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10
was loose enough to be held with the fingers and thumbs of both hands, a steady upward pull shucked out the last
of the back legs of the squirrel.
Turning the squirrel belly up (skin dangling from both ends) he handed me the back legs to hold while he
removed the entrails and cut off the head and back feet..
After removing the genitals, he made a deep cut between the back legs and broke the pelvic girdle apart
by pulling the legs backward. This exposed the anal intestine which he pulled out. Then with two fingers inside
the cut which opened the body cavity between the back legs, he inserted the knife blade and split the belly tissue
to and through the rib cage. His fingers kept the intestines away from the knife blade.
With the body cavity opened, he pulled out all vital organs, the stomach and intestines. Then, in three
swift cuts, removed both back feet and the head, which still was attached to the forward part of the skin.
The entire skinning operation must have taken less than two minutes.
THE ALTERNATIVE: I have known a few squirrel hunters who skinned squirrels by making a crosswise cut
through the skin at the middle of the back and inserting the fingers on both sides of the cut before pulling both
ways to remove the skin. If two people try this it can become a "tug of war" with hair flying everywhere.
This is fine if the skinner has strong fingers, hands and arms and can perform the task without getting
squirrel hair on the meat.
Incidentally, squirrel hair is not easily removed (it won't wash off) once it touches the meat. It almost
must be picked off, one hair at a time, with the point of a knife.
Indiana Sportsmen's
Roundtable, Inc.
PO Box 26651
Indianapolis, IN 46226-0651
May – August 2002
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Indianapolis, IN
PERMIT #651
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