Another case of "oh my god look what the cat dragged in" but instead of living my life "sin after sin" against nature I realized this nearly untouched but dead chipmunk would be the perfect opportunity to learn to skin an animal. It seemed like such a waste that my cat killed it without even eating it...even though I know various bugs and some other forest animal could scavenge the body.No better school though then the school of life, alone, with no teacher to show you the right way, just silly survival books with crappy drawings on skinning small critters.
I tied the chipmunk with hemp twine to a pine stick I found on the ground. Then I hung it up for better leverage.
I won't lie, I was trying to multi-task while doing this... I was on the phone with my sister, and going back and forth with my donkey giving her ginger candies. Which is why I probably made my first mistake...
I thought I'd just cut down the belly, but it was hard to penetrate the skin and when I pushed hard enough, some organs started poppin' out like bubble gum slowly filling with air. Then blood dripped and I was totally unsure if I was doing it right...
I took it down to take some time to think, and realized having it hanging up gave the tension, pull I needed to actually cut into the skin. And that I needed to cut somewhere else.
THE SUCCESS:I decided to cut around the feet (full circle) then a line up each inner thigh all the way across.
And PULL!
and pull HARDER... the skin pealed off.
I realized that puncturing the belly was a bad mistake, because the more I had pulled the skin, the more organs were falling out, the more blood...which got on the fur. I left the rest of the chipmunk for the creatures of the forest, away from my porch.
I had to rinse the blood off the chipmunk fur in the kitchen sink, then put it out to dry. I am really kinda amazed at how simple this is. If any of ya'll have done it before I would really love tips from a expert!
Also, any ideas on what can be made with tiny chipmunk fur? I was thinking about a bracelet, but wish I could think of something more functional.
XOXoxxoxo (dont worry I washed my hands before these hugs and kisses!)
