I posted yesterday about coon that I had frozen frozen for 6 years, and said I would let you all know how they came out when thawed. I am not sure whether they were considered 6 or 7 years frozen, because on the plastic bag I had written 2014. There were 2 of them. The one was the largest coon I have ever caught in Ohio and it weighed in at 27pounds 12 ounces. After thawing yesterday, I of course fleshed it good and the only places it showed any age in the freezer was on the front legs. They were a bit brownish colored, but not dried out. The way one can tell if they retained moisture is when they are salted and rolled the first night, how much moisture the salt pulled from the hide. The normal process leaving them froze for 1 to 2 years is there will be a lot of moisture around the head. This one retained a lot of moisture, because the entire hide was wet, from the top to the bottom. I believe this hide would have been good for a total of 8 to 10 years.
My process is to skin, leaving all fat and flesh on the hide. Then lay hide out flat... starting at the head end... pressing all of the air out... roll tightly as possible and continue to press air out of hide. When you get to the bottom tuck tail in before the last roll. After being rolled... place hide in a plastic bag, again continue pressing air out of bag and put a rubber band around it.
In the freezer: I place over the bottom and sides of the freezer box at least one layer of cardboard... never laying bagged fur against the freezer metal and pack the hides tightly in the freezer. The second coon from 2014... was one about 10 or 12 pounds. I didn't get the tail of this one rolled up in the fur and the tail skin was dried out some, but I was able to wet and scape it, before salting.
When I remove the hides from the freezer, I lay the hide on a piece of screen mesh, in front of a fan for 5 or 6 hours. I usually check it a couple of time during the that time period and unroll it as it thaws.. keeping the unrolled part away from fan as much as possible.
DESCLAIMER:
I won't say that if you have coon or other hides that you have fleshed for selling, that you should follow this practice, because they will dry out more, OR if you have fox, possums or even muskrats unfleshed, if they are left after 2 or 3 years.
Garry-
