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Video: How to Skin a Raccoon

Clay Newcomb kneeling by a campfire, stirring diced potatoes in a cast-iron pan

Clay NewcombClay Newcomb is an American outdoorsman, storyteller, and host of the Bear Grease Podcast. A 5th-generation Arkansan, Newcomb is an avid hunter, conservationist, and writer whose work explores the cultural and historical roots of hunting, rural life, and the American outdoors. He is passionate about conservation and hunting as a way to provide organic, ethically harvested game for his family. Before joining Meateater, he published Bear Hunting Magazine and produced video documentaries on bowhunting and wildlife conservation.Jan 18, 2021

On a dark winter night in 1994, my best friend’s uncle taught me how to skin a raccoon using a short rope, two green sticks, and a knife. He emphasized getting green sticks just the right size and not cutting too shallow around the ears and eyes. He didn’t refer to it this way, but the method he used is called case or tube skinning. It requires one main cut from the back of the heel to the anus and then to the back of the opposite heel. The second step is cutting around all four feet. The trickiest part is deboning the tail, which I’ll demonstrate in this video.

When you’re finished you’ll have what’s considered a “green hide,” which can be frozen. This hide can be sold as “green” (meaning there is fat and some meat still attached to the hide) or it can be fleshed (removing fat and meat from hide) and dried later for commercial tanning. In my opinion, you ain’t no woodsman if you can’t case skin a coon. Luckily, there are lots of raccoons on the landscape and great opportunity for coon hunting and trapping.