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Beaver pelt gone bad?

3085 Views 11 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  Gnoyes
I've been freezing my beaver pelts this season to flesh, stretch and dry when I felt fully set up for it. Fleshed, stretched and dried the first one this week...and it's not looking fantastic. Much of the hide has turned a darker color, and there are some black spots. Is this starting to turn?

It felt like I had scraped all the fat away, and had hit a point where what was left was much harder to remove and seemed like hide. This did seem thicker through the lower back.

Drying at around 60 degrees.

Thanks for your help.
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Looks fine.

When was this beaver caught?

Looks like a late winter caught beaver.
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Little bit of fat but looks fine to me
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Looks fine.

When was this beaver caught?

Looks like a late winter caught beaver.
Thank you for your response. This one was caught a couple days ago, I put it up immediately without freezing. A little oil coming off the hide, but not much. Wiping it down quick each day.

I won't be selling any, sending in to get tanned once I've got everything dried.
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Very helpful, thanks. I'll carry on as I have been and try to get a little more fat off.
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When you see that there is fat that's been missed, just take a dull hand scraper or edge of a knife blade and squeegee or milk those spots.
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When you see that there is fat that's been missed, just take a dull hand scraper or edge of a knife blade and squeegee or milk those spots.
Thanks I'll give that a try. Thawing a couple more out to put up later this weekend.
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I would always err towards milking the grease like seldom says out of a couple spots you miss rather than over-fleshing trying to get everything off. It's easier to ruin most fur by being too hard on it rather than leaving too much on.
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Send your hides to Moyle for a good job.. Expensive but arent they all now days??
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I think I'm going to give sleepy creek a try. He's been helpful over the phone and I've read good things about them.

Started with the three smallest beaver, hopefully ready to come off the hoops this weekend and I'll put three more up.
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