Does anybody store carcass animals in a fridge, or is a freezer necessary?

for food or just bait? food freeze immidiately

No, to sell in the round. Or to skin later.

Just hang them out in a woodshed in winter.They'll freeze hard as a rock.

Yes, I agree Boco. Thing is, it's not that cold for our entire trapping season. In the winter it is though, but not the early or late part of season.

Same here aje im skinning daily ! To prevent fur lose I recommend skin, roll up and freeze. Roll from butt to head. If you decide to finish them later noose the nose hang. As they thaw they unroll, it also helps to dry off water accumulated from thawing.

If your catching a good number of animals you'll be better off skinning and freezing the pelts.That way you wont need nearly as many freezers as if you froze whole animals.

if I cant skin in the morning and couldn't get to it until that night i'd put in a fridge or leave in the cool weather. if its a warm day or itll be a few days Id make time to skin right away.

What are you catching?

I can hold over coon and beaver laying on their back on my concrete floor for a few days at 40*. If you are planning on freezing in the round, definitely skin first. Freezers do fill up quick, and trying to play the tetris game with a freezer full of rock solid coon is not fun.

Mostly beaver, coon, and rats. I got the freezer today, a 7 cf one from WalMart.
Do I need to dry the animals, or wrap them in anything before I put 'em in the freezer? I don't want the frozen tetris problem that 1 of you mentioned above. I'll probably sell to the furbuyer a few times each winter. The freezer will be nice for Fall or Spring catches.

wash/dry the fur before you skin. then fold up fur out and place in freezer. I put a thin layer of cardboard to line my freezer so the fur doesn't freeze to the sides. I skin and freeze some of my critters, the rest I put up. rats i'd recommend putting up since they are quick and easy, and that would save you some freezer space

I line mine with cardboard as well. Don't freeze rats whole, they have no integrity once thawed. With it being very humid here, and extra moisture pulled into the freezer every time I open it, I place stuff in plastic bags to keep from freezing together.

"Rats have no integrity after being froze whole..."
What do you mean?

He means their guts fall out when skinning.

I have to disagree on the butt to head. The first thing to freezer burn Is the nose and face of any critter. Roll the face Into the roll so It's protected.

If the fur freezes to the sides of the freezer just take a spray bottle of water and give It a slight misting and the fur will come loose with no problem. But If your fur Is dry It won't be a problem.

One thing you can do Is when you place fur In the freezer Is to have a section of plywood to place over the fur. Then drop In a couple of cement blocks to weigh It down. This will compress then hides and give you more room. Of coarse your going to have to give up the blocks as your freezer fills up. But then that Is a good thing.

A 7 cubic foot freezer isn't going to hold very many carcass Raccoon and beaver. You will end up with a lot of wasted space.

I bet you can get at least 20 carcass coon In one that size. If you fit them In correctly you won't have any wasted space. But you can't take some out and try and replace fresh ones In that void.

Thanks.
The cardboard layer I put on the bottom worked nice.
What temperature is recommended?
I got the 1st use of it last night...on a nuisance beaver I trapped for a local farmer.

Crank It up and see how long it takes to freeze It. If It were me I'd lop off the legs and the tail It just gives you more room.