Hern does professional put up work on his fur.

Hern, very nice work! With multiple species to work with there’s different techniques to learn! Most figure out what works for them.

NM- as usual your cats had lots of attention at Fallon! Great put up!

What kind of comb or brush do most of you guys use for final grooming/combing of the put-up pelt?

NavadaMick & Old Coy great looking pelts. Top work.

Fur comb first, then a finish brush (pet stores & feed stores call it a Slicker Brush).

Finish brush has angled teeth, many teeth, that are close together. This brush separates individual hairs, presenting a fuller pelt. Works great on Canines, Bobcat bellies, Beaver and so on.


Here's a new Slicker Brush I bought during this season. Has a push button to clean fur from teeth. Love this. Bought at Tractor Supply




A finish brush removes old/loose underfur which help showcase the guard hairs and a good-looking finished pelt.




I never washed fur. Just comb before skun'n and after I flip fur out (and touch up before I sell).

ChiefT, I feel as you do about most fur while attending fur auctions. I'm a trapper not a fur buyer.
I have spoken to local trappers, at auctions, if they need help or want to tweak their fur put up, to stop at our house. Several guys have stopped in over the years.
Simple combing, brushing, proper board size is all that's needed for a good start to fur handling.
Over the years, I've learn from several folks and attended many fur handling demos at conventions. I'm still opened to learning more.

I use a human hair brush, I have never cared for the metal teethed brushes and combs so commonly used on fur, always felt they were rougher on it than necessary. I prefer a hair brush that has the bristles coming out in lines of little BB sized clumps, simply because it makes it easier to clean loose fur from it. I have a round one that I got at the dollar store I really like, with it being round with bristles all the way around it, I don't have to clean it as often and the bristles are just about the stiffness I like. I don't like too soft a bristle, but I've used some that the bristles seemed like they didn't have hardly any give or flex, and I didn't like those either.

I try to make my southeast Texas cats look as good as I can.

Nice job

They look great!

Thank you. I appreciate it.

And you did well!

Thank you. I'm still a work in progress when it comes to otter.

ETex - those cats look really nice, bright bellies!

RFrame - I use the same comb/brushes as Hern

Thank you Old Coy. I believe in using Borax.

Well done, EtexTrapper. Great pic.

Etex,your cats look fantastic!

It’s not just cats.

A lot of people drop the ball on all fur put up.

Theres no excuse to have burs in “finished” coyotes. But there they were. You can’t brush a coyote to much at the end.

Or really basic stuff like not scraping them properly/thoroughly.

Thank you old coy and hern! I’ll be getting some new brushes soon to help with finishing my put-up fur.

Is pulling the back legs all the way around to the belly on bobcats preferred by fur buyers over pull them straight down the stretcher legs? I notice most the guys with nice western cats do this. I have done them both ways and just curious which is best and most likely to bring a few extra dollars.
Here’s 3 that I’ve put-up recently. They have not been boraxed and brushed yet. I have 3 more that are green skinned and rolled up that I pulled out of the freezer yesterday and planning on putting them on stretchers today. Any helpful tips and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!