I have 2 beaver that I will be skinning tomorrow. I wont have time to flesh them right away so Im going to freeze them and pull them out to flesh later. What is the best way to do this? Should I roll it skin side in and freeze that way? Also, when i pull them back out to flesh and stretch and dry, should i wait until its completely thawed out?

Fold in half, fur side out, and freeze that way. If you don't have enough room you can fold in quarter. When thawing do not use direct heat, let it thaw slowly. 50-60degrees is best in my opinion. Fleshing while still chilled will make your life easier, sometimes we even throw pekts back in the freezer to chill them to make fleshing easier. Good luck and have fun!

I fold them like a brand new t shirt, if that makes sense (so NO flesh is exposed). And for me it works better if they're completely thawed. I don't clean skin though, in fact what I do probably isn't even as clean as rough skinning, lol.

I freeze 90 percent of my catch and flesh later.
Beaver i fold in half and then again. Wrap in a garbage bag and freeze
I thaw on a table in the mudroom for 24 hours. It's not hot or cold in that room probably 55 °F
Once completely thawed I put in the fridge overnight to chill and firm.
Then I flesh and board

I freeze almost all my fur to board at a later date.Species I dont normally store are marten,rats mink.i skin and board right away.Weasels and squirrells are frozen whole until I have a bunch to skin and put up or tan all at once.Skins I freeze for later processing are beaver,otter,cats wolf bear fisher.
I lay the skin out to cool either outside for half an hour if cold outside,or in the cold room in the cellar.
Then I fold(beaver,bear) skin to skin and roll them up tight in a heavy plastic bag and squeeze out the air.Others(cased) are rolled fur out same way.
Then I take a marker and write on the outside of the bag- species,date put in freezer and note any that have dmg and degree of dmg
Then into the freezer If you have a lot to put in at once and only have one freezer,make sure you dont lay them in to freeze in more than one layer.It takes rolled skins too long to freeze if you just heap up the freezer with unfrozen skins packed in.

I do same as Dale.

Just realized I didnt put very much effort into drying my fur before freezing. I have a few beaver that I rolled in the snow after the catch and then skinned, folded, and froze them. They should be dry for the most part. I also have an otter that I had waited a day to skin while it was in my cold garage. When I skinned it, the majority of it was pretty dry except around the head and neck was a little more damp. After skinning, I rolled it up and threw it in the freezer right away. Will this be a big issue? Or will it most likely be okay? I am sending to a tannery that will be fleshing and tanning for me.

If you are sending it to a tannery, You could have some issues if it thaws out for an extended period before they begin the tanning process.
Think in terms of hot wet mess.

be a problem if you left any flesh exposed to freezer burn

I find if I put the hide in the freezer to flesh at a later date they don’t come out of the freezer. Lol

I like to skin and flesh the same day whether I have time or not.

I always just roll them, double bag them with the nose tucked in and space them out in the freezer next to or on top of frozen stuff. Never had a problem doing this ever.

I have everything fur out so no flesh is exposed

The beaver I catch in the spring get put in the freezer for later in the year. I use a small spray bottle and mist the flesh side of the hide and then role it up tight and put in plastic backs for the freezer.

So its probably not too much of a worry if there are a couple of wet or damp spots on them?

You should be fine

I flesh at end of trapping each year just put in a bag freeze until ready.

Here's some Fox that were froze, then thawed. Ready for fleshing & boarding.


After flesh'n, boarding, drying & combing-

Sorry to get off track...
Here's a TIP I got from Boco about pinning tails-

Quilting pins or T-pins can be used to dry tails.
I like the T-pinsl

Grey Fox tail-


Red Fox tail-

your fur will be fine ,

I like that idea. Will need to try.