The Beav's Skinner

The table is just a piece of flat sheet steel I found. It is pinned so it will move up and down the mast. The winch is also welded to a moveable piece of tubing so it can be moved up or down and pinned. The pulling arm is made from 1" outside diameter square stock and welded to a moveable piece of tubing. The loops to hold the animals legs are made from 1/8" cable and I use a double ferrule and a single stop button on each one, this gives me a slip loop just like a snare but can be opened. The stand off moves up and down the mast and is fastened to joist or rafter to hold the mast in place. This is all that is needed to hold the skinner in place. The pulleys on top are just ordinary belt type pulleys that are shimmed out on both sides with washers to keep them centered.

I'm still trying to perfect a fast and easy hold down system to hold the hide to the table. Right now I use a piece of flat stock and it is bolted down on one end (loose) and then the hide is placed between it and the table, and clamped down with a large vise grips. I welded some weld beads on the bottom side of the flat stock to keep the hide from slipping, and it helps, but I'm still working on it. The cable is what came on the winch and it was 1/4".

All this could be built out of smaller square stock or even pipe, there really isn't any strain on the system since all the pressure is straight down. Pipe would work but it's much easier working with square surfaces. I have also been thinking that a garage door opener may work instead of a winch motor, but haven't tried it yet. If it could be worked out, you would have the mast and motor and chain or cable for $100 and some dollars.

And here is another thought..... You could adapt this system to a flat bench. Hang your motor on the end of the bench then run the cable under the bench bring it up through the bench over a pulley and back to the end of the bench. Now you could fasten the hide down as usual and then hook up the feet and pull. This system could save on head room. The one thing I like about the vertical system is that the animal is hanging right in front of you and you can open it up and then pull it down to fasten the hide. I also gut and sell all my coon carcasses so it is very handy. I have even skinned my deer this way and it works good, I just have to start them down at floor level and put a piece of rod through the 1" tubing so I can spread their legs farther apart. I run mine off of a 12 volt battery and and this system hardly draws any current.