Washing Coyotes

How many guys wash their coyotes when you're putting them up? Do you feel there is value added by doing this, or is drumming, scraping, and stretching sufficient? If there are any fur buyers on here, I'd like to get your thoughts on washing...good idea or wasted labor?

I wash everything except beaver muskrat and otter.
tried it both ways and I do think it makes a difference.

have had buyers tell me it does make a difference

wash mine on rinse cycle. cold water and fabric softener,

I just drum them and comb them really well. Even really muddy yotes clean up really well doing this imo

I wash everything - let them hang dry - then flesh and board.
May not bring more $$ but to me it just looks better.
To each - his own.

I wash them. Had a buyer tell me last year not to wash my cats unless they were really dirty, that it removes some of the oils out of their hair and if they aren't bad you can clean them up and they'll look better. Since I got high cat on the auction where he was telling me that, with cats that had all been washed, I don't know how much truth there is to this.

Oh, I never wash anything with green belly.

I have had buyer tell me wash some and some tell me they wash everything ,,, it a toss up as far I can see .
I think they turn out ok

I wash mine. I think they look better.....

Washing fur, unless extremely dirty, I find to be a waste of time and effort. You can use borax to clean fur, especially with regard to dried blood stains. In this situation using borax I simply hand wash excessive blood clot areas, wiped the area as dry as possible with a rag then board the pelt as usual. Once the skin as dried and the fur turned out I work considerable dry borax powder into the stained areas, let set for 10-15 minutes and then comb, brush, and shake the borax out. Using this borax treatment method works extremely well as can be seen in the following before and after pictures. As well as removing blood stains the borax also cleans and brightens the fur.

I wash everything after fleshing and any repairs that need done. Hang dry over night and board them. Have tried different combinations and have come back to this sequence. I have never used a tumbler, but lots of people do and have good results.

I wash all my coyotes and most of my coons with water, and wash skunks in hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. On the coyotes, it really helps to get the blood out as well as the stink.On the coons, when they have mud or dirt, you can see it when they are finished and dry. The leather will have more of a brownish tint

I wash all my coyotes. I use a old wringer washer and use Mane and Tail that I buy at Bomgaars. The coyotes have a lot of dirt in their fur. Really cleans them up and brightens also. They also get a ride through the tumbler. Smell good and are nice and fluffy. Not a big numbers guy, so have the time to do.

A TA auction manager once told me washing coyote improved them 2 color grades. Maybe not necessary if sending to an auction house experienced in tumbling them. Washing cats in water dulls their appearance. Better to dry wash cats in borax.

I think washing coyotes is a good idea. Not sure if it improves them two color grades but it does lighten them up in many cases.

I’m not a fan of wet washing bobcats. In my opinion it seems to make them a bit duller. A slight borax bath after the pelt is stretched and dried seems to help a bit. Just make sure you shake or vacuum out the extra loose borax. Furbuyers hate get a nose full when they grade a cat.

I think an interesting experiment would be to take a stretched and dried coyote that has been “thoroughly cleaned” with brushing, combing and shaking, rehydrate/wash the pelt in water and see how dirty/clean the water is afterwards. Any one ever try that??

Interesting idea wissmiss. Maybe I’ll try that

Had an old fur buyer by me tell me to wash every coyote no matter what. He used wire as compared to everyone using wood. Still had a fair number of top lots every year. He always said it was a shame when people would do all that hard work then leave their coyotes a mess. I wash them all.

Keep them clean to begin with,no blood or grease in the fur from skinning.Then process as normal and blow the fur with an air compressor or shop vac after turning and brushing.
You will be surprised at the dust that comes out of pelts when blowing air on them.
Washing is time consuming and extra labour,(increase in cost of product) and every trapper knows time is money.Its not necessary for pelts unless they are muddy,bloody or greasy.And that is all the trappers doing in the first place.

I wash all my coyotes, I think they look much better after a wash and fluff with a leaf blower.

I have received many complaints on my put up over the years. Yesterday the buyer when asked said they were absolutely amazing. I wash them flesh after drying, board them upside down and then fur brush them and drum after they are finished.

Not everybody has fur that's froze when caught/skinned Boco. We don't all live in Canada, eh? You'd be hard pressed to skin a coyote down here the same day it was caught without blood and we can't let them hang for days without green belly. No matter how hard I've tried to keep coyotes from bleeding during skinning it's inevitable. Bobcats I do my best to never wash.. it's a lot more time consuming then just skinning them.

I have washed mine this year in Mane and Tail shampoo with conditioner and they’re the nicest looking yotes I’ve ever had in the shed.

So what did you average on them nice looking coyote?

I wash all mine. All you have to do is look at the left over rinse water to see how much dirt comes out.

Nice job tracy, nice yard to

Lazarus - do you wash your fox and cats also? If so, how dirty are they compared to your coyotes.

Pawnee - nice looking pelts, a pleasure for a buyer to grade. If you decide to try my experiment would be interested in the results, with pictures.

