I always like to lay freshly killed beavers on their backs on the cement floor of the shop and let them lay and cool until the next day or two if cold but above freezing. I find this way the blood sets up and there is far less bloody mess when skinning them. Avoiding the veins in the neck helps too but for anyone who has seen my raccoon skinning videos you know I'm not one to be delicate, I just like to get them done. Does anyone else do this or have tips for skinning them with less mess?

Yes,we do that with most animals here.
Animals skin a lot cleaner after a couple days.
Beaver,like you said are best laid on an old carpet in the shed,on their back.Lets the blood coagulate,and the fat stiffen up and the fur to dry.
Other animals like cats,canines and otter etc are hung for a day or two.in the woodshed.Stiffens the fat,coagulates the blood and allows the fur to dry and the bugs to jump off.

You let canines and cats sit for a couple days here and you will have bellies greener than a spring pasture

I skin my canines and cats quickly, same day, ideally within 12 hours of dispatch. Beavers and Otters I skin as soon as they are dry

Dead cats and canines have greenbellys regardless.
Nothing wrong with greenbelly.

I've killed a lot of beaver and I've yet to see one with a green belly. Even after laying around for 3 or 4 days. Keep them on their backs and In the shade.

Boco is correct when it comes to green belly and lethal snares! When I could legally lethal snare in Michigan, I don’t think I hardly ever had a dead coyote or fox with 24hr checks no less that didn’t have green belly and I won’t pretend I didn’t like it! When the snaring went away I continued foothold trapping and skinned my canines the same day as caught. I skinned horizontally so bleeding wasn’t an issue at all. Just kept a tray of kitty litter below and all was well and no mess.

I hang otters to dry with beaver drying laid out on their back overnight as folks have previously described and I’m happy to skin the next day.

People talk about skinning beaver in the field and I’ve done it years ago but now it’d be too cold of a bloody frigin job when it’s in Dec and Jan with arthritic hands and back by golly!!! I’ve even built fires to warm my hands which did help but not enough for and old man to not fear of cutting myself while trapping deep in.

I would much sooner skin greenbellies than skin fresh and have to deal with all the bugs,blood and fat on skin that needs to be washed and fleshed off.
Like said before the huge benefit of skinning cooled animals is the stiff fat that is left on the carcass,not the hide,no blood and liquid grease in the fur and no fleas to deal with.
When clean skinning beaver nothing makes it faster and cleaner than when the fat is like cold butter.

Not only that, but when cold they pull like a mule! (Not everyone has an adc skinning machine).

My skinning machine is my arms skinning knives and skinning bones.

When clean skinning beaver, does the pelt need to be stretched and dried immediately? Or can they be frozen and then boarded later?

I freeze and board later.

Good to know. Thank you

I eat my beavers, i don't think id be comfortable eating them if they sat in the garage for a couple days. I skin em on the kitchen countertop and just hang their head over the edge of the sink and let the blood drain into there.

More flavour.

There's no way you have a wife loosegoose lol

In my first year married I was stationed at Ft Bragg and lived in a small apartment just off base. That fall I shot a small whitetail and decided I was going to do the job in the bathtub, I don’t know why I didn’t just hang it from a tree and take care of it in the woods.

In any case my wife still tells the story about me carrying it up the stairs at the apartment and putting it on the kitchen table while I got the cooler and everything ready.

She’s a good one tho, she’s put up with me for 15 years and counting…

Lol great story

A bit of a difference in Canada and southern US...Many 80°F days down here in Dec, Jan, and Feb.

Ya'll get a slight green belly in a day or so. We get hair slipping and full blown decomp underway in a few hours.

Even though beavers "hold" longer than other critters.....more than 1 day is too long....hair starts sloughing off belly faster than at a hatter processing facility.