skin - flesh - borax and board fur out ... skipping the need to turn/flip

Who all goes this route when putting up fox, cats & yotes? Just cant bring myself to it.

I do borax board and turn fairly quick ... but my method is to borax'em & board'em fur in and put'em in a room with a fan and a dehumidifier set at 30% ... 90 minutes or so and you better be turning'em or it might be too late

works for me ... what's your method?

I have never tried the borax. I put mine on a stretcher furside in for an hour then turn. When it nice outside I put them out in the wind.

Tried the "no-flip" this year, and loved it. No more worrying about it, just fur side out and be done with it!! It does take longer to dry but if you have the stretchers, why not!!!!

yodog - about how long did it take on average for them to dry ... including the ears setting up ... are you removing the ear cartilidge?

thanks for your input

I've never seen the need to borax. Just seems to me like an unnecessary step. I usually turn reds after about three hours and grays and coyotes after four or five hours, depending on temp and humidity. I have never had a canine pelt go bad using this method.

Well, hard to say... the cats I put up with no heat on them took about two weeks, with heat one week. Foxes and coyotes stayed on longer and I never really checked them until I took them off the stretchers.

No I am not removing cartalige, and that was what I waited for on the cats.

3 hr reds?! what temps you got?

my shed stays 65 and dry and my turn time is about 20 hrs. maybe a bit less, but not 3.

How do you even turn them after 20 hours? I'd have lot's of ripped bellies. My temps run 65 to 70 degrees. Three might be on the low end but definitely not more than four or five. Goes by touch, if they are a "clean" three, if they are a little fattier then four or five max.

I dont use borax, but have been thinking of trying it. I usually put them on one evening fur in. Check traps next morning,turn when I get to the shed the next afternoon. Works fine here. Shed stays at 60 degrees.

All yall have no humidity like me and I am guess Possum Skiner do. It is so hard for me to de humidifi here when it is 80% plus humidity out side. I have always turned mine, but I will be trying the borax method next season. I also am going to put in a de humidifier. I keep my shop it 65* with a small electic stone heater. Works well for me as long as it is cooler than 65* here, but if you miss the time to turn, you have messed up that is for sure.

Wouldn't know, Have not caught anything worth turning YET!! Next week its on....I just want one Cat this season...I will be on a mission the next 2 weeks.

Ya want me to come down there? You gona have to hook me up with some crawfish tho.

The Farmer was Laughing @ me this morning, I have everything from christmas ornaments, mardi grass beads, and little whirlibirds all over his farm for visuals....and all I catch are Yotes...one of these days its on...I posted a little crawfish video this evening (page 2) pretty neat.

M.HOWARD, i will find ya some NC crawfish if ya come up here! lol

So I take it that is a no I can't come down? Now I am hurt. LOL. You just don't want a yankee come down to eat all your crawfish do ya. LOL

69 NC is a little far for me to roam. I would love to, but that is a far haul as the crow flies.

Dont be offended by the lack of invitation, I just dont want to waste it!LOL I would rather You come down next season and help catch 20 cats instead of just one this time! As far as the crawfish....I got all you can eat!

possum skinner, i caught the humidity in the 30% range a few days ago and was turning some cats and fox in about thirty minutes. darn near messed up and waited too long. now today is a different story. the five cats i did today i had to put borax on them and one of those big darn squirrel cage blowers to boot. took about three hours with that setup. i boraxed the dog out of them. just got through flipping them fur out. gonna leave that big fan blowing on them and i bet it still takes a week or better for the ears to set up.

Hey D, ole Danny cooks them furs down his way. He keeps that shop so hot with a fire and then keeps the fans going wide open. He can cook out a cat in three days. Yall are just across the line from one another and on about the same humidity line. LOL. Now I aint saying they look the best when is done cooking them, but they are dry.

i got some in the garage he aint gonna get to cook. supposed to meet that fella from Ozona this week. sure hope he brings the cash.

Yodog, are you using wire or wood. I am sure it would make a difference. I wouldn't mind trying the non-flip method, just curious what the difference would be in the drying time between wood vs wire. All I use is basswood. One would have to think it would take longer to dry on wood than it would on wire.

