Keepin' fur

[trapperknox]

Hey all
Now, I know most of you as you read the topic might be thinking, "Why would you want to keep the furs?" Well, my haul was a muskrat and an oppossum... both of them I screwed up on. The muskrat I shot... I know a bad idea... and I screwed up on the stretching so badly for the oppossum I don't even want to mention it. I also know oppssum and muskrat are not that valuable this year, due to fur buyers hesitance to buy any more of the rats after last years bad sale. I know alot of you guys trap muskrat and sold them all, but you guys prorbably over twenty skins probably even more... but do you think a fur buyer would be pleased of buying two ratty skins of no value? Right.
So, I decided to keep 'em. Now, do I need to put any perservative on it or just leave 'em be after they've completely dried out? They've been frozen most of this year so they havn't dried out that much.

[huntinglonewolf]

I wouldn't even worry about keeping them.

[DaveM]

You might try tanning them.

[tonymalone]

i have a red squirrell hide that my daughter put up 2 years ago, it has been hanging in the shed, still on a board, (not buggy yet) took it off the other day, and took it to sale no one would bid on it, so i brought it back home, since it was hers. think i'll dampen it, and rub down w/ borax, and just hang it back up.
pretty good conversation peice, and it ain't hurting nothing.

[wayne]

There are 2 ways to keep them. Science keeps "Scientific Skins" so they can see what an animal looks like when they take samples. Small skins are skinned cased, fleshed, and rubbed down with a preservative. The old timers used Arsnic but Borax is safer. After that the skin is stuffed with loose cotten like a pillow. The skin will last for decades if not handeled muck.
The second way is tanning which will keep the hide longer, but takes alot more effort. There are several suppliers of tanning kits and chemicals. Vand**es Taxidermy supply and Cabelas and Gander Mountain also carried small one skin tanning kits.
Follow the instructions and they will work fine.

[trapperknox]

Both ways sound pretty decent to me. It all depends on what is cheaper I suppose.
Thanks guys, I'll look into both methods.

[wayne]

Why did the system censor the name of the company??

[DaveM]

I guess it dont like d y k e s.

[trapperknox]

Ooo, that wouldn't be good now, would it?