Secondary animal parts..

[wooly]

I think it's safe to say most everybody likes skulls, antlers, and mounts in general, but what about all those other useable miscellaneous animal parts still left on the carcass.

I have real hard time being wasteful no matter what critter it is I decide to kill.

I took a hike yesterday and noticed my coyote carcass from early January was still laying untouched where I disposed of it. A few times I had passed by and spotted a downy woodpecker hammering a hole in the fat on the rear quarter, but other than that, it looked like the day I left it there.

Already knowing the carcasses condition before I got here, I came with a purpose in mind to reduce it to a more manageable stage for the maggots come spring. I intended to pick apart anything I may have a known, or unknown use for, and save it for a rainy day. As disgusting as that may sound, I broke out my blade and hatchet and got to work.

The first thing on my list was to strip as much sinew off of it as I could for a primitive project I have in mind.

When I collected all that I could, I packaged it up and looked the animal over for anything else I might find some use for down the road. When I skinned this critter, I cut the hide around the bottom of the legs so he's been laying there frozen solid.., naked.., wearing only a pair of socks since then.

I thought maybe with a little imagination I could come up with something to do with the claws. They might make neat necklace charms on a leather strip, or some other ornamental feature to another piece.

After de-clawing one of the two back feet that I originally skinned down the wrong side, I thought it would be a good learning experience to attempt to skin the other three feet with the claws on. Much to my surprise, I did a damn good job and now have a new skill in my arsenal for future skinning purposes. As labor intensive as it was, I was glad I tackled it and learned something. Not having to worry about screwing this process up took a lot of the pressure off me, and these little padded pouches might make some unique golf ball holders.., or a knife sheath.., or simply something else when I get around to working on them again.

I now have several nice pieces of skins salted and dried from critters from the past season I will experiment with primitive tanning techniques on when the weather finally breaks. Rawhides, brain tans, bark tans, and buckskins are all on the list of summer fun techniques I'll be playing with in my free time in the coming months.

Last piece that caught my eye on this carcass was the windpipe. Although I have no clue as of right now how to preserve this thing, I can see me finding a project to incorporate it into if it survives a hot boil and holds up. To me there would be nothing cooler than having a genuine coyote windpipe for the tube on a homemade wood or bone grunt call. I'll see how that goes,lol

After dismembering Mr. Coyote to this more acceptable state in my mind, I decided to head over to a deer carcass to grab some more supplies.

I needed bones. Particularly, leg bones for a bone with antler handled knife I've been constructing in my mind. Heck, it may be bone blade with bone handle for all I know right now, but that will be determined at a later date. The coyotes had this carcass clean as a whistle, but scattered around under the snow made finding all the parts I wanted a bit challenging. I walked away with 2 leg bones, 4 hoof shells (toe nails),and another bundle of stringy sinew that was still clinging to some of the joints for some hide glue.

So, there's really no purpose to this post other than sharing my pathetic weekend gathering adventure with you all, and to remind myself I need to find some material for a handle on my carving knife.

When I get bored out there I like to practice my ninja knife throwing skills so it'll need to be something that can take a beating,lol

Maybe you guys have grabbed some other pieces from your kills or carcasses in the past and found some use for them. If so I'd love to hear about them!

Better yet, post some pics!

[stoneam2006]

I don't have any idea but more of a comment....I too have 2 coyote carcasses out sence first week of January and nothing has touched them....fox coons deer all gone carried away but the yotes are still there....maybe bc top predators in the area?

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[Pygmy]

...GHOUL !!...

[BizCT]

Wooly - when I was in Alberta wolf hunting, the guide was showing me necklaces he made with the knuckles from coyotes. Pretty cool.

After I shot a coyote, he cut the penis bone out and cleaned it up. I still have it.

He also used a grizzly penis bone to stir soup.

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Edited February 22, 2016 by Biz-R-OWorld

[RoadKill44]

Harvest the toes and a leg bone and make a Hoof Rattle. I saw one in a museum as Indian artifact and I thought why not. I had no other purpose for those parts so here's the results. Unusual and cool.

 

 

Deer leg bone, hooves and rawhide.

Edited February 22, 2016 by RoadKill44

[Dom]

Can I ask?I guess I'm wondering why you didn't or skin the feet when pelting/skinning.A full hide pelt is worth more just like skinning a deer start at the butt hole and skin to the snout.As far as bones you can carve make anyting out of them

[RoadKill44]

Don't forget the lower jaw. It too makes a nice knife handle.

 

This one has a few small shark teeth imbedded for style.

[wooly]

Biz- my yote was a female so no penis bone. Actually, I've never even heard of that so I wouldn't have even thought to look on a male.

Sounds different and just the kind of idea I was looking for.

 

Love that rattle Roadkill- I'll start saving as many of them as I can find now. Thanks for the idea.

 

Dom- this was the first yote I ever skinned. As far as I knew leaving the feet on does nothing for value of a skin.

Since this was just for my own personal use, all I really cared about was the hide..., but on second thought decided to rescue the feet as well just for the hell of it.

 

I don't know for sure why nothing will eat those things, but I'm kinda glad nothing did,lol

[RoadKill44]

Love that rattle Roadkill- I'll start saving as many of them as I can find now. Thanks for the idea.

