Post by Steve Gappa on May 24, 2004 16:04:11 GMT -6
The first article I wrote for Fur Takers...
Handling Muskrat Pelts-
By Steve Gappa
I was at my local fur buyer a few weeks ago selling fur, and we got to talking about handling fur. I was surprised when he told me that day in and day out, mishandled muskrat pelts was one of the biggest problems he encountered. Last week at the Association meeting, the same subject came up again. Talking to new trappers, many were unsure how to handle muskrats properly, let alone the more “exotic” furbearers. This article will teach you how to handle muskrat pelts correctly and easily. The nice thing about being able to skin and put up muskrats, is that the lessons learned can be applied to just about all of the other furbearers. There are some special things to learn about the other furbearers such as handling tails, turning fur, etc. that need to be learned, but they won’t seem as mysterious after knowing how to do rats. The first steps to properly put up muskrats begin in the field. After taking the rat out of the trap, wash it off in the creek to remove any mud or silt. Do this several times, swishing the rat back and forth in the water. After doing this shake off any excess water. If there is snow, roll the rat in the snow, and most of the remaining moisture will be wicked out by the snow. When you get to your truck, roll the rat into newspapers to further dry him off. I then place the rolled up rat on the front floor of the truck to keep it warm (this also helps in drying the fur). Don’t stack them one on top of the other, rats spoil quickly- more on this later. When you arrive home, if the rat isn’t dry, wrap it in fresh newspapers and lay belly side up to give it more drying time. I put mine on the back porch where it’s warm for an hour or two- this usually does the trick. You can dry the pelts after skinning but before stretching, but they take longer to dry. Be careful that you don’t let the rats go too long before skinning them. Muskrats taint easily on their bellies. You really should skin the same day. If they are kept cool, you can wait a bit longer such as overnight. I often do this and skin before I run the line in the morning. You will know if you waited too long by the green bellies on the rats after you skin them. If the process isn’t too bad, the hide can still be used. (I’ll guarantee that you won’t let rats go too long more than once or twice- tainted rats are much harder (read that messier) to skin.
Now that your muskrat pelt is dry, you are ready to skin. 1) Lay the rat on the floor. Stand on his tail, and pick up one hind leg, and pull it tight towards you. Cut a line under the skin from the base of the foot to the base of the tail. Drop the foot, and pick up the other foot and do the same thing. Don’t worry if you cut too deep at this step, because on rats it really doesn’t matter as in some other furbearers. 2) Place the rat on a work table, on it’s belly. Work your fingers under the pelt around one leg, and work it free. Repeat on the other leg. Now with your knife, cut the pelt free where it meets the tail on the BACK. The pelt should now be free on both legs and on the back. It should still be attached at the tail on the belly. This seems harder to do than it is, so it will be easy after a few rats. 3) Now grab the muskrat around the head with one hand (like grabbing a ball) stand it up on the table, and take hold of the free pelt on the back with your other hand. Your hands should be on the same side of the rat. Now push down with your first hand (head) and pull up with the second hand (pelt). This step turns the pelt inside out, still attached at the base of the tail. Tip: when push/pulling, angle away from the tender belly. Everyone will “poke the belly” once in while, so don’t worry too much. 4) When you have pulled the pelt up to the front legs, stop. Now work your fingers around the belly (be careful, put pressure to the pelt, not the belly), and free it down to the tail. Now use your knife to free the pelt at the tail.
