Generaly the seasons don'r open till it is prime. The true test is after skinning if the inside is pure white, no grey or blue color on the skin it is prime. The other thing is some furs can be prime, but the quality is poor, fox after being out in the sun for several months bleach out and lose the deep red color. Other furs will wear a lot from deep snow and lose a lot of guard hairs.
Posts: 1072 | Location: Pine Haven, Wyo | Registered: 14 February 2005
Looks a little blue still. Usually the back is the last place that the blue goes away. If it looks like you can see the hair roots through the hide it's still blue. Be careful with the small hides, just take off the fat. You don't want to reduce the thickness of the hide, I used to be bad for that with muskrats. I'd over flesh them then lose money for my extra work.
Thanks for the reply, chef. I fleshed it out today and put it on a bigger board so it stretched out better. It looks even more gray/blue without the fat, but oh well. I'm catching skunks more to get rid of them and the hide is incidental.
Plinker
aim small, hit small
Posts: 1522 | Location: WV | Registered: 24 August 2003
Wow, you're braver than I. I tried to skin a skunk once and I gave up pretty damned fast. I see your other post about the board dimensions. I thought your board looked a little "off" as far as shape goes. I didn't want to say anything though.
try this: The book says it's for a large skunk I dunno what large is!! they all smell the same.
-total lenght 40 inches -measure from nose back 36 inches it should be 6 wide at this point.
-measure from the nose back 8 inches and width should be 5 inches
The diference in price you will get for prime fur or blue fur is very little. Maybe a couple of dollars when you are talking about the low value pelts like coon and skunk. For example you might get $7 or $8 dollars for a "prime" skunk but I'll bet if you brought a blue skunk to the sale you would get $5 or $6 anyway. Are we really in this for the money? Last year I got an average of $15 for my "prime" coons but the two blue ones brought $12 each.
Posts: 106 | Location: the great northeast | Registered: 12 April 2005
Wildpork I was under the impression that an un-prime hide was just about worthless. So that's good to know its only a couple dollars difference. Of course the best thing is to not take them till there're prime, but if you do get one like this then it's not a waste.
Calgarychef thanks for the measurement, I did make a new board and flesh and re-stretch the hide. Here is a picture and it looks way dark.
aim small, hit small
Posts: 1522 | Location: WV | Registered: 24 August 2003
It depends on how "unprime" it is, a little blue along the back should not be any trouble. With furs that are sold fur side out a good fur buyer does not even have to look inside, they can tell at a glance if the fur is good quality. A buyer here takes coons, foxes, coyotes etc., on the hoof with a $5.00 deduct, he does the skinning and stretching,I think it is worth it.
Posts: 1072 | Location: Pine Haven, Wyo | Registered: 14 February 2005
its been several years since i did any trapping or calling but [blue ] unprime coyotes were totally worthless i tried to sell one with my prime dogs just to get rid of it and the buyer told me to throw it in the trash im not sure if there are any real furbuyers left any more especilly if they offer only a couple bucks less for worthless furs
I never said blue furs were a couple of bucks deduct, they are trash, But a fur with a slight blue area has value and will have a small deduct.. A summer kill coyote or fox is junk period. But a mid Oct. kill does have value to a fur buyer.
Posts: 1072 | Location: Pine Haven, Wyo | Registered: 14 February 2005
I also am talking about furs caught during the trapping season. The early ones will not be "prime" in my area but will have a little blue on the leather. If you skin and stretch them you will get money for them. I can see where a guy that buys a lot of fur all the time may not want to deal with a blue skin if you sell it in the round but mine were already put up.
Posts: 106 | Location: the great northeast | Registered: 12 April 2005
As I understand it, the blue is thinner skin and the roots of the fur are showing through. This causes the fur to slip after it's tanned. All furs eventually end up at some big auction house-the furs are graded and then auctioned off. A buyer might have a use for lower grade furs and will bid accordingly. Come to think of it it would be cool to attend an auction like that just to see and learn.
Originally posted by calgarychef1: As I understand it, the blue is thinner skin and the roots of the fur are showing through. This causes the fur to slip after it's tanned. All furs eventually end up at some big auction house-the furs are graded and then auctioned off. A buyer might have a use for lower grade furs and will bid accordingly. Come to think of it it would be cool to attend an auction like that just to see and learn.
the chef
I attended the fur auction the winter before I started trapping just to see what it was that the buyers were looking for and how guys put up thier fur. I learned enough there to get started but after I brought my first seasons fur to the local fur buyer and he started showing me all of the things I did wrong.....I realy learned. I found that my biggest problem was over working my fur. I took the hides down too thin and in some cases didn't leave enough there to hold the roots especialy with my muskrats.
Posts: 106 | Location: the great northeast | Registered: 12 April 2005
