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Old 08-29-2019, 10:29 AM
Whitetail200 Whitetail200 is offline
 
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Default Freezing Coyote Pelts

Those of you that may do this due to getting behind in the work process how is the fleshing of the pelt , does it get a little harder to flesh afterwards . I normally just hang the whole coyote depending how frozen & let it thaw then skin & flesh . I've never skinned & frozen the pelts to do later , always bit the bullet & worked late into the night/ early mourning to finish. Just thinking of reducing some cost in propane heating / gas for generator for my skinning shed out of town when I leave in November . Although if I try this experiment it may cause me more work in the long run of doing fresh pelts & waiting for frozen ones to thaw to work .? Cheers
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Old 08-29-2019, 01:19 PM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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Skinning and freezing the pelts won't cause you more work and fleshing isn't a whole lot harder after thawing. The skinny ones might dry out a bit but nothing drastic. I'm talking a couple of months at the most, not a year though.

I used to skin and flesh at the same time but sometimes it was just too much work for me and I'd have to spend days at a time in the skinning shed when I could have been hanging snares. The best advice that I've gotten wrt managing my time was from TFNG when he suggested freezing pelts. Now, if I have a lot of coyotes all at once I'll skin them and only flesh as many as I want to do. The rest are rolled up tail to nose and put in a shopping bag in the freezer until I have time to catch up (during super moons ). When I'm ready for fleshing I hang the pelts from the ceiling by the nose and as they thaw they unroll. It doesn't take long to thaw them either.....maybe a couple/few hours at 15 degrees?

Now that the auction dates have changed this is a good arrangement. I generally snare right up until the end of February if the fur is decent. Between the end of February and the last receiving date the third week of March there is plenty of time to put up fur. No more working like a fool to get as many pelts put up for the last receiving date in January.

I do the same with my Spring beaver and muskrats. Since there is no last receiving date in May I put them all up in October.

I find trapping much more enjoyable by managing my time this way.
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Old 08-29-2019, 04:13 PM
st99 st99 is offline
 
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I do things very similar as Dave, except for the way I roll the pelt. I roll them from the nose and make sure that no skin is exposed to the air when resting in a ball. I put them in the freezer like that (not in a bag). To thaw, just put them on the table the day before I'm planning to skin and it's good. You can also leave them on the table rolled up that way for a day or 2 if you're planning to flesh the following day.
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Old 08-29-2019, 08:32 PM
Whitetail200 Whitetail200 is offline
 
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Default Freezing Coyote Pelts

Thanks for the info , I may give this a try to ease things up for me .
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Old 08-29-2019, 09:26 PM
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PCP_ECOM PCP_ECOM is offline
 
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Default Freezing pelts

I Trap,skin,trap,skin and more trapping and skinning,I roll and freeze in shopping bags,when i'm ready to put up coyote's,usually when we have a slow down period i'll pull a bunch on Friday morning and open bags and place on garage floor,by Saturday morning up early coffee in hand and off to garage I go spend weekend putting up fur,flesh,wash,hang and stretch,i'll do 15 a weekend as this is what I have in boards and is enough for me to keep me busy and manageable,few cold ones helps the process along as well,tight chains and full stretchers to all of you,cheers
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Old 08-29-2019, 11:19 PM
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Camdec Camdec is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HunterDave View Post
The rest are rolled up tail to nose and put in a shopping bag in the freezer until I have time to catch up (during super moons ). When I'm ready for fleshing I hang the pelts from the ceiling by the nose and as they thaw they unroll. It doesn't take long to thaw them either.....maybe a couple/few hours at 15 degrees?
I really like this idea. I’ve always rolled them nose to tail. Even after a couple months I’ve had some drying on the outside edges of the rump. I find those spots a bugger to flesh. I believe tail to nose will solve that. Thanks.
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Old 08-29-2019, 11:51 PM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Camdec View Post
I really like this idea. I’ve always rolled them nose to tail. Even after a couple months I’ve had some drying on the outside edges of the rump. I find those spots a bugger to flesh. I believe tail to nose will solve that. Thanks.
My pleasure. The muzzle may get a little dried out while thawing and look longer and narrower from the weight of the pelt pulling on it. I just rehydrate it a bit before fleshing. I’d rather that than the back end drying out.
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Old 08-30-2019, 07:21 AM
AlbertaAl AlbertaAl is offline
 
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Default freezing

I have used plastic shopping bags for years but will be using a higher quality plastic wrap in the future. One of my hides got freezer burn last season and caused hair slippage. The hide was in a freezer for 3 months. I believe the shopping bags would be okay for short term storage.
I will be using extra large zip lock style or even vacuum packing if longer storage time is planned.
Before rolling up the hide... I've swished it back and forth over the snow to clean and same time moisten the hide for better freezing.
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Old 08-31-2019, 12:16 PM
Marty S Marty S is offline
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Different freezers do different things to fur/animals. I once froze up a mountain of muskrats, whole and made a deal with a guy to skin them up etc, and in one freezer full of rats, the rats, dried out and began to mummify, faces at least, the other freezers, rats were fine and skinned up no prob. Rats taken in the spring and skinned before Oct.

The nice thing was I didn't have to put all them rats!

Moral of the story, in some old freezers, freeze drying - freezer burn - was a problem. In such freezers you must bag skins, and you better bag your coyotes.

I hate rolling up skins, hate the concept of having to deal with rolled up skins, unless they are mine and I know they were in superb shape when they were froze. I bought the some skins off a guy that liked to over thaw his coyotes to skin, skin easier that way of course and then the skins were in poor shape, dark, carcassy, grey, black spots on skins. Those kind of skins should never be rolled up, and froze up

When rolling skins up and freezing, realize the that the center takes forever to freeze. You are rolling up the best insulation in the world into a little ball and needing the skin to freeze, centre of fur ball included. Nasty. Takes long time for centre to freeze as well as thaw. Nasty thing to do with marginal goods.

What I do with coyote skins is lay them flat in freezers, un-bagged. Fold wet-skin on wet-skin so skin does not dry out. I skin crotch and this keeps back from drying out. The skin freezes the quickest, "best management practice" for our industry. Put 6-8 coyotes on a layer and fill numerous freezers with a layer daily. Fold or scrunch faces up, legs.

Often I will throw skins outside for night, laying skins flat to cool, par-freeze or even freeze. Do so on tarps to keep skins from freezing down. Beware of mice! Froze outside, I will soften skins before packing them in freezer.

Coyotes freeze fastest this way, coyotes thaw fastest this way, a very good thing to do, just don't leave skins in a freezer all summer like this. If keeping long term, thaw flat skins halfway, so still par-froze and bag them.
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Old 09-01-2019, 05:49 AM
AlbertaAl AlbertaAl is offline
 
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Default freezing

Marty....very good write-up.
I'll be using a few ideas out of everything you said.
I've always rolled up the hide...but I can see, as you stated, the middle will be insulated and not freeze very well.
I think that laying the hide flat lengthwise with snow thrown on it or water sprinkled with the fur IN, either in the snow or in the freezer till it is half frozen would be a great idea, before rolling it up and placing in a plastic bag.
Keeping air out of the frozen pelt is also important.
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  #11  
Old 09-02-2019, 09:44 AM
Marty S Marty S is offline
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Snow and water make ice and ice balls that take can complicate thawing. But par freezing prior to rolling a pelt up is the very best way to freeze pelts into a ball/bag.
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