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Hardyrod1974

Shaving a vole

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Living in the woods means mice. So this time of year I set traps around the exterior of the house. Occasionally I get a vole. They have tend to have a nice dark grey pelt.
 I'm not sure how easy it would be to skin one, so I was wondering about about washing and rinsing one (intact) and then using a disposable razor to shave some of the fur off. Has anyone done something like this?

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Should be pretty easy to skin and that’s what I’d do instead of shaving it. Peel the skin off, dry with borax, and you’re good to go. I’ve done a mole and a starling this way so far and it’s worked great. 

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I prefer not to shave hair.  Skinning them is not really difficult or even that messy as they're so small.  Here's a mole skin one of my cats left  for me. 

IMG-20201119-091446-cr.jpg

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A few slices on the underside, being careful not to cut through  the tissue, work your finger in there and around and most of it will slip/pull right off.  Scrape off any fat/tissue with dull edge of knife, the skin is rather thin and delicate, so use a light touch when scraping.  Wash with warm water, Dawn, and a splash of bleach, rinse well, wring out.  Spread borax on board, stretch (gently) and tack skin fur side down to board, cover with borax for a few days, changing if necessary.  Vole- la.   

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Just occurred to me that if someone outside of tying community read the title of this thread they’d probably react with a “What???” Made me laugh.  Just like using your wife’s hair blower to dry off a washed roadkill.  Lol.  Don’t get caught !

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