Yes, usually. But not this week.
Why? I forgot. It will not de-value the pelt.
Yesterday afternoon, a couple of guys called and stopped in the shed. We had a couple of beers and shot the breeze. One guy brought 4 Coon to skun out, two other guys brought a Grey to skun, they just cabled.
It was nice to sit, relax and watch them work.
One guy looked over my fur and ask the same question, Don't you take ear cartilage out?
I glanced over to fur and to my surprise, I didn't remove ear cartilage from any this week. I have no clue why. I just plain forgot. I sometimes forget to use a belly wedge too.