How/Where To Properly Dispose Of Trapping/Hunting Animal Carcasses?

[Nobody]

I was just watching a show about trappers who trap animals and sell the pelts. Since I am in an area overloaded with a lot of the animals getting decent prices (foxes, muskrats, minks, bobcats) I realized I could make a decent amount of money trapping and selling the fur. The only problem I found after researching it all, is what the hell do I do with the carcasses? I can't just throw them in the trash or freezer, and I have no intention of eating the meat at all (sorry PETA fans). Does anyone know whether there is somewhere I can take the carcasses that will properly dispose of them?

 

[Snydershrugged]

You might be able to donate the meat to groups that collect game meat for charities. A lot of hunters I know do that. Not a lot of edible meat from an animal caught in a trap though. They tend to go rancid very quickly and the type of small game you would catch isnt normal popular dinner faire.

You could also ask at your local butcher/slaughter house/cattle farm how they dispose of them.

Will you stretch and tan your pelts too?

When I was a kid, I had a 12 trap line for a few years and made a good bit of cash (for a 12 yr old) selling prepared pelts.

 

[Nobody]

Yeah, I plan on doing the whole works. Things like rabbits I will eat, but I can't imagine muskrats and the like being worth attempting to eat. Maybe I could call a taxidermist and see what they say? Then again, I would imagine they probably own incinerators.

 

[Miles Monroe]

Yeah, I plan on doing the whole works. Things like rabbits I will eat, but I can't imagine muskrats and the like being worth attempting to eat. Maybe I could call a taxidermist and see what they say? Then again, I would imagine they probably own incinerators.

Have you ever skinned animals and prepared pelts ? Just wondering.

 

[Nobody]

Have you ever skinned animals and prepared pelts ? Just wondering.

It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.......

I've been skinning snakes and fileting fish for over 25 years, and I've watched several hours of instructional videos, but I have never actually done animals before. I think the fish and snakes experience should make it a little easier.

 

[Dazed&Confused]

Extreme, where do you live? I know people down here in the South sell the carcasses to alligator farms for like a $1. But don't know how close you are to any of those. Lol

Honestly, it really depends on your location. If you're in an area with a lot of scavengers you can simply take them out deep in the woods and dump them. Sounds unethical but around here there's a ton of coyotes and within a day they're gone. Matter of fact, I've never killed a coyote so I think I'm gonna try and pop one!

Other than that I've never heard of a proper way to dispose of carcasses, just how not to. Being respectful to peoples homes or trail areas where the average person might stumble upon them are a no go, but in the middle of nowhere, I say givem a chunk and let the cycle of life continue.

 

[Nobody]

I'm in Virginia Beach, but right on the edge of where it goes rural. Only about 1,000 miles from the nearest gator

I've been googling for a while and found a place about 20 miles from here that says they're a rendering plant that processes animals and their byproducts, so I'm assuming that's gonna be the place to go. But they have a fee, and no listing of what it is, so I'm hoping it isn't absurd.

 

[Elephant]

I'm in Virginia Beach, but right on the edge of where it goes rural. Only about 1,000 miles from the nearest gator

I've been googling for a while and found a place about 20 miles from here that says they're a rendering plant that processes animals and their byproducts, so I'm assuming that's gonna be the place to go. But they have a fee, and no listing of what it is, so I'm hoping it isn't absurd.

Just burn them...

 

[Dazed&Confused]

I'm in Virginia Beach, but right on the edge of where it goes rural. Only about 1,000 miles from the nearest gator

I've been googling for a while and found a place about 20 miles from here that says they're a rendering plant that processes animals and their byproducts, so I'm assuming that's gonna be the place to go. But they have a fee, and no listing of what it is, so I'm hoping it isn't absurd.

VA Beach? Well hell, look for Vick's boys, I'm sure they can use them. Lol

Too soon?

 

[Boone]

Just dig a pit an bury them. A foot or two deep would be deep enough to keep critters from digging them back up again. Easy.

 

[Nobody]

Just burn them...

Law says they must be fully incinerated, and they make it a point to let you know that a burn pit isn't adequate to do it.

Just dig a pit an bury them. A foot or two deep would be deep enough to keep critters from digging them back up again. Easy.

I looked into that too, then found out you have to do it at least 4 feet deep. That, combined with the clay bank we sit on, means no digging for this guy.

Burning and burying were both legally approved disposal methods, the regulations on them are just goofy.

 

[Elephant]

If a pit is not enough and this is an endeavor you're serious about, you may want to consider the cost of an incinerator. If it is a lucrative as you believe, I can't believe it would be too difficult to build an oven out of cinderblock that you could heat enough to properly burn them. Your neighbors might not like it, but... Block is not expensive and it's not rocket science to build a box structure with proper ventilation and a pit to burn with wood or hook a gas tank to it.

If that is too much, then this might not be a good business to get into after all, huh? Conitnue earning that mechanical engineering degree and you should be alright without trapping for pelts. I mean we do live in the 21st century!

 

[Nobody]

If a pit is not enough and this is an endeavor you're serious about, you may want to consider the cost of an incinerator. If it is a lucrative as you believe, I can't believe it would be too difficult to build an oven out of cinderblock that you could heat enough to properly burn them. Your neighbors might not like it, but... Block is not expensive and it's not rocket science to build a box structure with proper ventilation and a pit to burn with wood or hook a gas tank to it.

If that is too much, then this might not be a good business to get into after all, huh? Conitnue earning that mechanical engineering degree and you should be alright without trapping for pelts. I mean we do live in the 21st century!

THis is actually a good idea. Even more so since I hate my immediate neighbors. Every time they fire up their absurd outdoor stereo all night with their garbage music, into the incinerator go the carcasses and hope they're downwind

As far as lucrative goes, I don't know if it's more the money luring me, or the outdoor/must do something attitude I have. I just can't sit still without doing something productive or my brain is trying to hang itself. Truth be told, that's why it doesn't bother me too much that my truck constantly needs something fixed

 

[Snydershrugged]

You could always go the Chipper/shredder route.