beav, my wire coon look very good as well. Shrinkage after dressing depends on the species of animal, the condition of the leather among other things. My walls are lined with dressed (tanned) fur that I have trapped. Items like beaver and rats do shrink to some degree. Coon, otter, yotes for example shrink very little to none. The proper way to open a coon is from heal to just below the vent to heal. Some like to cut way into belly fur which is once again ripping off the end user. They must than spend extra time and resources trimming un-wanted belly fur. I know you say they have to trim any way. Well not if the opening cut is done properly they don't. Beav, as soon as you have sold millions of coon directly and dealt with foreign buyers for decades I will listen to you. Until than I will listen to Groeny's advice.

Well I guess that goes for me too I'll listen to NAFA who has probably handled more fur and sold more fur over seas then most.

I sold some fur to groeney last week and told him I was thinking of switching to wood. He laughed at me and told me to save my money. Some buyers my prefer wood, others don't care. Check with your buyer, then decide. He's the one paying for it.

Since when does NAFA buy and sell fur? They are nothing more than a middle man. They provide a location for buyers to come and bid on a product. In turn they charge a commission, tumbling fee for certain items, shipping charges etc.

Hate to say it but thats not how bussiness works i dont care who forgien markets buy from its a bussiniss. They will buy thoses 31 knowing that they might be 28s or for most cases maybe knowing they will be 26in just to help there books with stop losses. So all your doing by keeping the foreign guys always honest is padding there pokets. When your spening millions and millions of dollars you dont trust anyone they will be what you told them you put in a stop loss so you KNOW you will get your money out of them and if that means paying 2 bucks a hide less and getting all 26in or 2 bucks less then really getting 31in

btw i use wire its easyer for me and i dont have any wood to put my coon on

Yes, I agree with that to an extent but if in multiple business transactions they are short changed repeatedly they will turn to other avenues to fill their needs.

thats what i am saying when you have the clout and money of these Million dollar fur buyers you DONT turn to other options in less there cheeper you just put bigger stop losses in. and that drives down price. As far as an in here in there i really dont think the fur companys car about in here and there. I am into bussiness world all over and i can tell you that ins dont matter its number of hides and cost of production. Look at the russian oil giants they were keeping there budgets based on oil selling at 45 DOLLARS A BARREL! and it was at what then? 135 a barrel so i can almost assure you that the fur buyers really dont give a rip about in here and in there they are probobly buying every coon out there at hopes of getting 20in and everything else is profit!! as far as whatever his name is wanting wire thats im sure just EASYER for him so HE can get more PROFIT. the end buyer with millions of dollars cares to little about that stuff its us little guys that need the extra ins to keep our poket boxs full not the muti million dollar giants past the local fur buyer

I beg to differ, I have been at Groeny's and watched large foreign garment makers inspecting lots of coon and they are very particular about size, grade, color, and the price they are willing to pay for such product.

Good info guy's. Hope I didn't start any arguments. LOL
I have access to a few boards and I only have 25 coon left to do so I am going to do the last 20 on wood and send them up to nafa on separate invoices and see for myself. These 20 will be totally random, whatever is left in the freezer some big some top quality some average etc.
I personally do think they look really nice on wood. I just want to see if it is worth the extra time and work. BTW I am also very proud and fussy about my coon put up on wire as well.
Thanks Chad

Good luck with that. Wood is a waste of time if you catch more than 3 coons per year.

never liked the wire stuff-- funky,execpt for rats. you see we need to be more greenand wood lets us do that-- lol .

If NAFA prefers wood then they must see an advantage in their revenue stream and if they are working on 9-11% of the gross every penny counts to them as it does to the trapper as they don't earn fur the market fur. I have never read a statement where FHA prefers wood or wire. Both do have good pamphlets instructing their shippers how to make the wood strethers they use.

The wire thing versus wood from some of the statements on here is more of a past the trapper deal than a trapper deal. It would be interesting to know how many buyers are discounting coons on wood because they feel they are over stretched. Those are firms one needs to avoid even if you don't over strech your coons.
I can't see how this discussion gets all about length. The base of the tail is the end of the coon. The skirt that comes around to the back to make the bottom flush allows one to NOT have to stretch the H out of the coon to get the full length. So to me from the way I put them up the guy that is going to dock me because I have pulled too hard on my coons either does not know they were not over stretched or is just making a downward price projection based on an assumption. There are other marketing options for me and him. I see the similar situation is rats as well.

Bryce

Wood is alright for the guy putting up a few but wire is the way to go when a bad year is over fivehundred. As far as stretching coon for a longer length in my opinion that is being crooked. A 26" coon is just that. So why try to make it anything else. But I guess if y'all feel good about it then have at it. I'll just stick with catching more and makin my money that way.

EXACTLY!!

i dont care what any body says .coon rats every thing ive checked says wood.i have a lot of times done them on wire .then measure them.take them off and put on wood .i always get 1 some times 2 sizes bigger

I was being a bit facetious. I use wire ain't apt to change. I have some pictures to ask you about when I get them uploaded kina a duck shore bird ID later

And you can sleep at night knowing your giving someone a product that it isn't? I guess I wasn't raised that way.

Dave I don't understand why you think using wood is cheating, if anything I beleive it is more consistent. You always get the same width unike wire were I see people all the time squeeze coon down to 6" to get an artificial length. As far as time, I handle a lot more then a hand full of coon and I don't beleive wire would speed up my operation, I can board 40 coon an hour and take off, wipe down and brush the same 40 an hour. You can get a nice coon on wire Ijust don't see any advantages to it. When the difference between sizes can mean 4-5 bucks you better believe maximaizing length is important.

I agree with the width but you are creating FALSE length.

I have easily wired 70-80 coon an hr. and taken off, wiped down, and brushed the window of 100 in an hr.......I will happily race anyone, any day of the week boarding versus wire.