5) Now turn the rat on it’s back, and continue to pull the pelt until the front legs are clearly visible. Work your fingers to free the pelt around both legs, then “pop” them free. Then grab the rat around the rib cage, and gently pull the pelt until you can see the ears. Then turn the rat onto it’s belly for the rest of the steps. 6) With one hand squeeze the pelt tight around the head to more clearly define where the ears are, and cut the ears free, about halfway between the pelt and carcass. Now gently pull until you can see the eyes. This is perhaps the trickiest step, but carefully cut the eyes free. Work the knife at an angle by the eye to free the tear ducts. Pull until the eyes are free. This step will take practice, but rats with big eye holes can be sold without losing too much of their value. You’ll learn as you go. 7) Now on to the mouth, jaw and nose. Continue squeezing the pelt tight around the head. Use your knife to cut around the head, on the sides, bottom and top- pulling as you go. Don‘t pull too hard, you want to cut the pelt free, not tear it free. If you do tear it free, you will end up with a “headless” rat. You will have to do a couple wrong to see what I mean. The rat is now skinned out, and is ready to put up (flesh and stretch).
To flesh a muskrat, you need a fleshing board. Mine is simply a board that is 7 inches wide, ¾ of an inch thick, and two feet long. The top 5 inches is tapered to a blunt point. Mine is varnished to make it easier to keep clean. I sit in a chair, and place the board with a rat on it to be stretched against my stomach, and place the pointed end in a holder on the wall, about shoulder high when I am sitting in the chair. This system works good for me, providing a good angle to flesh the rat. To start, first put the rat on the board. Don’t put it on the board so the front and back are showing, but rather so the armhole is centered on each side. By doing it this way, it seems to make it much easier to do, and you are less likely to over flesh. 1) Use a fleshing tool (I use a dull butter knife, many people use sthingys) to pull the bits of meat and chunks of fat down to the bottom of the pelt.. Do it with a fairly firm hand, but not too hard. Don’t worry about taking off every piece of flesh and fat on the pelt- just any thing that looks like “chunks”. 2)When these two surfaces are fleshed, turn the hide on the board ¼ turn, this will bring up the unfleshed parts of the pelt. Be extra careful not to over flesh, especially the membrane on the shoulders. This needs to be left on (also on mink). It is much better to just take off the main fat and leaving some than to take off too much. Extremes on either end are bad. Now your rat is fleshed. (If it is still wet, hang to dry, and go to the next part when it is dry. Dry fur is a must.
If the fur is dry when you skin it, don’t even get out of your chair. I keep a pile of stretchers nearby, so I just reach over and pick one up. I use wire, and for rats I think they are better than wood. Take the wire stretcher and place it between your knees, about half way down on the strecher. Squeeze with your knees to compress the strecher, and pull the pelt down over the it, with the back of the pelt facing you. While the stretcher is still compressed, center the eyes and ears on the top. Don’t pull the nose down over the strecher, and if it is a little big at the top just leave slack and pull it up to where it should be. After the eyes and ears are centered, release the pressure on the strecher. Now balance the stretcher on your knees, and at the bottom, pull the pelt tight (make sure the back is centered). Secure it with one of the hooks. Now turn the stretcher around, and the front should just about be centered. If not, center it by putting your fingers in the arm holes. After it’s centered, secure the bottom with the other hook. Now place a thin wire around the top of the stretcher and through one of the nose holes- this provides a hook to hang up the stretched pelt and also keeps the nose up and looking nice at the top. Then hang up the pelts in an area with good air ciculation. Pelts can take a couple of days to a couple of weeks to dry- depending on the temperature. Temperatures of 20-30 degrees should dry in 3-4 days. If your shed is unheated, and it gets very cold, (below zero or so) the pelts will still dry, but they are sort of “freeze dried. It’s fairly simple to tell when the pelt is dry- when it looks and feels dry, it’s dry. When the pelt is dry (I usually leave them on the stretcher until I need to reuse it. After it’s dry, take the pelt off the strecher. Just undo the hooks, tap it once or twice on the table, and the pelt should slip off. I usually take my gloved hand or a small brush and fluff up the fur inside. I don’t spend a lot of time doing this, just to rough it up and undo any matting. Congrats- you just doubled or tripled the value of your muskrat by putting it up. If you make mistakes, try to learn from it next time. All cased skinned animals are done this basic way (open skinned such as beaver means making the first cut from the anus to the point of the chin).. Fleshing and stretching requirements are slightly different for others, but the same general principles apply. Go slow at first. Then only way to learn it is to do it.
