I haven't trap a lot of beavers in my lifetime. When I have I always just kept the castor for myself or gave it to others.
With all the talk about castor short and price being high. I'm wondering if these few I have are worth messing with? I wasn't planning on doing anything but keeping them for myself. I had no idea how many I might end up with. So I just set them on this piece card board in garage. I'm wondering now if they are actually worth selling? Or just hang on to them for myself. Probably not handled the best if thought I was going sell.




Mac

Might be hard to get off the Cboard.

I lay mine on a screen rack or usually hang them for 2 weeks then freeze

Yeah the few I had in past. I always separated the oil sac and laid them on hardware cloth. Then put in freezer after dried. Might have to fillet these off the card board do little scalpel work to clean up?

Mac

The castor market is down about 15-20% from last year. Due to the handling (not the best, sorry),those castor would most likely grade as IIIs.

Thanks Nancy.
I really had no plans for them when threw them on the card board. Guess next time I should take a minute handle them better. Even if it's just a couple might as well keep them decent. Always leaves a person more options.
I still got the hides in the freezer. Not sure what going to do with them either. Might just put them up so have options.. Maybe send them somewhere get tanned??

Mac

Those dont look too good,looks like you forgot to peel off the red membrane.
Might as well keep those.They wont grade "Clean",or if sold ungraded wont bring the best offer.
If you want to sell castoreum in the future,clean them of all red membrane,hang to dry over a double cord so they dont stick together,and dont overdry them 4 or 5 days at room temp then sell or into the freezer.
If you have a collection in the freezer,take them out and spread them on a screen for a day to dry off the condensation.Dont ship them in plastic bag or container-they can spoil.
Its OK to store them in plastic in the freezer only.

If you lay them out like that they will tend to rot where one pod rests on top of the other. They need to be clean of membrane and then either hung or screen dried and flipped so that all parts of the outer skin have access to the air and can dry properly.

Yeah, they don’t look good. Exactly what Boco said. Almost looks like dried meat on them. Probably too late to fix that now.

Prolly can find a smaller buyer perhaps that doesnt mind doing a bit of extra work. Price point probably not the greatest relative to yhe rest of the market.

I'd grind them and make Lure