I was thinking back to when I was starting out similarly to Bobby is now , I asked a local long time trapper and fur buyer about how to flesh muskrats in a hurry he suggested using a old ringer from a old washing machine or better yet a hand crank one if you can find one , just a thought .

Allan one would be great but those McKenzie muskrats have been under the ice for 8 months and are just the fattest rats going.

One of my friend got this one this past season. I got one about 12 years ago

Tks for posting blond 'rat Ryan. First ever heard and seen one. Learn something every day.

Question to people in other areas. Black 'rats seen to be, although rare everywhere (except maybe Maryland?), widespread. That true - rare but widespread?

How about blond 'rats? How widespread are they? Presume scarce regardless.

The same question came up when we collected blond and black phase of some Red Squirrels, seems the coat colour is a genetics where a chromosome is flipped. Thirty years later observed some squirrels with the same pelage so it was in the local gene pool.

I've only caught muskrats in southeastern MT but I've never seen a rat that color some like a few of our beaver are " silver dollar's " and look as if they were chrome ha ha

The ringer was just an idea to run the muskrat hides through to get some of the fat off them quicker , I've never had the chance to try it or any big numbers of rats at one time .

I prefer clean skinning everything I catch besides wolf and sometimes wolverine. They can go on the beam. Other than that I find it’s easier in the long run to clean skin. Then when that last flick of the knife separates the nose from the carcass you know it’s ready to board.

Only caught one black rat in my life,and also only one white one.
Never trapped large numbers of rats in any season.

I have used the Ringer Washer in the past. It will push the Fat off of the hide, May require a small amount of touch up on the stretcher..That being said; You need to make sure that there is no folds or pockets in the hide as you Wring it. If there is any the fat will pop through the hide like the innards from a Zit..

I mostly use a cheap fleshing knife and go from the skirt tward the nose under the armpits, then fro the nose tward the skirt for the rest and do a crappy job on purpose if going to the market..Heavier hides grade better in this area. If it will dry leave it on the hide, LOL

Think it was me referred to from Maryland. Where I am, I’m blessed with a high percentage of black rats. I can’t speak for the Chesapeake Bay guys as I trap mostly the coastal bay guts that feed into the coastal bay. Some of those guts, I won’t catch a single brown rat, but my overall numbers are nothing compared to the Chesapeake guys. Some guts I may only catch 15 rats or so, but as I say, for Black rats , I’ll grind. They are some kind of pretty. I’m grateful for these but jealous of you guys with the black beaver.

Tks for posting Mud. Interesting info.

Those are some nice black rats man that’s awesome. So far I’ve got my one black rat out of thousands. My cousin Doug’s daughter shot a black one this spring too.




The end is in sight for finishing the rats. We were working quietly this evening and out of the blue Bobby said “you know what Dad? I sure like doing stuff like this” Proud quiet moment for me to hear my boy say that. Charlotte Mighty Mouse McLeod came out too and watched for about 2 minutes before she asked if she could help. I got her stringing rats for a while and then she pulled a few tacks. Morgan went to sleep early or she would’ve been helping too. Should be easy to get 500 done once all 3 of them can handle more. Sure is good to have the help though. 3am right now and I’m just stopped for a smoke. Back to skinning and stretching muskies shortly.

What do the bellies look like on your black rats?

Now I’m just stalling. Few more from spring hunting and the last time I seen my geese camp a few weeks back. Ice took out a bunch of willows the past two years. Water has also touched the bottom of the 2x6 floor but luckily no flooding back to work for real this time

Interesting question on the bellies of black 'rats. Have had them like the one above but also have 2 on hand now that have black backs and bellies like the ordinary 'rats. Not sure what the graders will do with that. Backs are, no compromise, jet black backs but bellies ordinary colour. Assuming/hoping black backs is what is most important and they will grade black.

In the freezer now. Can get 80 (two rows of 40 packed head to tail, one row on top of the other) in some fold out boxes got on a Costco trip years ago. About the best way can get them in a freezer without crushing. Got to hold til next January. How you holding yours Ryan? Access to a walk in freezer would be sweet. Gonna need freezer space next fall for moose and caribou so soon as turns freezing, and the bugs stop, they come out and go in the shed.

That is a wack of rats in the boat, looks like a good trip.

That's a lot to be proud of !

The blacks here have a more orangeish brown belly. You can kinda see it in one of the pics near the throats of them. They’re interesting to see. Last season I had 80+ grade black in the lg-3x lot. And I can tell you they missed a few. I kept them separate until I shipped them, separating them as I fleshed them and had over 110 black out of 230 rats.

I don’t envy the graders trying to spot them if your belly side is on the longer side on the stretcher. And usually there’s a few brown guard hairs right along the opening cut on the blacks which I’m sure causes more than a few to end up in the regular lot.

Thanks Mud and exactly what I suspected re. grading and brown colouring on the belly on many of the blacks. That is why I tag them for the grader. That is one spectacular ratio of black to brown at almost 50%. Must make for some great averages. Ryan does it on volume not colour lol.

BTW great pic's again Ryan.

Man that's awesome!