Handling Muskrat Pelts-
By Steve Gappa
I was at my local fur buyer a few weeks ago selling fur, and we got to talking about handling fur. I was surprised when he told me that day in and day out, mishandled muskrat pelts was one of the biggest problems he encountered. Last week at the Association meeting, the same subject came up again. Talking to new trappers, many were unsure how to handle muskrats properly, let alone the more “exotic” furbearers. This article will teach you how to handle muskrat pelts correctly and easily. The nice thing about being able to skin and put up muskrats, is that the lessons learned can be applied to just about all of the other furbearers. There are some special things to learn about the other furbearers such as handling tails, turning fur, etc. that need to be learned, but they won’t seem as mysterious after knowing how to do rats. The first steps to properly put up muskrats begin in the field. After taking the rat out of the trap, wash it off in the creek to remove any mud or silt. Do this several times, swishing the rat back and forth in the water. After doing this shake off any excess water. If there is snow, roll the rat in the snow, and most of the remaining moisture will be wicked out by the snow. When you get to your truck, roll the rat into newspapers to further dry him off. I then place the rolled up rat on the front floor of the truck to keep it warm (this also helps in drying the fur). Don’t stack them one on top of the other, rats spoil quickly- more on this later. When you arrive home, if the rat isn’t dry, wrap it in fresh newspapers and lay belly side up to give it more drying time. I put mine on the back porch where it’s warm for an hour or two- this usually does the trick. You can dry the pelts after skinning but before stretching, but they take longer to dry. Be careful that you don’t let the rats go too long before skinning them. Muskrats taint easily on their bellies. You really should skin the same day. If they are kept cool, you can wait a bit longer such as overnight. I often do this and skin before I run the line in the morning. You will know if you waited too long by the green bellies on the rats after you skin them. If the process isn’t too bad, the hide can still be used. (I’ll guarantee that you won’t let rats go too long more than once or twice- tainted rats are much harder (read that messier) to skin.
Now that your muskrat pelt is dry, you are ready to skin. 1) Lay the rat on the floor. Stand on his tail, and pick up one hind leg, and pull it tight towards you. Cut a line under the skin from the base of the foot to the base of the tail. Drop the foot, and pick up the other foot and do the same thing. Don’t worry if you cut too deep at this step, because on rats it really doesn’t matter as in some other furbearers. 2) Place the rat on a work table, on it’s belly. Work your fingers under the pelt around one leg, and work it free. Repeat on the other leg. Now with your knife, cut the pelt free where it meets the tail on the BACK. The pelt should now be free on both legs and on the back. It should still be attached at the tail on the belly. This seems harder to do than it is, so it will be easy after a few rats. 3) Now grab the muskrat around the head with one hand (like grabbing a ball) stand it up on the table, and take hold of the free pelt on the back with your other hand. Your hands should be on the same side of the rat. Now push down with your first hand (head) and pull up with the second hand (pelt). This step turns the pelt inside out, still attached at the base of the tail. Tip: when push/pulling, angle away from the tender belly. Everyone will “poke the belly” once in while, so don’t worry too much. 4) When you have pulled the pelt up to the front legs, stop. Now work your fingers around the belly (be careful, put pressure to the pelt, not the belly), and free it down to the tail. Now use your knife to free the pelt at the tail.
5) Now turn the rat on it’s back, and continue to pull the pelt until the front legs are clearly visible. Work your fingers to free the pelt around both legs, then “pop” them free. Then grab the rat around the rib cage, and gently pull the pelt until you can see the ears. Then turn the rat onto it’s belly for the rest of the steps. 6) With one hand squeeze the pelt tight around the head to more clearly define where the ears are, and cut the ears free, about halfway between the pelt and carcass. Now gently pull until you can see the eyes. This is perhaps the trickiest step, but carefully cut the eyes free. Work the knife at an angle by the eye to free the tear ducts. Pull until the eyes are free. This step will take practice, but rats with big eye holes can be sold without losing too much of their value. You’ll learn as you go. 7) Now on to the mouth, jaw and nose. Continue squeezing the pelt tight around the head. Use your knife to cut around the head, on the sides, bottom and top- pulling as you go. Don‘t pull too hard, you want to cut the pelt free, not tear it free. If you do tear it free, you will end up with a “headless” rat. You will have to do a couple wrong to see what I mean. The rat is now skinned out, and is ready to put up (flesh and stretch).