Wissmiss: There was a time I washed cats but then I bought one of those high pressure units they dry cattle with at livestock shows. Sorry I don't know the name of it but I found with that thing, I could blow the dirt and dust out of a cat hide. Usually I skin the cat, blot up any blood with a wet rag, and then flesh them good. Then I toss them in the tumbler for 5-10 minutes. That really cleans them up and makes them shine. I then put them on the stretcher, blow them out again real good, and hang the stretcher nose down to dry.

The coyote hair is just so dense, thick and long, that even with my high pressure apparatus, I could just never get all the dirt and dust out, so I wash them. And no matter what dispatch method I use, canines just want to bleed. However, once they have drip dried for an hour or so, I slide them on a stretcher fur side out and blow the water out of their fur real good, then flesh them. After fleshing, I toss in the tumbler for 10 minutes or so. I then put them on the stretcher fur out, and blow them off really good and hang to dry.
The high pressure system works on grey fox as well so I don't usually wash them.

All my fur looks like these-never washed,natural oils still in the fur providing the sheen.

Boco --

Those are all beautiful, well handled. One problem I experience that you probably don't is my animals roll around in dirt, sand and dust for a couple days (assuming they were clean before they got caught). After washing my coyotes in a tub, there will sometimes be a half inch (sorry, don't know how to convert that to metric) of silt at the bottom of the tub. Same with grey fox. My fur looks pristine until you wash them and look at what they leave behind.

And I've heard Nancy express her concerns about natural oils and luster before, but realize the first thing a garment maker will do is drown your fur in a bath of acid and salt. If that doesn't take the luster/oils away, I don't think my gentle wash with pet shampoo (designed to retain natural oils) is going to hurt them.

Your fur looks great Lazarus,just trying to say not all dirty fur needs to go thru the labour intensity of washing.
Beaver and wolves are filthy animals especially the timber wolves.They get the dry wash and turn out clean as a whistle.
All the stuff at the bottom of your washtub is the same stuff as the fine dirty dust that gets blown out of beaver and wolves in clouds with my shop vac.
The dressing of much fur does get an immersion,but the PH etc is watched closely so as not to damage the fur.


Some fine furs like sable and the heavy lynx and fox only have the leather dressed-the fur does not get wetted at all-it can cause them to matt irreversibly.

I take mine to "TRACTOR SUPPLY" you can wash them for a small fee and they have a leash holder and everything

I think it is note worthy to mention that it really matters when an animal is caught as to how dirty they are and whether they were caught with foot holds or snares. I trap almost all foot holds for the month of November and the ground is usually not froze except for the last week or so. Those coyotes dig and roll in the dirt plenty and washing makes a huge difference. Not to mention if we get a little rain. Coyotes caught after the ground is frozen or caught in snares are typically pretty clean. My point is that guys who snare in Canada probably won't have as much issues with dirty coyotes as a guy who footholds in say Kansas.


I wash all my coyotes and badgers and like others have said, look at a coyote that you think is clean and run a 5 gallon pail of water and slosh them around for a couple minutes and see how dirty the water looks. I didnt take pictures but i washed half of my coyotes (about 15 out of 30) a couple years ago and a blind man could have sorted them out no problem. Washed every one ever since. I don't waste the time and effort on a red fox unless they somehow get all bloody. It should be noted that I dispatch without a gun so no blood.

Schmattz

If my fur shed was heated year around I'd have an old washing machine in there and wash all coyotes, as is, its a real pain to wash them in a tub or bucket and try to get them rinsed out good so I usually just tumble them and brush them out unless they are really soaked in blood or mud. Then again it wouldn't make a lot of money difference since most of our coyotes aren't worth much on their best days.

That's the decider ADC. If you're set up with running water in a heated fur shed washing and drying is less effort than those other methods and produces a very nice end product. But if you're carrying water and sloshing them around outside in buckets it can be a real pain. I've been there. Now mine all get washed in the old Maytag, pulled through the ringer, hung overnight and air tumbled in the dryer.

I wash mine in a old maytag washer with a side spin unit. I wash with woolite first and then wash with downy second. I flesh before I wash. I like the looks and they smell much better as well. Fur buyer liked them also

So guys...a skinned coyote brings more money then a carcass coyote...and a finished coyote brings more money then a skinned coyote. I know a washed coyote looks fantastic, no denying it, but do they actually bring more money? Or are you just doing one more step for the buyer?

Buyers are paying on their perception of what the fur looks like. Theres no denying the washed furs shown here look better than a normal coyote, it only stands to reason that it should help more often than not. But it would surely be tough to put a real number to it.

I find it to be a waste of time and effort as any dust/dirt in the fur from the animals day to day activities that can’t be easily blown out with a shop vac after they are boarded fur out, the auction house will remove it in their drumming process. As far as blood stains go, they are easily taken care of with minimal hand washing of heavy clots and then with borax after the pelt has been boarded and dried. As well as removing blood stains the borax also cleans and brightens the fur.
As previously stated, the drumming process will further clean the fur and bring out some luster to it. And again I have never seen where washing gave me a better price as I most always do better than the sale average.