The following pictures detail as best I can  the process involved in flat skinning a fox. This method is used for skinning foxes to use as flat rugs or wall mounts.

First I start by making a cut high up towards the paw and cutting down the inside of each hind leg to the center line as shown in the pictures above.

After I have cut both rear legs to the center line the process is repeated for the front legs. I usually just pick a nice marking on the inside of the legs and work up one side of it as you can see in this photo using my finger to guide the knife. I now cut a ring around each leg to make pulling the skin off later a bit easier.

Now I cut up the center line of the fox virtually from the anus up the bottom lip. While making this cut every attempt should be made to make it as straight as possible to produce the best finished results.

Once the cut up the center line is complete I then start removing the skin from the legs as shown above. I usually try and get my finger around the inside of the leg as shown above then simply pulling the skin off. The skin will come off quite easily while the fox is warm but will be a little harder if it has been allowed to cool.

Once the legs have been pulled from the skin I move onto the tail. I start on the underside of the tail and cut up about 2-3 inches giving myself enough room to put my fingers and my home made tail stripper into the gap.

Now its simply a matter of getting a firm grip and pulling upwards and the skin should slide off the bone leaving you with the bone in one hand and the skin in the other.

Once the tail has been freed its just a matter of standing on the rear legs and puling the skin upwards towards the head light and t-shirt.

Once you pull the skin up past the neck and over the skull you will see  the two white pieces that make up the ear canal. Simply slice through these as close to the skull as possible because its easy to remove more once you are home then to fix up a hole. Once you have cut past the ears you simply continue to rock the knife back and forth removing and pieces that remain holding working down towards the eyes and further on towards the nose, being careful to remove the lips with the skin also.

And above you have the completed result. From here its is important to remove and pieces of flesh that remain and salting down the flesh side of the skin for preparation for tanning later.

I have a picture of the tail stripper I have made here. They are very easy to make and make stripping the tail alot easier.

Special thanks to Richard Rashleigh for taking the digital photos.