Storing carcass rat freezer question.

Have some carcass rat from early Nov an up till now. Frozen quick with belly up ,. I skin sold some few wk ago, look ok, if let carcass. Rat go freezer till early feb they weren't wrapped an just lay belly up an quick frozen, csn they be freezer burnt ?

Good job coonmman!! I don't know how anything whole could get freezer burned in 3 months but maybe its possible...

Should be good to go, as a precaution I always snip the claws off before they go in the freezer, nothing sharper the frozen rat claws in the early morning

I still have the scars, know what you mean.

I know what u mean, frozen razor sharp claws

I'd say no chance

If It happens It's going to be the nose and face that will freezer burn. And It could happen.
I just hate skinning thawed rats. And as to those frozen claws I would just cut off all the feet before I started.

Have stored whole freezers before, I just dry them a bit and blow out with air compressor then cut tail and maybe front feet off. I find it annoying to do the initial cuts without the hind feet. I use a piece of cardboard to put under the currently freezing layer to keep them from freezing together then slide it out and do the next layer, this costs you some freezer space as they dont pack as well but you end up with all individual rats... Finished product won't be hurt by 5-6 months. They are much less nice to put up then fresh rats as stated. The important thing is loading the freezer at a pace that they freeze quickly, and dealing with promptly when you thaw. The freeze/thaw much more likely to damage then 'freezer burn' which pretty much just makes face harder to skin. In general they are much harder to peel because the carcass does not hold together as well. Now days I think it's quite a bit better to keep up with skinning and just freeze pelts to stretch later in my opinion but Id do this again if I just wanted to go as hard as I could for a few days and I had the freezer space, realistically you need multiple freezers to do the freezing even if you put all the frozen ones in one.

This is 300 or something

I freeze all my rats whole until heavy winter sets up. As long as they are dry when they go in they will be fine for months and months.

And rethawed rats skin a lot better than fresh.

I'm guessing you guys are not taking advantage of the meat market on those rats. I saw a lot of dollar signs wasted in that chest freezer.

only reliable carcass market up here is beaver, although it is quite good. Ive sold a few rats for eating (like 20....) and some to a guy who used them for food for his hawks. heh. Not every place is the same.

Good point. I did not see the Alaska part. Definitely a shortage of clientele up there.

Anyone who traps canines may want to view what Robert Waddell uses for bait in his quest for 1000 yotes.
Looks like he is the real deal with rats down a dirt hole

I haven't frozen whole rats very often, but when I have, it seemed like they always had green bellies by the time they thawed...and I usually tore the guys open while skinning.

Is this typical when freezing whole rats?

How long can keep un wrapped. Beaver an coon, otter, if just lay flat an freeze, with tail an head tuck in? Without trouble ? Skinned. Not carcass's.

I would wrap them all.It varies but it will freezer burn much quicker,not wrapped.at the least,it can make animals sloer to skin.Some tails can be impossible to skin or may rip.Throwing them in a bag loosely can be as bad.The best thing I have used for rat sized animals is shrink wrap with a handle,as used in packaging.It really pushes a lot of air out and that is the name of the game.Cutting the claws or feet off is a good thing.

Larger animals can be wrapped in a bag and the shrink wrap can be used to wrap around the bag to get some air out.

I have the best luck,putting them up and when dry,bag a bundle and wrap that.They will definitely last much longer this way.Wrapped on the carcass,I might let them go 6 months.Unwrapped,I wouldn't wait too long.You can test every couple months by pulling one that has been in there longest and putting that one up.You can store it in the freezer.A monthe later,try aother one.This should tell you how your particular freezer affects them.Nice batch of rats,Coonman.

I mean how long ok to keep coon, beaver, otter that are skin in freezer. That are not wrapped but lay flat to freeze quick with head an tail tuck under, they are skin out

I use to freeze them all the time as a teenager. I would dry them off pretty good with some crumpled up newspaper and then roll them up in a dry newspaper. Worked very well until my mom opened up the freezer and saw then in there. Whiskers and teeth were all she saw!

edit - Some of those rats were taken in November and not skinned till March, I never noticed anything wrong with them.