When you learn skinning at level 4, go back to starting area and kill critters. Rabbits, deer, cows, whatever. You get no xp, but can skin them and that way you can level you LW skill real fast when you learn it and even make items at or beyond you level right off the bat. Everyone is so concerned with leveling fast, they outrun their profession skill and wind up going back to areas they have already quested in to level professions. This is stupid. Get a headstart on LW by skinning critters, you may get some dumb looks, but those are the people who are buying your Embossed leather vest in the AH.

I think im gonna go for the critter thing, it sounds very good to me, and good for the money ofc :)

Bah....if you pick up Skinning and LW when you are first able to get it, you should have no problem keeping your skills up with your level until you reach the high 300's. I never had any problems leveling just as fast while making sure that my skinning and LW were staying par with my level. It dosent really matter where you go to hunt/quest there is always something close by to kill and skin. I started a hunter on Blackhand server about a month ago and he is lvl 68 now with skinning at 375 and leather working at 361. What I did was skin everything I killed that was skinnable.....put all the leather in my packs...when full made a sell run...sold junk, placed all leather in bank. Upgraded my packs when gold allowed it...bought up bank slots until I had all 7 bank slots and inventory with 16 slot bags. When I had an abundance of leather, I would stop and take the time to work my LW skill until I ran out of leather. Placed all items that looked to have a good sell rate in AH...sent all other items to my enchanter for DE. I never sent any items I recieved from quest rewards to my chanter... I sold all those I didnt use.

Rinse and repeat. Skinning/LW is a very profitable duo if you know how to work the AH. Like I said I am level 68 with epic land mount, already have enough to buy my Flying mount at lvl 70 and a 1.5k jump on getting my epic flyer. When I reach lvl 70 and dont have to worry about leveling any more, I can really concentrate on making the money.

You do not have to make all of the expensive matt wise LW items to make the good money....plain and simple but useful items sell more and the Cleft hide/heavy leather sells very well

Well I have said enough...just dont listen too anybody that tells you that LW is a money pit/time consumer...if done right it is real simple

This is such a great answer... how i wish all the other questions were answered this way...

I am a lvl 33 mage, and didn't know any better, took skining and lw as my trade.  I like the fact that i can make armor for my friends and sell it at the AH, I just hate the fact that I can't wear my own stuff... when I reach lvl 70 I plan on making a hunter,,, and oh my God!!! be careful...lol

My skinning is at 230, and i can only get it up at Arathi R. and stranglethorn vale, so its fustrating, cause I have to deal with Horde as i am trying to lvl.  However my Lw is only at about lvl 100.  I admit I completely ignored it before, didn't realize how important it is... I have every slot in the bank filled with leather... I have so much, i am trying to sell it to other LW.  Been working the AH for Scripts on armor... lets see what happens.

im a 67th lv. druid on the feathermoon server and ive found that there is lots of money to be made in LW if youre willing to farm the leather yourself.i can so to un'goro crater for 1 hour by the raptors in southern un'goro and ill have more then 100 thick and rugged leathers plus several hides...the most profitable item ive seen so far for me is the armor kits..i sell in sets of 3 and no matter how many sets i put up they will sell..ill admit i never thought of using my own items to d/e and either sell those mats or use for my own enchants but even so ive been able to buy my mounts as soon as my lv allowed and money has never been a problem..i will be getting my epic flying mount i a few levels and im almost all the way there as far as the money is concerned.

the above comment is right on i am lvl 63 hntr and thats exactly what i did.All u have to do is skin everything you kill bu very stringent about this. Spend extra time in ashenvale killing bears, in tanaris killin scorpions, in ungoro killin ANYTHING but bugs, spend time in winterspring killin yeti's and sell and make stuff when bags/bank r full. i have never had to borrow money and have more than enough to supply my 5--- other low lvl alts

I recall my early days leveling skinning.  So many of the quests (at least on Horde side) involve killing animals that my skinning and leatherworking skills practically leveled themselves.  On a quest to kill 20 yetis in Feralas followed by 35 hippogryphs?  Take your skinning knife.  Just do it at the same time you're doing the quests.  You might need to do a little extra but not a whole lot.  And don't forget Outlands.  Everyone needs boars, wolves, raptors etc. killed.  You'll be at 375 in no time.

Cute! :) It is cool to see someone thinking ahead.  But i had this run the other way around.  If you think about your leather working and skinning the full time and work it along with you it will(if you picked it) out run you. I am 50 and can't hunt in most zones that have the leather i am at now.  I had to grind out 3 lvl's just to train in outlands  when i maxed. But this is like every else, if you train every weapon, and train on all your skills when or befor you lvl they will stay right with you, or in most cases be ahead of your lvl. Happy hunting!!

i say is to right as you make a guy run to the main city and just learn lw and skinning because as you lvl you will be killing some stuff around lvl 5 is when you can skin the beasts so i just kept that lvl 25 rouge and have 200 lw.......