skinning tip

probably something many know, may have bin posted before, but something i stumbled upon a couple years ago, when you are done skinning a animal, or plucking a bird, a good technique for getting rid of any loose hair or pin feathers is take one of those small propane or butane torches, and just quickly scald them off... make sure not to cook the meat though...

Your right!! Its a great way to rid waterfowl or grouse of those pin hairs. Saw my in laws doing that on chickens when they slaughtered them each fall. Actually I think they also dipped them in hot water too.

Of course the smell isn't too pleasant when burning the hair off animals I bet.

yup chickens dipped in hot water, main feathers pull right out, pin feathers burnt off... 5 minutes from live to finished...

big game, only any loose hair... no smell, if any skin still attached then ya bad smell

I always seem to leave hair. Have never tried your technique on animals.

alot easier than wiping it off with paper towel... a buddy that cuts wild game showed me that... was there learning butchering from him and he showed me that

I skin my wildgame and fowl but yes good tip steve

ya i skin the fowl... to many feathers for even the hot water technique lol

This is new? We used to use rolled news paper , on fire to singe fur, feathers.

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Originally Posted by jim

This is new? We used to use rolled news paper , on fire to singe fur, feathers.

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no like i said something many probably know... just made my life easier when someone showed me, passing it on for somebody who may not have known...

Hotwax works to Steve .Never tried it on wolves,bear,deer or moose though .

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Originally Posted by 400bigbear

Hotwax works to Steve .

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ya have herd of it, but never tried it... have hot water readily available and dont do enough waterfowl to need to be more efficent... lucky if i do one or 2 a year lol

I remember along time ago mom would buy chickens from the butcher still had pin feathers & bag of extras inside . She used gas stove to singe them off . Could smell it when I come home from school . Use a torch myself on my free roam chickens .

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Originally Posted by 400bigbear

Hotwax works to Steve .Never tried it on wolves,bear,deer or moose though .

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I know it works on my wife's legs :)

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Originally Posted by MikePal

I know it works on my wife's legs :)

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Your a man of many talents Mike .;):scream:;)

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Originally Posted by fishy steve

of those small propane or butane torches, and just quickly scald them off... make sure not to cook the meat though...

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I've used a torch for many years, some Metis guy from Manitoba showed me that tip a long time ago. Works especially well with deer hair before you start to butcher it. Just have to keep it moving fast over the meat.

Not so good on the pin feathers of Wild Turkey, allot of the pins are black and stick inside the meat. So when you burn back the feathers, it looks like the bird if covered in black head pimples :)

Pins got pulled with pliers, then my grandfather would hold up the turkey and Nana would burn off the hairs with a rolled up newspaper. Birch bark left black soot...

I've used 50/50 water and vinegar to wipe meat that's covered in cut hairs. Not to remove still rooted hairs but to simply wipe loose hair off of finished meat. The vinegar seems to help cut the surface tension better than water alone.

For all of our chickens and turkeys we hot dip, pluck and torch. I skin most of the grouse and woodcock I take...