Drying wet coon?

[Deleted]

What is the fastest way to dry them?

I'll be running a 2 day check on drowners this year. So I will have a pile of water logged coon to skin every day.

I don't want them to sit an extra day to dry if I can help it. I wan them in the freezer as soon as possible.

Would drumming them be my best bet to dry them out? Anyone have pictures of their drumming set ups? Or would drying them in front of fans be my only option?

[HunterGirl]

What we do when we have wet coon is we skin them, put them on a stretcher wet side out of course, and hang them up. In our fur shed we have 2 or 3 great big fans that we have blow on them plus we have a woodstove in there that we stoke up blazing hot so it puts out a lot of heat. Between that and the fans, they're dry by the next morning and ready to be combed.
Not sure of any other way except a blowdryer, but that might take awhile.
LOL ;D
I don't want to sound stupid, but I'm curious. What is "drumming them"? I've never heard that.

[furman]

get some wood pallets and lay your coon belly up on them with a fan on them ......skin the last days catch to give them a day to dry.....if there not drying get more fans

[cody13]

Anybody try a blow dryer? I would think it would work a lot faster than fans.

[Deleted]

I honestly dot know much about drumming either. I just heardthat it dries them out with sawdust or something like that?

Last year I used the reverse on our shop vac. It worked well, but was very time consuming. I would rather be getting some extra sleep than blow drying everything that night.

[furman]

your not going to dry a sloppy wet coon by drumming..you might the first few dry but then you'll have to change the grit allot

drumming is to clean the fur....washing it with out water

keep it simple lay them out on pallets with a fan

[dahlyjr28]

I hang mine form the hind leg with fans on them, dry the next day.

[LLLTrapper]

After skinning some guys use a old washing machine on spin cycle for a few minutes to wring them out. We skin while theyare wet or dry and hang them on the chain link fence until they are all skinned then we hang them by the eye hole over night with fans going on them. First thing you want to do is take them down and pile dry on the floor where it is cool and then you can flesh them out of that pile or freeze them that night.LLL

[catting]

If time allows I blow mine off with an air compressor and either skin and place in front of fan or leave on carcass in front of fan to dry. Either way I would make sure that they are dry before freezing or putting up. The air compressor works great with short haired fur as well as getting some water off of coon. Can usually get rats mink and beaver dry completely before skinning but that's the nature of their fur. Good luck with what ever you come up with.

[bradphillips]

I have skinned wet and hung over night and hung by a front foot overnight also, both work. Today at work I "found" some real nice galvanized rack shelves that are 3' by 5', so I think I will build a short Drying station. The grate is welded 1/4" rod so it should be heavy enough. I have seen people with drying racks made with hog panel sections.

[beavg]

i use a leaf blower and snap them also work pretty good

[bd64]

I have hung wet beaver on a fence and used a leaf blower to remove most of the water then air dry by wind or a fan.

[Nick C]

Hey nick,

Have you ran many traps on drowners or 2 day checks?

I did last year, and had a lot of water logged coon, and put them on pallets and fan, and they dried out okay.

One thing I will say, is that when taking coon out of traps, I thought I had all small coons, as the underfur and everything was soaked, coons looked skinny.

Fortunately, I was mistaken.

[k9]

Make sure to get the insides of thier legs/crotch area dried. Open those legs up so breeze can blow on them in the crotch area. A very good trapper told me how he does it and I will be doing so this year. As Anna suggested I will be putting the on a stretcher fur out with fans on them. The only difference is I will be putting them on with the back and belly where the wires are as was suggested to me by this trapper. He says this dries them completely overnight with fans on them and I believe him.

[riverbandit]

You've seen my set up Nick. I skin and hang in front of large blower fans over night. Dry enough for the freezer the next day. Course I run a 24 hr check. Coon under water more than a day get really water logged and take much longer to dry. Just one of several reasons I prefer a 24 hr check.

[rockcreekshane]

You can start drying them before you get into the shop. Build a rack or put a pallet in the back of your truck to put coon on as you catch them so they don't lay in water and mud all day. you can shuffle the first ones you catch into a pile during the day as they dry. Let me back up, first get them as clean as possible when you take them out of the trap. Back at the shed lay them belly up on a pallet over night. I would not put hard blowing fans on them as they tend to dry out on the belly and look kind of like grocery bag paper when scrapped, but a real light fan is ok. After skinning we spin them twice in an old wash machine, if they are clean they should come out fluffy and pretty much dry. If after spinning they are matted and still wet they are propably dirty and can be dunked in a bucket and rinced until clean then spun again. After spinning we blast dry them with large industrial fans and they dry in a matter of minutes. I highly suggest you do not let them hang over night, especially early in the season if the shed is ove 50 degrees as they may slip and the heads and tails will deffiently dry out and be tough to scrap. Also I have seen were hanging a bunch of wet/damp coon in a shed raise the humidity to a point were it is very difficult to get them dry. We try not to hang to many at a time, rather hang a few (20-30) and rotate damp ones in as they dry. This will vary with the size and ventilation of your shed and fan strength. Tumbling damp coon is ok but real wet ones do not dry well enough and as someone said before the grit will get to wet. I know someone will disagree with some or all of how I do it, blah blah blah, you can do what ever you want. From some one who handles ten of thousands of coon each year, this is the most efficent way I have found to get coon clean, dry and fresh. Most importantly coons handled this way will probably recieve a premium from my self or any other fur buyer.