Here in central Il I tried the Borax method on a few Yotes this year, took them 2 weeks to dry up and than there was signs of mold up around the head, yes I remove the cartledge from the ears.
As far as I'm concerned I'm gonna dry them fur side in till there ready to turn and than turn them.
Now the farther west you get, it gets better lower humidity, but you still have to get the leather "tacky or better" I like better,
I can turn a fairly dry Cat/Coyote, might make me Cuss a little , but it'll dry down quick.
If you guys are boraxing and not turning and using wooden boards, be very careful.
I tried it this year in western KS , I still had some mold, that was after drying them fur in for a while....B...

I skin mine, remove cartlidge, and flesh very clean.

I turn coyotes in 20 to 24 hours and foxs in 8 to 10 hours.

If the foxs get a little ddry I throw a damp towel around them, that will usually lossen them up in a few hours.

I have had dry fur stay good in my garage all summer after this method.

I did the borax and fur out on one cat to try it, I had trouble getting it off the stretcher,adjustable wood one, I think I did not put enough borax on the skin. I will try it again next season. My furs are ready to turn in 1-2 hours, 65deg and very dry

Can't bring myself to try it.
With greys, I usually go fur in for 18-24 hrs with a fan on, then a little borax in the pits, just in case.No trouble turning. Fairly humid here.

Wood

I would rather have something over dry then under when I turn it. I have turned some super dry coyotes. Sometimes it is a pain but they don't slip. 12 hours + on all mine. in the basement with coal heat.

I let my coyotes go overnight and then flip em in the morning. I just borax the armpits and the face. Some are a little stubborn but they are nice and dry.

One lil tidbit I'll add ... as we all know it's the neck/ear area that'll take the longest to dry and when using boards ya don't get much if any air flow to the inside ... and yeah the ear bases can still be "damp" even after days of optimum conditions ... here's a lil something I started doing and it works like a charm ... after I have turned them fur side out and reboarded them ... a day or so later I'll pull them off the boards ... at this point they are quite dry but the ear area can be the least dry area of the whole pelt ... I'll redust the face/neck/ears with borax then take a flexible plastic coat hanger and push it into the mouth and down the neck a lil ways forcing it open ... then lay them on their back and blow a fan directly on them ... the forced open mouth funnels the air right where it needs to be ... couple three hours and you're good to go ... you can then reboard if you really feel ya need to but for the most part I do not

Thanks again for all the input ... I appreciate it

I've "skipping the flip" for as long as I can remember.
Based on my climate and my experience.
- If you get mold, you didn't get borax rubbed on the spot that molded. The only time I had mold was when I skipped the boraxing.
- If the fur doesn't want to come off the board, it's probably not dry all the way. Dry fur comes off very easy and the wet stuff wants to stick to the wood. Center boards on adjustable stretchers give you a lot of slop to play with and get the fur off the board.

I don't dry ermine or marten at all fur side in. They dry so fast you have to watch them continuously if you try fur in drying. Instead the pelts are small enough I just stick the whole thing into the borax box, fur side in, and wallow them about a bit. Turn fur out and board. No problems so far. Cats, coyotes, fox all get a few hours fur in. I usualy let them dry while fleshing and boarding whatever skins I have that go fur in.

If I'm stretching hides that I've caught that day verses froze and thawed stuff coyotes are put out overnight. Cats and fox will be too dry here if left all night so often they get fleshed and then froze till I'm ready to take a few days just for fur stretching.

Good Luck D. I hope you see lots of green this weekend.

After watching steve woods videos I skipped the flip all winter long and had no problems at all I skin all my cats as i catch them and it sure makes it nice when I get in at night to borox all leather, board fur side out and hang.done deal

alright m howard, if ya are ever up this way, just let me know! would love to meet you and andy and charles one day, and maybe come trappin with ya! lol

Thats the way i do it. 5 gal bucket with 2 boxes borax in it, rub the leather all around in the bucket, covering all the skin, skae and stretch.

as i turn my head, im looking at a coyote i forgot to turn, and a 12 inch tear in the side of its neck.