Fleshing Beavers - Chill Them Or Not?

I’m trying to learn how to flesh beavers over my knee this season. When I flesh my coyotes, raccoons etc I like them a little chilled when I do them. Will it help me as well to chill my beavers as well? Or does it not matter at all?

Try It both ways and see what works for you.
I like all my hides to be at room temperatures when fleshing.

I won’t touch em unless they chilled out. They are pain when warmer in my opinion. Especially the ones I flesh over the knee they gotta be chilled.

Clean skinning is an option also. Big adult beaver are always tougher but I prefer clean skinning over beam or knee fleshing. I have done all and this is just where I landed.

I like to leave beaver,coon ,and otter in fridge overnight but I flesh on a beam.

Why do you prefer the hide to be chilled?

Beav, it makes the fat less greasy so I can keep my pelts cleaner, beam cleaner, floor and me cleaner.fleshing knife cleaner.i am not real fast so if I do a fresh pelt everything is covered in grease by the time I'm done.

Interesting, newfox.

When I flesh a coon I start about 6" from the bottom and flesh off this fat. Then I start at the top and flesh down the hide. When you do It this way the fat and gristle doesn't hang up at the skirt area, It just rolls right off that already fleshed area. I do the same when fleshing coyotes. You just end up with cleaner fur by doing It this way.

I had a metal pan built that sits under my beam. This catch's all the scrapings and I just load pan and all Into the back of the truck and get rid of It.

Year's ago I watched a fella who worked for NAFA flesh a couple beaver over his knee I never even consider it as being possible until then, the important thing was to keep your knife razor sharp and work the fat and grease to the middle I've never seen such a thing. I tried it without much success so I learned how to clean skin beaver then touch up the semi dry pelt with a scrapper to remove what little I may of missed.

Personally I hate a trough and prefer a old kitchen table with a tarp strap on each end to hook into the front and back leg so I can pull against it keeping the hide tight if that makes sense. When your skinning knife drags more than cut is when you want to touch it up with a quality sharpening steel .
As mentioned above give each idea a try to figure out what work's best for you it didn't take me long that one month I caught and skinned 456 beaver I cheated and had a friend help with stretching them we both made good money way back them.
I'm old enough now I don't want to try that again ha ha
Allan

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I like my beaver chilled prior to skinning as it firms up the meat and fat and makes them easier to clean skin.

Well when I was trapping beaver full time I would catch 10 or so a day lay them out on some old bed springs to dry. After about 2 days I would skin them. I can't see how I could have been able to chill all those carcasses. Same with after I rough skinned those beaver I'm not about to take all those hides place them In freezer to chill them. For the most part those freezers were filling up with already fleshed hides so there wouldn't have been room. I never found beaver to be all that greasy.
I remember one time I got a bunch of frozen beaver hides I partially thawed them and then started to flesh. It didn't go so well since I kind of lost my feeling between the knife and the hide. Room temperature works for me.
Now coon are greasy.I like to start out by fleshing off the bottom 4" or 5" this lets the rest of the fat as I flesh roll right off that bare area and I won't build up all that fat and grease like happens when you keep building up fat when you start from the top. I do the same thing with coyotes this keeps the skirt area lot less greasy.

For chilling I mean hanging in a cool area for several days at a temperature of about 0-5C or 32-40F.

Good insight.

Congratulations, by the way, on you being honored into the Wis Trappers Association Hall of Fame in a few months at the FTA in Marshfield. I'll be awaiting your acceptance speech, as I think I will be there that night.

Thanks.

Not to be critical but It sounds like a lot of trappers take 30 min or more to flesh a beaver . If that's the case the hide will be at room temperature before you get half way done. LOL

I agree with the coons being chilled down a bit. A lot less greasy. I like your way Beav by fleshing the bottom 1st. By the time you get to that area there is a lot of oil a grease being pushed into the fur and tail.

Not really I also liked them chilled. I fold them and put them in the fridge overnight. My barn is not heated but I can run a torpedo heater and get it up to 38° F when I'm fleshing. My "room" temperature is still a chilled pelt. The fridge actually keeps them from freezing

YoteBoy - it should be cold enough in your neck-o-the-woods that they would be chilled?!?
Since it's between single digits or up to mid 30's here, I just skin them at the end of the day. I guess that's "chilling" them.
That said, I do the same as The Beav with coons and coyotes. My granndpa taught me to skin the gristle area first and get rid of all that mess, the go to the head and work my way along.
Never tried the knee fleshing thing - just use a beam..