whenever you try to skin and quarter, or craft a splint (and probably other things too, i just haven't tried.) the animation will start, and say you have begun skinning/crafting, but when the animation finishes it doesn't say you have completed anything, and all you can do is cancel the action. starting the suicide animation before you do either seems to be a workaround, but skinning and quartering people simply says there is nothing useful to gut from that carcass, and no flesh appears in the inventory.