How come when mine dry the skin turns dark, almost black? We dry in an uninsulated, unheated barn.

"Some one dried their beaver in freezing weather."

If you are refering to mine, NOPE, just the way I flesh them!

The bigger question would be "Why do you flesh the head so good?" It's not necessary...... Beaver, like coon, should be fleshed from the back of the ears on down. It is a good idea to knock the chunks off around the ears so you don't get a tainted, stinky area on the pelt, but that's about it. I'd also recommend using an electric stapler to put them on the board, unless you only plan to finish three or four a day...

First, I clean skin. After putting about 16 nails in the skin to keep it snug, I literally shave the entire skin with a VERY sharp knife. After shaving I go over it with a paintscraper to get as much moisture/grease out of the skin as possible. I dry in a 8x6x4 enclosure with two fans and 500 watts of IR lighting as a heat source. The relative humidity of coastal Oregon in the winter runs about 90% so the fans and heat are an absolute nessecity. It sounds like a lot of extra work but I still finish beaver start of skinning to last nail in less than 45 minutes, usually closer to half an hour. I taught beaverpeeler this method about 35 years ago and he does a comparable job. As his catch went up into the hundreds, I did notice a slight tendancy on his part to "get a little lazy" on the put up!! LOL

what are the measurements when you are stretching them in a oval? what do you go off of?