Raccoon skin.

So a while back (Mid winter) I came across a recently road-killed raccoon with a beautiful coloration and thick winter coat. ( You can probably guess where this is going.) I decided to skin my first animal and see how tanning hides works. Imagine me trying to tell my wife I'd be busy for a bit and when I told her what I was doing! She was supportive of my undertaking as whe always is, but understandably grossed out by the idea of a dead raccoon and the idea of me messing with it. I thought it purposeful (to learn to skin and tan) and a good that could come from the raccoon's death.
Anyways ... The skinning went surprising well and I was not grossed out as I expected I might be. I froze the hide for future tanning after making sure no flesh was still attached and all was well until a few days ago when our freezer broke! I had to figure out what I would do with the skin in a hurry. I unfortunately did not have much time and decided on simply experimenting with smoking the skin because I could set up the "smoker" ( a closed barbecue with punky wood and old charcoal briquettes in it) and leave for the day while the smoke worked into the hide. I remembered to only have a very small smoldering fire that only smoked and I made the fur like a chimney for the smoke over the small vent holes in the barbecue's top. I also made sure I would not cook the hide but only expose it to the smoke. At the end of the process I had a stiff but otherwise leathery looking skin with fur in tact. The fur is large enough for perhaps a pair of mittens some day. After working the hide by twisting and stretching it I was pleased to see it came out rather decent for as little effort as was put in. I know that I have a very long way to go, but found smoking the hide a reasonable method for survival situations.