To skin a lynx...

Got the bugger done last night - we did not have any Raid and so hopefully there is no flea outbreak in the days to come...and while skinning her out, we found a Lynx claw under the skin in her back! Must have been an old wound as the skin was healed over - but she was a scrapper! Cool stuff!

She's not very tiny, 39 inches and some change from her nose to her butt (That's WITHOUT the hind legs). Anything over 39" is an XL, but she hasn't completely dried, which will likely put her in the 'Large' grading size on NAFA's scale afterwards. Not that it matters - we're not selling this baby:


The toughest part was skinning out the feet and leaving the claws attached. I took a few pics to show how I did it. (Right way, likely not - but it seemed to work out) First thing I did was skin down each foot until I got to the last knuckle on each toe...and you end up with a sickle-shaped thing, that is the claw/sheath, attached to a ball joint:


The knife blade is pointing at the claw in this pic:


A cut needs to be made right at where the ball joint meets the claw sheath:




And then it is free!


Inside out, the foot looks like this:


And then you have to push the claws through so that they find their way back out on the fur side.
Four toes on each back foot, and then four toes and a dewclaw on each front foot. There is a LOT of cutting on those pads and feet - took me almost two hours to skin her out. Those feet really require a smaller, finer knife like the Havalon Piranta to make things a little easier - That thing is Awesome for skinning/caping and the small work, creatures big and small! But man oh man do the feet look COOL when they are done!!!!!!


Also interesting is the front leg cuts that are necessary to let them hang free on the finished product. But, it's all learning, and the next one will go better. The pelt has a really cool silver and gold appearance and is unbelieveably fluffy - the guard hairs are about four inches long all over, and maybe a bit longer on the belly. This is the fur along the back...stick your fingers in and they'll get lost...

HOLY CATS!!!!!!...or, well.....CAT......

We have caught our first Lynx of the Year! (and first Ever - but we've got to stay optimistic...)

SO, after checking two marten and one lynx set unsuccessfully this morning, Sarah and I crossed over to the North side of the Yukon to check the three cat sets from last weeks post. We were cruising down the slough, looking to the right up on the ridge for our cubby set, and we were getting to the point where I thought I must have missed it - as I hadn't seen the flagging and we were nearing the end of the point...when all of a sudden Sarah started whaling on me - my head my shoulder, my side...whack whack whack...I immediately thought we were about to hit a tree or something and looked back at where we were going when I heard her yell over the sound of the motor, "Cat! There's a cat! We got him! We got him! He's standing there looking at us!...."

I leaped off the snowmachine before it had even stopped, and immediately turned the camera on to capture the following:



I am a busy fool right now skinning away, but I will post these pics now and add some movies and some skinning pics tomorrow...

Just to recap: The cubby by itself...BEFORE...


Here's the pic of Sarah and the set Before (I TOLD you this was Sarah's Before pic in the last post, heh, heh)....


And here's Sarah's After pic:


Some pics during our approach:




A close-up:


An After pic of me:


It was a two-toe catch...


Look at the size of those paws:


A happy girl with an unhappy kitty cat :).....


Smiley ol' me....(Our snowclothes add about 80 pounds to Sarah and I hah hah)


Off she goes....


More pics coming...

SO CHECK BACK IN LATER/TOMORROW SOMETIME!!!!........

Starting off the New Year!...well, soon I hope....

The last month or so has been a disaster for the trappers here in SW Alaska. Horrible weather and conditions have everything locked up in ice, no snow to be had for traveling, and even several RAIN storms. (yep...RAIN...in interior Alaska.....in freaking December!?!?!...) Seriously, there have been deaths this winter because of snowmachines going through the ice, - those folks will never be seen again. Not being able to trap is nowhere near as tragic as that kind of loss, but it has been frustrating for those of us trying to harvest fur, and the fatalities I have heard of so far this year were in fact trappers, trying to head out and check their lines despite the limitations.

At any rate, I figured I should have a before and after set of pics for the massive comeback I'm going to have in 2010 - that's my resolution :) and so I took a few for the end of 2009.

This first one is the cool "marbled" paint job on the marten we got on our last check. The buyers can't dock me for it being too light OR too dark this time..its BOTH!! lol He is laying on top of one of the beavers and so the pic may seem a little abstract:


Next up is the first beaver of the year which we got back in the Fall. We had it tanned, as we are doing with several of the furs this year, (in order to make things, that I will post later about.....) and I took these shots to show how 'red' he is...




Here we have that same tanned beaver laid over the most recent piglet, (the 50 lb'er) in order to show the difference between an early season beaver that is exposed to lots more light, and a winter beaver that stays under the ice and in the dark of the lodge all winter. There is a noticeable pigment difference in the fur, and, of course, much thicker underfur also in the winter beav:


And last, but not least, is the End of 2009 pic (NOT the "end of trapping season" pic, of course), which, as stated, is meager so far. That said, there are 16 beaver, one otter, one mink, and two fox not in this picture that have a rightful place in it.


So as of right now, with the entire month of December being omitted due to weather, the traps I have set/been able to keep operational have so far caught:

18 Beaver
8 Red Fox
1 Marten
1 Otter
and the bird-ravaged mink in Sarah's set. Not a phenomenal haul, but we're going to make it better. :)



HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! .....now let's get some snow and go trappin'.........