With the price of skunks just going almost $80 average at the auction will anyone be keeping ADC/roadkill etc....stinkers and saving the pelts (if legal). This summer?
If it really is a tail market for Jewish hats won't the tails still be nice. As far as I've seen tails don't "prime up".
Here's one I caught this morning, got almost an ounce of essence.

Not sure on the tail thing. I had one skunk on the sale, cut off half the tail fleshings and still got $89 for it. Nice January skunk

Quick advice here remove the sacks first to avoid ruining the hide if you hit it while skinning it that creates a lot of unneeded work for a guy. Depending on the ticks in an area some hides will be scratched up with hot spots and many summer pelts have sparse amounts of belly hair.

Lawdog, cut one when I was teenager that way lol. Done a few hundred and haven't hit one since. I tried it the other way but was too used to decades of skinning them like I do. I learned to be very careful. I don't do near as many as you that's for sure. And I always appreciate your advice sir and was hoping you would respond thank you.

This was a female and yes it had thin belly fur. Didn't notice and fresh tick damage while skinning but I'll know for sure when fleshed. I think I'll put one up later this summer and see what the leather looks like.
I wonder if skunk hide is blue when not prime?

How's your population looking? I know you had a big winter kill off a while back.

The skin is blue when I first start trapping in the fall here in WI.

A skunk hide is blue when not prime. Look on the hind legs that will tell you a lot. When I trapped for Delta Waterfowl I put up 20 spring coon that were caught between 20 March and 12 June. I got a 20 dollar for them and a 22 dollar average for my fall coon. I had two accounts and kept them separate. I threw out coon that were rubbed too. But if they looked good I put them up. That skunk could be dark cream color on the hide. Not everyone goes out at the same time.

We are still hurting for skunks here they are slow coming back before the freeze out several calls a week was not uncommon at the moment I haven’t had a call in a couple of weeks it’s really spotty now. Not seeing much for any road killed critters lately did not see much of anything heading to my turkey spots before sunup. We hunted the whole season so a lot of early outings in prime time.

I left the pods in until the wife distracted me for dinner and I put pressure in the wrong place then poof. LOL I don’t freeze skunks with the pods in some leak and civets are known for that. I think the worst pod damage comes from cutting on unthawed skunks a guy needs that membrane to be flexible.

$80 avg?? Seriously?
I have a freezer full of skunks that I was saving to milk and discard (rather do 30 or 40, than one at a time). Haven't paid much attention on fur prices in years. I give my prime nuisance animals to a friend, he didn't want the skunks.
I'm sure they'll be back to $3 if I skin them, lol.

Yes about 2000 pelts at the last FHA auction averaged $80. The auction before that $30

A lot can happen by the time march rolls around. It’ll be interesting.

I have some in the freezer I need to put up I was going to get them tanned but maybe not if the price stays up on them.

I wouldn’t sit an any that’s for sure. But the fur markets all secrets and guessing. A couple falls ago I was told to get rid of all my beaver as by the time the march auction rolled around the market would be dead. That assumption was off by a year and I’m glad I held off. A buyer will always tell a guy to dump his fur if he wants to make a buck….lol. Sometimes they’re right.

It’s all a gamble like framing without all of the dirt. lol

My gamble will be the decision to sell at my local auction a few weeks before or at FHA.

Also my pick up agent Toby Edwards wasn't doing well last I knew. Time will tell, it should be an interesting wait trapping and listening to fur reports.

I would think the grading will tighten up quite a bit til next season

They don't want summer skunks, only prime ones.

This was really my original question in my head..... If it's really for tails they use in Jewish hats (as I've seen in other posts and found it odd), as far as I can see the tail doesn't prime up.
I would also assume it's for only prime pelts. I toss summer ADC skunks and drive by roadkill, but at 80 dollar averages and 100% sell out I was rethinking things.
When coon were through the roof decades ago even my early blue ones sold for great money.

A huge difference in early blue and summer. Summer coon skins have never had value in the fur market I far as I know. With this skunk market and using basically the tails maybe there’s some value but tails shed and go into summer mode as well,

They shed their fur, but it seems the tails don’t change much. This came up as #2 while I was typing it into the search bar, so I ain’t the first one who’s searched it…lol

“ While skunks do shed their fur seasonally, they do not shed their tails as a whole. They may experience hair loss on their tails due to various factors like seasonal changes, hormonal imbalances, or nutritional deficiencies, but the tail itself remains intact.”
But like any google answers, they are not always correct.

I trap them the year round and yes there is a periods when the tails will lose a noticeable amount of tail hair, it’s a habit to grasp the base of the tail a slid the grip towards the tip to look for that to see if it happens.