We’re getting a couple of very cold days beginning of next week. Near or below zero. I’m took about thirty beaver pelts out of freezer to work up this weekend. Those of you in very cold areas, how does the zero nights do for you on beaver pelt drying? Seems like pelts turn real white here during extreme cold drying.

Wondering if they actually freeze dry or just freeze and take longer to dry. Swampwolf, no need to reply. 😁

Not sure about the dry time, i usually dont take beaver off till I need the boards. I use a unheated building and run a fan when I know I need a faster turn around. The cold does turn the leather white, Almost temped to save some of the beaver I have caught lately and put them up next week when its <10F out here.

Pelts will dry at any temperature as long as the humidity is low.
The lower the temps the slower they dry,which is a good thing.
If the humidity is high and the temos are low they will take forever it seems to dry,and if those temps are above freezing then you can get mold or taint problems.

I freeze dry some. It takes a long time but even if you only get a few days of good temps it’ll help a little

Boco, I’m finding what you said is true here.

Well I pulled out about 40. We’ll see how they look come Wednesday.

They still dry, just takes longer. The leather does turn nice and white.

Not sure if this is a concern but I recall a Nafa grader telling me they were suspicious of frost dried beaver the washed out leather had them figuring you were trying to hide something.

Not sure what you would you could hide that wouldn't show up on the fur side. False cuts maybe or scraped too thin perhaps.

I suppose they saved and frost dried fall beaver to confuse them into upgrading to winter. Back in The day when that made a difference. Probably don’t matter anymore. More worthless history

Well this zero weather has them turning white. Look different than my earlier dried ones.

Lots of people use the cold weather to dry hides up here in the north. Hang them until they're soft again then cut and sew like you would with tanned hides.

Once swipe of the hand through the fur an a competent grader should be able to tell the difference between a fall and winter beaver

Yup I’m just passing along what I was told back in the 90s when I was an agent for the company. I was one to listen to the graders. If they perceived a “red flag” the skin went down. You see from the company’s point of view it’s easier to downgrade the producer than deal with a claim from the buyer. They are responsible for the grade and claims cost money.

Another tip make sure you remove ALL the pins and staples from your skins. Nothing irritates a grader more than getting cut or stabbed.

The guys running the round wheel fleshing machines really hate staples. They will ruin a blade or cause you to have to resharpen/repair the blade.