I'm putting up some fur for NAFA. I know its been written a million times, but it is amazing how easily people wreck fur. This guy has easily cost himself over half the value of his coon and rats by not combing anything, AT ALL! Its full of burrs and dirt, all matted with dried pointy noses from hanging to long. And then he has to pay me on top of it.
I am paid to scrape and board, not comb. Each of his coon get 8 minutes of my time, just like my own fur, but mine are combed and clean. I do the best I can for him, and he will probably blame the market, NAFA or me for not getting a $20 average like he read in the magazines. Groney didn't offer him much so he took the next avenue he could.
I don't blame anyone for not putting up fur, but to disrespect the animal and me by not even combing out blood and dirt makes me stereotype someone very easily.
For those of you that read this to the end, I'm sorry, I had to vent. May your Necker stay sharp!

I don't see how you can possibly scrape fur with burs and mud left in the fur. This fella needs to be told about his problem and needs to be told that it will cost him more money for the job you must do.
As a furbuyer I see this problem every day.

Yea I've seen it also, it's impossible to do a decent fleshing job on fur thats not been cleaned, I don't care who your are.

People need to be told when they got crap they are offering, it's the only way they learn they have garbage, most think its just the buyer though LOL

At least you can dock him at the point of sale. My fee is set. And we may never see him again if he doesn't ship.

Greg should know who sent the fur. Tell him or the person that is contracting it for nafa that something needs to be done. If that don't happen, you can bet that nafa will loose a shipper. A lot of people just don't get it.
The noses being dry is a real problem. There is nothing a fella can do about that. One other thing you will see when you take the coons off of the stretchers is, there will probably be a lot of head taints.

its amazing what you can do in 2 minutes with a fur comb, was reading in the trapper about fabric softner, is this overboard? I take a great deal of pride in my put up but this seems maybe a little too far, is it worth my time?

I wash, dry, and use the fur comb on all of my animals. Even if you don't put the fur up but just sell it skinned it makes it look a whole lot better than the muddy frozen coon carcasses I have seen people sell.

Mark

I comb before I skin if I'm skinning at home. Then I comb again after the skin is off before fleshing to make sure there are no "goobers" in the fur. I will then comb again after they come off the stretchers and then one more quick go over the best I can before I take them to the buyer or ship them. Like others said, simply amazing what little care will do for the look of a hide!

Wash them on the line and comb them out good, and that is all that needs be done if we are talking coons here. A good brushing on an already reasonably clean pelt can make a coon look top notch.

That coons gonna get sized and pitched into a pile in most cases, unless something is exceptionally wrong or right with it.

Any buyer or processor who gets muddy coons with burrs in them should dock a grade for the extra time they will have to spend fooling with it.

The fabric softener is usually used on the animals that are case-skinned fur out. Coyotes, cats etc. Coons, nutria, rats don't really need a softener. Not sure about beaver, but you will like the results on cats and yotes.

With coon you don't want to use soap as it takes the sheen out of the fur. If anything wipe the window fur with a coon greased rag, not chunks of fat but some liquid grease from wiping pelts down. When it hits the graders lights it will just shine and show off those guard hairs. Told to me by someone who knows...

His name Greg by chance?

Trapping an animal is only part of trapping. It is what we do after we catch something that truly defines us as trappers. I take great pride in my fur pesentation and fur handling. One of the best compliments a trapper can get is that they really handle their fur well. It also shows respect for the animal and for the folks that around us that see how we care for what we do.

Wahing coon with soap and water is not a good idea. Wash the coon in a creek or lake or your garden hose but never soap and water.
I buy coon every year that have been washed with soap and water and they alway have somewhat of a flat feel to them. Something about the soap and washing causes the underfur to be weaker. It does help the color of the coon to wash it with soap but it does not help the underfur.

I comb before I skin and before I flesh to make sure I didnt miss a burr...one of the many things a furbuyer taught me when I asked him to teach me how to put up my fur.

Washing coons with soap takes a lot of the natural oils out of the fur, which add luster and help the fur repel water, which helps the fur stand up.

Thats why it looks and feels flat when you wash them and they won't stay fluffed up when you snap them.

Just rinse them as you need to and then snap or wring excess water out of them, same with most other water fur.

Land animals are a bit different.

A man that knows what he is talking about. I agree on the land animals.

As soon as they get to the truck everything gets laid across the tailgate and combed and any serious stuff gets removed right then with a fork bent upwards to a 45 degree angle.So little effort but so much to gain.

Now I have to get a washer and dryer in my shed..

As Don stated I like to wash or rinse my coons in the creeks or rivers where I dispatch them. They dry a lot faster on the carcass that way to me. I comb them when dry not wet if at all possible. The big cockle burrs are easy to find. Here in We we get some of those smaller burrs that re quite small and hard they need to get out as they can cause you to put holes in the pelt more than the bigger ones do as do the small stones and grit from mud if you don't clean them well. Rats can have the grit to if you don't get them cleaned well.

Bryce