This might help someone.

Picked up a coyote today with lice damage so I did a fix on it.



Lay the coyote on a flat surface. Brush the hair away from the damage. I poke a knife through on the ends and on the sides with a piece of wood inside the yote underneath the damaged section.

Turn the yote skin side out. I use a scalpel and cut in a diamond/ football shape.


I use a baseball stitch with dental floss(cause I get it free) and sew it up. Before I start sewing I use a spray bottle on the edge all the way around to keep the hair out of the stitches.

Flip coyote and give it a brush and it looks fine.

I hope this helps

That water trick is something I'll have to try on the next one!

Good job saskbone.I do the same on some damaged fur.A repair like that does not alter the character of the fur.

Blends in well. Good job Les

Looks great, good job!

Very nice

Good information

Nice job. I do it similarily .

Well done ..looks good

Well done ..looks good

Les, while I've done that a few times, I might say that there are few that that will work on! The majority of coyotes with lice have way too much damage to be able to cut out, but it will work on a few.

Nice work! My dentist gives me some free dental floss every six months. He would really be surprised if he knew what I was really using it for!

Yep right on the money Lee. First lice damaged one I've ever done. This one looked like an easy fix and it was. Mangey ones get tossed and I don't touch them. This is more a fix I do for bullet holes,little scars on the fur side,or anything with very small fixable pieces. Had time today to take some pics so I figured I would post it because the question comes up time to time on here.

And by the way I've seen your stitching and it's very nice.

Nice job sask. I’ll remember this lil tidbit

Does that affect how the animal goes on the board? I did it once to a fox's neck and it wouldn't go all the way onto the board. I ended up getting it as far as I could and just hanging the whole thing including the board by the nose. It looked a little pointy when it was done but it wasn't marked damaged.

That's pretty much how I fix bullet holes

If you use that method of repair on a wider defect,you run into problems with the stretch(fur character) like Robert said.
There is a way to repair wider defects to avoid this.

Like Boco said. All kinds of tricks you can use to repair certain furs,others not so much. This yote went on the board no problem and will probably grade very well.

I couldn't come close to remembering how may Coyotes I have cut bad spots out of and fixed. Probably a zillion that I have bought that had holes either cut in them or bullet holes that had to be repaired. Each and every one is it's own challenge. Most holes have got to be cut somewhat like you show, so the fur lays in place like it should. Cut it wrong and it will show up very bad. If you cut it wrong, the fur looks horrible when you get it done.

Nice job... Thank you for sharing that tip.. It'll come in handy..