The Alaska Trappers Association recently sponsored a fur handling clinic for trappers in the Fairbanks, AK region. The clinic was aimed at providing valuable information trappers need to properly skin, flesh, stretch and dry pelts that they capture during the trapping season.
The all-day clinic was designed to teach trappers how to handle fur from the time it is taken from a trap until it is presented to a buyer. Middelstadt, who has been trapping and skinning animals for 40 years, along with Bill Wivoda, owner of Arctic Raw Fur Co., served as instructors for the seven-hour workshop.
Middelstadt and Wivoda first told the class to treat the animals they trap or hunt with respect and to use as much of an animal as possible.
“If you’re going to kill something, treat it correctly and don’t waste it,” Wivoda said.
From there, Middelstadt and Wivoda went on to teach trappers the finer points of skinning, fleshing, stretching and drying the hides of beaver, marten, fox, lynx and wolves.
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