YJ, nice job.!!!

Looks pretty good there yukon John! Great work

I dont long chain much but had too in this spot. Chunker though

Good job, that is a chub!

Looking good Yukon.

A footnote for anybody trying to market otter into the craft market: Pay close attention to how you deal with the tail. The crafters use that tail so a wide tail is preferred. Also, not too much of a window on the belly side because they can use all that belly fur.

This is how they like to see them. Obviously the two on the left are tail-on nutria.

Nice buckskin otter. I have one otter this year caught in the beginning of December I expected to be a nice buckskin, but its back turned out a lot darker than I was expecting. Yeah I was talking to that $60 dollar guy at the ITA auction last year, he was telling Rusty he would buy all the otters he could get at his sale, and I didn't bother with feet on the one I did this year because he was paying the same, feet or no feet.

YJ, looks good, and don't worry otter take me longer than anything else in the fur shed, Except taxidermy wolves.

bearcat, Musty and I were talking to the man and he told us he would pay $10 more for feet on otter but he wanted the feet skinned out without the pads. Something I had not been doing in the past. He claims that the feet don't dry correctly with the pads....something I'm going to check on some day. Not sure i believe that...at least not how I do them with pads.

He’s probably the fella that’s been buying mine then. I open them up completely and remove the pad entirely. They tan open and soft without the pad. I’ll be sending my majority as long as DNR can have them tagged in time.

Good Job YJ
Never seen a beaver that red after fleshed

Yep $75

4 from today. One I had to tangle with as he decided not to go down the slide.

Mud, I tried your foot skinning method, if I done it correctly, I like it. Can’t wait to flesh and board this otter tomorrow evening. I never liked how the otter feet were hard when they came back from the tannery.

It seems to work out nicely and the western auctions seem to like them .

Just did a big male tonight.

Mud is there a thread on here about your technique? Have one coming out of the freezer to skin in the next couple days.

Turtle that one was bit up pretty bad, and didn't appear to be in very good health.

No sir no threads on technique from me. Others on here are far more qualified to offer their knowledge.

As far as doing the claws on the otter, only advice I can offer is doing the back feet is easiest with the otter on a table belly down. The front feet are easier for me to work on once the otter is on the gambrel. I use an exacto knife on the feet. If drying conditions arent great, rub a bit of borax into each foot when complete.

Doing the feet like that is OK for a wallhanger,but would ruin them for a taxidermist who wanted to do a full body mount.Lots of otters are wanted by native americans as clan dodem and the important part is the claws,not the pads.
As far as the feet being hard from the tannery,they need to be re hydrated and then they will be soft,and you can form them as they dry.
This can be done when blocking the tanned skin or just by rehydrating the feet only.

Mine have been getting sold out west in Idaho mostly Boco. They are presumably going as wall hangers to the large Native American contingency out there. Only my biggest ones have gone to taxidermists and those Ive delivered whole.

I find taxidermists often prefer specimens frozen whole,at least small and medium sized animals.Some animals require different skinning techniques for different mount poses when doing full body mounts.Often the front feet and body are showing and some mounts require dorsal skinning for those.

With otter if I'm selling to a taxidermist most have me case skin them and cut off the whole feet with a lopper so they can skin them as they wish. I often have to convince them that I can skin the head out without screwing it up for them.

Kudos to you Mud for figuring out a way to realize more $$$ for those otters. The eastern/midwestern market for otter has been stuck to the fur trade for waaaay too long.