roadkill - raccoon tail - (part 1)

My wife gave me the heads up of some roadkill on the way to work.
An easy birthday present for me!
It was the bait I needed to go for a little bike ride.
Fortunately it was right down the street.

schwinn DX & dead raccoon

Usually roadkill bodies have been smacked enough to break the skin,
pop the eye or bust the gut.
This one was perfect,
good enough to make a hat out of.
I really didn't feel like skinning a whole body,
although I did have the big basket on the bike...

separation anxiety

After the photo-op I dragged it to the side and lopped off the tail.
Remember to cut as close to the body as possible to get the whole length.
Also cut diagonally to find the gap in between the vertebrae!

washed up

Back home it was soaked in some soapy water.
I thought about throwing it in the freezer with the other "to do" tails,
but since this one was so fresh figured it better to debone it first.
A perfect "How To" post...

I'm sure there are many ways to do this.
This is just the way I do it.

slit

The raccoon skin is really fatty and tough,
and the tailbone is thick and goes all the way to the end.
I've tried to pull out the tail without slitting it down first,
and the skin ends up ripping,
which is a real bummer.
It's alot easier to use a razor or skinning knife and slice it out.

elastic

It's a pull and cut method.

almost

Sometimes you get lucky and the end pulls out,
but you could also screw up and lose the tip.

finally

Now try to scrape or cut as much of the fat off as possible.
Here you can see the dark spots,
caused from pulling it off to hard,
 the skin gets really thin.

de-fat

Than have your helper pour a bunch of salt on the tail inside and out.
Rub it in really good.

salty

Now,
sometime's I'll soak it in a jar full of brine solution - salty water,
but this time I just rubbed in the salt and rolled it in some aluminum foil.

deboned raccoon tail

Now its in the fridge just soaking up the salt.

Hopefully the kids don't mistake it for some tasty leftovers.

More to come!

TP