Since southern beaver dont get quite as HUGE as northern beavers should they be put on wire hoop stretchers with tension bars or on plywood boards?

WOOD You want to get as much size as you can and wood will get that for you, hoops won't cut It.

Where can i get the pattern to trace out? I got a link on here but i couldnt find it on the website the link sent me to and i couldnt find it on furharvesters.com either.

I cant say I agree with your assessment on southern beaver not getting as HUGE as northern beavers. I prefer boards over wire myself.

Always hooped mine, too much volumn for boards and not enough room for all that either.

If you have 10 hoops you can only do 10 beaver but with 10 boards you can do 20 beaver. So storage of 20 hoops would be more of a hassel then storing 10 boards. LOL

Can you explain how you can get more size on wood?

I use wire now but have been considering swiching to wood. The only problem i have is at the fur buyer he buys by the inch and you can really stretch your beaver on wood. It doesent seem right to me though my pelts are thicker and nicer than the ones that are pulled so tight you can see through but he pays for size so i guess ill get every inch I can.

Not really Gary. At any rate our beaver normally are not worth high dollar's like northern beaver, if it meant the difference between 10 bucks or more it would be worth it, ive not seen a price difference between wood and hoops to matter and hoops are alot faster for me. Of course im not selling at nit picky NAFA either. Im sure it makes a HUGE difference there, everything else does!

Southern beavers on wire - always ! You are less likely to over stretch them that way. Overall you should gain quality grade and $$$ when they aren't stretched too thin. It's worked for me on at least a few of them. Northern beavers shouldn't be over stretched either. You will have to put many blankets and all super blankets on boards as well as the two smaller sizes of beavers. If your buyer is buying on inches only, that may be a different story. But the truth is beavers aren't sold on size alone. I think it's just as quick and easy to put them on hoops as it is on a board wherever possible. I know it's a heck of a lot easier to hang and dry them on hoops and they dry much faster and take up much less space than on boards. Just my opinion and it's worked for me - can see it in the fur check !

email furharvesters and ask for a pattern, they will send one right out to you in the mail

I used wire and wood, I think I prefer wire,once you get used to hoopin beavers its about as fast as nailin on wood. It saves space in the fur shed, I hung mine from the trusses in my shed,they seem to dry faster and unlike wood you can hoop em with the fur still a little wet. Dont stretch em too tight though,after its on the hoop you dont want it tight as a drum,have it so that when you wiggle the hoop the hide will flop or move just a little. If you want the oval shape,instead of tension bars,you can use a piece of cord,horizontaly on the fur side.double the cord and use a truckers hitch to make the oval shape.

Oh God, here we are bashing NAFA again. Can't you guys find a new tune to play????????????

btw, wire for me. Quicker, lighter than wood, easier to store (hang 'em from a spike in a rafter by the dozen or more) and nope, NAFA likes 'em just fine...

Never saw a difference in price at NAFA either Jim, but stopped selling to them around '99 so didn't know what new goofy grading method they may of come up with.

i always use wood. jtwapper what do you do with them?

Don't fool with them anymore.

My south Carolina beaver sell at the same prices that WI or MN beaver sell for. From what I'm told you can't over streach a beaver. I use a vise grips to get it to the next line.

I like my prices so I'm going to keep doing what makes me the most money.

So how do all of you wood users find how big you should stretch your beavers? Once you have the hanging length is there a certain formula you use to get the stretch size?

Wood all the way and you can over stretch southern beaver nafa has patterns to mark your boards i put all my fur on boards it looks better.