Sooooo after 50 years of trapping and cleaning 100's of animals and answering the "is it prime fur" questions a lot of times I learned today I didn't even know what it meant! I'm sure it's partly because I've only ever trapped here in the coldest place in North America as well we have some of the shortest days. We do actually have some of the thickest fur due to our temperatures I always said yeah because we have some of the thickest fur! lol Also I never set for anything but marten before December but I caught a cat last week I was skinning him today and the skin is blue never seen that before so I looked up prime and low and behold I was being honest about my prime fur!! lol will it still tan or is it pretty much junk?

The colour/clarity of the belly will determine if it is junk in todays market,not if it is a little off prime.

was just concerned about slippage.

That lynx will still tan. Shouldn't be a problem at all with slippage, assuming that everything else is ok except the blue leather and that the pelt was processed in a timely manner.

With some species, such as red fox, I would prefer to have a pelt that is just going into,prime with slightly blue leather. I'm not talking black leather or even dark blue. Leather thatnis sort of a bluish grey. The fur will be just fine once it is tanned and the leather will be whitish.

Whereas a pelt that is just past prime will have nice white leather, but once it is tanned the fur will look a bit ratty because it is already starting to "get springy". It might not show on the dried pelt but it will show once the pelt is tanned.

Thanks Nancy that's the information I was looking for!