Coyote hides?

[wdtaylor509]

I was trying to get some info on Coyote hides,  I was told that you can sell the hides, but that is all i know.  My questions are if you can sell them how must you prepare them?  Do you just take the hole dog or do you have to skin it?  My final questoin is about how much could you get for a hide?  I know the quaility of the hide will make the price very but just looking for a general number.  Just wanting to know if I can get more than good memories out of calling song dogs.

[Steve]

You need to first find a fur buyer.  Many will buy the hide still on the coyote if you haven't done much skinning before.  Preparing pelts is tricky.  If you don't do it right, most fur buyers will dock your price.  Or at least that will be their excuse to gip you.  The first beaver I sold, I got very little for all that work of trapping and skinning them, because they were skinned wrong. 

Coyotes should be case skinned.  You make one cut along the back of the hind legs.  The legs are cut off at about the knee.  The tail bone needs to be pulled out.  You can buy a stretching frame, or you can make your own.  Have an old trapper show you how to do all this.  Coyote hides are easy to tear.  Be careful skinning them.  I'm no expert, but I have sold some fur over the years.  About twenty years ago, you could get $100. for a large, light colored coyote.  Now you might be lucky to get $25.  It varies a lot, as to where you live.  Northern coyotes probably sell the best.....

[royaltine]

They aren't worth much this year 10-15 bucks.

[wdtaylor509]

Thanks for the replys I will not be working next falll, well for money anyways, going back to father in laws ranch while my wife is deployed so looking for a few ways to make a couple of bucks.  Don't need to make a living just some fun money.

[Steve]

You might just want to get some fur tanned for yourself.  Some tanneries will tan one for you for around $25....They are wily critters and fun to call or trap.  In Eastern Montana many coyotes die of mange when the weather gets cold.  Most coyotes have about a million fleas on them.  You can put them in a plastic bag after spraying raid insecticide in it.  This will kill most of them.  You can also let a coyote hang outside for several days in sub zero weather to kill the fleas.  I had to learn all this the hard way.  Fleas are no fun!

[wdtaylor509]

I found out fleas suck the hard way too.  We have 2 cats over here in belgium and they brought a friend home who had lots of friends with him.  Needless to say he gave our 2 cats fleas and whe had them every where.  It made my skin crawl just thinking about it.  It took a week or 2 and a trip the vet to get the good stuff we got all 3 of them cleaned up.  Thanks for the tip though my mother in law would have skinned me if i got fleas every were.