Well it was not to bad.
Could not get to it Tuesday Afternoon... Life happens sometimes and we have to stop playing caveman for a while and deal with life.
So I left Mrs. Otter out in the cold Tuesday night. It went down to 25 so she froze quite well.
When I left to go to work Wednesday morning I covered Mrs. Otter in a pile of chopped up leaves from the compost pile.
Wednesday afternoon she was still frozen.
Got to work on her about 5:00 PM. It took me most of an hour to case skin her out.
Could not strip the tail out. It was "FULL" of fat and, at it's base, as large as my wrist. So, the tail was split down it's lenght and flat shinned. I did manage to case skin the rest of the hide off. Found a bit, not much, of the stink glans. Smells just like a skunk only in far less amounts. Could not get the head to skin out very well as all. It was just about completely dark so I cut the hide off just behind the ears.
It is quite cold thesedays and I did not know it the hide would dry or not if left outside. Inside drying is out of the question. Me wife would see to that.
. So, I froze it in the deep freezer. Sheeee, The wife does not know that.
The hide is inside four Wally World shopping bags. Each inside the other. I am going to place the whole lot inside a ziplock bag when I get home this afternoon.
Cut through the very tip of the tail just a bit. Really disappointed in that. Took off loads of fat with the hide but very little flesh.
The hide will need lots of fleshing out. Don't think I cut through any where else.
After the weather warm a bit I hope to tan this hide. Don't know nothing about that yet. Very soft yet strong hide. Most soft fur.
Quite certain that It can be made into something very nice.
David
