How to prepare the hide once skinned
 

Once you got your coon, bobcat, beaver, etc., how do you prepare the hide once you have skinned it? Is there a certain procedure preferred over others for conditioning the hide for resale?

RE: How to prepare the hide once skinned
 

Depends on who you're wanting to sell it to and for what purpose. If you're going to sell it to a fur buyer, you don't even have to skin it, let him do the dirty work. You won't get as much money of course, but you'll have less time spent on it as well, more time hunting.
If you're wanting to sell to a taxidermist, then there are several steps. If you're wanting to sell to a fur buyer only, then there are a few less steps. Some guys simply skin, sew the hole up, flesh, stretch and dry and sell.
There is a right way and a wrong way to skin, and again, it depends on your fur buyer and also what it's going to be used for.

RE: How to prepare the hide once skinned
 

i assume i will be selling to a taxidermy or a fur buyer. I guess to be more sepcific, can you just skin them, cut the fat off, and hang/stretch them until they dry, or does that not work. I am VERY new at this and dont really know what to do once the animal is skinned, or how to keep the hide from going bad.

RE: How to prepare the hide once skinned
 

if you dont know how to flesh and stretch, you have to learn. im not good at fleshing so i wont attempt to tell you how...stretching requiers properly sized stretchers for the critter you have...

you also must be GOOD at fleshing and stretching and skinning and know how your fur buyer wants and likes things done.

if you dont skin, flesh and stretch like they want, they wont buy them or you will hardly get paid for them.

depending on how much fur you put up a year, it may or may not be worth learning to flesh and stretch...you need time, tools, fleshing beam, stretchers, place to dry them etc...if you only kill a furbearer or 2 or 5 a year, it probably isnt worht it....you dont see THAT much more money....then again we would kill 100 coon a year and not flesh or stretch any of them. we were bringin home a few a night...just no time and not worth it to flesh and stretch them all. dad flesh and stretched the REAL good sized ones just to see TOP dollar.

if you dont kill alot a year, or dont want to bother fleshing and stretching and drying, you can learn to skin properly(fairly simple) and then roll up the hide right off the carcass and freeze it. check with your fur buyr, but that should be fine..weve done it with coon hides for alot of furbuyers.

a tail stripper and a knife is all thats needed to skin. i havent came across a good website and never got books or anything so i cant help there...i was taught by dad and my buddy...but there are books and videos out there on skinning and fur handling...

RE: How to prepare the hide once skinned
 

I agree with mauser06. Check with your local fur buyer and taxidermist to see how they want them and what they look for in a properly prepared hide. I would also suggest that you focus on properly skinning them first. Once that is mastered, pick a hide that is damaged or not prime and use it to practice your fleshing and stretching. An important thing to remember is that you can't make a $10 pelt into a $100 pelt, but you can easily make a $100 pelt into a $10 pelt if its not done properly.