Hey all, I'm seeing a lot of confusing answers where I find this question elsewhere... how necessary is stretching? I live in a 1br apartment and don't really have anywhere to stretch my hides. I hardly even know if my storage plan for salting them is going to work, but I don't want to sell if I can help it I would like to keep some furs myself for decoration and to make a few things from.

Also for those of you who know about me and my only having two traps, I've yet to catch anything, but I did get my pappaws old box trap and a rusty #1 longspring from the shed, and I'm going to scrape together what i can for a trip to sterling fur company this weekend. Continue to wish me luck! thanks in advance for the answers and as always God bless you all.

I just sent you a PM. I was blessed with several traps at Christmas, and I'd be glad to send you some of them if you want them.

As for your question, I don't have a clue. But I was once in your shoes- eager to get out and do this, but without many traps. I had a fella help me out, so now I finally get to pay it forward!

So salting and drying hides if you’re going to tan them is ok short term. Stretching a pelt is not a necessary step if you’re going to tan, but honestly it takes up very little space and will make storage of dried pelts easier. The term “stretcher” is really a misnomer. You really don’t want to stretch a pelt. The stretcher is really just a form used to dry the hide evenly and in a presentable manner, so that buyers can easily grade, transport and store pelts.

If you are not going to sell, salt them really well and hang them somewhere that air can circulate all around them, make sure there are no places where the skin folds on itself or it won’t dry properly. Then tan ASAP.

Question, where do you plan on doing the fleshing? Usually people flesh and dry in the same place

Use Borax instead of salt.

I replied, I appreciate your kindness

Firstly thank you for the thorough explanation, and for your question I'm going to be fleshing them right on my patio for all the neighbors to gawk at haha the only place I have to try to store them is in my storage locker down the road (I bet that guy thinks I'm a loon) where I originally planned on storing them very thoroughly salted (or boraxed as someone mentioned) in/on some sort of tote just until spring when I can go to my parents house and do the entire tanning process all in one swoop.

I also realize that this made me seem like some sort of a bum which I want to make sure I clear up in case anybody gets the wrong idea, as much as I hate having two (now 4) traps I almost like it. It's what I could afford with what I saved and spent on an eBay auction, one of the traps I bought came broken, so I was off to a bad start. But I pulled together and got a few things from good sales and kind older trappers who for example had an extra bottle of old coyote lure and a book on fox trapping for me (thanks, Mr. June in advance for all the fox I'm going to catch someday) and I'm fighting against the odds to do something I'm passionate about and have dreamt of since I was a 6 year old watching Jeremiah Johnson (now you get my name huh?) Sorry for all my long drawn out replies but I really wanted to clear that up in case anybody got the wrong idea by me taking up Raptor on his incredibly generous offer. My intention is not to whine that I only have two traps or make anyone feel bad for me, it's all a part of my adventure.

These guys are full of info. Use the search / archive stuff as much as possible, but the best teacher is experience. I was once "that guy" that had little to nothing for equipment. I think most of us probably started there.
I still enjoyed it with what I had. It's just as fun now as it was then. Just keep after it. It will all come together soon enough.

I think you would be better off to skin your animals and put the pelts In the freezer until you can get to a place to flesh and tan them. I freeze all of mine during the season and tan them in the spring. The fur market is so bad I don't bother trying to sell anything except tanned fur.

Many a mountain man had little little more to start than a few traps and a horse. Sic 'em boy!

Salting it will keep for years. Before its hard as a rock fold it so it fits a box and let it dry all the way and ship to a tannery. Thats what taxidermist do if they dont tan it themselves.

Borax wont do anything but soak up grease and speed up the drying process like sawdust. Its not a preservative. Taxidermists use it as an insecticide on birds mounts and that caused confusion within the fur trade.

What are you trying to trap? Muskrats don't really need to be fleshed, you can flesh what little bit is on the hide with a spoon and you could dry them on a piece of cardboard cut to shape. Something like coon however needs a lot of fleshing and I wouldn't be eager to flesh and dry one in an apartment.

good luck we all started out with only a few traps, what are you trying to trap?

