Just got done skinning/fleshing my first mink. Am I leaving too much meat on the the skin? I could not get it off even with a sharp knife. I didn't want to ruin my hide as this was a big mink and though I did a decent job skinning. I did not board it yet because I need to make a bigger board. My male board seemed small and had a lot of slack in the fur. I rolled it up good and put it in the freezer until I could build a bigger board. Also am going to post a picture of my first possum. I had a friend want to help me with it and he he rushed it and many holes....Did we leave too much meat on it? Please don't comment on how it is boarded as this is for personal use and other than 5 muskrats I did this weekend, these are the first time fleshing and boarding. As I do more I am going to work on doing the stretching correctly. I only have Youtube and this forum to learn. I appreciate any feedback so I can learn more.
Thanks

I have been looking for dimensions on large mink boards but can only find male and female sizes. Does anyone have dimensions of a larger board for minks?

For the mink,you can flesh it on the board its on.Just gently scrape off the fat,and any chunks of red meat under the arms.
leave the saddle on,if there is fat under the saddle gently push it out from underneath.keep a rag in one hand while fleshing to wipe up the liquid grease as you flesh.
Dont scrape on the edge of your board scrape down the belly side until it is clean of fat,then scrape down the back.
Then turn the skin a quarter turn on the board so the belly is on one edge and the back on the other edge,then scrape the fat and meat off one side,then do the same on the other.
Now your mink should be ready to pin on the board.Re position the mink so the back is on one side and the belly on the other and pin the skirt by the tail strait across then pin the legs where they hang on the opposite side.trim the front legs off about 3/4 of an inch long and tuck them inside.
Hang the boarded mink nose down and wipe any grease that seeps out of the skin as it drys.
Dont dry it near heat dry it in a cool corner of the house.
I use a small paint scraper with the corners rounded off with a file to scrape small skins on stretching boards.

You can use the large mink board and it will be fine. Pull the hide down taunt but not tight. If your going to pin the fur and have the slack bunched up a little, let it be above the tail in the inspection area

I've put many extremely large mink for my area on large male boards and they turn out fine.

Good for you for putting up your own fur. I encourage people to do it and have showed many how to.
Right now I'm teaching my eight year old great granddaughter to put up fur. Last year she put up beaver with me. This year she has 3 coon, 3 skunks, 10 rats 4 mink a coyote and a weasel.
Just like you, she'll make some mistakes, we all did, and still occasionally do. Keep at it, your learning and doing fine.

Possums are VERY thin skinned and hard for beginners to do.

Follow Bocos advice on fleshing fat and loose meat

Looking forward to some more pictures

Your male board should be fine. Pleat skirt to keep rump dense.
You don't want a Tee-Pee looking finished product.

Finished Mink (between Coon)-

Here ya go, Eswets-

So I have watched a hundred videos on fleshing, this is my second mink. I feel I am leaving too much meat and flesh on the hide. My knife seems to skate over everything and is not getting into anything. I have use a dull knife, sharp knife. I know I need a better fleshing knife. The one I am using is my grandfather from many years ago that he made. He used it on hundreds of animals. I don't want to ruin the fur. Let me know if I need to clean it more or if it ok to dry as is?

Here is my second mink picture

Looks great. Keep at it. Your doing fantastic

I use a one handed fleshing tool on mink. I also use either a piece of pvc pipe, or a somewhat rounded small fleshing board, instead of trying to flesh them on a standard, flat, fur form board. I don't know what your final destination is for these pelts. Different buyers/ auctions may want saddles left on, or removed. On all except my skinniest, smallest mink, I remove the saddles, due to the excessive fat found on the mink in my regions. Leaving too much fat and grease can and will cause discoloration/ oxidizing (yellowing) of the skin, and grease burn, on under fleshed pelts, when stored long term. It's a fine line though, you don't want to over flesh, and expose hair roots, or rip a skin either. Personally, if it was me, I would be fleshing them cleaner. Both yours and Boco's have more fat/ grease/ flesh than I would leave on a mink pelt. I'm not saying it is wrong or unacceptable, just that I personally would finish fleshing it all the way Some buyers/ auctions prefer saddle on mink, for SOME fur sections. I also wouldn't board mink for auction in the way the video link displayed. With all case skinned species, you want to pin the base of the tail/ butt FIRST, and not the legs on the belly side of the board, as the video showed. Doing the base of the tail FIRST maximizes the length of the pelt, which is potentially critical for making a larger size, and thus, higher priced pelt.

Trapped4ever, how do you get your pelts so clean? That is how I want mine. Mine are for personal use. Do you flesh right after skinning? No mater what knife, blade or scraper I use it just skips off most of the meat and membrane.

You can flesh them right away, or skin, bag and freeze, fur side out. I've left them frozen for a month or two, sealed up in plastic bags, then thaw, flesh, board, and dry. I prefer to roll them up, fur out, squeeze as much air as possible out of the bag, and seal, before freezing. Long term storage in the freezer for raw skins, a vacuum sealer bagged fur would probably last longer yet?
The pvc fleshing pole is 2" I.D. I believe, and this is the one hand scraper I usually use. The black thing on one side of the scraper is a hatchet blade protector that I put on the sharp side of the scraper, and I can apply pressure with the thumb of my other hand, if or when it is needed. The second hand also helps maintain control of the scraper, if you are applying pressure, since you don't want to slip sideways on a pelt.