To flesh a muskrat, you need a fleshing board. Mine is simply a board that is 7 inches wide, ¾ of an inch thick, and two feet long. The top 5 inches is tapered to a blunt point. Mine is varnished to make it easier to keep clean. I sit in a chair, and place the board with a rat on it to be stretched against my stomach, and place the pointed end in a holder on the wall, about shoulder high when I am sitting in the chair. This system works good for me, providing a good angle to flesh the rat. To start, first put the rat on the board. Don’t put it on the board so the front and back are showing, but rather so the armhole is centered on each side. By doing it this way, it seems to make it much easier to do, and you are less likely to over flesh. 1) Use a fleshing tool (I use a dull butter knife, many people use sthingys) to pull the bits of meat and chunks of fat down to the bottom of the pelt.. Do it with a fairly firm hand, but not too hard. Don’t worry about taking off every piece of flesh and fat on the pelt- just any thing that looks like “chunks”. 2)When these two surfaces are fleshed, turn the hide on the board ¼ turn, this will bring up the unfleshed parts of the pelt. Be extra careful not to over flesh, especially the membrane on the shoulders. This needs to be left on (also on mink). It is much better to just take off the main fat and leaving some than to take off too much. Extremes on either end are bad. Now your rat is fleshed. (If it is still wet, hang to dry, and go to the next part when it is dry. Dry fur is a must.
If the fur is dry when you skin it, don’t even get out of your chair. I keep a pile of stretchers nearby, so I just reach over and pick one up. I use wire, and for rats I think they are better than wood. Take the wire stretcher and place it between your knees, about half way down on the strecher. Squeeze with your knees to compress the strecher, and pull the pelt down over the it, with the back of the pelt facing you. While the stretcher is still compressed, center the eyes and ears on the top. Don’t pull the nose down over the strecher, and if it is a little big at the top just leave slack and pull it up to where it should be. After the eyes and ears are centered, release the pressure on the strecher. Now balance the stretcher on your knees, and at the bottom, pull the pelt tight (make sure the back is centered). Secure it with one of the hooks. Now turn the stretcher around, and the front should just about be centered. If not, center it by putting your fingers in the arm holes. After it’s centered, secure the bottom with the other hook. Now place a thin wire around the top of the stretcher and through one of the nose holes- this provides a hook to hang up the stretched pelt and also keeps the nose up and looking nice at the top. Then hang up the pelts in an area with good air ciculation. Pelts can take a couple of days to a couple of weeks to dry- depending on the temperature. Temperatures of 20-30 degrees should dry in 3-4 days. If your shed is unheated, and it gets very cold, (below zero or so) the pelts will still dry, but they are sort of “freeze dried. It’s fairly simple to tell when the pelt is dry- when it looks and feels dry, it’s dry. When the pelt is dry (I usually leave them on the stretcher until I need to reuse it. After it’s dry, take the pelt off the strecher. Just undo the hooks, tap it once or twice on the table, and the pelt should slip off. I usually take my gloved hand or a small brush and fluff up the fur inside. I don’t spend a lot of time doing this, just to rough it up and undo any matting. Congrats- you just doubled or tripled the value of your muskrat by putting it up. If you make mistakes, try to learn from it next time. All cased skinned animals are done this basic way (open skinned such as beaver means making the first cut from the anus to the point of the chin).. Fleshing and stretching requirements are slightly different for others, but the same general principles apply. Go slow at first. Then only way to learn it is to do it.