I dried my rats this Spring the same way as in your picture, by the teeth on wire mesh, and it worked okay. I figured that I'd hang them by the paw on hooks on the ceiling this Fall and see how that goes.

Here's a question - If you are hanging by the paw, which way is best....upside down or right side up? The reason that I'm asking is that I read something about "yellow belly" where the intestinal fluid will turn the inside belly of the pelt yellow. Anyone have any knowledge of that happening? If not for that I'd just put the hook through the front paw and let the excess water run naturally off the fur.

[H380]

Dave I clamp the tail of my rats in the bench vise while skinning , works good , if you clamp out about half way you can still turn him to skin both sides .

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by H380

Dave I clamp the tail of my rats in the bench vise while skinning , works good , if you clamp out about half way you can still turn him to skin both sides .

I'm thinking along that lines for that dog grooming rig that I picked up but it might end up just being a pita. Last Spring I just vice gripped one back foot to the bench. I use a filleting knife to make one straight cut between the legs. I guess that I'll try a few different ways until I find what works best for me.

[nube]

I skin my rats by hanging them by the right foot with a piece of string from the roof. They skin so fast when I do it this way. I make the initial cuts easily and then the rest is pulling all the way to the head

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by nube

I skin my rats by hanging them by the right foot with a piece of string from the roof. They skin so fast when I do it this way. I make the initial cuts easily and then the rest is pulling all the way to the head

That's what I'm hoping to do with that dog groomer thingy (?) that I have clamped to the bench.

Did you get your yote skinning base in yet, Nube?

[waterninja]

That skinning shack is really comming along nicely. Love the hanging hooks idea on the ceiling.

[HunterDave]

Ooopps.

[MB1]

OK, now I'm curious how this yote winch works? Can one of you share some procedure?
Thanks

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by MB1

OK, now I'm curious how this yote winch works? Can one of you share some procedure?
Thanks

Here's a vid of someone using one but I have no idea why he's doing all of that cutting as he's pulling? Maybe it's frozen a bit. Once the back legs and tail are done the pelt should pull right off, at least it does when you do it by hand. I haven't tried it yet but that's the plan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srrC3Ehb5JY