I was shown some old pictures of some in-laws the other day. One man was in front of his cabin with beaver pelts tacked on the wall and had several pelts hanging from a stand he'd made. Snow had to be 2 feet deep!!
I know you all have seen pictures like this. Just curious about the condition of those furs after being out in the freezing weather for months.
Yet we take all kinds of precautions to maintain a constant temperature for drying, etc. Are we wasting our time - did these guys know something that's been forgotten...??

You mean like these old timers drying their fur in the bush?
I guess just like today some did a crappy job and some did it the right way.

That's what I'm talking about... even older - like 1930's.

How about the 1880's

Is that a pix of you?? LOL!!

Man - those are just great photos - what a time to be alive!!
Life was a lot tougher then, but much simpler and more freedom!

Naw that guy is a lot better looking than me.

How about the old trappers conventions.They were a real shingding I can tell you.

A lot of folks in that pic look like they're related to me... And that ain't good... I must be getting old!!
Great pictures - thanks for sharing them.

This thread made me search the internet for pictures of how fur. ( besides beaver) was stretched. I didn't have any luck

So my question is. Any pictures of raccoon coyote wolf ect on stretchers in the 1800s

I don't have any pictures from the 1800s but I'm willing to bet that coyotes and wolves were stretched open - sort of spread eagle.

In the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s - Raccoon were stretched open.

I store all my stretched and dried fur out in freezing weather for months much as the old timers did in their cache. You can actually frost dry fur and the hides are extremely white and more supple. It is much slower than drying in above 32 F conditions, but it will work. I think it makes beaver harder to grade, if I remember right the scars don't show as much.

Yeah I don't have a designated heated fur shed. Do all my work out in my barn. I have a wood stove but it doesn't heat the area - really just use it to sit by and warm up with.
All my furs hang from hooks on a track system in the rafters throughout the fall and winter.
Just curious if I was missing something...

I have a heated section of my shed, 8 X 16 this is where I skin and stretch my pelts, then they are moved to the I heated section where it is below freezing for weeks on end. I keep all of my hides until April then ship them to tanneries. I can tell you this has had no bad effects on the hides. Having them all tanned as well as made in to garments has giving me the confidence to say this is not a problem

I do move them to my basement when the temperatures start to rise in late March and early April as this keeps spring bugs from getting in them as well as they are thawed and wiped down prior to shipping to tanneries

I've used 4 tanneries and all have said the put up and condition of my pelts is very good

I've sold raw also in the past and have had no issues with buyers

So setting out in freezing temperatures for months will not be a bad thing, but again I dry mine first in 50-60 degrees prior to storing in below freezing temps

Boco, I used one of the pictures you had posted a while back as a reference for my hoop...

Great looking hooped beaver Last Bite....nice work!