I've been messing around with the sequence in which I tumble, wash, dry and such and can't seem to get it quite right. With coons I flesh and then tumble fur side in, in my 55 gal drum tumbler with a mixture of horse bedding pellets and wood chips.

What's your process with coyotes
What's your process with coons?
what's your mixture of drumming material and how much?
How long do you drum it?
Fur in or out?
When do you wash? Before or after drumming?
Do you ever get coon hair working its way through the hide?

I'm looking at the minor details to get that few extra bucks at auction. Any help would be appreciated.

Forget every thing you stated. No washing unless extremely dirty, just put up per auction house recommendations and with fur out species remove blood stains with borax and comb and brush fur for good appearance. Drumming is done by the auction house prior to grading.

http://www.nafa.ca/wp-content/uploads/NAFA_PeltHandlingManual_2012-02.pdf

For coyotes I skin, flesh and then wash. Let drip overnight, then board. Put on stretcher overnight. When I do the flip, I then tumble. Put back on board fur out to finish. Cat you assume all fur goes to auction.

I agree.

Not everyone ships to NAFA/FHA.

Then process per your specific market request!

I'm not any sort of professional.


For fur out, I skin and then wash...a little downy in the water seems to really fluff things up. Rinse and dry well. Even coyotes caught in the snow are full of dirty. There's a big difference in appearance and color as well as fullness of the fur.




Coon I skin then brush out burrs etc...then flesh and borax and brush the fur out. Again, the borax and brushing removes a lot of nasty stuff and IMO helps it. I put more effort on the inspection window region. If they are muddy/bloody/dog slobbery (I run a coon hound) I will wash like I do k9s.



Does it add time to my put up? Absolutely.


I don't process tons of fur. I don't mind spending a few minutes time making it look as good as I can. Fur I just skin and board doesn't look nearly as nice to my eye. The transformation on coyotes is remarkable IMO. I couldn't believe how much stuff came out of the first couple I did...and it "appeared" clean! And once dry it was noticeably more fluffy and had a fuller more presentable appearance.

You guys aren't putting this stuff through the Mrs. washing machine, are you?

Is all that extra work and expense worth it for the few extra bucks you are after?

I skin them and straight to the washer for a rinse cycle no soap or anything, while their wet I go through, looking for cockle burs they come out way easier , hang over night with fan to dry. Then I roll up tail to nose with a loop of string around the nose and put in the freezer.
When I have a batch ready to flesh I'll pull them out in the evening and hang them up by the string and put the fan back on them. The next morning they have unrolled and are more or less thawed enough to flesh and board.

I do use our home washer I'll get just a few little hairballs here and there. Our dog bed/blanket leave way more of a mess than any of the coons or coyotes that I've rinsed. Even the animals that look fairly clean, the water will be pretty brown during the rinse.
J

I don't put up hundreds of coyotes, just like what I do catch look as good as possible. The buyer always compliments me on put-up,and feel he gives me his top for my section of coyotes. So to answer you, yes I think it is worth the extra work. Probably the biggest difference maker is the tumbler, they come out nice and fluffy.

For me it's part of the hobby....and maybe a little pride in my "product".


What do they look like when they get to the NAFA grading table? I have no idea. I like to think they still look better than if I didn't spend the extra time on them.


I know when I took mine to my NAFA agent, I typically leave feeling pretty good and proud of my efforts after seeing other trappers fur.



Even when we sold green coon, we spent a little time on them to thaw and dry and clean up the pelts. I can almost guarantee that helped our prices at a country buyer selling him green pelts...fur looked nice and presentable..not all wet and bloody and muddy and dog slobbered like most guys took him.


I just consider it "part of the process".




And no...I don't use the washing machine lol. I only put up a couple of each critter at a time. I just use the laundry tub and do them by hand.

I skin, wash in cold water with a tablespoon of Downey ,Rinse well, snap hide a dozen times and hang to dry overnight. Then flesh and tumble fur out in my converted clothes dryer tumbler with corn cob grit. This helps completely dry any damp under fur and fluffs up the fur . Then it gets shaked/snapped and boarded. I'm just a hobby trapper, not a high volume long liner, so I don't mind the extra time I put into each pelt. I take a lot of pride in what I do and with anything believe the devils in the details. I've had yotes come out much paler , softer and heavier looking after a wash and fluff , even a clean yote makes the water turn dark brown.