that my neighbor caught in a trap last night. He called me over this morning knowing of my interest in taxidermy, when I arrived he had already dispatched the raccoon with carbon monoxide from his car exhaust.
When he took the raccoon out of the trap it had feces and urine in it's fur from relieving itself sometime during the night and it also smells of sardines which my neighbor used for bait.
I plan on freezing the coon for a week or so until I have time skin him out, just wondering would I be wise to wash him down some first to remove some of the feces, urine and sardine smell and than freeze him wet or should I go ahead freeze him first and worry about cleaning him up later.
Thanks folks
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Mark, Hey, it's a tramatic thing to get caught and bumped off-enough to make one mess on himself. I would wrap well, freeze now and clean up after thawing if you can't do the job right away. Enjoy, Aaron H.
to clean the coon up, just more curious if hosing him down with the garden hose creates a problem because of how wet he's gonna get.
I know if I freeze him as is, he's gonna stink to high heaven when I thaw him out so, would it be okay to freeze him with his fur soaked or would he need to dried out if I do take the hose to him.
Go ahead and hose him off.Shake off the excess water or push off with your hands.Take an old bath towel and towel him semi-dry,then freeze.If you have an air compressor or shop vac, you can blow out most of the water before freezing.It doesn't have to be real dry to freeze.When you decide to thaw it to skin,get right on it as soon as it's thawed and stay on it till it's fleshed and salted-no re-freezing and thawing.Make sure you put the towel back in the hamper before the old lady catches you.
the suggestions guys. I've sprayed him down as Jim B. has mentioned and used a shop vac to blow dry him off, hes a tiny bit damp but, by no means dripping wet. I have him double bagged and in the freezer now. I think skinning him out in a week or so is gonna be a bit easier with the feces and urine removed.
I wouldn't of cared so much about cleaning him up if I had garage or outdoor area to skin him, I have to bring these critters in the basement of my house and am trying to keep the smell to a minimum.