Storing hides

Going to get back into trapping a little this fall, haven’t done it for 15+ years. What is the best way to store hides in the freezer. Salt them, or borax them? Bag them fur out or in? I am just going to skin them, not flesh them or dry them this year. Got a bunch of coons at home and at the farm that need to be thinned out, quite a few yotes that I would like to try trapping, and the muskrats are doing some serious damage at Dad’s house and the pond at the farm. Appreciate the help!

I rotate about 200+ coon, plus a few hundred rats through my freezer. Here is a few things to consider.

Freeze as flat as you can and fur out.
Leave the fat on the pelt.

Do NOT salt before freezing. All the salt does is change the freeing temperature.

Make sure your pelts are dry.

Time can be an issue. I have an old 1960 Non frost free freezer. Newer frost free freezers will freezer burn the pelt and dry exposed spots out. Try to minimize the time in the freezer.

Thaw out your pelts before selling. I set mine out the day before in my garage which is heated to about 55 degrees. Usually 4pm the night before is enough time to thaw and brush 150 pelts. Rolled up or balled up pelts take a lot longer time thaw

Great info, thanks for the help!!

Great info Randy. Opinion wanted, the time spent fleshing vs. price loss of a skinned animal with the “fat” still on it. Worth the effort for a couple guys who trap for a week – 10 days a year. Our goal is to have fun and cover our gas money. Maybe enough left over to buy a cold drink at the end of the week. Most importantly I want to outsmart a yote this year.

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Skin them, leave as much fat on them as you can, invest the time to clean the fur – no blood, burrs, mud…. Should look clean like these in the pic
There is a huge ???? on that debate every year.
Here is my thoughts
1. How efficient are you at putting up fur? Can you put up a coon in 10 minutes? If XL coon that is prime and good color averages $22 (Green – skinned but not put up) and your exceptionally clean pelt gets an offer of $22 to $25.00 each compared to $25 to $32, which is most economical for you? If you can put up 8 coon an hour, you can possible fetch 50 to 65 / per hour. If your gonna take 45 minutes per coon and make $5 to 8 dollars per hour…..I want to hire you for a lot of crap jobs i have around here.

2. Volume – Are you talking 20 coon or are you anticipating 300 coon? There are a few guys around that put coon up for a few bucks each, and they do a great job….AND they are super fast. I pay a couple guys to put up most of my coon now. They are so much faster than me. Plus, I’m pulling more coon #’s since i’m running more traps and less time in the garage. If i pull an extra 20 coon a week (20 x $18.00 = $360 360/$7.00 = 51 coon that I would have to put up. Its usually easier for me to put the extra traps out and one or two more farms and pull more coon that have the time to put up pelts.

Local buyer Vs NAFA Vs Groeny. You build a relationship with your buyer, know your product, and if you don’t get at least market value…DON’T SELL and move on. Over the years I have averaged better selling to Groenn than I have at NAFA. Some years +/-, but on average I get a very good price with no commission taken out and a check in my hand when they receive the product!

BTW – the one on the right is worth much more than the one on the left!

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Had to add this since it drives my wife nuts

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I bought a pair of fleshing knives Necker 600 and cheaper knife for scraping, dozen mink boards, 6 fox wood stretchers 3 wood 3 adjustable, dozen wire muskrat stretchers, and dozen coon board with 6 being top lot adjustable stretchers and fleshing beam…….all for under $200!!!! Watch craigslist there is a lot of people who got into it when it was hot and now are backing up seeing the market. Figure this is the year to practice and learn putting up fur on the smaller coons and leave the bigger ones in the grease until later or finish after I am confident enough with them!

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Great stuff Randy!!

Nice score erick!

The coon pelts with red or brown in them are called barn coons around here and don’t bring the price that the silver and black coons do. Heard anything yet about what prices might be Randy? Clean coon pelts look the best and show their quality and colors. I washed mine in dawn dish soap and blew them dry with a hair dryer, then combed against the grain to take any loose hairs out of the pelt. Then you just pick them up by the nose and shake them. I then just laid them in a plastic bag and froze them flat, not rolled up and I just bought an older Kenmore for this up coming season incase I can get out, coons are thick as fleas around here.

This is a mink board I got for a house warming gift years ago.I think it’s kind of unique.

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very cool!