Blow them dry with leaf blower, skin and then throw them in a good tumbler with corncob grit.

You'll have some gorgeous $2 rats this year!

Everything gets shop vacked then hung by the front paw 'til dry. Several fans blowing on the catch. Nimzy has the right idea there for big numbers of 'ratrs in short time.

My average 'rat catch is but a fraction of his. Therefore, everything gets hung up this way, including the 'rats. Structure is temporary and stores under a bench. Rerod is half inch. Easy up, easy down.

How long dose it normal take for one of your coons to dry, and what temperature do you have them drying in?

Dry enough to skin the next day, providing I shop vac 'em. Insulated garage, heated only to keep it above freezing.

I made a rack for my truck. When your driving and checking the rats are always drying when their hanging, Windy days they dry fast,rainy days not so much. Seems like a lot of work to hang them but it go’s fast once you get used to it. Handle the rats once and hang. Take them off to skin. Saves a lot of time and gets you skinning rats quicker.




Racks transfer when full from the back of the truck to the front


Pick a rack up and hang it in the skinning shack

Have about 40 2x2s and they get moved up high when drying

I have wire racks In the truck bed and just lay the rats on the rack. At the shop I use a air compressor to blow dry the rats. I think blowing the water out of the fur works a lot better then sucking It out. 80Lbs of air blowing against the grain moves a lot of water a hurry. You can skin the same day.

I repurpose my economy cement mixer for rat drying. Remove the inner paddles throw in half a load of dry rags( I like the micro fiber hand towels Menards all but give away on rebate) add 25 large rats and turn on. Take about 20 m for them to tumble tru rags to the bottom of tub. They come out power dry, clean and flexible for skinning. Throw damp towels into mesh clothes bag and hang to dry. I rarely have more than 100 rat days so four loads usually does it. Works as well as drying them in the snow.

So been using this with fan on rotation 30 minutes or so dry in 2 hours

Anything I pull out of the water gets rolled around in the snow to dry off, then I hang them in my shed if I'm not going to get to them that day (I hang by a back foot, I want the guts in the chest cavity and not by the thin belly skin). Then when I'm ready to thaw them out and skin, I hang them in the shower to thaw (my wife is pretty cool) then back out to the shed for processing