I am look for ideas on making a rack to hold maybe 50 or so to dry before skinning if anyone has made something.

Get some wire fencing and some 2X4s and make a rack.

I have a stack of milk crates. Used to just line them up and lay out the rats in top. We don't have large number of rats around me much anymore.

And if you make a wire rack and you have a open box pick up put the rack in the back when your trapping those rats. And they will be dry by time you get home as long as It's not raining. LOL

I have 6-7 30 inch long cage traps. I line those up and put about 4-5 per trap and use 3 fans to blow air on them. The idea of a rack with an open surface is the air gets to the whole rat.

Bryce

Switching to a couple wire shelves on wheels. So I can roll over to the skin table. My drying racks are on wheels and that’s the way to go imo.

I don't think we have that many rats in all of Kansas!

So this is what I came up with on wheels so it can move out the way I can add more layers if need be . Thanks for the input

Looks like a good start.

Wrap the rat in newspaper as soon as caught. When I get home I hang rat by front foot with piece of wire. Skin next day.

So I made one more level


Made a table top for other stuff.

I would leave plenty of room for air flow

great idea for smaller quantities for sure but large numbers not so much

I admit I am a hobby muskrat trapper . Never got more than 350 rats a year. Always sent to NAFA back in the day. I made sure rats were dry and brushed before skinning. Poked the front legs inside the pelt after placing on stretcher. Made sure not to over stretch. Got many top lot awards. These days with $2.00 rats maybe don't need to be so fussy.

From my experience in selling with lower prices and weaker demand, poor fur or poorly handled fur gets lowered or docked at a higher percentage of higher values then when demand was higher and prices better.

Bryce

hang by teeth on stretcher nail

Old deer stand ladder section and some clothes racks…

We used to roll ours up in newspaper initially. The newspaper will soak up a lot of water.Then laid them on a wire rack to finish drying.

I have a small wet dry vac that I sometimes can use on really wet rats. I also have a larger one that really works on coons.

Bryce

I use a clothes dryer converted to 110 (no heat only tumble) and then I plug the holes in the back with duct tape and put wood shavings like what you would use for animal bedding and tumble 7 rats for 15 or so minutes and they come out perfectly dry and ready to skin. The time and such depends on what dryer and how wet the rats are. I wouldn't do more than 7 big rats as I have tried 10 before and wrecked a dryer. Luckily, I get them for free so it wasn't bad. The only issue I have run into is that if you're doing a lot of rats, the fluff does get wet after a while but I just stick a fan in there on low and the fluff dries out rather quickly. I like to put a 1/4 bale in and then add more as needed. After they're dried, I stack them in milk crates belly up, get a few rounds of them dried, and then start skinning.

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