I never have bought fur so take this for what its worth.

A buyer I used to put fur up for on occasion told me if you buy fur and get a chance to sell at a profit take your money and don't look back. Waiting for a better offer will often not work in your favor.

Its hard to not bring the junk coyotes home sometimes. Its lots easier to not skin them on those days you catch so many you don't really want to pelt them all. Get a sorry one on the day you only catch two its likely to be the one you scratch your head over when your taking em off stretchers and brushing them

I knew this local fur buyer. He would buy fur and turn It over the next day. Sometimes he only worked with .50 or a $1.00 margins but he turned over a lot of fur on a daily basis. Don't know If he made any money but he hung In there for 10 years or so.

You know Don it would appear nobody can NAFA grade coyotes. I once sold a $3.50 coyote at NAFA that graded DMG that I missed somehow in the two I sent. Got a buddy, been trapping probably thirty plus years, told me about catching the nicest coyote he ever caught and shipped it to NAFA. He asked me what I thought it brought? I said I sent the nicest one I ever caught about two years back and it brought like $130. So, I said," $130" He said "Nope, $3.50".

Probably did the Nevada stretch and it got ripped to shreds in the drumming.

Last I looked at the "condition of sales" agreement them hides NAFA f's up are supposed to be insured? Any body here ever collect any insurance?

I feel like Im the only person ok with my coyotes and the grades. LOL. I averaged $22 on 28 sent all sold. One eastern went 106. Had 1 grade heavy but SDB but still brought 51, 2 grade semi that brought 78 and 42 and 1 semi DG3 that of course only brought 11. Had several $20-30 easterns. I know that is not fantastic but there is only 1 fur buyer I know if in they area and I pretty sure he couldnt have come close to that average. Being from Indiana its always like scratching lottery tickets with our coyotes so I will take that.

I only sent 5 but average $21.45. with today's market I am glad they sold at all. If you want to make money now days go to work, if you want to have fun go trapping. A day on the line beats a day at work hands down.

Looks like a Number 1 to me. ^^^^^^^^^^

Thank you very much for the replies on the fur buying endeavor it's been awhile since I checked back in on this post but am very appreciated for the information yins provided

Care to elaborate?

When you leave the front legskins outside it is called a Nevada stretch-originated with trappers in Nevada supposedly.

I'm familiar with the stretch but what about it gets your hides ripped?

Thinnest part of a dry skin is the armpits.Like the auctions say,pelts with the front legskins left on the outside are prone to ripping in the constant tumbling with the front legskins flopping around.

Sounds like a tumbler problem.

Boco would it be better to cut the front legs real short or leave them a little long and tuck them inside? I've done them both ways, of course you never know how each individual hide grades. In my opinion the worst part of shipping your fur!

The auction house simply suggests that you leave the front legskins inside when turning the pelt fur out.No need to tuck anything in.
Cutting too short leaves a hole in the pelt where the skin is thin-also prone to tearing out.Bags of skins are subjected to lots of crushing force when in transit and storage before during and after transport to the auctions.For coyotes,lopping off the front legs at the elbow or slightly below should leave you with enough skin to leave inside after turning.I lop off cat legs just above the wrist joint.

Boco when skins are shipped to Canada from Stoughton they aren't shipped In bags. They are placed In watermelon boxes Or what ever they call them. So shipping Isn't causing any problems.

When I cut off the front legs I leave about 3 to 4" of skin. I dry with the skin out for a few hours and when I turn them fur out the legs stay Inside. No need to screw around with the legs after the skin out drying time.

They are shipped in bags to the warehouse,and crushed in the trucks,and in the warehouse before the receiving department opens them up.
The auction houses don't distribute the bags for your laundry beav,lol.

BS boco.

When those bags are received at Stoughton the skins are removed and bar coded and tumbled and then are placed In water melon boxes they aren't put back In bags. They take that ride on the 18 wheelers to Canada In boxes.

And they don't STORE them In bags In the warehouse.

" Pin out the front legs using cardboard. This is to allow the legs to dry
before turning the pelt. Make sure the legs are dry before turning
and leave them inside. This helps prevent damage during the
drumming process. "

This is copied from the FHA pelt handling manual for marten. Similar stuff is said about other fur out species by both Auctions.

It tells me they damage stuff drumming even if the legs are inside and if your legs are not completely dry, leaving them inside can cause taint.