Marten Hat | Life Below Zero

so once I get them to this point a lot
of times I like to hang them up so I can
work on them a little bit better very
little goes to waste you want to kind of
take your time and get it started pretty
good and you can pretty much just pull
straight down on them so I’ll just drop
them on the board the way they grade
these versus the length from the nose
here to the base of the tail that’s what
you get graded on so the longer it is
with it and reason the better its thing
I like to do is once they’re hung the
board like this I’m just taking the the
lower legs stretching them out you’re
just just trying to expose the flesh so
it’ll dry out I’d like to just tack them
on gently first the final thing you do
take up the stretcher here you stick
that up in there if you don’t do that
the skin dries so tight that you won’t
be able to get it off the board this
allows you to have something you can
remove leaves a little bit of slackness
in the fur just needs to dry tonight I
want this to feel like paper tomorrow
morning probably come in with a cup of
coffee turn all these Marten around and
put them back on the board let them dry
for a couple more days and then they’re
ready for canning and making a hat out
of if I can take fur and make something
out of it it has a much higher value not
only monetarily but personally for me
the fur I wrap today is going to keep me
warm for many years to come