[Deleted]

I learned that quick last year Nick. I was really disappointed in the size of them until they dried out. It Was my first year for drowners last year. But took quite a few that way.

I think I might make a couple racks for my boat and truck so they can get most of the water off while I check. Then skin and hang in front of fans the same night. I was surprised how fast some of them would dry out while just driving the boat from set to set.

What kind of material should I line the racks with? Anyone have any ideas? Otherwise the fur will freeze to them.

[jim blakley aka Gadget]

Almost all my Coon ( 98% ) are taken at the water and drown . When I get them back to the shed they get tagged and go on a rack 40" wide and 36' long . ( I built It with 2x4's and plastic snow fence ) . I have two 30" fans blowing down on them and the Coon stay on the rack for 24 hrs. until the next batch arrives . Then they go on burlap covered shelves In my walk-In freezer . The burlap keeps them from freezing to the shelves . 24 hrs. later those coon get stacked In the freezer like cord wood until my Fur Buyer picks them up .( about once a week )

[4fur]

Sept 19, 2011 20:01:35 GMT -6 rockcreekshane said:

You can start drying them before you get into the shop.

I nearly always operate with my tailgate down. It is amazing how quickly coon dry if you can get them spread out after squeegeeing and snapping them at the set location!

[~ADC~]

I didn't read through all the other replies but I like to shake the coons good before they go on the rack in the truck, skin them wet at home, snap them like a towel several times and hang them by the eye holes either outside if the weather is right or inside with a fan on them.

[big al]

Most of the time my coon get bloody when i skin them (maybe cause i'm not doing it right) so i wash them with the garden hose then hold them by the nose and snap it a couple times them do the same with tail and hang it by the nose to dry with fan i also put a 16 inch piece of 1X8 inside so they don't roll up other wise the belly doesn't dry very well, i also rub them with newspaper to help get the extra blood off and drys them good also

[bch]

Come down to my place and buy a couple of the racks I have, they take up little room. hang coon by front leg, put hurrigan fan on them there dry overnight. Each rack can hold up to 30 or 40 coon.

[kyle]

I don't have any of these but I'd imagine the flats that sports drinks come on would be a great thing to line the back of a truck or boat with. Flip them upside down. They would lift the coons up several inches to let water drain and are a heavy plastic so the coons wont freeze to them plus they are also portable.

I have no idea where to find these or what they would cost but I think they would work quite well.

I just have a rack in the back of my truck made of 2x4's with snow fence.

[rob]

Sept 19, 2011 12:42:35 GMT -6 cody13 said:

Anybody try a blow dryer? I would think it would work a lot faster than fans.

Cody, Do not use a blow dryer. Pelts spoil very fast with these. By the time you would have the pelt dry the fur would be slipping. Trust me on this one, I tried it years ago when I was starting out.

[Deleted]

I may have said it in an above post, but a shop vac on reverse works well in mostly drying them. It's just time consuming.

[BigT]

Kyle have you been looking at my pics again!! That is what I use, like 6 plastic coke or pepsi crates!! Only coons that are wet when I get home are the ones in the middle!

[jim87formula]

ALOT of great info here! I try my hardest not to have too much wet coon, just cause of my set up at my shop and my equipment I run. Thanks again.

[rob]

Sept 19, 2011 20:57:45 GMT -6 ~ADC~ said:

I didn't read through all the other replies but I like to shake the coons good before they go on the rack in the truck, skin them wet at home, snap them like a towel several times and hang them by the eye holes either outside if the weather is right or inside with a fan on them.

I do it the same way Jayme, only thing different is I just hang them in my barn. Open up the big doors and let the breeze blow thru. They're dry after a day. Just snap the pelt again and they're fluffy . I might add that I will wash the pelt off of all dirt and blood also, a clean pelt dries alot better and faster than a dirty one

[grandslam]

i run a topper on my truck and have a box 4ft by 5ft with 6in sides towards the back on top of the topper. wet coon get tossed in the box and as you drive down the road the coon are also drying. dry coon go inside of topper. as you run out of room u can transfer dry coon inside also. in freezing weather i staple cardboard inside this box.. also use fans over night in the shed. i do try and pick any burdocks out as the fur seems to never dry. also run two dehumidifyers in fur shed as alot of wet coon you have to get the humidity out some how. they will suck up a gal each per day.

[Deleted]

Thanks everyone. . With all of the info here I should have quite the coon drying operation.