Making Muskrat Drying Boards?

[HunterDave]

I'm going to google research making muskrat drying boards but in the mean time I thought that I'd see if you fellas can offer some advice. There are 3 sizes at Halfords and each board costs about $15 so buying them can add up in a hurry. I'm thinking that I may buy one of each of the 3 boards at Halfords to use as templates to make more but I'm not sure what type of wood to use being that the thickness is 3/8". I want to make enough boards of each size so I can catch and skin the same day wherever possible.....maybe 20 of each size. Between now and the spring breakup when I'll be trapping them I should have plenty of time to make good ones.....even split boards if that's the best route to go.

[nof60]

Buy the wire ones. They work way better and are faster. Muskrats you are dealing in high volume so the faster the better.

[tomcat]

Excellent rat bopards can be made using cedar shakes.

[Thunder Elk Hunter]

Dave the ATA has them for 7.50 a board.

$4.50 a board from fur harvesters but then you have shipping.

Cedar or a softwood that does not warp is what you need. Never used the wire ones and they are 4.95 at fur harvesters.

TEH

[nube]

Lots for sale on Trapperman.com. I buy my traps there as well

[HunterDave]

Thanks fellas. I had a look at the wire ones in the Halfords catalogue and they are $2.60 each when you buy more than a dozen which is much more reasonable than the $15 for the wooden ones. I want to have about 3 dozen on hand so even at $7.50/board it'll get pretty expensive. I found some basswood ones on Trapperman (thanks nube!) for $24/dozen plus shipping which I think is reasonable. One thing has me puzzled though:

Halfords has 3 different sizes of boards and the trappers manual has 3 different sizes, yet the wire stretchers don't mention anything about different sizes. Are the wire ones adjustable to accommodate smaller/larger rats?

I'm not sure if I want to go wire vs wood yet but I've read what NAFA has to say and I guess that it comes down to personal preference. I probably don't want to open that can of worms but I'm thinking that because the pelts would dry faster on the wire I wouldn't need as many stretchers as I would if I go with wood ones. Does that make sense?

[TreeGuy]

Go wire, Dave. Like Nof60 said, it's about volume. I used to put up 70-100 'rats a year with only 10-12 frames. They flex and tend to 'form fit' better, and dry the hide quickly if fleshed well. Good luck.

[nube]

I have 7 wire ones and don't use them much. Put some rats on them last night and liked it though. They dried in 2 days or less. I like wood better for 2 reasons though. You can get more length in them and they seem to hold a better shape to me. The thing i hate about wood is that I have had some hides get wrecked because they stick to the board even with belly boards sometimes. If I was to start over I would do wood boards but a split board that would open and close like a coyote board to fit the size and to not have to worry about hides sticking. I fins it does not take many boards to dry rats in a small amount of time. I find you can take them off the boards in less than 3 days and usually 2.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

Halfords has 3 different sizes of boards and the trappers manual has 3 different sizes, yet the wire stretchers don't mention anything about different sizes. Are the wire ones adjustable to accommodate smaller/larger rats?

Does anyone know? I've been looking on the net and I can't find anything about using wire stretchers for different sized muskrats. It seems like it's one size fits all and I'm thinking that they must bend to accommodate smaller rats......I dunno?

[nof60]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

Does anyone know? I've been looking on the net and I can't find anything about using wire stretchers for different sized muskrats. It seems like it's one size fits all and I'm thinking that they must bend to accommodate smaller rats......I dunno?

They are kinda springy so you pull the rat for length and they will spring out and stretch it to the right tension. I average 500 rats a year and would never use anything else ever again.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by nof60

They are kinda springy so you pull the rat for length and they will spring out and stretch it to the right tension. I average 500 rats a year and would never use anything else ever again.

Yeah, at $2.60/stretcher I'm seriously thinking of going the wire stretcher route. I hope to have access to about 10 miles of drainage ditch that has never been trapped. I'm going to be using colony traps and I'd like to skin and stretch as I catch them. How many colony traps and stretchers would you recommend that I start with?

[nube]

Dave I started using my wire ones for the first time the other day. I hang them from the garage roof on a nail when the hide is on and the skins dry overnight pretty much with a warm garage. That is fast! What I ahve leared wtih the wire is that if the rat is small or even medium you won't get much length at all and I think the smaller ones are better on boards. My 2 cents

[The Spruce]

Just a heads up, Rats are no longer measured by length alone. Rats sre now put on a scanning device the measures total surface area, not just length. I use both, but find that the rats dry nearly twice as fast on wooden boards, and form much nicer. All rats XS-MED are boarded, I don't like the way they get over streched on the wire. All rats L-XXXL go on whatever is open, but the boards always get used first. The reason for the different sized boards is simply that some rats are fatter than others. This is where boards beat wire when forming stretching little guys. When I am at full production I will have over 40 rats drying at a time, boards dry in 1-2 days, wire dry in 2-3 days. Both ways work fine in the end, wire stretchers are definately easier to work with, but the furs take longer to dry. My two cents anyways for what its worth. Lets hope rats average $15 in the February sale! One can only hope...

Spruce

[nube]

Spruce, what do you do to keep the rats from sticking on your boards? I use my weasel boards as belly boards but it does not work that great. Any ideas? I am not sue how fat of a belly board I can get away with and not get docked $. I usually bang the board on the ground but it smashes and crinkles up the nose and head area which I might get docked for as well. Any thoughts?

[The Spruce]

Nube,

This where the different sized boards come in. You should never be stretching rats onto boards, they should slide down easy. If they are tight go to the next board size down. I never use belly boards on rats, just animals that are fur out. Once dried, I just place board in vice and work the v part of board near head until rat loosens. Never had an issue, never once tore or damaged a rat. This being said, all furs are dried when boarded...if wet, this might be the problem. Rats should always be dried before skinned.
All this rat talk has me wanting to go catch a few more...

Spruce

[nube]

I was going to pull the traps out today as well Spruce but I have to get some more fur done to send in. Last fur to be taken in will be on the 6th. I got 23 yotes and 120 muskrats in last week and should have another 20 yokes and another 35+ rats in the next few days done hopefully. I plan on a major spring haul on rats. Goal of 300+!! Got a small lake wit over 80 houses in it alone

[carraganakid]

I prefer the wooden boards over the metal as I can obtain more uniform and neater looking pelts. To deal with the longer drying time I purchased another 7 dozen basswood stretchers from Teton Trap Co which is based in the US. I had them shipped to a friend that lives just inside the Montana border so I didn't have any extra costs. I have the odd one that is tough to pull off but have never lost a rat due to ripping. Possibly you are giving them too much of a tug when boarding them? Another very inexpensive stretcher can be made using corrugated plastic, some construction sites use it for temp walls and throw it out after. I used them last year and they worked great and made it easy to slide the rats off. The only drawback is with too much use they become too full of pin holes, but for most people they would be ideal and cheap. If you are using the colony traps I would suggest you line up a deep freeze to store any in that you don't have time to skin as you can get some pretty large hauls.

[fulltime pops]

Good olé spruce stretcher is the way.... A jig saw & file & coarse; Medium, Fine sand paper or a mouse. Use the fine sand paper to make the stretcher soft and smooth.

[fulltime pops]

A 1×6 would be great then plan it down to 3/8.then rip it down. Here is a link hopefully its helpfull. http://www.ehow.com/how_8045195_make...rs.html#page=0

[albertahunter]

I have used the plastic cardboard material used for election signs etc. with good success. Very cheap and easy to make. There's a guy on youtube who recommended them and seems to work good. I would suggest a belly rod though as they can be a little tough to get off once dried.