When I left the service in 73, I went to work for a local contractor who bought fur in the winter. He paid me carpenter wages to work in the fur house during the winter. I won many a dollar from fellas claiming they caught a 30 lb. coon. I'd bet them that their coon wouldn't even weigh 20 lbs and put them on the scale. This guy bought several hundreds of coons and I never lost a dollar.

What is with the bobtails? Most of the really big boys don;t have tails

I got a top lot coon one year here in NH...and it was roadkill....lmao !

They are almost all big boar coons. They have been around awhile to get that big and are usually the dominate in the area thus they get the spoils at breading time. The other coons in an attempt to remove him from the female grab and bite the tails. They get docked that way. It's pretty common where there is a decent population of coons. This is how it was explained to me and makes the most sense.

I have seen one heck of a lot more 50+ pound flats than I have 30+ pound coon. Looking through my picture book I see over a half dozen flats from 50 to 74(my personal best), but I have only seen one coon over 30. In all fairness to your comment I did grow up and still live within a half mile of one of the best flathead rivers around these parts.

And you live south of the real big coon country.

I traped a 42" coon once! It probably weigh 34.5lbs

How big does a coon have to be to be dried on a coyote stretcher? 5, 6x?