Wyoming fur

[wytex]

Some catches and takes from Wyoming. We trap and coyote hunt and sell our hides. Market is down this year due to covid but looking up at least for the April auction in Canada.
Latest cats need to be fleshed and then stretched and dried for sale.

[UncleBubba]

Nice, I miss trapping with my granddad back in the day.

[twdjr]

[Aggiehunter08]

Awesome!

[wytex]

Last tom was a big one. If he doesn't bring a good offer, off to the tannery he goes for later sale. I'll measure his fur depth after he dries, he is very furred up!

[fish4food]

Awesome

[WyoBull]

Nice fur! I am not trapping but over the holidays up here it was so windy I did not even go calling.

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[wytex]

Originally Posted by WyoBull

Nice fur! I am not trapping but over the holidays up here it was so windy I did not even go calling.

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We trap the ranch we manage in Sybille Canyon, yesterday was nuts for wind.
I hear ya', hard to call when it's blowing ninety to nothing.
Good luck up your way !
We set every weekend and pull or spring them during the week. We get Fridays through Sundays for sets.
Everything is very furry right now but coyotes are not worth as much with their flanks rubbed from the snow. Still after 'em though and we found a mt lion kill. That may affect our trapping sets.

[TXHUNT3R]

Wow, awesome haul!

[wytex]

Boarded up the big tom last night to dry. Without effort he stretched to 46 inches. Not sure how his belly will grade but if not worth much we'll keep him and get tanned to sell.
We have about another month to trap, mostly cats now but coyotes for predator control instead of for sale.

[3DW5]

So very cool, can I ask what sort of prices a typical Bobcat will bring?

[TxAg]

Cool

[Tony Pic]

Good stuff. Congrats. Yotes are the hardest critters to trap.
Nice prime fur there.

[BLee15]

Some nice fur. Just curious what does a yote and bobcat bring at the auction?

[JBJTX81]

Originally Posted by wytex

Boarded up the big tom last night to dry. Without effort he stretched to 46 inches. Not sure how his belly will grade but if not worth much we'll keep him and get tanned to sell.
We have about another month to trap, mostly cats now but coyotes for predator control instead of for sale.

How are you measuring him when you say stretched?

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[wytex]

We stretch and dry all our furs for sale, and tanning. Spouse fleshes and sews any holes, I board them, turn them and pin them out for drying. Takes about a week up here to dry in a 55 degree room with low humidity.
We use Top Lot adjustable stretchers, oneeye on here supplies them boards for their products.
Buyers pay much better for put up hides if they are done right.

Prices are way down due to covid and auction being postponed in Canada.
Good coyotes, westerns, bring up to about $75 this year and bobcats are way down. Top cays are bringing $400.
We would take $200-300 or so for each, $30-35 for the coyotes I think.
These prices are from a buyer we will be seeing in a week or so.
In the past big, spotted cats from here could bring $750-1,200 at auction, $500 easy from buyers.


You measure from the nose to base of tail. Don't want to over stretch or it makes the fur less dense and the fur auction has size width standards for all hides. 40" is usually a good one.

[wytex]

Boarded up the female last night.

[wytex]

Big tom is almost dry but I was able to take a pic of his belly fur depth. He has nice long guard hairs and pretty dense fur. Not sure on his belly color and clarity of spots as it relates to price but he is nice.
The hide is still boarded for drying so I just laid it down and stood up a yard stick up to show the fur length.
I'll post some pics when all 3 cats are dried, cleaned up, fluffed and off the boards.

Hoping to sell the hides we have now in early Feb.

[brianlg31]

Do you do anything with the badger?

[rtp]

Originally Posted by brianlg31

Do you do anything with the badger?

Exactly what I was going to ask.

Great thread!


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[wytex]

Today is fleshing day for the badger. Spouse took it out of the freezer yesterday. Should be boarded by end of day.
First badger spouse has fleshed so it may take him a while, lol.
We plan to keep it and get it tanned by Moyle Mink, front feet on. Those feet will add to the fleshing time for sure. He's done cats' feet before so not a problem but they take some time.
He's a more yellowish, or tan furred badger so not worth much anyway. A nice silvery one is worth a bit but not high prices. He is pretty furred up for this early. Badgers up here prime really late in winter.

[okrattler]

I never cared much for fleshing badgers or raccoons. It's not too bad if you do it right away but freezing and then doing it makes it harder.

[Chew]

Beautiful hides. That big Tom is something else. How much would you ask for a tanned Bob like that.