 

You need to boil the toes from three deer. 24 toes in all. good luck

[wolc123]

Nothing eats coyote carcasses at my place either, not even crows. Anything else is usually gone in a day or two, including deer, coons, foxes, squirrels, rabbits, possums, and even skunks. I just plow the dehydrated coyote carcasses under in the spring. I did see a guy trying coyote meat on a youtube video and he did not look very happy about it. It must be exceptionally bad tasting.

[turkeyfeathers]

You need to boil the toes from three deer. 24 toes in all. good luck

I post a pic awhile back of coffin bones/deer toes. Their pretty neat       Cool stuff Roadkill

[Dom]

Biz- my yote was a female so no penis bone. Actually, I've never even heard of that so I wouldn't have even thought to look on a male.

Sounds different and just the kind of idea I was looking for.

 

Love that rattle Roadkill- I'll start saving as many of them as I can find now. Thanks for the idea.

 

Dom- this was the first yote I ever skinned. As far as I knew leaving the feet on does nothing for value of a skin.

Since this was just for my own personal use, all I really cared about was the hide..., but on second thought decided to rescue the feet as well just for the hell of it.

 

I don't know for sure why nothing will eat those things, but I'm kinda glad nothing did,lol

Sorry didn't want to stir the pot as they say.When buying/selling the pelt's most will want the feet attached to know what they are buying.The rib bones can be used as fleshing tools.

[RoadKill44]

Nothing eats coyote carcasses at my place either, not even crows. Anything else is usually gone in a day or two, including deer, coons, foxes, squirrels, rabbits, possums, and even skunks. I just plow the dehydrated coyote carcasses under in the spring. I did see a guy trying coyote meat on a youtube video and he did not look very happy about it. It must be exceptionally bad tasting.

Tried cooking fox maybe 25 years ago. I took a second bite just hoping the leg might be better than the back. Discovering both bad taste and tough chew, the project when into the trash. I suppose one could survive on it but I'd try to find something else to cook first.  

[Pygmy]

Biz- my yote was a female so no penis bone. Actually, I've never even heard of that so I wouldn't have even thought to look on a male.

Sounds different and just the kind of idea I was looking for.

 

Love that rattle Roadkill- I'll start saving as many of them as I can find now. Thanks for the idea.

 

Dom- this was the first yote I ever skinned. As far as I knew leaving the feet on does nothing for value of a skin.

Since this was just for my own personal use, all I really cared about was the hide..., but on second thought decided to rescue the feet as well just for the hell of it.

 

I don't know for sure why nothing will eat those things, but I'm kinda glad nothing did,lol

That has been my experience too..Several years ago I shot a big male coyote while hunting spring gobblers in Ontario. On the properties I hunt up there, it is a condition of getting permission to hunt..You agree to shoot every coyote you see.

I did not want to deal with crossing the border with the pelt, so I just dragged the 'yote back into the juniper bush near my blind.

The next year I put a blind back in the same place...The skeletal remains lay right where I had left the carcass. I swear nothing had touched a single bone.

The skull was relatively clean, so I smuggled it back home with me. One of my buddies who does skulls/Euro mounts cleaned it up for me and it sits on my mantle now.

An observation from viewing the skeleton..Copper plated #6 shot WILL penetrate a large coyote's skull AND shoulder blade, at least at a range of 15-20 yards..

[Dinsdale]

Shot a pile of big game now and running out of taxidermy space so always looking for ideas....

 

Turning the tail of a Gemsbok into a fly swish with a handle in the style of the locals....

 

Like this;

 

Just got it back from tannery on Friday along with some other misc skins that need projects....

 

May make horns into a set of wall sconces if another idea doesn't work out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Marion]

Easy there Prince Hakim of Zamunda

You Can't Beat My Meat!

[Pygmy]

I have a REALLY nice turkey tote given to me by a friend of mine from Louisiana.

It is about a 5 inch length of deer leg bone, highly polished, with an excellent reproduction of a turkey wing feather scrimshawed on it. It is fitted with with a lanyard so you could use it to sling a gobbler and tote him out of the woods, but it's too pretty to use for anything but display.

[Dinsdale]

Easy there Prince Hakim of Zamunda

You Can't Beat My Meat!

 

 

Made me laugh out loud with that.

[Pygmy]

Dinsdale...Could the Mermaid and I borrow that fly swish thingy ? Just for a weekend, of course..Our anniversary is coming up..

[turkeyfeathers]

Made me laugh out loud with that.

as did I

[Dinsdale]

Dinsdale...Could the Mermaid and I borrow that fly swish thingy ? Just for a weekend, of course..Our anniversary is coming up..

 

 

Even after boiled, I don't think I'd want it back just KNOWING where its been.

 

Hell I may give up the whole idea now and through it in the box with all the other junk I have from hunts; I'll never look at it the same!

[Elmo]

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[Steve D]

[Bowguy 1]

The penis bone thing is pretty popular. Most guys save em for some reason. Guys stir coffee w em, have em dipped in gold, etc. Bears, coons, foxes, coyotes have em. Used to have customers save em all.

[growalot]

yep mens brains....

 

 

 

women collect shoes...men penis's ....lol

Edited February 23, 2016 by growalot