preserving hide?

[country_guy9734]

i am verry new to the trapping scene. and i see these pics where there are 50 hides hanging on the side of a barn. my question to you all is how do you preserve your hides until you sell them? do you have to learn how to tan them yourself? i am mostly just wanting the hides for myself? any info would be great!

[lyonch]

Most of those pelts are fleshed, stretched, and dried. Thats all they do before they send them to the tannery or fur buyer. make sure you search other area's of the forum out and you should find a lot of the information you are looking for with tips and pointers.

[LeviM]

dry them or freeze them

[country_guy9734]

so in order to keep them for my own collection i will have to buy the equimpment to stretch and dry it.. i have a coyote at the taxidermist getting tanned right now. but i cant afford to let them do it every time!

[LeviM]

so in order to keep them for my own collection i will have to buy the equimpment to stretch and dry it.. i have a coyote at the taxidermist getting tanned right now. but i cant afford to let them do it every time!

Or you maybe able to find a furbuyer to skin, stretch, and dry for you! that might be an option to look at

[lyonch]

If you want the hide for yourself personally and want to keep it for many years to come, then i hate to say it, but you need to have it tanned. the first mistake you made was sending it through a taxidermist to have it tanned. There are a couple of commercial tanneries that do tanning for private guys from 1 pelt to infinity. One of them is Moyle's Tannery and USA Fox and Fur. Google those two and you will see there is a lot more reasonable price out there. You do need to have them skun, fleshed, stretched, and dried before you send them.

[Tbush]

If you have skinned a coyote before, the fleshing taking off fat,meat around the shoulders, belly, and lower back is easy, then pull it over the proper stretcher and turn it in a day or two....DONE! ready to be sent to the tannery. all fur that I keep I wash it and blow dry it and comb it BEFORE pulling it over the stretcher

[country_guy9734]

ok thats sounds prety easy! i will look into a stretcher and see if i can try and do it myself. i will be messing mostly with coon, coyote and fox. maybe a bobcat if i am lucky. thanks for all the info guys.

[Tbush]

fleshing coon is a whole lot diff than coyote, fox and cats and easier that you watch, than try it w/o seeing someone do it

[LeviM]

fleshing Coon is messy!