Everything. Haha mostly fox, yotes, coon, and some water trapping. I only planned on land trapping this year but my buddies grandparent's back yard turned into a pond this spring thanks to local beavers, so I'm likely going to give that a shot as well.

Thank you, that's almost exactly how I was planning to do!

I need to dig through the archives more but I absolutely love it here, I've never posted and been replied to with anything less than extensive knowledge and kindness. Being that I'm also a duck hunter and a fly fisherman it's an openness and genuine helpfulness that my other passions are missing.

Post your address so we can help......jk

Borax is anti-bacterial. Guess what bacteria will do to a pelt? It's also a powder. Works better than anything granular for the do-it- yourselfer.

I would find a way to flesh them. You can use a sharp knife and a chunk of angle Iron, head in to the wood find a tree stump or tree growing at an angle and start fleshing. Buy a coon board and you can stretch a lot of animals . you can dry them in the the house. If you salt them its gonna be a mess in an apartment.

The salting was going to be confined to a large tote in my storage locker

I'm starting to think I might just salt a few to keep and sell the others whole this year, and use the off-season to plan better. I got excited and resent off half cooked when I really wasn't in the position to be getting into all of this.thanks for the answers and keep them coming because I'm committed now! I'll figure it out. I'm not interested in the money I just want to be outside participating in nature.

Nope salt works better for the do it yourselfer, he probably already has some in the cupboard too. And ask any tannery how they prefer their hides prepped. None will say borax them. in fact it messes with their tanning PH.

I was raised using salt on squirrel and deer hides with my pappaw, only ever used borax if bugs showed up.. . If it ain't broke don't fix it..

Do you plan on tanning these skins yourself or ship to tannery?
Drying,freezing,or salting raw skins is just a temporary measure to slow down deterioration of the skins until they can be tanned.
They need to be tanned to achieve longer term preservationt.There are different degrees of tanning geared to end use-for example at one end of the spectrum - as a wall hanging decoration or at the opposite end - as a hard use garment subjected to repeated wetting and drying.

Don't know if snares are legal in Ohio or not but they ae good cheap alternative to traps when you don't have many traps. Probably about $1.50 each now a days. You can make your own lots cheaper.

Is your storage unit large enough to handle your fur?
just

Salt draws moisture . Borax doesn't. If I was gonna do them myself....I'd use borax. If I was gonna send them to a tannery...I'd use neither...just air dry after fleshing and boarding

Salt draws out all the water and fluids so it dont rot, Borax is mostly soap mixed with a little borax. That really don't do anything except absorb liquid. It dont permeate the hide like salt does.
And if it has an antibacterial effect (it dont say it on the box) it would not permeate the hide anyway if it did.

Tannerys get alot of hides, and turnaround time can be years, Tanneries dont store pelts in their freezer while waiting to be tanned.Every taxidermist I know salts hides before sending to a tannery, or while waiting what could be years to be mounted.by themselves if they dont have freezer space.

A Boraxed hide will grease burn within a year at room tempeture with the oils still in the hide.

It's a 5' by 10' filled to the hilt with decoys... I'm just trying to make something work. And I'm interested in making snares I plan on it next season but there's a few neighborhood house cats I'm found of so I'm trying to stick to footholds where I can.

For now I'd just concentrate on trapping. Anything you catch can be put in a freezer and dealt with later. Good luck!

Bold of you to assume I have room for anything in my tiny freezer or that Mt girlfriend wouldn't kill me in my sleep for doing that hahaha

But I agree with you, I've found a way to do everything so far, thank you!

What ever you decide to use do not use just borax to try and save the pelt, it will not work contrary to what is always said here about using it.
It also sets the PH off on professional tanning and may cause you to actually lose the pelt all together, tanners do not sort out and tan separate batch's of boraxed fur LOL

Borax helps in preventing bacteria growth from rotting the pelt, it does not preserve it in any.

This comes up every year with some one saying it does just fine, it is a preventive only not a preservative like salt !!