Fleshing Beaver

[Whitetail200]

I don't do a lot of beaver but will trap them when the farmer I know needs some help in removing some . I mainly do coyotes but Had 4 beaver pelts in the freezer I decided to put up . Those of you that do beaver or lots of them do you just trim the ears or just cut them off . Some old info I read that a fella from NAFA just cut them off but in doing so it leaves two more holes to nail closed . Any recommendations welcomed .

[TrapperMike]

Leave as is.

[kingrat]

Your supposed to cut them off and I wouldnt worry about nailing the holes

[tomcat]

Originally Posted by kingrat

Your supposed to cut them off and I wouldnt worry about nailing the holes

Leave the ears on the pelt. The NAFA pelt handling manual states "Ears are cut close to the bone" when skinning. Their is no mention of removing the ears from the pelt.

[Whitetail200]

Thank You to all for your information & recommendations about the beaver ears on the pelt . I recently talked to a fur grader at FHA ( Ken Frederich ) on a non related matter but brought up the subject of beaver ears . Ken says - He removes them personally & traps with Mark Downey . No need to nail closed . No degrading . Cut off or leave ( Leaving the biggest thing is taking longer to dry in that area & left fat , meat with cartilage can cause spoilage ) . So I guess it comes down to personal choice for the individual trapper .

[tomcat]

Originally Posted by Whitetail200

So I guess it comes down to personal choice for the individual trapper .

Correct.

[kingrat]

The beaver grader and head guy at fha remove them. That says it all. It literally takes 2 seconds and leaves you with nothing to rot or slip in the ear area. But like you said it's up to you.

[Marty S]

The nice thing about beaver ears is that if you leavecthem on, they dont stink up the joint like coyote ears do.

Ex-FHA-er Jim Gibb is frost scraping his beaver these days, i suspect he’ll have a video on his channel about it right shortly. He checks in here on occasion, even posts… maybe he will add???

One noteworthy point about Jim, he has now transitioned into a GFW buyer in his old age!

Actually Jim did recently share a beaver video, that touched on frost scraping, said to watch at 1:05:00. Natives are fleshing, hooping and frost scraping beaver.

“…as a boy Luke recalls, all the scrapings were saved and were fried in a pan on the campstove as a treat for the children who helped with the pelt preparation…”

Be sure to include any and all kids and grandkids in your beaver put up processes!

[Bushmaster]

Not sure but it might be his video that's on Trapperman right now.

[gibb]

http://youtu.be/v5_P0d-dvyg

[sourdough doug]

Thank you Jim for posting. Will sure try this ..Hoping that we get some cooler temps before the weather turns..

[TrapperMike]

Looks interesting. Not sure, sitting on a chair in a warm room doing it over my knee or doing it in my walk-in freezer. Have to really think about it. Thanks for the video.

[gibb]

It's surprising how fast the scraping goes I do about 3 beaver in less than 30 minutes and I know I will get the time down once I work out all the details.

I just go back in if I feel cold than come back after a warm up.

[Okotok]

Back in the 70's I remember helping Victor Danberger scrape beaver hides behind his store in Peace River. He had a modified garden hoe and scraped partially frozen hides that were tacked to a sheet of plywood. Even scraped a few myself but not nearly as deft as he was.