Brand new to trapping. set 6 traps and caught a raccoon and possum . I need to know what are the steps to take a raccoon that I skinned (first catch) to having a beautiful fur that I can cut to use for a blanket or something. I don’t want to make leather I want a fur hide that can hang on wall or sit on coffee table I read a lot of different ways to do it. But what is the right way to do it and is it animal wide meaning can I use same steps for deer as coyote and raccoon. Please and thank you.

Skin flesh tan. Lots of info on YouTube and the archives. Good luck and happy trapping

Your best bet is to find another trapper in your area that handles fur and learn from them how to put up fur. Fur handling is a whole 'nother investment in tools and knowledge on top of your trapping equipment and knowledge. At a bare minimum, you'll need a fleshing knife and a fleshing beam, and a wire stretcher. As far as tanning, you can either send it to any number of tanneries, or buy a kit.

What part of kansas are you in?

Central Kansas. I have most of that just wondering the process.

When should I wash the fur between the three steps ( skin flesh tan)

Before skinning, always check for burrs and the like. Wash after skinning. I put up a few hundred coyotes a year and have a washing machine (If you are married or have a significant other, do not, for the sake of humanity, use the household washer!), but a bucket will do. drip dry overnight then flesh. Keep em cool through all this. depending on your time, you may want to send your dried hides off to tan vs doing them yourself. But, just like skinning/fleshing, youtube is full of helpful videos. DO NOT be afraid to look up a local and ask for help. First, it's much more fun than watching a video, and you get to hear fun stories, a few of which may even be true. Ply them with cold frosty malted beverages.

Brush out burrs Skin put in cooler to harden fat then flesh and salt. Look at the fur handling forum I just did a post on raccoon tanning with rittels ez tan.

Don't wash, clean with borax! YES, you can use borax to clean fur, especially with regard to dried blood stains. Previously I had always washed bloody hides before drying them. In this situation using borax I simply hand wash excessive blood clot areas, wiped the area as dry as possible with a rag then board the pelt as usual. Once the skin as dried and the fur turned out I work considerable dry borax powder into the stained areas, let set for 10-15 minutes and then comb, brush, and shake the borax out. Using this borax treatment method works extremely well as can be seen in the following before and after pictures. As well as removing blood stains the borax also cleans and brightens the fur.