Today I was running the line and I found a otter in a 330 bank den set for beaver (think it's their food pile). I'm not a big trapper got a couple beaver sets out and, it's just my hobby so I am not very experienced. Don't know much about Otters and wondered if 22lbs and 14 oz was big. Also tips on skinning and fleshing. And what skinning, pelting ect. knife is best. Thanks

I don't know much about otter, but make sure you skin out the tail not pull it like you would a coon or fox.

Split tail straight up the middle to the tip then tube out and skin like a coon/fox etc. not sure on the fleshing I have always frozen

When you flesh a otter make sure the fur is damp.I use the necker600 knife to do all my fleshing but mink and rats. There is gresel on both side of the tail bone take our time to flesh that and just flesh it like you would a coon other wise.Put it on boards with the belly board. and when you tack the tail for me I make sure it is close for the space to get a good pattern. You would need to use the knife to skin them. Use any knife you would use for coon or coyote.

I never scrape Otter damp and have no problem with them getting singed. If they are singed to start with, then so be it, but I have never singed an Otter scraping it.

I have processed many hundreds of otter and agree with Don. On the other hand, I have had otter caught in conibears exposed to the sun for a day singed on the part of the pelt that was exposed to the sun.

With otter the biggest issue for the inexperienced is going to be the tail. The fleshing of the tail can be a bear, so I clean skin the tail. I takes a few extra minutes but makes the fleshing much more manageable for me.

As far as the weight of your otter goes, was it a female? 22 lbs is a nice female or average for a younger male. A big old male will run 26-30 lbs .

This was a very large female. Stretched 44x8.5". Your finished skin should look something like this.

Thanks! Yes it was a female, thought it ought to be a fair size one.

I have never singed an otter by handling or scraping. I dont abuse them from trap to fur shed and try to get them skint as soon as possible. On long checks i have stopped and doused the otters in a ditch full of cool water before continuing. I've always heard that a damp otter is better to scrape, but ive scraped many dry otters too.

Again,I've never singed an otter that wasn't already naturally singed. I think that's harder to do than most trappers are led to believe.

With otter, UV light is your enemy!