First, if you have a gator to skin, congratulations on a successful alligator hunt. If you plan on heading out for a gator, then good luck. Now, like a cat, there is more than one way to skin an alligator. The first method is a belly skin. This save the belly to make alligator products. The scutes or osteoderms are the bony plates embedded in the back skin of an alligator. They give the alligator the bumpy appearance and protect the alligator. This first skinning method leaves the belly skin of the alligator intact and is the preferred method if the hide is to be sold or tanned and made into leather goods.
This method consists of making an incision on each side of the alligator (leaving one to two rows of osteoderms or scutes along the belly side) and on the top of each leg and then removing the hide with the belly skin intact. The underside of the skull also should be skinned with the rest of the belly. The back skin of the alligator with the osteoderms or scutes in it can then be removed and discarded or kept according to your wishes. Because of the difficulty of tanning the osteoderms, the back skin is not considered very useful and most often is discarded. Continue reading How to Skin an Alligator