Long story short otter got into a 160 set for a mink and was DOA , but dam opened up that night and river came up several feet. Otter got pull way in strong current, poor staking on my part. Over next 10 days river slowly came down then they shut dam off and river became a creek. Found otter 25 yds down stream on a rock flat about half out of water and semi frozen, only out of water a few hours. No bugs, no smell, no damage. Skinned it out and rinsed it in cold water to clean off silt. Fur appears to be good, but had a dime size bald/slipped spot on the bottom edge between the tail and back leg and one in the left arm pit area. Hanging to dry fur now, brushing and stroking I found no real signs of slippage. I plan to sell green , should I try to cut out the small bald patch at the bottom and sew up the one in the arm pit ? Surface water temp was 40*-43* and otter was 5' under water for 10 days, any reason to be concerned with slippage after the fur dries out ? -Thanks

It will probably continue to slip as it's already started. You can put some diluted bleach or better Stop Rot if you have it on the affected areas to try to stop the spread.

if you sell green,and want to sell fur to the buyer again,i suggest telling him the history.that's quite a while-call em soakers.

Well the fur dried and after tugging on the fur and brushing, no fur loss at all. I would appear the two spots mentioned could have occurred when I picked up the semi frozen carcass by the legs and the frost/iced fur pulled away. I may just get it tanned or board it.

Is this your first otter? If yes I highly suggest getting it tanned. If not flesh and dry then sell. Unless you plan on sending it in to nafa or fha most definitely let buyer know what happened. Last thing you need in a down market is an aggravated fur buyer, might not buy from you again

^^^^Sound wisdom^^^^

Not my first , it's tanned hanging on daughters wall. Going to keep it this one, even though it seems fine, not worth taking a chance ruining my name. Daughter wants to make a arrow quiver out of it.

When she's done I'd like to see that!

I leave beaver for a week between checks under ice. No longer though and dry them out soon after. Lost a set on a check once, and fourteen days later found it...definitely slilpage there.

Had beaver under ice for 11 days longest I can remember.Still good.
Beaver keeps better than any other animal.

Thank God for that!

Get it tanned. Sell to neighbor for wall hanging. Tell him boy otters fight over girl otters just like teenagers. If the tanning was well-done it should last forever and so will the stories that go with it