So I've decided to dabble with trapping, mainly to get rid of a handful of coons, but I've hit a dilemma. Would 5-10 coon pelts a year even be worth it? As a beginner I doubt I will be able to get the pelts to top lot quality but I imagine I could make a few hundred bucks, right? Or would I be better seeing if a local taxidermist or local buyer would buy them?
For me, no. I want to say my uncle only got $10 a coon last year. I did a quick Google search, and even auction prices (in various states) were only $12-20.
Yeah, if I'd only be getting $10 or so then that wouldn't be worth it but If $20-$30 then I would consider it. One guy was showing off a $60 top lot on a coon and I was shocked. I have some pretty fat coons who have reaped the benefits of my deer feeder and I've had enough of them.
I'd say its worth it if you're trying to get them to stop eating your feed. Could pick up some snares cheap and make your own stretchers. Skinning does take quite a bit of practice
I have skinned numerous deer, but I've never done the fleshing part. That's where I assumed the biggest learning curve was going to be. Seems like you can do so much work only to cut a hole in the pelt and it becomes all but worthless. I think it's something I'd like to do whether I make a few bucks or not. It's something I've never really considered doing but seems like a fun hobby. The little money it could result in is just added bonus
Its not worth it to me,no way I'd skin flesh and stretch a greasy azz coon for 10 bucks. I always sold my fur green back in the day to a local buyer. And you might ,Might, get 10 bucks for a big stretched coon. Last year big green coons were bringing 3-4 bucks around here. My son traps and when he found out what the prices were he just quit and threw away the coons he had because it wasn't worth the trip to the buyer. He only had two and one of those was a young coon and they didn't even want those.
i've been sending fur to nafa for about 6 years now. if you are going to just target a few coon, sell them to a country buyer. the coon market is horrible right now.
lol Ya you aren't gonna get " a few hundred bucks " off a few coons. Fur is down and ESPECIALLY coon. Even yotes are suffering. I would not bother with auction unless you have a trailer full or some REALLY nice pieces. Sell to a local buyer and pray to make enough scratch to cover SOME of your gas expense. The only thing worth the time for me to catch is cats. All that being said I tanned all my furs this year and then sold them. Made FAR more $$$$.
Spear, contact your states trapping association they can put you in contact with a local trapper. Just like bowhunters trappers are looking for land to trap. You don't have to make the investment in traps and spend the time and effort and your coon problem will be taken care of.
If all you really want is to get rid of 5-10 coons, get a spot light and choot em. It'll be cheaper and faster.
Easier than shooting a Jim Jones Kool Aid party is like dropping a nuke on only the coon population in your area, from what I have heard.
By time you buy the stretchers, fleshing beam, fleshing knife and learn to put up fur good enough to glean the few $$ more that you'd get at an auction, you'll be money ahead to just sell to local buyer.
Well I want to actually do the trapping, skinning, fleshing, the whole 9 yards from start to finish. Not just for the money but just to learn. Like I said, any money I could make would just be a bonus. A stretching board can be made to NAFA spec with the wood I have around the house and a fleshing knife can be borrowed or purchased for $20. There's not a big cost into equipment for me. If I learn how and the fur market rebounds it would be a fun hobby that could potentially make some side cash in the future. I'm not looking to live off of it. It was just a few years ago that the guy got the $60 for a top lot coon, can the market drop that fast from year to year? If so, that seems like an unstable market, I wonder what drives it to fluctuate so much. EDIT: Also, I would just start out with the coons, I also have a red fox den on my property and who knows about yotes. I've never seen one on my property surprisingly but that doesn't mean they aren't there.
Most wild fur goes to Russia and China. Raccoon is almost all bought by Russians. When the ruble collapsed last year it took the fur market with it. Even on a regular year the market can fluctuate wildly. One of the reasons the local buyers sometimes offer so much less than what happens later in the auctions is they are buying on speculation and taking a big risk.
If your primary goal is to learn the skills, then by all means, pursue it. It's getting to be a lost skill. There are plenty of videos out there nowadays. I only had an old booklet to learn fur handling. I open skinned my first coon and scraped it with the back of a claw hammer. (I was like ten years old) lol My booklet was from when coons were still stretched open. The fur buyer (groenewold) was kind enough to still offer to buy it and then he showed me properly stretched and dried skins.
This was the last year I really ran traps for fur. (did some nuisance work after but that's about it) I averaged about $5.00 per coon. It was 1999 when fur prices truly stunk but I did it because it's fun.
