Canadian Trappers Talk Forum

new to the site. i have harvested my first beaver, and would like make my son a hat. i shot the beaver in the head and left it till the next day to drift closer to shore. the next day i took the beaver out of the cold water and baged it to keep the bugs away. sat like that for a day in the shade. when i got home i put it in the deep freezer. week later thawed it out and removed the pelt and flesh. nailed it to a piece of plywood and air dried it. cool and with a fan on it, no salt. what i wanted to know was what to do next. i have the orange bottle of tanning stuff. but that starts with a green hide. any input would be awsome.

thanks in advance.... kenney

I cant tell u much about tanning hides, other than check out some utube videos. I would suggest reading rule #6 on page 9 of the Manitoba Trapping Guide before heading out beaver hunting again.

oh no i do understand not to shoot a beaver in the water. but if shot on shore and it decides to head for the pond what can i do other then wait till the next day. i have a few problem beaver on my property and if shooting one and making a hat for my son is a problem then bring on the problem solvers.......

You can rehydrate a pelt that you have dried when you want to tan it, but in my experience it's better and easier to work from a fresh hide. If you know you are going to tan something but don't have the time right away it is better to freeze it instead of drying it for preservation. I have not used the orange bottle tanning solution, but many guys on here have posted in the past that it doesn't produce a garment quality tan with beaver. Good enough for a wall hanger, but not to make a hat. There are many different was to tan a hide, if you read through the posts you can see what some guys are using. I order from van dykes taxidermy in South Carolina as they have the products I like, but the shipping costs more than the product. Good luck with your hat.

If you don't have a boat around use your fishing rod and a lure with a couple of treble hooks to haul it in. The hook just gets hung up in the fur, not penetrating the skin.

beaver will NOT come out soft and supple using orange trapper formula. the process i found for home tan beaver to make mitts and hats requires much more work. pickle, shave,degrease, wash, semi dry, Liqui Tan, dry, and BREAK hide. i tan all beavers at home this way and lots of work but results in a $400 pair of mitts. well worth it. my 2cents.

Does brain tanning work with beaver and what would the process be, has anyone tried it, do the brains take the place of the tanning solution? I have about 40 skinned, but not fleshed, in the freezer from last march and I'd really like to tan them.

never tried brain tanning on anything. If you are gonna make garments stick with synthetic tanning.

JBD is correct. Your pickle will need to be a ph of 2 and you will need to super saturate the solution with a lot of table salt. This solution will also rehydrate the dry beaver hide as well as swell the hide. When you swell the hide you then run it through a fleshing machine to thin the hide out ( I made my own machine). This allows for the tanning agents to penetrate deeper and all of the way through. It also allows you to break the hide easier. After pickling and shaving, you need to degrease because beaver is very greasy. You want your hide to come out dry looking and not greasy looking. Use your method of tanning and then break the hide to make it soft. A whole bunch of work and really labor intensive when it comes to breaking the hide.

Darton, I would love to see a picture of your homemade fleshing machine.

Where would you buy rittles tanning kit? Preferably in Canada to avoid the exchange rate.

maybe AAA taxidermy supply, Calgary ? Not sure it has his name anymore ? I use liqua-tan. Halfords.

I find it easiest to break in the hide when it's drying when it's stretched out on a wood frame.

what is the best to use for degreasing a beaver hide when tanning it?