[wytex]

sent you a pm Chew

[wytex]

Badger is fleshed and boarded. It measures 36 inches nose to base of tail.
Had to use a coyote/bobcat board. He is too big for the raccoon board we have.

[Texas452]

What do most of y’all use?
Bait or scents

[Lexington]

What do people buy those furs to make?

[wytex]

Put out 21 more sets for the long weekend.
Mostly trail sets but some dirt holes and cubbies with lure and bait.
The googly eyed pack rat went into a hole for bait.
Some pics of the meadows and creek bottom we are trapping. Got a dusting of snow last night and no catches or misses this morning.
Furs are ready for sale when the buyer comes through town.

[McClain]

Good luck, with the trap sets and fur buyer.

[dope hunter]

In

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[WyoBull]

Good luck, WyTex!

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[wytex]

Well , drew a blank over the weekend but left them set to check in the morning.
Snow had melted but it was flurrying when we left for town.

Found out the cat market is way down. We may well keep all our bobcats and either freeze the dried hides or get them tanned and try to sell them that way.
Coyotes are doing well at buyers so we'll probable sell most of them.

Missed something and had a cat step on a set but not spring it.

[WyoBull]

Was your set that the cat stepped on but did not trigger, frozen?

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[wytex]

No, it just missed the pan.
We had just a very light dusting of dry snow and it blew away during the day.
Sybille Canyon really needs some wet snow cover.
Saw some bighorn rams last weekend along the highway.
Hope you're getting more snow than us in Casper, not going to be much irrigation I fear this summer.

[wytex]

Caught a nice female coyote in a set we removed the bobcat attractant from. Hummm, told us both something.

[Big Lee]

Envious of your lifestyle! Love this thread. Keep us posted

[westtexducks]

So I got to ask what's the deal with putting the googly eyes on the dead rat? We used to trap a little bit back in high school for fun but I enjoy calling them to much these days to mess with it anymore.

[wytex]

The bigger eyes attract the attention of bobcats, and coyotes.
Our mentor would glue them to dried rabbit hides and make faces for his cat sets.
They do seem to work great.
You've heard that old wives' tail, don't look an animal in the eyes, they take it as a challenge.

[Artos]

Awesome thread...sure beats the coats on our warm weathered critters.

[wytex]

Had a $400 offer on our cats and coyotes, passed on it.
We're meeting a buyer Sat. evening to try and sell.
Going up today to check and then pull traps Saturday morning.

[wytex]

Pulled our traps this weekend. Had high hopes for the last day but snow had other ideas.
Left town to cloudy skies and no snow only to hit it half way to the ranch we trap on. Easy 4 inches on the ground there.

Found some big cat tracks coming put of the meadows this morning, very fresh as we had a dusting of snow at daylight. Looks like some calling is in our future if the female quota is not filled for the area.
Tried some coyote calling, tracks all over the meadows but no takers that evening.

Hoping the fur buyer gets to town this evening so we can sell our coyotes and maybe the bobcats.

[wytex]

Sold our furs yesterday.
Buyer was very happy with our put up and liked the hides, he was impressed with the big tom bobcat.
We made $715 on 5 coyotes and 3 bobcats.
Here's the breakdown on the prices. We had 2 heavies and 3 semi heavy coyotes with great spotted bobcats he said.
Have to say , makes me very happy when they comment on our put up.

[McClain]

Congratulations! Not a bad haul in these days and times.

[RockTippedStick]

My math says that should be $815

[wytex]

Thank you, we'll take it for 8 hides. That big bobcat would likely bring in excess of $750 on a good year.

The last days were chilly for checking traps but no wind and we had a nice cozy house to stay in at the ranch.
A warm fire is sure nice at the end of the day.

[WyoBull]

Nice job. WyTex! We got 5 inches of snow here in Casper yesterday and a foot on the mountain.

We definitely need a lot more snow or, like you said, it is going to be a severe drought. They are saying the N Platte will be running at half of what it should be if we don't get a lot more snow.

The government trappers are flying this country up here a lot shooting coyotes so there are not a lot around these parts. A guy I know who is a lion hunter was telling me he was out in an area west of here a week ago and did not cut one coyote track all day. That is pretty telling so I am glad you had a good trapping season down your way.

Go Josh Allen and the Bills today... the world needs more Cowboys!

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[ORIONTHEHUNTER]

Originally Posted by RockTippedStick

My math says that should be $815

Yep they were shorted a 100 bucks

[wytex]

Yep, he's making it right now.
He had a long drive across I-80 in a crappy snow storm. I'm betting he was a little tired and still had another stop last night if he could get there.