Are you guys putting up all this fur?

[alanganes]

Hi all,
I tend to be mostly a lurker here, I come by fairly frequently to check out the goings-on. I'm maybe in the top 10 world's worst hunters, so I generally don't have much to offer to the discussions here, but I do love reading the stuff that gets posted. Great stories and some great pictures.

Just sort of wondering what you guys tend to do with all of the coyotes that you get. Are you guys skinning, putting up the pelts, and selling them? Or is much of this "pest control"?

I've yet to actually shoot a coyote so the question is sort of moot for me right now. I've been out for them a few times, but not seen any. Jobs, kids, location, and other "life" stuff has limited my opportunities a bit, but I'm working on that and hope to get out a bit more this year. Can't wait, really. I do a bit of beaver trapping and have put up a few dozen of those pelts so I'm somewhat familiar with how it's done. I expect I'd do the same with any coyotes I might get, though I don't expect any big numbers!

  Just curious what most here are doing with all these coyotes you guys are getting.
Thanks and hope everyone had a great Christmas.

Al

[jdbp]

put them on the side of the road so they look like they are sleeping or fry up those tasty backstraps!!

[FinsnFur]

It is tough to beat those backstraps, but I dont like em fried. Grilled with onions and peppers is much better.
And as many as I kill...it's not a huge dilemma.

[pitw]

  I sell the ones I don't get tanned to NAFA.  Skinning, fleshing and stretching is as great part of the hunt too.   The ones I saw down in KY I may not skin cause they didn't appear to have the same fur as here but it was in February so I didn't expect much.

[alscalls]

If the fur is good I will skin em and sell em....... But if they are rubbed, or have any flaws we dont get but a couple of bucks out of them so I hang em up and come back months later to collect the teeth or anything else I can use from the bones.
I just shot one Monday morning that had the mange...... so the hide aint no good to me...... Its hanging In a tree and I will go back later in the week to take a pic....... and hang it in a good spot for me to find the bones later.......

[Jimmie in Ky]

A lot depends on where you are and what your local population looks like. As Barry said, many of them here won't make hte grade, color is way off. In two more weeks it won't much matter they will start rubbing. It would help the market for more people to be picky about what htey bother to skin. Jimmie

[alanganes]

A lot depends on where you are and what your local population looks like. As Barry said, many of them here won't make hte grade, color is way off. In two more weeks it won't much matter they will start rubbing. It would help the market for more people to be picky about what htey bother to skin. Jimmie

I'm in NE Massachusetts, no idea what the condition of the local population looks like overall around here. A few years back I'd seen a couple while out deer hunting but they did not look all that great, fur-wise. Couldn't shoot them then anyhow.

[Jimmie in Ky]

Yours are worth a few dollars if you mange to get a few before htey rub out. Best market is mainly in tanned hides anyway.Or a taxidermist wanting one for something. Jimmie

[John_NY]

My Son and I just talked his wife into trying to make hats from ours. We'll see how well she can sew one of these days. If she can't do it she'll still be safe, she's a good cook. 

John

[FinsnFur]

Make sure we get to see em John. 

[HaMeR]

Those would be cool to see.       You think she can really make a coyote taste good tho?? 

[John_NY]

The girl is a good cook. She might be able to cook one.     I'll post pictures when she gets some done up. We are still debating if we want deer splits for a lining or some kind of cloth.

John

[Okanagan]

alanganes,
To reply to your original post, I used to hunt coyotes a lot more and sold the fur from all but a few mangy ones.   Partly why I don't hunt them much now is that I don't like to waste them and don't want to mess with skinning, cleaning, fleshing, stretching, etc. nor am I set up with a good fur shed or place to take care of them now.  The few I've shot in the past few years I have skinned and had tanned by a tannery.  They make nice gifts and look good as throws around the house.

So, yes, I do something with the ones I shoot.  We paid for part of the down payment on our first house with fur money, almost all of it called coyotes.

[alanganes]

 Thanks for the reply. I'm sort of in the same place, I don't really have a fur shed to work in, I just do the beavers out in the back yard when the weather cooperates. Likely do the same with any coyotes I may get. At the rate I'm going it won't be a big problem! Tanning them to make stuff out of would be cool as well.

Way cool that you earned enough selling fur to actually make a contribution to buying your house. Those days are past, at least for now I suppose.

I was just curious as there are some guys here that are putting down quite a few animals. Around here coyotes are getting pretty populous, DFW has adjusted the season and regulations on them to try to keep them from becoming pests, not sure they are making much headway with that. You virtually can't trap them in this state, so hunting them  is pretty much all there is.

Thanks again!

-Al

[vvarmitr]

DFW has adjusted the season and regulations on them to try to keep them from becoming pests,

   

[alanganes]

DFW has adjusted the season and regulations on them to try to keep them from becoming pests,

   

Yep, it is sort of silly, but we ARE talking about [The People's Republik of] Massachusetts, after all. A year or two back they extended the hunting season by something like 5 weeks and removed the former prohibition on shooting them during deer season. The rules here are so stupid that you are allowed to use buckshot to shoot coyotes during the shotgun deer season, but it is prohibited at any other time. Go figure. They were initially proposing going open season year-round on them, but ended up not doing that for some reason.

A big part of the issue in the eastern part of the state is that much of it is really just too densely populated to find safe hunting areas. I live near Lowell, which is the 4th or 5th largest city in the state (over 100K population IIRC) and they are seeing coyotes all over the place there. As you all well know, these are adaptable and smart critters, they are taking full advantage of the situation. I suppose things here will change only when enough pets get eaten or maybe some poor kids get attacked, or get rabies, or something else bad happens. Even then, I'm not so sure. Like I said, this IS Massachusetts...

[Jimmie in Ky]

I used to assist some folks with info several years ago that were wanting to repeal the trapping ban. They happened to live in the Cape area. Last I checked they estimate there to be a group for every ten square miles there. Lap dogs were the main source of diet along with any kid four yrs old and under as an occasional snack. As long as your game laws can be mandated by public vote , you don't have much chance. Jimmie

[alanganes]

As long as your game laws can be mandated by public vote , you don't have much chance. Jimmie

You've got that right. Like it or not, there is an easy to provoke emotional response for "not hurting animals" etc., in people who are disconnected from the way things happen amongst wild animals. A few billboards and TV ads featuring sufficiently graphic pictures, even if they are gross misrepresentations of the facts or even outright lies, can sway a large segment of the vote. Sadly it may take a tragedy, or series of them, to even begin to change things. And even then it is not a sure deal.