Holding over pelts.

[sneakysnake]

I saw a post where Wolf suggest that Fuzz hold his Martin till next year. If they are fleshed and dried, How would you hold them over.

[otter1]

You can hold them over by hanging in a cooler. If not available ,you can wrap and lay them in a freezer. I have wrapped dried skins in paper and placed them in a home freezer. If you know ahead of time you are going to hold over it is best to flesh, roll up pelt, wrap in paper and place in freezer. Ways I do it, others may have further suggestions.

[bctomcat]

IMO holding over pelts is not a good option. The odds are that the pelts may be graded stale goods if not held in ideal cold storage conditions which most trappers do not have available. I believe you should ship what fur you have available to each sale. This way your overall averages will be the best they can be.

[wolf1199]

Harold, it is very common practice for trappers in my area to hold pelts over if they figure the prices are not good enough for them to send to market. Myself have held marten,beaver,lynx and otter over in the freezer until the following season. If the pelts are stretched and dried just place them in a garbage bag and i use a shop vac to suck the air out and tie. Then i place inside another bag and tie and lay in freezer. About a week before i ship my fur i remove the skins and hang them to let them thaw, then i re comb and fluff them up. When doing green pelts such as beaver i leave as much fat and meat on the hide to help prevent freezer burn to the pelt, i then wrap with paper and repeat the steps that i did for the other fur.

[white316]

I have kept marten & weasels over with no problem
rolled up in double paper bags.

[bctomcat]

Are you fellows talking raw (skinned only) or finnished pelts?

[sneakysnake]

I have kept coon hides over, but they were not fleshed and stretched. I just rolled them up, wrapped in freezer paper and threw them in the freezer. I was more concerned about finished hides that had been fleshed and stretched. It seems they would be more prone to freezer burn because they have no flesh or fat to protect them.

[bctomcat]

My previous comment re holding over is in regards to finnished fur. Just skinned and then frozen properly is fine for a year or less.

[wolf1199]

finished pelts Tomcat for me. The last was a couple years ago. Had held a dozen otter over hoping the prices would improve for the next year. We all know how that went...lol. If i get spring beaver which is not to often i rough skin and roll in paper and into plastic bags until next fall. The auction houses hold fur that didn't sell over the summer every year in there coolers to offer the following year, so storing in the deep freeze if done right is not a problem imo.

[fuzz269]

I have held a few dryd skinnes over, one of the martin I had in this sale was. I was told by an old timer here all he does is put them in a fur bag and put them in the treazer, so I did. It seams to have worked out ok, as none of the beaver/rat/weasels and that martin graded stale. Now I do store them in an old deep freaze that doesnt have the anti frost feature, this aperintly realy helps makin them freazer burned. But I am still kinda new at this so this is just what I have bean noticing.

[gth]

I was just wondering this the other day. I have a few spring nuisance beaver to clean up and i thought i would hold them "green" in the freezer until next fall.

Thanks, this is good info.

[dvranish]

If they are green, try fleshing them, roll fur side out, vacuum pack them and freeze.
David