"its skinned now what" Mink!

[chub618]

i took a mink this morning in an actual set for one, "go figure"! anyhow this is the first mink i will be selling in some 20 yrs. i know you leave the saddle on but do you flesh the rest of the mink as clean as a coon or just take a bell scraper and get all the big fat spots off?

[dj88ryr]

I use a DULL one handle scraper, I think some guys have said they use a big serving spoon, there isn't much to remove, just the fat globs, there usually isn't much.
Remember, when you board them, the back legs go on the tail side.

[chub618]

thanks DJ for the reply. i got it on the board and he looks good to me. not much fat on him cept around the front legs and along the skirt! man could i learn to love trapping those fury tailed snakes

[trappnman]

theres always a gob of fat under the front legs- Hold the leg and scrape that off. Big males here have a lot of fat on bottom third, but easy to remove- I use a dull butter knife, Lori uses a flesher like DJ uses.

Make sure you use a belly board- on small animals like mink an arrow works well (and was traditional for us as Dad's hobby was custom arrows, bows) or a small dowel. If it tightens up, tap the side of the board by the shoulders a couple times on each side on a table- loosens it right up.

if you didn't split the tail, do so and pin it open.

[dj88ryr]

trappnman said:

Lori uses a flesher like DJ uses.

Great minds think alike, I knew there was something I liked about that woman.... ;D ;D ;D

[musher]

Instead of pinning the tail open I push it up, short and fat, and pin a piece of screen over it. With the legs pinned on the back the screen method is supposed to cause the back fur to appear more dense.

[trappnman]

damn it musher- you of all people should stick with the traditional methods...

pull it down and pin it....

[musher]

:-[I hear you, Steve! Here's why I changed. Way back, when a buddy of mine started trapping, he caught 3 mink. This was when mink often fetched you a hundred Canuck bucks. He stretched them on wire and left the tail just hang there. Those pelts, and his other stuff, were uglier than a monkey's butt. I remember thinking of how the auction was going to grade him. The result was his 3 wire/no tail minks beat my wood/tail pinned ones in price.

I did a little reading and converted!

Buddy didn't take the obligatory course and has not trapped since. Fur was high then. Funny story: Buddy had caught a nice female fisher. He got over $300 for it and wanted to buy something special for himself. The woman he was living with found the check, had a fit, and made him buy a dishwasher. He isn't with the same woman but he still has that dishwasher!

At least my sled is "babiche."