It’s been awhile since I put up any coon. I fleshed a couple yesterday and today I noticed spots I didn’t get as clean as others. Will this cause problems? I was told once that they don’t need to get them spotless clean.

Hang em up by the tail end of the board in a warmish room and most of that should melt off.

Should be fine.Might have to wipe them a few times with tissue paper.

I would have removed it myself. Might have too heavy of it left on and will look poorly handled when dried. And possibly taint in some spots. IMO.

Seems like the places where I have it scraped clean there's fine hairs poking through. Whats up with that?

Shaved a little too close and got down to the hair roots .

Scrape off the fat.

Yup

...and put wedge in other way. Thick end in neck area.

they'll tan fine that way . . . but i would clean them up a little more if I was selling them. As Boco said, should be scraping the fat, or pushing with the dull side on the entire coon, less right behind the head on the neck. I shave the neck, then scrape the rest. That should help eliminate getting into the hair roots.

that beaver in the corner of the picture looks like you take pride in your work, keep at it sir.

Thanks. My beaver could have been fleshed a little better too. I haven’t put up fur for about 10yrs so I’m a little out of practice. I’ve had some changes with my job that allows me to run a daily trapline so getting back into it.

When I have some spots that didn't get fleshed quite well enough, I use a heavy kitchen spoon and scrape over the affected areas a couple times and wipe off. No need to remove from the board that way. Works on the flattails also.

As mentioned you have options. One would be if they are hung tail up you can use a smooth, not sharp straight edged to push that more loose fat and oil down the pelt toward the head and wipe off with toweling or rags. Do this a couple times say 1-3 days after fleshing and while the hide or skin is soft and not dry. You can also use degreaser and rub on the fur where there is more fat and oil. You can use the dull edge of your double handled fleshing tool also. Fleshing them when the fat is stiff also helps a bit from my experience. I have put some pelts on the stretchers and set them outside until the fat gets stiff. This also makes rubbing off the oil or lose fat later easier for me too. Your doing the most important part OK and that is getting the gristle off. The rest you can work on quite easily if you don't let it get away from you.

Bryce

Yup, they will dry just fine. I would, however, try to remove more fat on your next ones. They will dry faster and look cleaner with the fat removed.