fresh copperhead skins

[littlehunters19862011]

killed this copperhead around 10 this morning . it is around 28 29in Long . going to try and skin him out and dry  it. this well be my first ever  .any tips i throw him in the freezer for now going to go back to him in a day or so. and do it my nerve are bad every time the snake moves i jump a little even tho it has no head.lol we are over run with these snakes here

[Lemos]

Make sure he's defrosted pretty well before you skin him or the skin will tear. Personally I like to do it fresh as the skin peels easier, of course I also like to find snakes for fun and photos and don't mind live handling them so a little twitch here and there don't bother me. My kids and I went rattlesnake hunting once and found a beautiful specimen for my daughters new bow and not ones to waste we took the whole thing to skin and cook back at camp(minus the head of course). Well I kid you not after being dead in the cooler for three hours we skinned it and it still wiggled around it continued while on the stick over the fire it only quit after cooking for about 5 minutes. My son wouldn't even try it after that but my daughter she dove right in.

[littlehunters19862011]

 lol i was all ways told to stay a way from all snakes . never handled any till my younger brother got Python . and still even then i would jump any time it moved ... we all ways kill copperheads here i live on a river and they all ways try and get to are fish in are miner can. so this summer I'm going to stock up on them if i can I'm sure there is plenty more to come

[Lemos]

I was the exact opposite, I collected all I could as a kid and kept them in jars ,tanks or boxes anything that would hold them long enough to play with. I used too breed pythons and corn snakes but stopped about three years ago now, too much traveling for work and 28 adults and varying amounts of babies was too much for my snake hating wife to care for. You should try skinning a 12 foot boa, their skin is thick as goat hide.   

[bubby]

those would make great trade items herein the trade section

[osage outlaw]

If you are jumpy with it, use scissors to unzip the belly.  It would be a shame to slip with the knife and ruin that skin

[autologus]

Do you usually split the belly scales or cut to the side of the belly scales?

Grady

[Lemos]

I split the belly scales.Most of the meat tends to stick along the edges of the belly scales,so if I miss any during the scraping its going to be in that area and its going to get trimmed off any way before storing or applying

[osage outlaw]

If the belly scales are wide enough for a backing I'll cut along the side of them.  Two backings per snake on the fat ones.

[littlehunters19862011]

well guys i got the snake skint last night. wish i could say there was no holes in it but it ended up with 4 . thank those come from me win i killed the snake with the stick. but o well i got it drying now . how long well it take for it to dry?  this is my first time ever doing this .

[osage outlaw]

Depends on the weather.  On a sunny summer day they will dry in a day.  I leave them tacked down for a week or so just to be sure they are good and dry. 

[littlehunters19862011]

it should be in the uper 70 this weekend here after this heavy rain storm moves out to night .last night i tack the skin to a bored . but i did it with the scale side up. i tryed to rase the skin up a little this morning win i got up  but  the tacks are to small so i flipted it scale side down. thank its good to go once its dry.

[Stringman]

That shore is a beauty!! Love them copperheads!

Scott

[JW_Halverson]

Copperheads are always in demand here for trade goods and always command a pretty hefty item in trade.  And why not, they are a beautiful skin for bows!

[Newindian]

I see training wheels in the back ground