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

perks

Some of us are happy to get paper or pens from work,
the traditional office perk.

This past job was a big score,

a bunch of aluminum sheetmetal, or really thin plate - 1/8" thick.

aluminum scrap

There were a couple big pieces too,
but these were the small pieces.

The skinny tall piece and a couple small rectangles were the 5086 alloy,
which has a high magnesium content.
It is really popular for use on boats.
5086 aluminium alloy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
5356 welding rod/wire is needed to weld this type.

The other pieces are a strange alloy, 2020.
Other than 6061, I'm not too familiar with the differences,
so I looked it up.

It's weird,
there's a ton of information but its all military or scientific writings.

Supposedly this 2020 alloy is used for aircraft,
and is an aluminum/copper/lithium mix, very light and strong.
I mig welded it with 4043 wire and it seemed ok,
so it should be strong enough for anything I'm planning.

There is a surplus metal store down south,
and I'm thinking my brother scrounged this stuff up down there.
It probably had slight defects so couldn't be approved for use on a plane.

The best part is it doesn't have that brushed finish that most aluminum has.
It also doesn't have that reflective tape that these roadsigns I've been using have!

Anyway,
I've got some ideas...

TP

steal your face right off your head

Ok, what does hunting deer and the grateful dead's "steal your face" have in common?

Read on...

"steal your face"

My brother Trevor has a new obsession - big game hunting.

Actually its been a progressive obsession from the water to land.

mule deer in san diego

This was a mule deer he shot last week, a forked buck, good for the last days of the season.

Stalking and shooting the deer may be the exciting part,

but remember you have to be prepared to pack the animal out.

Thankfully he didn't have pics of him field dressing this thing.

If he did one of these blogs,

you would know the story of the hunt in minute detail,

other than the exact location in san diego anyway!

Since its mine, i'll get right to the fun part.

skull collection

This is his current skull collection, some deer and a boar.

The process for doing this is alot of work in itself,

skinning, trimming, soaking and boiling. 

Lotsa fun.

trophy

Here's where the "steal your face" comes in...

"steal your face..."

Gotta love a dog and a hunter with a sense of humor,

or just a really good bottle of scotch!

It's still close enough to halloween, right?

"...right off your head"

Anyway if you don't know where the phrase

"steal your face right off your head" came from,

here it is...from the song "he's gone"

One of their slower songs but wait til about the 1:00 mark.

This is a cool version as its their first time playing it live,

but it's also cut a little short.

Try this next one on its a great early version.

Grateful Dead Live at Century II Convention Hall on 1972-11-17 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

(Jump down to #19 there on the right)

 It's a whopping 14 minutes long but its worth the jam at the end (9:00 - on)


For one of the dead's slow songs, it's still a good work tune.

Definitely some trippy lyrics too,
actually about a guy that ripped them off and disappeared,
not about a guy skinning a deers face and putting it on his dog!


Good times.


TP