<BR>I would like to add a bit to what Capt. Lahti' told ya. After the hide were dry they were checked one more time to make sure all the grease (fat) was removed when fleshed. Then they are folded in half hire side in stacked with the folded side out alternating the hides so you have a flat on both side of the pile. Then the hides are pressed and tied in to a bail for transporting. Each bail was made to weigh about 80 lb. when completed or as close as you could get with the hides they had. When packing the hide on horse or mule it was important that you had two bails of equal weight to keep the load balanced on the pack animal. To press the hides into a tight bail was important, in the field this was done by weighting down the pile of furs with a mans body weight then tied, when the bail was getting close to being complete or to large for this to work well any more it would take more weight to compress a press would be made in the field using a log as fulcrum or lever to press the bail tight to cut down on the bulk of the bail. The bails were warped with a cover hide of some kind or what ever they had to protect it from rain or moisture beside bugs that was the other danger the hides had to be protected from. When camped in one spot for a given time the hide would be taken out of the bails and aired to make sure they stayed dried. Bails like this could be put in a cache and stored tell Rendezvous.
<BR>Hope this helps ya
<BR>Crazy Cyot
<BR>As for what trappers ate have a look and my web site and read
<BR>Mountaineer Survival Skills ya might get a little more insight to there diets then you have thought of.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#336699" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Times New Roman" LANG="0">
