Fur selling options

[aulrich]

I am looking for options for selling coyote hides, last year I was going to sell them in the round. But they went green(the bad sort) on me before I had enough to make the trip (brooks or Hays)worth it.

I guess the two other options are Green (just skinned not the sitinky sort of green ) or fleshed and dried. I am leaning towards green just because I am not sure i'd get enough to warrent a trip to auction (is there a minimum?).

I understand there is a tannery in Edmonton that will buy furs are there any option in Calgary.

[M]

If you skin them and stretch them, then they won't turn green and you will have lots of options then!

[Rocks]

If you're gonna skin them, might as well flesh and stretch them, it's not that much extra work, otherwise sell them whole to the hutterites or someone else who's willing to buy them whole...

Not sure if NAFA has a depot in Calgary, they do in GP and Edmonton, someone here should know...

[thwack]

Dumb question, but where is the closest Hutterite colony to Calgary?

[aka bushmaster]

thwack is on the right track, take them to the hutts and they will prepare them for you for $8 or $10 bucks each. Also, there is a Halford Hide in Calgary and they likely buy them...they do in Edmonton, but you can expect lower prices here than at NAFA.

[aulrich]

For the prices/ and amount of coyotes i'll get I won't pay someone to prep the hide. Most of them will be skinned in the field soon after they are dropped. I figure with a little practice I should be able to get a skin off of a warm dog in 5-10 min.

If I was to go to auction what sort of gear will I need to prep the fur. Though I would probably like to sell them green, I am figuring that if I get 20 that would be a good year of shooting (considering the time I have to go), I got 6 last year without hardly trying.

[aka bushmaster]

If you're going to sell them locally I wouldn't even skin them. If you do skin them, you'll need a fleshing knife and board, and then a stretcher. Mine are homemade and wood. You could expect about $20 max. for a whole frozen coyote. I just sold some at the Sept. NAFA sale for $48 U.S. You'll have to decide for yourself if its worth it to you, what with time constrictions etc. I'll post pics of knife, board and stretchers if you want.

[aulrich]

I went to Halford Hide's web sight and sent an email asking if they buy hides (I suspect the do but I asked anyway), and how prepared they want them to be (I assumed no "in the round"). I am assuming that if they take them green that it will be not much better than in the round, so the auction is sounding better and better. What happens to hides you don't sell.

I would be interested in seeing the pictures of the set up needed. Also I have OSB lying around would that be good enough for the strechers.

[aka bushmaster]

Sorry, aulrich, but we've started combining again so I won't be able to post pics until we're done or it rains again. I made my stretchers from 1 x 6, split in two, lengthwise.

[aulrich]

No problem, I have been doing some reading and it sounds like you using an adjustable strecher. Which makes a whole lot of sence, you don't have to have a big inventory of strechers.

I am figuring i'll need to make at most 10 of them, figuring that the biggest weekend take for me would be 5 and 2 weeks in a semi heated garage would dry them.

Good luck with getting your crop off, and with any luck you can get some soil work done too so next spring is not such a rush.