could someone give the steps for stretching fox and coyote hides? such as to figure out what size of stretcher to use, time before turning fur side out, how tight to pull when put on a stretcher, how long to leave on stretcher,do you leave the claws on, also do you split the tails on these, and coon or do you strip the bone out? and how long do you leave coon on the stretcher? Thanks for any help i can get

You have decide if you want to use wood or wire. I can't help you with wire. On wood, each species has it's own board size. You can try to make your own but I don't recommend it....too much time for the same amount of $$, and you will most likely end up with an inferior board. You can buy fox and coon boards from most trap supply houses. Coyote boards are large and expensive to ship so you probably have to get them from a custom board maker. I got mine from craig at todaro3@verizon.net.

On wood you need to use a belly wedge. Strip and split the tail on everything. Coon are fur in, fox and yote fur out. Pull the pelt over the board and tack it down. Tight but not over tight. It will shrink as it dries which will make it tighter.

For fur out, you put it on the board fur side in first for a few hours, mabye overnight. It should still be tackie but not wet w hen you take it off to turn. I rub a little borax on the leather around the armpits or other places that didn't flesh as well. If it gets too dry before you turn and you have trouble, wrap in a wet towel for a couple hours and partially rehydrate. Drying times are variable depending on air moisture, how well you fleshed, ciruclation, etc.

It's not hard to tell when they're dry.

Coon boards run in a couple different sizes. Most the coon around here stretch on a regular size board. But if you are doing any number of coon, you will need a couple large size boards for the occasional jumbo coon. Maybe 1 out of 10 from these parts goes jumbo.

Fleshing is the hardest part in my experience. You need a good beam, and good knives, and do a careful job to get everything off with out damaging the hide.