Tanning Hides

[HawkinsHollow]

Trapped my first beaver yesterday. Connibear 330 in a crossover from the creek to my pond, like shooting fish in a barrel. Perfect catch, right behind the head. Nice sized but not a monster, about 40 pounds. I have only tanned one other animal before, a coyote I killed a few years ago. That went pretty well, and I still have the pelt. It is just a skill I feel like I want to learn. It seems like it would be cool to have a pair of beaver fur mittens and a hat that started as an animal harvested off my land. Soft fur is so nice. I am also going to try to make leather out of the tail. There are plenty of beavers along this stretch of creek I have and taking 1 or 2 a year is not going to harm the population at all. The skinning and tanning process has been a bit of a learning curve so far. I bought a special beaver skinning knife and it got me about 1/2 way through the process before it became too dull. I had hopes of skinning it clean to lessen the fleshing needed, that didn't turn out as planned. They make it look so easy on Youtube! LOL! I have it in a pickle right now for 3 days and then I will take it out and flesh it better. Stay tuned to see the results.
My goal is to get proficient enough to tan a few beaver, a deer or 2 and maybe a bear. My neighbor hunts bear and he says they usually just toss the hides. Anyone have experience tanning hides? Any tips or tricks for this fledgling tanner?

 

[Jstpssng]

Everybody has their own methods but I used to clean skin until I got to the back, then just rough cut to get the hide off, then put it across my knee and clean skin the rest.
I haven't laid steel in almost 30 years and things have changed a lot. The season didn't start until January 1 so the ponds were frozen and the fur was prime. Now it starts in October which doesn't help overall prices and I don't even know how to trap them in open water.