Ok so the first two pics are my first ever opossum that I fear I overfleshed because you can see all the little black hairs coming through, but it seemed like it was a layer of fat I was removing. But also this one has white at the bottom of hair and black at the top and when I look through the hair I don’t see black near the skin..

Next three pics are of my second opossum I got yesterday(hunted not trapped, I was hunting coyote but he was the only thing that showed up lol) so I had read that putting it in fridge would help harden the fat so it would be easier to tell so I did that overnight and just “finished” fleshing it. I was trying to be more careful as not to remove that last layer but It just peeled off in most places with the meat that was there. Also if you kinda pinch of a little bit of what is still on there in the last 2 pics it feels like fat. But as you can see there are the little black hair follicles showing through again. Even where that other layer is at. I’ve watched quite a few video on this and they never mention it at all, I’m just so confused. And again this one has a cream color underneath and black tips for hair and no visible black under the cream color. I’m just worried about hair slippage when I tan these.

So is this normal?!?! And is that last bit fat that needs to come off the rest of the way? I was really gentle with this one and seems to have done the same thing as the first. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.

That’s about what I’d expect to see when fleshing one.

possums are about as hard as it gets for me.

1.i chill them so the fat is set up well,then put a towel between the hide and the beam.

if you think you are pushing to hard-you are--if you think you aren't pushing hard enough-perfect.

a also let some of the residual fat melt off while drying.

hope i help a little

The first picture of fleshed skin is how mine look.

Lol the first one or second?

Possum skin is rather thin, so you can't be as aggressive with it as some other furs. It looks like you're doing OK with it. I would say just scrape with only enough force to get the fat off.

I did chill the second one, I’ll try the towel next time for sure.
I wasn’t pushing hard for either, at all.
And I don’t dry mine. They go in the freezer till I’m ready to tan them. I do have drying racks as I plan on tanning them myself and so the freezer is where they go. When unfrozen they will get salted then in the acid pickle then tanned and softened. Thank you for the reply

That’s what get me I was sooo gentle because I knew they are thin and I’m using a dull tool but when the meat meat came off it pulled the layer under it off as well in most area. I even tried to stop that when I saw it happening but it made no difference.
So should I not remove the meat and only the fat? Always though meat needed to come off too. Thank you.

Ok. I’m just going to tan them and see what happens. Worst case it slips and best case you can’t tell even if those do. Lol thank you.

do you have a one handed scraper? If not try using a large spoon. You will have to get the meat off and most of the fat. leaving some fat on won't hurt as it will melt off or your pickle should remove it.

No, you need to remove the meat as well as the fat. Not sure what the layer underneath the meat would be? Gristle or sinew, maybe? As long as taking the meat off didn't tear a hole in the hide, it should be OK.

No it’s two handed. I’ve heard of the spoon will see how that goes lol. I did get the meat ofled and all the obvious fat, it’s just this weird layer. I left the bits that didn’t come off with the meat so we will see what happens and if it come off in the pickle or not. Gotta love the learning curve. I’ve never fleshed any other furbearers so these are firsts in that sense but I have fleshed and tanned 3 deer hides over the last couple months and it is sooo different. Thanks

Yeah, I got the meat and obvious fat off and didn’t tear any holes, the texture is kind of a paste feel. So I’m guessing it fat. But I’ll leave it for now and see what happens when I tan it. Thank you.

Very, very lightly on a possum.

This is right. The spot under the neck is gristly, it's very easy to press to hard. I find you get off as much as you can with one push, don't keep going over the same spots or areas. If you're tanning, it's easier to leave a little and remove it after it's been in the pickle a few days. I don't dry before tanning. They get scraped and go right into a degrease bath for an hour, then into the pickle.

Thank you for the info. What do you use as a degreaser? I know I can purchase a degreaser but is there something else that would work?

I use Dawn dish washing soap. I have the tanning degreasers too, but Dawn is my go-to.

Thank you

Careful using dish soap for degreasing. They tend to have a very high pH which can lead to slippage if left too long, they're hard to rinse out, and usually don't work quite well enough to thoroughly degrease really fatty skins like racoon, etc... Not saying to go right out and buy a tannery degreaser, but if you plan to keep tanning skins you'll much prefer it once you use it.
And that's not to say a dish soap degreased skin won't tan, it will. But the tan quality can suffer if all the fat isn't gone, and it can be hard to tell sometimes because the soap is so hard to rinse away. Just my experience anyways, I really prefer a good tannery degreaser.

Back when I used to put up opossums, I mostly just used a spoon too. Sometimes I rolled the fat off with my hands and a little borax.

I made my Halloween costume with opossum skins one year. Everybody really liked it until I told them that the fur I used was opossum.

Keith