How many of you see the skinning demos at local, state and national conventions?
Greg does or used to do several species at the national conventions, and Leon from Top Lot does an excellent job too.
These can perhaps be an asset you can use to help you learn fur processing.

Put up fur for the local fur buyer for years .but the good friend past last year. Been thinking of being a fur buyer. Would rather put up fur than trap.

My reason is = That Alabama and Texas coyote fur is basically worthless. Been catching coyotes in Alabama since 1990. Their are friends of mone that have made a whooping big pile of money on 6 dollar coyotes. Thats prime fur for here WHY In the world would. Man want to skin a 5 dollar coyote? LoL!!!

Because most who don't are still given the ability to shine at conventions or clubs or even over the fire about their prowess
at trapping or calling, thats all they want to hear and feel. They are not interested in completing the cycle to it's finish.

Unfortunately these are also the ones who complain about not getting paid enough for their efforts, never giving a thought to finishing off the pelt, to them a carcass pelt is the same as a finished one only it takes a bit longer to do, which they don't want the time to give to do.

I've stood right next to sellers at auctions and listened to them whine why they did not get a higher price even though their bring in's were a better color or larger animal, they are inept at reasoning about it as well, they just will not accept the difference, and use the excuse that they spend as much time as any trapper or caller getting the pelt, but absolutely ignore the time needed to finish it off.

I can understand the time, when one works long shifts or is out away's from the trap line, and most of those people are educated about the time needed and accept the lower price, it's the ones who feel as equal to those who do finish off the pelts who just do not want to get messy, or bloody or have to discard the carcass and will not accept the lower price because I or some one else has to finish off to get our money back. It is also very risky to buy carcass pelts due to spoilage and care in handling while finding a buyer.

I always tell them spend more time to finish and get paid more to do so, some have learned others till don't care and never will !

Hahahaaaaa.Somebody had a little too much beaver squeezins tonight.

Never seen one. I probably could give one, if I cared.

I hear you are good at wolverine Dirt-come and do a wolverine demo at FHA next convention.

I would catch 20 to 30 coon a day first few weeks of my season. Skin and put up all dry ones that nite. Wet ones would hang until next nite and be put up first then the dry ones from that days catch. If I got far behind I would skin and freeze them until the coon run slowed down.
A good fur handler should be able to skin , scrape and board 4 or 5 coons an hour. Some will do a lot more.

I think people who start putting up fur the same time as they learn to trap mostly will continue to put up their fur.You start off trapping less fur when you start trapping and it takes longer to do a decent job putting up that fur because you are learning that also.
When you get more proficient at trapping you also have to become more proficient and efficient at putting up your fur.
After a while you will be trapping large amounts of fur of all kinds and putting it up very quickly and efficiently and doing a good job as long as no bad habits were ingrained when you were learning.That is why its important for beginners to watch good efficient fur handlers put up fur.That way they wont get bad habits ingrained like some do when self teaching-It is almost impossible to change the way you do something that is repetitive if you start off on the wrong foot.

[quote=KeithC]I trap because I enjoy catching animals. There are many things I like much better than putting up fur, that pay much, much better, that I would rather do, so I have not put up any fur since the early 2000's.

Keith[/quote

I with you a far as putting up fur. Never liked skinning and probably never will although I still do some of it.

I think it's partly a regional thing. I started buying fur in Washington State in 1978. 100% of it was put-up fur.
I got a call from a trapper one day who said he had a 100 muskrats or so, and asked if I could come to his house, he only lived a few miles away so I said sure.
I got there and he led me out to his shed and opened up a big chest freezer. I found myself staring in disbelief at a hundred whole frozen muskrats. I was at a loss for words, I had never heard of such a thing. The guy told me he moved from Ohio to Washington recently, but had always sold his fur in the round.
I told him I had never heard of such a thing, I left without even making him an offer, in hindsight I probably could have bought them pretty cheap.

My dad had 4-5 trappin buddies when I was growin up and not one put up or even skinned. There were always other guys at the fur buyer every week, and the only ones i can remember even skinning were coon hunters who didnt want to carry a carcass. This was in Iowa.

Nice pictures boco but there's more to trapping than putting up fur.

Ii have a buddy who's deer hunting group of farmers and other rural folk from just over the line in Minnesota have never cut up their own deer. Sure, they field dress it but always bring it to a local "locker" for processing. A good number are farmers and deer hunting is during harvest or trying to do fall field work so why dink around cutting up a deer..? I also think there's a bit of "snobbery" thing, if your bringing in a quarter million or more cash flow farming, why waste your time on saving a couple hundred in cutting up and packaging a deer...?

I've put up easy things like mrats for a long time but didn't move onto to greasier things such as coon until much more recent. When the 2013 NAFA sales happened, I asked myself "why I'm I selling to a middleman when I could send to auction and cut that step out...?" Just need to get the right equipment and technique. I'm far from fast but it seems that I do a good job when looking at how my skins grade. I like, untill the last few years years, how my hides stacked up at say NAFA. Then again, I don't have 20-30 coons laying on my garage floor at any one time. Everybody finds their comfort zone...

Huh? Except for a few minor species, there is no limit in how many critters we can take in my state. Most states are that way. My state's trapping regs are about 3 pages at most.

You got that right always include the kids.Taught them to skin and put up fur too..

I work 35 days overseas and 35 days home off. I don’t put up anything now. It’s not worth my time. When I’m not hunting, shooting coyotes or trapping I’m spending with my wife. If I can just get gas money back it’s worth it to me.

I do know how to put fur up just not worth it to me anymore. When I retire I will probably start back putting up my fur. I did get some deer ready to tan this year. I want to get some beaver tanned this year too.

I am taking a different approach. I am learning how to finish fur first. I successfully completed my first tanning project: a deer skin rug for my wife and 8 grey squirrel skins. I then built my first coon board yesterday along with 7 squirrel boards. I built a fleshing beam and got a fleshing knife I purchased a tanning DVD and a tanning kit. I now have 10 lbs of alum and 2 lbs of washing soda. I am getting naphtha for a degreaser. As soon as I get my first coon I am going to flesh it and begin the alum tanning process. Once I have had satisfactory results doing this then I am going to start getting serious about getting coons. And muskrat. My wife comes from an Amish background and you can't kill things unless they are going to be eaten. I already make deer and squirrel into cat food and preserve it by pressure canning. I am going to do the same with the coon we don't eat. The muskrat will be donated to a fire company my cousin works at where it will be used for a muskrat dinner fundraiser. The coon fat will be rendered and I will find a market. I am going to address the muskrat glands as well. I bought a book on tanning and skinning, 2 books on sewing leather and fur (I learned how to sew and alter patterns years ago). My approach is learning how and what to do with the skins and critters first. I have something probably lots of you don't have: time and a home that is paid for. If I had to slave away paying a mortgage or rent, I would probably be daydreaming about catching critters, tanning my own hides and making coonskin caps while in the store buying pet food. I am greatful for what I have and respect those on here who do things differently. I feel gratitude for those of you who work all day then run trap line and getting this occupation relevant. Thank you.

Way cool Boco! Thanks for passing the love to another generation.